Word: dutchness
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...follows that for many European Muslims, professional success means compromise. Some have to deal with open prejudice. "We want nothing to do with Islam or Muslims," one law firm told Dutch attorney Arslan during her three-year job search. Particularly after terror attacks, stereotypes tend to bubble to the surface. French computer-systems analyst Mourad Latrech recalls huddling around a TV with his colleagues on 9/11. "What are those bastards doing?" said one, as the World Trade Center collapsed. "Oh ... Sorry, Mourad, I didn't see you standing there." Being lumped in with terrorists has become one of the great...
...Pressure to Conform Many Muslims make daily choices to blend into mainstream office culture. Consider the Dutch marketing consultant who drinks wine at client lunches. Or the British computer-graphics expert who says he's popping out for a sandwich rather than admit he's going to the mosque. Or Arslan, who had to jettison her cultural values to argue for a raise: "Modesty is an Islamic virtue, but if you're modest, you don't get anywhere in Europe." Just as working mothers do, Europe's Muslim professionals raise issues about white-collar workplace culture and its demands. Those...
...stringent ISAF rules of engagement are sometimes given different emphases by the Dutch and the Australians. In October, the Dutch tipped off Uruzgan's new governor, Assadullah Hamdam, that a major operation, Spin Ghar, was about to be conducted in the Baluchi Valley, 16 km north of Tarin Kowt. They dropped leaflets and broadcast messages telling villagers how to protect themselves during the operation, which involved Australian, Dutch, Afghan and British forces. Rietdijk says Spin Ghar uncovered many weapons caches without a single civilian casualty. But Australian SAS sergeant Matthew Locke was shot dead on a reconnaissance mission, and Dutch...
...Dutch Lieutenant Colonel Rietdijk says that in the long term, the ISAF's mission is "not about how many people you kill. What counts is how many areas think they are better off staying with the government." He believes local people have little allegiance to distant Kabul; far stronger are their ties to clan and tribe. "If you convince a tribal leader to cooperate with the governor," he says, "then his people will do so as well...
...playing a role in the current trend. "If you look at the proliferation of [the designs] over the past few years, it goes with digital technologies that allow designers to do fairly complex kinds of patterning and laser cutting," he says. The intricate flora-and-fauna-filled curtains of Dutch designer Tord Boontje, who has made florals cool to a new generation, would be virtually impossible otherwise...