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Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance | 
 enlarge | Author: Ian Buruma
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
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Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 244634
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 1594201080
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.15240892
EAN: 9781594201080
ASIN: 1594201080
Publication Date: September 7, 2006
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Product Description
Ian Buruma returns to his native land to explore the great dilemma of our time through the story of the brutal murder of controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh at the hands of an Islamic extremist. It was the emblematic crime of our moment: On a cold November day in Amsterdam, an angry young Muslim man, Mohammed Bouyeri, the son of Moroccan immigrants, shot and killed the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, great-grandnephew of Vincent and iconic European provocateur, for making a movie with the vocally anti-Islam Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali that "blasphemed" Islam. After Bouyeri shot van Gogh, he calmly stood over the body and cut his throat with a curved machete, as if performing a ritual sacrifice, which in a very real sense he was. The murder horrified quiet, complacent, prosperous Holland, a country that prides itself on being a bastion of tolerance, and sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native country to try to make sense of it all and to see what larger meaning should and shouldn't be drawn from this story. The result is Buruma's masterpiece: a book with the intimacy and narrative control of a true-crime page-turner and the intellectual resonance we've come to expect from one of the most well-regarded journalists and thinkers of our time. Ian Buruma's entire life has led him to this narrative: In his hands, it is the exemplary tale of our age, the story of what happens when political Islam collides with the secular West and tolerance finds its limits.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 A good examination of what the "war on terror" is really about September 10, 2006
J. Adams (Washington, DC USA)
59 out of 63 found this review helpful
Buruma writes very small, but very dense books about serious issues. His "Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies" published a few years ago was almost unreadable in some parts because he tried to say too much in too few words. But this book is really one that puts some "flesh on the bones" of that book by examining a real-life consequence of Islamic radicalism confronting Western societies open system.
I suspect this book will be unwelcome in many circles because it makes a very good case that jihadists come in many forms and sizes, from lunatics like bin Laden to the single acts of murder by an equally crazed Islamist by the name of Mohammed Bouyeri, the assassin of Theo van Gogh on a street in Amsterdam as van Gogh rode his bike to work.
As someone who has spent a lot of time in Holland over many decades, the effect of van Gogh's murder was far greater than that of Pym Fortuyn, who was also killed for being "politically incorrect."
This book does some critical questioning of whether the West will wake up soon enough to understand that the centuries of change in European values have run in the exact opposite direction of millions of immigrant Muslims who seek to return to the "good old days" of Sharia law, even if most of its proponents have never lived under it. The second and third generations of Muslim youth all over Europe, who have alienated themselves from modernity, for a myriad of reasons, are a real threat to the values that the Western "elites" take for granted and are so arrogant that they cannot understand that millions of Muslims think they must be destroyed to save the world for Islam.
Buruma does a good job of explaining how these elites, and their "multicultural" policies of the last few decades have only been sharpening the knives that these new generations of radicals will use to cut the throats of those who defend their "right" to force their women to wear burkas, riot at the drop of a cartoon, kill at the slightest offense to The Prophet.
This book along with Bernard Lewis' many books, Oriana Fallaci's expose of the suicide of the Western elites, are good places to spend some time to realize that we are only a couple of decades into a clash of civilizations that will probably go on for centuries, or until the wildly disparate birth rates of Muslims vs. traditional European Christian and secular populations make places like France and the UK Majority-Muslim countries in a few decades. (France is projected to reach this tipping point in less than two generations.)
Asimilation and its discontents October 7, 2006
Omer Belsky (Haifa, Israel)
26 out of 31 found this review helpful
Like the Dennish Cartoon scandal and the 7/7 attacks, the murder of Dutch filmaker Theo Van Gogh has been a rude reminder for the problem Europe has with an unassimilated part of its Muslim population. The great-grand son and namesake of the famous artist's brother, Van Gogh was a loud mouth moviemaker, a self proclaim court jester who told what he considered to be the truth in loud and vulgar fashion. After directing Submissioon, a provocative film about women in Islam, he had been murdered by Muhammad Bouyeri, the native born sonof Morrocan immigrants.
