Mayor of Rotterdam tells Islamic radicals to f*** off if hostile to western freedoms

The Dutch are famously straight-talking, but even they were left with their jaws in their laps in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo killings when the mayor of Rotterdam went on television to tell radical Islamists that if they didn't like western freedoms, they should "f*** off". Simple as that.

It’s not simple, of course. And only a politician sure of his own strategic compass and his ability to gauge the shifting mood of this melting-pot city, where more than 50 per cent of the population is of overseas origin, would have dared put his neck on the block like that.

Meet Ahmed Aboutaleb (53), born a Sunni Muslim, of Berber ancestry, in a small village in northern Morocco, son of the local imam. He moved to the Netherlands in 1976 at the age of 15 and proceeded to build a remarkable life at the political heart of his adopted country.

To those who say it’s impossible for immigrants from certain backgrounds to integrate, Aboutaleb is the living proof that it is not. To those who claim that such immigrants will never be allowed to progress socio-economically or be accepted socially, the same applies.

To those who say you must deny one identity in order to embrace the other, he points to his dual citizenship: Dutch and Moroccan.

When it comes to being forthright on potentially explosive issues such as immigration and terrorism, therein lie both his political and moral authority.

Har

d won

He’s never claimed it was easy. On the contrary, when first appointed in 2009 he acknowledged that there were many who expected him to fail – most notably right-wing politician,

Geert Wilders

, who commented acidly that if he wanted to become a mayor, he should become “mayor of Rabat”.

They expected him to fail because politics in the enormous port city on the Maas river had become synonymous with the late Pim Fortuyn, who once described Islam as "a backward culture", and whose party scored a major victory in local elections in 2002, forcing Labour out of power.

When Fortuyn was assassinated months later, the conventional wisdom was that he had begun an irreversible trend in the city, until Aboutaleb proved that wrong – earning himself the nickname, “Obama on the Maas”, for his ability to defuse confrontations and build cross-cultural bridges.

He’d happened into politics after taking an engineering degree and working in journalism, cutting his teeth as Labour’s junior minister for social affairs, but his success in Rotterdam showed he’d found his natural milieu.

He was appointed for a second six-year term last September, confirming him in office until 2021.

Voice for common sense

In a country on edge because of the threat from jihadists returning home from Iraq and Syria, Aboutaleb has been a consistent voice for common sense, moderation and unity – winning (without a shred of irony) the accolade of Dutchman of the Year in 2014.

He brought those impressive credentials to bear when he aimed these comments at radical Islamists after the Charlie Hebdo killings: "It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom. But if you don't like freedom, then for heaven's sake, pack your bags and leave.

“If you don’t like it here because some humourists are publishing a little newspaper you don’t like, may I say that you should just f*** off. It is stupid and incomprehensible. Leave the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here or accept the society we want to build.”

They were comments that won support from the mayor of another large, multicultural European city across the North Sea – Boris Johnson in London, who, despite their political differences, described Aboutaleb as "a hero", and "the voice of the Enlightenment, of Voltaire".

Mr Johnson observed: “If we are going to win the struggle for the minds of these young people, then that is the kind of voice we need to hear – and it needs, above all, to be a Muslim voice.”

Johnson is right. That’s why no other senior Dutch politician could have said what Aboutaleb said without appearing racist – and why the Netherlands has breathed a huge sigh of relief that he had the courage.

In striking a blow for all those innocent Muslims he said would now be “stared at” suspiciously in the streets of the Netherlands, the mayor of Rotterdam has also struck his own blow for freedom of expression.