The change in attitude in the Netherlands has been brought on largely by the stabbing to death in public and broad daylight of the film director (Van Gogh, I think his name was).
The Dutch prided themselves for a long time on being at the forefront of the open, multi-culti, everything-goes movement. I have quite a few friends in the Netherlands, of varying nationalities, and it is interesting to hear some of the views nowadays.
Some are questioning the drugs situation, more and more are unhappy with the EU and the euro is out of favour, and all are questioning the muslim situation (though not all are questioning immigration as such, but that could just be the people I know).
The Dutch 'no' vote was a bigger shock than the French vote, I think, especially to the Dutch themselves. I think it showed a few of them that there was an alternative and you could think about the direction the country was going in.
More power to em!
|