Ian Buruma, a well travelled Dutch born prominent American journalist, was sent by the New Yorker to cover the developments following Van Gogh's murder. I have previously read Buruma's intriguing and well written study of the emergence of Modern Japan, Inventing Japan: 1853-1964 (Modern Library Chronicles). "A Murder in Amsterdam", the book that follows from Buruma's investigations, is if anything better written and more fascinating. It is not, however, particularly well structued, nor is its argument strongly presented.
Buruma's book is too wide range to lend itself to easy summery; It spans issues as wide apart as the psychological problems of second generation immigrants and the ambigious relationship of Holand with the Holocaust. In the quest for the causes of Mr. Bouyani's murderous drive, Buruma encounters a wide variety of sub questions and historical links. Yet, in the end, Buruma seems to endorse the view of historian Geert Mak "the problem, he maintains, is not Islam or religious as such. It is more sociological. What we are witnessing is nothing new. Just the usual tensins that occur when uprooted rural people start new lives in the metropolis" (p. 239).
I do not intend in the confines of this review to challange this approach, although I admit I find it unsatisfying. Instead, I wish to draw the reader's attentions to some peculiarities in Buruma's account.
Perhaps understandably given Buruma's approach, he says next to nothing about Islam, or about the cultures from which Bouyeri and the immigrants in general come from. Given Buruma's strong inclination to fit every thought of any participant to some pre-existing Dutch school of thought, this is nonetheless peculiar. Buruma refuses to consider what Bouyari himself says about his actions: "I acted out of faith" (p. 189). When others, particularly Muslim apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali argue that the trouble is with Islam, Buruma does not engage their arguments. Rather, he (sympathetically) potrays their biographical developments and, irony of ironies, traces their criticism into the Dutch tradition.
For a book exploring the assimilation of Muslims in Europe, the book is remarkably data-free. Statistics about employment, literacy, rates of mixed marriage, and average income should form a large part of explaining the assimilation story. Yet such data is hardly available. This is especially unfortunate because one of the book's most interesting theses is that the European wellfare state might actually damage iummigrants by distorting insentives (p. 203-204). The economist in me finds the idea very attractive; The Liberal in me is repulsed. Eitherway, we need more data to build upon.
Although Buruma interviews and discusses many people inhis book, including the late Mr.Van Gogh and his killer, by far the most facinating character is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Somali born and Muslim raised, Ali is now a feminist and an atheist who believes that 'Islam is the problem'. She dreams of Liberating Western Muslims from their oppressive religion, and show them the beauty of the Enlightment, which "strips away culture and leaves only the human individual" (pp. 167-168).
But Buruma is right in saying that in a quest to actually influence the majority of Muslims, Ali's approach is unproductive. Muslims understandably have no wish to hear messeges that insult and undermine their religion. Although I think she is right in much of what she is saying, her words serve mostly to cater to the prejudice of white conservative Christians. Her most upsetting statement, Submission (the film for which Van Gogh was murdered), is intended and viewed almost entirely by non- Muslims. Unlike her hero Voltaire, Ali aims not at the religious establishment, but for the conservative one.
In a way, I see a mirror image between Ali and those ex-patriot Muslims who wants to potray a positive, up beat version of Islam, Like American scholar Reza Aslan (author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam). They seek to liberalise Islam; She seeks to destroy it. But I think that there is little constituency for either in the Muslim world. Muslims will not lend themselves to Western ideologies, and will start neither a Muslim Reformation (as Aslan wishes) nor a Muslim Enlightment (which Ali longs for). Rather, Aslan and Ali's messages will probably be directed mostly to the Western, Christian audience, and the Muslims will proceed in their own way.
Which way is that? How different are Muslims in Europe from Muslims abroad, and Muslims in the Netherlands from Muslims in other European countries? How many differences exist in-group and in-between group, and what wukk the consequences of these differences be? No one can know with any certainty.
