Welcome FlowerChild
Being an immigrant in a new country is not always easy. I know from experience. Our integration went smoothly and we feel very welcome and happy where we live. For many other immigrants this is not the case, especially for groups of second generation foreigners. Every western European country has groups of young (mostly) men who do not fit in and start bothering, threatening, robbing and frightening other people in the areas they live in. This happens in all big cities and is an extreme nuisance. We experienced that too when we still lived in Amsterdam. There is of course a reason why so many young healthy guys choose to be a nuisance instead of nice, well-behaved, respected citizens. Governments spend millions of euro’s trying to change their behaviour, to get them back on track. But the social system is failing here. Social workers cannot help these young men finding their passion in life. We live in a world where we expect governments to have or find a solution for all the problems in society. That is what we pay taxes for, don’t we. I think we redeem with that our responsibility to change things ourselves.
If every successful man or woman would spend a couple of hours with a young person who is about to slide away. If we would just point out to this young person that his contribution is valuable and useful, that there are examples of young Moroccans who are successful, and that there are people wanting to help (voluntary) this individual who does not get any positive feedback elsewhere. Wouldn’t that make a difference?
Tags: immigration, integration, mentoring
|
|||
2 Responses to “Young people without a future”Leave a Reply |
|||
|
|
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
The problem with these “young angry men” is the clash of cultures. In order not to be seen as discriminating, we allowed them to bring their culture into a western society that is widening its parameters to the ever challenging “claims” of these mostly Maroccan youth. They have set their own rules in our societies that is overriding any other legal system. In short, by adapting our system to theirs, they now do not respect our standards of living, our religions, our legal system and our culture anymore. The biggest mistake the western world is making, is to think that a democratic system will and can be applied to a Moslim culture. look around you and try to find any Islamic country that is ruled democraticallty. It does not exsist. It is basically a tribal system, ruled by fear. This does not imply that we should beat the shit out of all the Maroccan kids and theirs Islam religious leaders, but we have to show them that they have to respect our society.Apply the same parameters for the immigrants as for the original population. ‘
“Zachte heelmeesters maken stinkende wonden”.
One rule for everybody.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Indeed we cannot implement a dictatorship for a minority of the population only. To confront these young men with the police or justice does not make things better either. If you speak one on one with them, they could be nice guys who just do not see a solution for a better life. With a autochtone mentor, like you for example, it is possible to show them their chances. Maybe this is whishful thinking, but a lot of people have opinions and do not act in their own little circle to try to improve things themselves. We are complaining, instead of solving.