Breaking Polarization: Start with Acknowledgment

A multicultural society is unity in a shared identity.
Not separation, discrimination, and polarization.

In multicultural and liberal countries, where a diverse composition has been democratically chosen - such as Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, the US, Germany, and the UK - every effort should be made to prevent polarization.
If diversity and inclusion are at the core of national identity, one must guard against the emergence of segregated worlds.
However, in current practice, a reverse inequality threatens to arise, where the original inhabitants increasingly feel marginalized.

Polarization arises when remembrance or attention to suffering is one-sided.
For example, if only the slavery of Africans is emphasized while the suffering of other groups is completely ignored, some people feel excluded or unrecognized. This can lead to resentment and an "us versus them" mentality.

In reality, slavery is a worldwide historical phenomenon: almost all peoples have been enslaved or have themselves held slaves—ranging from Europeans to Africans, Asians, and Arabs.
A fair and balanced approach helps to prevent division.

Racism is racism – period. Whether it is directed against people with black, white, brown, or any other skin color, it remains a denial of human dignity. No one deserves to be collectively humiliated, excluded, or hated based on their origin.

Yet we see that the fight against racism is not always free from new forms of exclusion. When statements like "I don't like white men. I want them to be a lost species in a hundred years" (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown) or "we need to abolish the white race" (Noel Ignatiev) are hardly criticized, while every racist remark directed at people of color rightly meets fierce resistance, a dangerous double standard arises.

For example, actress Jane Fonda stated that "white people are responsible for the climate crisis" – a statement that unjustly reduces the complex, worldwide history of exploitation and ecological damage to a single race, while nearly every civilization in history has been guilty of oppression and slavery.

Also, Tim Wise, an anti-racist speaker, claimed that white people can never be victims of racism in principle. But racism without power is not an innocent variant – it remains racism.

Such tendencies have societal consequences. In Rotherham, England, between 1997 and 2013, about 1,400 children were victims of systematic sexual abuse by so-called 'grooming gangs,' predominantly made up of men of Pakistani descent. 

Police and youth care ignored reports, partly out of fear of being labeled racist or Islamophobic. In some cases, victims were even seen as "choosing prostitution." Official reports confirm that institutional fear of stigma led to the neglect of fundamental human rights.

Those who want to fight injustice must do so consistently. When fighting one injustice leads to ignoring or even causing another injustice, we lose our credibility – and ultimately our moral compass.

No work for Joris, but work for Sadiqa. Joris van Os, a white Dutch man, was unable to get his literary work published despite its quality. Therefore, he created a pseudonym and identity as a young Moroccan-Dutch woman, Sadiqa Almakhadie. Under that name, he suddenly received much praise, publications, and a literary award. When he revealed his true identity, the publisher initially showed understanding, but later controversy arose. An intern accused his work of cultural appropriation, and the publishing house ultimately decided not to release the book due to 'misleading' the publishers. Van Os wanted to demonstrate how identity and marketing in the literary world can sometimes be more important than the work itself, and that publishers often prefer to 'market' white men.

He advocates for more openness and clarity about how publishers deal with identity. Read the full article here.

Christian identity suddenly offensive.  In 2017, Lidl removed images of church crucifixes from packaging in Italy and Belgium. After protests, including a complaint from the mayor of Dolceacqua, the images were replaced with versions where the crucifixes were visible again.

Censorship and alteration of classic literature. In March 2021, controversy arose in the Netherlands and Belgium over a new translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, in which the name of the Islamic prophet Muhammad was omitted from the passage about hell (Inferno). The translator explained that this was done to "avoid unnecessary offense" and to make the book more accessible to a wider audience. However, popes and homosexuals were still depicted in hell.

No room for one's own heritage. Woke row erupts after Nottingham University puts trigger warning on Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales - because they contain 'expressions of Christian faith'

Violence Against White Farmers: What's Going On?

Some white farmers in South Africa have been brutally murdered. There are harrowing cases in which entire families have been attacked — sometimes involving torture or hate-filled language. These incidents are real and horrific.

South Africa has an extremely high murder rate overall: more than 20,000 murders per year, which amounts to roughly 60 per day.
Most victims are Black South Africans, often living in poor townships. Farm murders represent a small percentage of all killings, but they stand out due to their often violent nature and the isolation of many farms. South Africa continues to struggle with the legacies of apartheid: poverty, inequality, trauma, and a deeply violent society.

Many South Africans — Black, white, and everyone in between — are working hard together toward healing and justice.

"Makeba" is a song by Jain, released in 2015. It is a tribute to Miriam Makeba, a famous South African singer and activist known as "Mama Africa", who fought against apartheid in South Africa.

Apartheid (1948–1994) was a system of legalized racial segregation imposed by the white minority government in South Africa.

"There will come a day when we will see many more radicals, extremists, and terrorists coming from Europe, due to a lack of decisiveness, trying to be politically correct, or assuming that they know the Middle East, Islam, and 'the others' better than we do. And I'm sorry, but that is pure ignorance." — from the speech of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE) during the Tweeps Forum in 2019.