But one sentence in Buruma's book strikes me; It is a relatively well assimilated Morrocan Muslim, an acquintence of the late Mr. Van Gogh. Speaking of the murder, he said:
"No Morrocan respects Muhammad Bouyeri. To commit murder during Ramadan - that is totally unacceptable"
 Confronting the nature of immigration November 13, 2006
James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful
I had come back from Amsterdam and was looking for something to read that might make sense of this very cosmopolitan city with its seeming open door to the world. I couldn't have been more satisfied than with Buruma's engaging book that goes far beyond the death of Theo van Gogh in examining the natue of tolerance in this fair city and the greater Dutch Republic. The events which Buruma describes are still fresh, and he writes as if composing a blog on the Internet with a steady stream of thoughts and observations, along with pithy interviews with leading Dutch poltical and cultural figures, who all have something to say on the subject of Theo van Gogh and his killer, Mohammed B.
The author links the death of Pim Fortuyn with that of Van Gogh, in showing how sudden celebrity brings with it repercussions that the Dutch seemed to feel didn't exist in their liberal society. But then Holland has not always been such a liberal-minded country, and Buruma explores some of the historic roots that led to the steady influx of immigrants that have come to dominate cities like Amsterdam, much to the chagrin of the proud Dutch.
The book is an antidote to the smugness of European liberalism that seems to feel that assimilation is natural in a secular democratic society. Events such as the deaths of Theo Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn not only wipe the smiles off complacent faces, but send shock waves through the country. Buruma demonstrates how illiberal liberals can be when confounded by the nature of successive waves of immigrants who hold onto their religious beliefs instead of adopting the conventions of the new secular state. Buruma illustrates that for many immigrants religion is all they have to help them face the overwhelming challenges of a new society, and when confronted by the likes of Theo Van Gogh, best known for his unapologetic confrontational style, they not only shout back, but sometimes fire back.
Buruma seems to argue that you can't have it both ways. The ugly backlash against the Muslim community, particularly the Moroccans, that followed the death of Theo Van Gogh, was largely driven by ignorance. Dutch had long held the Moroccan community in contempt, and an event like this seemed to validate their viewpoint. Mohammed, or "Mo" as he was derisively called in the press, became the poster child for the misplaced Moroccan immigrant who couldn't adjust to Dutch Society. The only problem was that "Mo" was as Dutch as many Dutch, having been born in Holland to an immigrant father. He bore more similarity to the alienated youths that shot up Columbine High School in Colorado than he did an unreconstructed immigrant.
Buruma shows that tolerance does indeed have its limits, especially when it really isn't tolerance at all, but rather a resentful acceptance of the immigrant nation Holland has become. In recent years, Social Democrats have suffered at the polls, and upstart political parties like that formed by Pim Fortuyn were able to seize on popular sentiment across the political spectrum. Fortuyn rallied liberals and conservatives alike with his tough talk on immigration, and it was a sad irony that it was Ahsaan Hirsi Ali's own political party that had her nationality revoked by uncovering that she had lied about her surname on her application. It seems that when confronted by homegrown Islamicists, which Ali railed against, Holland doesn't want to take responsibility and this is what Buruma finds sadly disappointing about liberal Dutch society.
On Tolerating the Intolerant February 7, 2007
Izaak VanGaalen (San Francisco, CA USA)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
The Netherlands has always had a well-deserved reputation for tolerance, they have been cited by many as being the most liberal country in Europe if not the world. Against this background, Dutch-born author Ian Buruma explores why, in 2004, filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death by a certain Mohammed Bouyeri. The ostensible reason was that Bouyeri, a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan descent, was deeply insulted by a film made by van Gogh and feminist Somali-born politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali regarding the mistreatment of women under Islam. On the whole, the non-Muslim Dutch were shocked and outraged, while Muslims simply had vague feelings of "understanding" for Bouyeri.
Theo van Gogh was a classic "dorpsgek" or village idiot. Being of Dutch descent myself, I know the type only too well. As a provocateur, van Gogh was an equal opportunity insultor; he offended Christians, Jews, Muslims and about every other social grouping. In his film "Submission," which angered the Muslim community, there were verses of the Koran projected onto the body of a naked woman. It was a puerile and tedious excercise, the kind of thing that gives art a bad name. If he had been as clever as he thought he would have known there would be consequences - the provocation worked only too well.
