Desperately constructing ethnic audiences: Anti-immigration discourses and minority audience research in the Netherlands

This article examines how minority ethnic audiences are measured, and thus constructed, in the Netherlands today. The analysis shows that this process is tightly woven into the dominant assimilationist and neoliberal discourse. This discourse portrays specific minority groups as deviant in relation to an essentialized notion of Dutchness. Furthermore, it presents social inclusion as an opportunity that is limited to well-adjusted, profitable consumers. Different attempts to represent minority audiences – including efforts to promote a more just minority representation in Dutch media – are compelled to accommodate to this dominant discourse. The article underscores the limited scope for contesting current hegemonic representations of minority groups and national belonging in the Netherlands

Annapolis en een internationale troepenmacht

Hans Schippers and Dick Leurdijk look at the possibilities of forming an international military force for the West Bank in the final phase of the Annapolis peace initiative. The main task of this mission would be to maintain security and prevent a coup by the fundamentalist Hamas movement after an Israeli withdrawal. In November 2007, General James Jones, former commander of the NATO forces in Europe, was appointed security adviser for the region. Part of his task is to investigate whether such a mission, as a supplement to the US trained Palestinian National Security brigades, would be a viable option. The West Bank force would be modelled after UNIFIL-II, which was established after the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006. Unlike other international missions in the Middle East, which have a classical peacekeeping task with lightly armed personnel, UNIFIL-II has a robust peacekeeping mandate giving the military conditional authority for the use of force. Contributions for the stabilisation mission might come from Jordan, especially the Jordan led and Palestinian manned Badr Brigade, as well as from Egypt and several NATO countries. The idea of a West Bank force has led to sharp debates in Israel. Critics have pointed out that the international mission might hamper Israeli security operations. Palestinian president Abbas and king Abdullah of Jordan have expressed cautious support for the initiative. A positive reaction came from the Dutch government, which has made a solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict a key issue in its foreign policy. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, declared in January that after an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement had been signed, he would do his utmost to ensure a Dutch contribution to such an international force, led, e.g., by NATO

Annapolis en een internationale troepenmacht

Hans Schippers and Dick Leurdijk look at the possibilities of forming an international military force for the West Bank in the final phase of the Annapolis peace initiative. The main task of this mission would be to maintain security and prevent a coup by the fundamentalist Hamas movement after an Israeli withdrawal. In November 2007, General James Jones, former commander of the NATO forces in Europe, was appointed security adviser for the region. Part of his task is to investigate whether such a mission, as a supplement to the US trained Palestinian National Security brigades, would be a viable option. The West Bank force would be modelled after UNIFIL-II, which was established after the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006. Unlike other international missions in the Middle East, which have a classical peacekeeping task with lightly armed personnel, UNIFIL-II has a robust peacekeeping mandate giving the military conditional authority for the use of force. Contributions for the stabilisation mission might come from Jordan, especially the Jordan led and Palestinian manned Badr Brigade, as well as from Egypt and several NATO countries. The idea of a West Bank force has led to sharp debates in Israel. Critics have pointed out that the international mission might hamper Israeli security operations. Palestinian president Abbas and king Abdullah of Jordan have expressed cautious support for the initiative. A positive reaction came from the Dutch government, which has made a solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict a key issue in its foreign policy. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, declared in January that after an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement had been signed, he would do his utmost to ensure a Dutch contribution to such an international force, led, e.g., by NATO