This is not good.
This is not okay.
Flavia, what does this mean for you? Am I wrong to assume this is a party you supported?
I am actually a member of a small(er) party, D66, also known as Democrats 66 (the year the Party was started). I am not 100% in agreement with every stance that D66 takes (particularly those that have to do with economic issues and a more pro-capitalist stance than I’d like, but eh, you know, so far, it’s only minor stuff mainly because I am a super pinko communist and the party is more moderate than that). D66 is currently the second biggest Party in Amsterdam (after Labour), we became so in the last elections (and if I can gush a bit, my partner is the campaign manager for our district, so, there’s that).
What this means to me, personally? I don’t know. Here’s the thing, I am not Muslim, so you can say the Islamophobia should not affect me personally. Still, in the course of the past ten years or so, I’ve been subject to two xenophobic attacks that got physical (one by a very drunk Dutch man who punched me in the face while screaming “Cunt foreigner” and the other from a guy at the market who heard me speak Spanish with a friend and elbowed me while screaming in Dutch, “YOU MUST SPEAK DUTCH”, none of them inflicted any damage, it was more the aggression itself than the real physical pain, you know; also, both happened in Rotterdam, where I used to live many years ago). Also, these are the two that got physically violent, but there have been many other microagressions. However, as I said, I am not Muslim, but……. I look like one. Or better said, my Hispanic/ Spanish heritage means I look Mediterranean, like a person from Turkey or Morocco and that’s why racists think I am a free for all walking target. It’s been suggested to me that I should consider dying my hair in a blonde or lighter tone to “pass” as a more Northern European so that I can avoid incidents like the ones I described above. Eh, the day I do that is the day I move to another country. Because my black hair, my black eyebrows, etc, it’s who I am… and who I have always been.
So, how does this affect me? From a legal standpoint, for the Dutch state I am classified as a “Non Western Foreigner” (we have to comply with special laws regarding integration, among other stuff), just like Moroccans, Turkish, people from any African nation, all of my fellow Latin@s, etc. So, whatever laws they enact against “them Muslims” are also going to affect me, minus whatever vile legislation they could possibly plot against their religion specifically (like limiting Mosques, religious services or schools, etc.). And of course, for me, I situate myself as one of “them”, not religiously, but because both “them” and I have to comply with the same regulations and are subject to the same standards and expectations.
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