Brussels: Study urges for more tolerance

A study by the Institute for European Studies at VUB in cooperation with the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies of Wayne State University in Detroit was published Thursday by Richard Lewis and Hannelore Goeman, concluding that more tolerance is needed in order to encourage integration.

Seeing that the Muslim population of Detroit, with 300,000 or 7.5% of the population is the largest urban concentration of Muslims in the US, the study claims that several parallels can be drawn with the situation in Brussels, which has 170,000 Muslims or 17% of the population and Brussels can even learn a lot from the tolerant approach of the Americans and Canadians.The conclusions of the researchers are based on a study trip of to the American and Canadian

Midwest in March and on the conclusions of a team of experts from Brussels and Detroit who are active on the local level in various policy areas connected to the integration of immigrants (and in specific of Muslims).
The researchers also visited the nearest Canadian city: Windsor, Ontario.Muslims in Detroit appear to have a much smoother upwards mobility than their coreligionists in Brussels. American Muslims often immigrate with a higher education level, and many come from the Middle East, while Muslims immigrants in Brussels are often from poorer, rural areas in North Africa and Turkey.
But another key to success according to the researchers is clearly the respect and tolerance with which they are treated in their new country. Muslims in America therefore get the feeling faster that they have an in interest in engaging in society, and are therefore more loyal towards their new country.On the basis of the study the researchers ask for three things which are very sensitive in Belgium.

They ask for full tolerance of the headscarf - an issue which in Detroit has never caused a fuss. According to the researchers this leads to a more tolerant mentality which is much needed for successful integration.Additionally they ask for bilingual education, that combines the new language with the mother-tongue of the children who have just arrived in the country. After about a year they can switch over to the traditional, one-language form of education. The system had been applied successfully for years in Canada and now also in Detroit.Finally the researchers ask for more tolerance for the cultural and religious needs of Muslims, for example by providing them with a separate prayer area at work.
The report includes also a number of practical recommendations such as directly consulting the Muslim communities, attention to "interculturalism" in the training of teachers and social workers, the emphasis of the economical and cultural contribution of Muslims, for example with a museum, and investing in the neighborhoods in order to prevent decline.

Source: De Morgen (Dutch)
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