Dyab/verkiezingen/buitenlandse media

Enkele artikels zijn verschillend, hetgeen het meest voorkomt is dat van AFP.

From jail to campaign trail: Belgium's Arab nationalist touches raw nerves

"A Lebanese refugee running for parliament is giving a confrontational twist to elections in this Belgian city, a center of anti-immigrant feelings in Europe."

"The prime minister calls Dyab Abou Jahjah a threat who thrives on "confrontation and provocation." The interior minister wants to create a law just to keep him off the streets."

"Over the past six months, Abou Jahjah has spent a week in jail and was barred from attending public meetings for allegedly inciting race riots. He denies the charge."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/05/16/international0327EDT0454.DTL

'Belgian Malcolm X' seeks office

"Now, the man sometimes called the "Belgian Malcolm X" is trying to make the leap from activism to political office: He is running for a parliamentary seat in a heated election Sunday in which immigration is a pivotal issue.

Mr. Abou Jahjah's confrontational style is forcing Belgians to consider questions echoing elsewhere in Europe: Are immigrants welcome? What does it mean to be a European?"

"Professor Herman De Ley, director of the Centre for Islam Studies at the University of Ghent, attributes Abou Jahjah's popularity to a new assertiveness among the children of the Muslim immigrants who began arriving in Belgium to fill labor shortages after World War II.

"This generation ... demands their rights as citizens and are willing to use radical means to have their demands met," he says. The expansion of the AEL "is not dangerous," he says. "Rights have to be fought for."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0516/p06s01-woeu.html

Feature: Antwerp edgy ahead of poll

"According to Abou Jahjah, a charismatic 31-year old Muslim who has been dubbed "Belgium's Malcolm X," it is a tactic that has failed."

"The Vlaams Blok is not the problem," he told UPI. "The problem is the policies of the government and the city council and the way they are dealing with issues such as unemployment, housing, education and racial discrimination."
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030515-123135-2527r

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