The Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University will present a discussion Thursday, April 12 on the topic Trouble in Paradise? Making Sense of Violent Urban Conflicts Ignited by Cartoons, Films and Other Symbols. The lecture, led by Maarten Hajer, professor of public policy at Universiteit van Amsterdam, will be held at NYU Wagner from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in The Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue.
The assassination of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist in November 2004 shocked the Netherlands. Critics of Multiculturalism quickly linked the murder to the perceived failure of the “soft” integration policies and questioned the authority and legitimacy of Amsterdam’s political leadership.
It is tempting to connect this incident to the sudden outbreak of violence in the streets of Paris and other French cities in 2004, the Danish’ cartoon incident, and the reports of a deteriorating relationship with the Muslim population coming from a variety of countries, including Germany and the UK. Such issues pose a fundamental challenge to democratic authorities, and this lecture will discuss the response of the Dutch political leaders to this very hard-to-control dynamic.
- Who: Maarten Hajer, professor of public policy, Department of Political Science, Universiteit van Amsterdam.
- What: “Trouble in Paradise? Making Sense of Violent Urban Conflicts Ignited by Cartoons, Films and Other Symbols,” sponsored by NYU Wagner.
- Where: Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, The Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue, 2nd Floor, Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street (@ Houston), lower Manhattan.
- When: Thursday, April 12, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Please RSVP to https://www.nyu.edu/wagner/events/conflictsymbols.php