From Multiculturalism to Integration or from Marginalization to Assimilation?

As the representative of the Dutch Embassy in Washington, D.C., told our Martindale group about the pull for cheap labor from within the Netherlands and the push for a better life among people from the Middle East, I wondered about the consequences of these forces. Is it possible that this push and pull could truly result in a mutually beneficial relationship between Dutch society and immigrants from the Middle East? Or is it more likely that these two forces are incompatible and thus have engendered a division between Dutch society and the immigrants? Investigating the answers to these questions has led me to the conclusion that the immigration and integration issues which the Netherlands faces today partly stem from the tension caused by a desire for cheap labor along with the apparent rejection of non-Dutch culture by many elements of Dutch society. The Netherlands, long perceived as an open and welcoming society and therefore the country least expected to face immigration problems, has recently found itself at the center of the fiercely debated topic of immigration. At the heart of the problem lies the motivation of government policies regarding immigration and integration. I argue here that the concept of multiculturalism, which arose in government immigration and integration policy during the 1980s, was a more acceptable term for the less acceptable idea of distancing the host population from immigrants who arrived in the Netherlands as a result of 1970s’ labor recruitment programs. In the context of Dutch immigration and integration policy, multiculturalism can be defined as an ideology in which cultural differences of minorities are recognized and respected by the host nation. The concept, however, became a tool with which the government developed immigration and inte-