The Tweeps Forum is an international, interactive event launched in 2013 and held in Riyadh. It is organized by the MiSK Foundation of Mohammed bin Salman. It serves as a platform where youth and leaders worldwide come together to discuss how social media can effectively contribute to society, peace, and security. Themes include combating extremism, counter-terrorism, and the role of social media in sharing meaningful ideas.

For sheer ignorance and the deliberate choice to ignore problems, it is the citizens who pay the highest price.

The number of attacks is no longer countable. On 7 July 2005, four suicide bombers carried out coordinated attacks on London's public transport system, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700.
And then there was the Manchester Arena bombing (2017), the Bataclan and Paris attacks (2015), the Brussels Zaventem and metro attacks (2016), the Berlin Christmas market attack (2016), the Nice truck attack (2016), the London Bridge and Borough Market attack (2017), the Stockholm truck attack (2017), the Vienna attack (2020), the Utrecht station attack (2019), and more. 

Let us also not forget the French history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded in October 2020, and the murder of Theo van Gogh (2004).

Or the 85-year-old French priest Jacques Hamel, who was beheaded during a Mass in the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in 2016 by two Islamic terrorists. Or the sexual violence. 

How do we address this issue? Certainly not by denying its existence and immediately labeling those who point it out as Nazis. If anything is fascist, it is silencing dissenting voices. Think of Pim Fortuyn, who was demonized for years and was ultimately murdered in 2002 by a left-wing activist. Or Wil Schuurman, the wife of Janmaat, who was left permanently disabled in an attack by left-wing activists and still uses a wheelchair. To this day, the perpetrators show little to no remorse. These are painful examples of how political polarization and hatred lead to violence and injustice — something we must never ignore.

What can we learn from the United Arab Emirates?

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has traditionally taken a very different approach to refugee reception than many Western countries. Unlike some European countries, such as Germany or Sweden, the UAE has not taken in large numbers of refugees through official refugee programs or asylum systems. However, the UAE provides significant humanitarian aid to refugees in the region. It has relatively strict immigration and residency permit rules, making it difficult for refugees to be admitted. The number of attacks in the UAE is relatively rare. 

Recognizing a problem is the first step towards a solution.

See Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims by Yasmine Mohammed

'I am just the wife' 

Samantha Lewthwaite, for anyone who may have forgotten, is the Christian-born daughter of a former British soldier who became a Muslim convert and married one of the 7/7 London suicide bombers, Germaine Lindsay.

Following the 2005 attacks, she initially claimed ignorance of her husband's plans, but later disappeared and resurfaced as a suspected key figure in multiple terrorist attacks in Africa.

'Samantha played dumb – I am just the wife,' former Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism officer David Videcette recalled when interviewed for the Netflix series, World's Most Wanted.

 Lewthwaite is believed to have joined the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, playing a central role in financing and coordinating attacks that have killed over 240 people, including the 2013 Westgate mall siege and the 2015 Garissa University massacre.

Despite an international arrest warrant, she has evaded capture for nearly two decades and is thought to be hiding in Somalia. 

Fatima Aberkan, often referred to as one of Belgium's most prominent "ISIS brides," is a Belgian national who left for Syria during the rise of the Islamic State. Like other Western women who joined the caliphate, she initially claimed she had been misled and knew little about the group's true nature.

However, investigations revealed that Aberkan had strong ideological ties to jihadist networks in Belgium even before her departure. She came from a radicalised family, with multiple members involved in extremist circles. Fatima herself was suspected of playing a more active role than she publicly admitted, possibly in recruitment or propaganda.

Her case drew significant attention in Belgium and highlighted the challenges of dealing with returnees who pose potential security risks while often portraying themselves as victims.

 it is a common pattern in cases involving women connected to jihadist groups like ISIS or al-Shabaab: they often claim ignorance or downplay their role. This happens for several reasons, both strategic and psychological.

Many of these women portray themselves as passive followers — wives, mothers, or victims — rather than active participants. This narrative can serve as a legal defense, aiming to reduce criminal responsibility or public backlash. It also plays into wider societal perceptions that underestimate women's agency in violent extremism.

In some cases, women may indeed have been misled or held limited power within these networks. But in others, evidence shows that women acted as recruiters, fundraisers, or even moral enforcers within these groups — roles they rarely admit to publicly. Figures like Samantha Lewthwaite, Shamima Begum, and Fatima Aberkan all initially denied deeper involvement, but were later linked to radical networks and terrorist activity. Their stories highlight how ideology, manipulation, and self-preservation often intersect — blurring the line between victimhood and complicity.

Despite the serious consequences of their actions, many of these women rarely express genuine remorse or take responsibility. Instead, they maintain carefully crafted stories of innocence — denying involvement, shifting blame, or outright lying. This consistent refusal to acknowledge their role raises important questions about accountability, justice, and the true nature of radicalisation.