Mohammed Bouyeri was rather typical of European-born Muslims; in fact, he had many similarities with the 7/7 and Madrid bombers, and also, for that matter, the 9/ll bombers, particularly Mohammed Atta. He enjoyed the freedoms of Holland while at the same time feeling estranged from the mainstream. Dating, playing soccer, and smoking pot had its attractions, but when he saw that women had the same rights, he retreated to the mosque and started listening to the radical imams.
The situation of Bouyeri is a microcosm of what is happening with Muslims throughout Europe. In Holland Muslims number 1 million out of a population of 16 million, but in cities they comprise as high as 40 percent of the populaton - and this percentage is growing because they have higher birth-rates. How does a liberal democracy assimilate a culture that fundamentally rejects the rights of women, not to mention civil rights in general?
Buruma gives no easy answers, because there are none. Being Dutch and living in the shadow of Anne Frank, Buruma is well aware of minority rights. He feels - like Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen - that the Dutch could do more to accommodate Muslims, for fear of alienating this large minority. For my part, I think they have already taken the multicultural ideal too far and exposed its weaknesses. If all cultures are equal, the minority culture will feel no need to assimilate into the dominant culture and soon enough you have sectarian strife. The ideals of the Enlightenment should be adhered to and Muslims should be more accommodating. The ideal that all human beings have the same rights regardless of race, sex, or religion should be paramount. These rights should be understood as one's relationship to the state not one's relationship to a social group as in the case of Muslims. Civil rights require that religious laws are not above civil laws. It's high time for European Muslims and non-Muslims to relearn these principles.
One of the best books I have read this year.... September 27, 2006
MotherLodeBeth (Sierras of California)
13 out of 23 found this review helpful
One of the best books you will read this year. And yes the author being of Dutch birth caught my eye, since my husbands family (DeRoos) are also of Dutch background. And the author having lived here in the states since the mid 1970's is able to give the reader a view of both sides of the issue or cultural differances.
What makes it so provocative is that the author doesn't take sides per se, but looks at Dutch society and the evolution it has undergone since world war 2 that helped mold what can be seen as a dysfunctional society veiled in tolerance to the extreme. How over half of the population of the Netherlands is made up of foreigners and of those the majority are of Moslem background, usually having been born to parents who came from and are themselves of Moslem countries.
Then there is Theo van Gogh the grand nephew of the famous artist who seems himself as a pusher of tolerance by way of in your face words and actions no matter how offensive or alas uncivil. Unlike the author I see the 'victim' as akin to someone who stands outside your home and yells racial slurs, or even burns a KKK cross on the lawn. And not just once, but over and over on various lawns in your community. So I don't see Theo van Gogh as anything more than an uncivilized thug. And as the author notes vam Gogh was much more 'anti semetic' than anything. Something those like Mohammed Bouyeri seemed to not know or didn't choose to take note of.
Yet at the same time I think as the author notes in decribing a society that has such liberal social programs that perpetuate a state of need in those like Mohammed Bouyeri, who was dependent on government handouts, and had never been required to adapt to Dutch culture. Which even those of us here in the states may find hard to do when one considers how in your face, sex, drugs and other things are in the Netherlands.
And the author deals with how the Dutch having allowed so many of its citizens like Anne Frank, to be taken away by the Nazi's, over reacted after WW2 and went the other way and basically have become afraid to say there are black and white issues and actions and that some things will not be tolerated.
Then there is the whole issue of why of all the religions Islam seems to have members who see nothing wrong with killing or hurting those who disagree with their religion. Why they cannot simply do as others in other religions do when Jesus, Buddha, Moses etc are used in humor or critical thinking books, movies etc.
Thus I came away much more appreciative of the religious freedom we have here in the states and that we can joke and ridicule those we disagree with, and not fear someone will burn down our house of worship, university, or worse yet kill the speaker/writer.
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