Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen swapped his mayoral business attire in for a "waiter's" outfit as a humble gesture to help serve meals at the recent launching of the world's newest one of a kind loony bin....uhh I mean restaurant. This new government subsidized restaurant is meant to be completely run and operated by individuals who suffer from various psychiatric disorders, such as manic depression and schizophrenia. The restaurant currently employs 26 individuals who "normally" wouldn't stand a chance getting a job in the workforce because of their psychiatric disorders.
I wonder what the menu is like.
The researchers say that live entertainment (theatre, music, etc.) increases the cultural appeal of cities significantly. This combined with a historical city centre and varied culinary offerings attract the highly educated.
You're probably wondering what the heck is wrong with The Netherlands these days, right?
Well, Ian Buruma thinks he has the answer, and what I find interesting is where he says this:
"New alliances were formed between social conservatives who had always been suspicious of foreigners, and of Islam in particular, and old leftists who saw Islam as a threat to liberal values, associated with the Enlightenment."
Hmm a new kind of unified political front to combat a common enemy?
OK, so the question is, who exactly is this enemy?
Mr Buruma has the perfect answer:
The Muslims are too small in number to convert Europe to their religion, and many Muslims are not devout anyway. The danger is not “Islamicization”, but a violent revolutionary movement affecting disaffected youths, born in Europe. The violent faith-based politics of the Middle-East offers a ready-made cause to these young people, comparable to the appeal of Maoism in the past. The cause is often transmitted through the Internet.
Mr. Buruma is right. Many of those disaffected youths born in Europe now have a voice that's being heard throughout the world thanks to one of their own piers, Dutch Moroccan hip-hop artist Salah Edin. Watch his new video for "Netherland's Biggest Nightmare" and see for yourself...it's in Dutch, but you actually don't need to understand the lyrics to know what the song is all about.
If you would rather not listen to it, just fast forward all the way towards the end you'll hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali say something. (weird)
I'm not a hip-hop fan myself, so I'm only now finding out about Salah Edin because he's been in the headlines a lot lately and I had no idea that hip-hop was such a big deal in Arab countries......I really don't like hip hop.
OK now go ahead ask me what does the title have to do with this post.