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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
Media – Migration – Integration
European and North American Perspectives
- Titel
- Media – Migration – Integration
- Untertitel
- European and North American Perspectives
- Autoren
- Rainer Geissler
- Horst Pöttker
- Verlag
- transcript Verlag
- Datum
- 2009
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-8376-1032-1
- Abmessungen
- 15.0 x 22.4 cm
- Seiten
- 250
- Schlagwörter
- Integration, Media, Migration, Europe, North America, Sociology of Media, Sociology
- Kategorie
- Medien