Muslims in Chechnya and the Netherlands

The struggles facing the Muslim communities in Chechnya and the Netherlands have led to violent reactions in recent years. However, Chechnya and the Netherlands have drastically different circumstances that led to the violence. Chechnya has a long history of aggression laid upon it by the Russian government, whereas the Netherlands has been a neutral country that has feared violence in the past. However, the differences do not end there; Chechnya converted to Sunni Islam in order to receive help from the Ottoman Empire against Russian occupation, whereas the Netherlands experienced sporadic Muslim migration from the Dutch East Indies from immigration workers, people attempting to reunite their families, and asylum seekers. In spite of their differences in early history, the Muslim communities in both country have experienced hardships which have resulted in Islamic extremist responses. This paper will examine the differences in both countries that led to these violent responses from the Muslim community by analyzing why they happened.

Chechnya and the Netherlands

Chechnya has lived under Russian oppression since the 1700s, and has made several attempts to separate from Russia in the 20th century, which culminated with the First Chechen War in 1994. These separation attempts made by the Chechen government were due to the fact that the people felt their national Islamic identity was being threatened by Russia. This led to portions of its population to begin extremist methods of terrorism in order to obtain their objectives. As a result, Chechnya became influenced by outside agents who created a power struggle within the Chechen government, leading to both Chechen Wars. Chechen leaders and warlords created a national identity closely tied to Islam as a way to unite their people against the Russian government. The Chechen mindset became a war against Russian aggression for territory, freedom, national honor, identity, and religion. In the text, the relationship between Islam and Chechen national identity was created by its leaders and warlords to take up aggression towards the Russian government. (Baker and Glasser, 117)

The Russian government did not like the fact that Islam had become such an integral part of Chechen governmental policy. They viewed radicalization in Chechnya as a result of Islamic principles, and therefore caused brutal damage to the Chechen society during both Chechen Wars, causing the infrastructure and economy were obliterated, and public order broke down almost entirely. This resulted in disorder and lawlessness, which caused widespread poverty, and high levels of unemployment among young adults. In turn, resentments were fueled toward the Russian government. This resentment led to violent political action as all people united in being deprived of economic opportunities or political advantages. Illegal acts ensued, as did the rise of separatism and extremism.

This contributed to the ineffectiveness of Chechen leadership, as the government began to lose more credibility to Islamists. As a result, the Islamist fundamentalists to split apart from the Chechen government and gave way to the rise of extremist acts against Russia. At this point, it became evident that the relationship that developed centuries ago between Islam and Chechen nationalism became increasingly stronger as Russian brutality and religious oppression. This relationship was then exploited by warlords trying to garner support for a more extreme resistance movement and Islamic slogans were used to convince the civilian population. Essentially, this relationship grew recently out of conflict with Russia's suppression of religion, which had been an important part of the fabric of the Chechen people. (Baker and Glasser, 102)

The radicalization of the Chechen resistance movement was directly instigated by the politicization of Islam and antagonism from Russian governance. This gained the support of foreign supporters in Afghanistan, who contributed to the ineffectiveness of the Chechen government's resistance to Russian policy. Therefore, there was a jihadist movement that formed in the wake of the Russian brutality, which has been fueled by the rise of worldwide Islamic extremism. Warlords began to amass in Chechnya by channeling funds from Islamic movements in the Middle East, which has resulted in a full-fledged Islamic movement in Chechnya. (Baker and Glasser, 72) This situation is quite similar to what is facing the Muslim community in the Netherlands

The Dutch have always been traditionally tolerant to immigrants from other countries, and were therefore have a sizable Muslim population. However, this has changed in recent years following the murder of filmmaker

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