When Ways of Life Collide Multiculturalism and Its Discontents in the Netherlands

This book examines the policies of multiculturalism and the conflicts of values they generate between native Dutch and Muslim immigrant communities in the Netherlands. The authors adopt an empirical analytical approach in their treatment of the apparently vexing issue of multiculturalism in Dutch society, using the case of the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh brutally murdered on a busy Amsterdam street in 2004 by a Dutch Moroccan offended by van Gogh's controversial film about Muslim suppression of women. The central thrust of their argument is that policies that were designed to protect the distinct way of life of the Muslims and promote tolerance are paradoxically breeding intolerance on both sides.