Aboutaleb and Albayrak
When I write about immigration / integration some Americans argue that Europe is and I am (just about) ‘racist’. Fine. My point always is, when I talk so harshly about immigrants / immigration, that they are welcome here, as long as they integrate. The problem is: so many immigrants refuse to integrate.
However, individuals who are willing to integrate are more than welcome. When they integrate and are dedicated to be the best they can be, when they respect our customs, our culture, our liberal democracy… then I’m happy that they’re here.
Two examples of that are Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat Albayrak. That is why I am very happy that both will become cabinet members:
As a city councilman, Ahmed Aboutaleb, the son of a Moroccan clergyman, helped immigrants find jobs, put their toddlers in school to learn Dutch, and doled out some stern advice: integrate or leave.
On Thursday, Aboutaleb was to be sworn in as a state secretary, or junior minister, in the new Dutch Cabinet. So was Nebahat Albayrak, a Turkish-born lawyer and member of parliament from the age of 30. They are the first Muslims to reach the inner core of political power in the Netherlands, and among only a handful of immigrants to rise to these second-rung Cabinet positions anywhere in Western Europe.
[…]
She joined the Labor Party in university, earned a degree in international law and was elected in 1998 to parliament, where she focused on women’s issues. For last November’s elections, she was placed second on the list of candidates after party leader Wouter Bos.Aboutaleb, 45, left his home in Morocco’s Rif mountains at age 15 with his mother and brothers to join his father, who had come to the Netherlands several years earlier. He studied telecommunications and worked as a news broadcaster, but his ambition always was politics.
Now these two are an example to all immigrants: adapt, integrate, work hard and… we’re more than happy to have you.
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