Page - 99 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Leen d’Haenens | Whither Cultural Diversity on the Dutch TV Screen? 99 The Council for Social Development (2005, 2006) recently released two studies that aim at enhancing social cohesion. Its study Unity, Diversity, and Ties is a plea for a new integration model allowing a “culture of difference”. The Council recognized the negative consequences of concentration (e.g., the so- called “white flight” of native Dutch fleeing away from the cities, and the “black schools” with high concentration levels of ethnic minority kids) on integration. Since a deconcentration policy would run up against legal, constitutional and practical objections (e.g., one cannot tell people where to live and where not to), the Council pleaded in favor of a new model, based upon unity which creates space for diversity, provided that new ties, along other lines than ethnic ones, be made. The primary issue was to create social cement and to promote the socio-cultural integration of minority groups. As a response to the Council’s report the then-Minister for integration and immigration, Rita Verdonk, asked for more concrete definitions of “unity” and “binding” and wondered how to foster “spontaneous meetings and contacts among groups”. She also asked the Council to operationalize further the notion of “common frame” and the definition of what belongs to it and what does not. Various examples of this binding policy along other lines than ethnic ones are given in the Council’s study No Longer with the Backs Towards Each Other. A Study about Binding. The Cabinet’s reaction to the Council’s recommendations followed an and/and-approach of both geographical spreading, albeit on a voluntary basis, and building new forms of integration along other than ethnic lines. For this policy to be successful, the Cabinet built its new integration campaign around three recommendations of the Council: 1) Strengthening communication of basic democratic values and conduct in education and community work, e.g., by adding integration issues to the curriculum and giving youths the tools to defend themselves against radicalization; 2) Investing in the command of the Dutch language; 3) Fostering access to communal stories through the media, in theatre, and in literature. In this respect the notion of “binding leadership” was highly visible in the much criticized &-campaign [www.en.nl] of the hard-line Minister which amounted to €10 million. However, the political environment will presumably change with the new government. In June 2006 the Dutch cabinet went through a major crisis, after its smallest coalition partner (D66) said it could no longer reconcile its visions with the country’s hard-line immigration and integration minister Verdonk. This resulted in the resignation of the government. Early elections took place in November 2006. A new coalition government made up of the Christian Democrat Appeal (CDA), the Social Democratic Labour Party (PvdA) and the Christian Union came into power in February 2007. The future may well bring a more positive environment for migrants. This new government, which seems