Koster Wieteke

This author's articles

• Europe’s Social Cohesion in the Aftermath of a Political Murder

  14 December 2004
  On the morning of 2 November 2004, Theo van Gogh was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam. While riding his bike, he got caught up by a 26 year old man with both the Dutch and Moroccan nationality, who twanged him with a knife, shot him down afterwards and placed a note with ‘Islamic texts’ with a knife on his chest. The Dutch Minister for Justice, Piet-Hein Donner declared the suspect found himself in the surroundings of "extremist Muslims who get for that reason particular attention of the AIVD". Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende reacted by saying that Theo van Gogh was a fighter for the freedom of speech. He underlined that The Netherlands is a country in which people can express their opinion freely. He stated that democracy is a cooperation of people who differ in opinion, but who solve their disagreements with words.