On September 15 I wrote a piece in the Parool newspaper in which I said that we Moroccan Dutch do not represent a special case and should not be treated any differently from other Dutch citizens born and bred here. I titled my column: ‘I am Dutch, not Moroccan.’
I had to retract my words under an avalanche of criticism. The Moroccan Dutch do occupy a special place because the Moroccan nationality is automatically given to us at birth, my critics told me.
Moroccan Dutch often don’t wish to be looked upon as Dutch and many other Dutch people don’t consider them to be Dutch. This is grist to the mill for those who criticise the multi-cultural society and an effective defence for those who want to exempt themselves from the responsibilities and duties of being a Dutch citizen. The result is a divided society.
Coercive
The Moroccan Dutch have no choice but to accept the Moroccan nationality even if their place of birth is the Netherlands and not Morocco. This is an infringement of one of the most fundamental human rights: the right to self-determination.
Thrusting the Moroccan nationality on those who were born in the Netherlands fifty years after the first Moroccans arrived in this country is an anomaly and should come to an end. This heritage, which is an unalienable birthright to this day, must be abolished. It’s a coercive measure and it’s creating a rift between the Moroccan Dutch and the rest of the Dutch population.
Asking youngsters to put down roots in both the progressive Dutch society and the far-off Islamic Moroccan society is asking for trouble. The Dutch and Moroccan governments are burdening the young with conflicting moral values, and this is affecting the radicalisation of Muslims and increases support for the ideology of terror groups such as IS.
The lack of a real connection with the Netherlands and a feeling of alienation from other Dutch youngsters can be a catalyst for a young Muslim who is already on his way to embracing radicalism. All inheriting the Moroccan nationality does is to undermine youngsters’ sense of place in our society.
Equal citizens
The unequal treatment meted out by the Dutch government becomes painfully clear in this context. Dutch citizenship is taken away from Moroccan Dutch jihadis who were born in this country and thus automatically acquired the Moroccan nationality but not from those who were born here and do not have dual nationality.
The dual nationality of Moroccan Dutch has financial ramifications and this polarises things even further. Moroccan Dutch can still return to Morocco with their benefits intact. Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher’s stance that treaties with the Moroccan government will be ended if benefits for Moroccan Dutch in Morocco aren’t brought down gives me hope. But what I really want is to break the benefits treaty altogether, no matter what the financial interests.
Let’s heal the rift perpetuated by the Moroccan and Dutch governments between native Dutch citizens and other native Dutch citizens. The Moroccan government should put an end to the automatic inheritance of the Moroccan nationality and the Dutch government should stop facilitating it.
Stop preventing the Moroccan Dutch from finally taking possession of their rightful place in society as equal citizens. Let us be Dutch among the Dutch.