Diaspora 15:2/3 2006

Slow Awakening? The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands, 1977-2007

Jan Abbink African Studies Center, Leiden; VU University, Amsterdam
This essay offers a preliminary account of the development of the Ethiopian diaspora in the Netherlands, charting the process of community formation among Ethiopian immigrants posited within a five-phase diaspora developmental model (DDM) that has theoretical applicability to a wide array of migrant groups. The discussion traces the various stages in the emergence of the Ethiopian community in the Netherlands, suggesting that by 2007, the community had reached stage 4 of the DDM, a juncture at which people abandon plans to return to their homeland and invest in lives in the host country. The important transition to stage 4 was achieved in 2007 as a result of the dual impact of a new Dutch Law giving most Ethiopians resident status and of initiatives connected to the widespread celebration of the Ethiopian Millennium on 11 September of that year. The discussion ends with consideration of how the community will likely develop as a whole and what the prospects are for creative opportunities, given its small size and the restrictive social and institutional environment of Dutch society. (December 2008)

Introduction
In this essay I offer a preliminary account of the development of an Ethiopian diaspora in the Netherlands.^ African migrant communities or diasporas have been an integral part of the Western urban landscape of postmodernity since the 1970s. Migratory flows of refugees, economic migrants, students, or professionals of various kinds have produced substantial communities that have adapted to new conditions and transformed themselves in the process. Their emergence has posed challenges to the host societies with respect to identity, ethnic pluralism, legal issues, and integration, evoking the familiar prohlematic of multiculturalism, with the nation seen as a Jan Abhink, "Slow Awakening? The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands, 1977-2007," Diaspora 15.2/3 (2006): 361-380. 2011 Diaspora: a journal of transnational studies. 361

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 cultural mosaic (Eriksen 123, 143). There are also obvious challenges for the migrating groups themselves: they cannot simply maintain their identity, and always underestimate the changes expected from them by the receiving society in terms of education, sociocultural traits, and economic skills. The migrants go through transformation processes that redefine their identities in a personal and collective sense and that create new forms of both nearness to and distance from their country of origin, though in unexpected forms. The migrant or diaspora experience in Europe differs significantly from that in the United States or other continents: there is another historical trajectory, and a quite divergent set of ideological and socio-economic conditions that traditionally inhibited large-scale immigration and restricted receptiveness. Indeed, for many centuries Europe was itself a major exporter of people (to the United States, Canada, Australia, etc.). In a few European countries, the formation and integration of migrant communities take place without prohlems, but European countries do not have the "immigrant country" ideology. They seem to have more enduring concerns about national identity and continuity, although there is broad disagreement witbin European autochthonous societies about the nature of this identity. Some countries define their emerging multiculturality hy reference to a dominant culture (in Germany called the Leitkultur,^ "leading culture"); in others, even this concept is doubtful. In several countries, notably in Western Europe and including the Netherlands, problems are perceived to occur mainly with Muslim immigrants from North Africa, who more than other groups attract attention because of their educational and socio-economic problems as well as, in some places, their radical tendencies (Sniderman and Hagendoorn). They are seen to "resist" integration, and, indeed, their spokesmen are often themselves opposed to it.^ In Europe, public debates about immigration in the mass media and in national parliaments are lively and sometimes vehement; they are about the integrationor, at least, the accommodation of the newcomers, the future of diasporas, and possible immigration restrictions. No one speaks about assimilation in the Netherlands anymore, but the discussion of migrant integration, identity, rights, and duties is intense, with phases of critique of the multicultural model as well as accommodative responses (Scheffer, "Het multiculturele," Het Land; Doomernik). The demographic momentum of migration into Europe seems to have slowed a bit in recent years, due to stricter immigration regulation/restriction, but the existing immigrant communities are already large enough to have formed significant minorities that only partly interact with mainstream societies. Multiple
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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands identifications among migrant communities, as well as contested processes of multi- or inter-culturalization, are a permanent feature. Because of their small number and their lack of alliances with other (African) immigrant groups, Ethiopians in the Netherlands have not made their mark and have long lacked a clear communal identity. This situation is reflected in aso far quite limited range of cultural expression and innovation hy Ethiopian Dutch. At the same time, there is a growing interest and involvement on the part of Dutch natives in discovering and using the religious, culinary, and musical traditions of Ethiopia.^ Yet, as I shall demonstrate below, the recent change in the legal status of many Ethiopians and the organizational work associated with the celehration of the Ethiopian Millennium appear to have produced a series of dramatic changes in the Ethiopian diaspora in the Netherlands. Theoretical Positioning The emergence of diasporas has always posed challenges for the migrants themselves as well as for the receiving society. Glohalization processes of the last few decades have led to a lessening of assimilatory tendencies among migrants, as technological and economic conditions decrease the effects of time away from and distance from the homeland and other countrymen. These technologies allow migrants to maintain their links with fellow migrants at home and abroad, including their country of origin, and to move in global discursive spaces via digital environments (Internet sites, satellite TV) and social networks (via telephone, fax, e-mail, and exchange of DVDs and videos). Comparatively speaking, there appears to he a developmental cycle among migrant groups that follows a fairly consistent sequence of community formation. I here propose a diaspora developmental model (DDM) composed of five phases. I hypothesize that all migrant groups, including the Ethiopian Dutch community, go or will go through them. In each phase, depending on numhers, legal environment, and average economic position, there is a specific configuration of several elements: identity-forming processes, relations to the individual members of the host society, internal interaction and community organization, and specific modes of cultural expression. I contend that the nature, or even the very possibility, of cultural creativity or innovation on the part of a migrant/diaspora community is, apart from size, dependent on the phase in which it finds itself The first phase of the model is diffuse immigration, resulting in a random and unorganized population, who share a country of origin. At this stage, immigrants are socially fragmented, singles predominate, and people follow mostly individual strategies of adaptation.
363,

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 Often their host country is an accidental choice. Their main concern in this phase is to acquire legal status and some form of income either relief, welfare, or employment, whether legal or illegal. A minority of people who have come to receive higher education do not fit this picture, but these "sojourners" (Solomon 43) are neither inclined to form nor capable of forming a community, given their specific purpose for arrival and their expressed desire to stay only temporarily. The second phase is that oi group consciousness and tentative selforganization, in which people from the same home country discover each other and the prohlems they share with respect to language, status, work, and problematic personal background. They live in the shadow of their past problems and traumas resulting from political repression, economic hardship, and so on experienced in their home country. They try to deal with problems of displacement. Often there is a high level of (symbolic) political involvement in exile politics (Sheffer) and only a hesitant involvement with the host society, via some forms of instrumental but often still informal self-organization. In these first two phases of the DDM, migrants act largely as what Peggy Levitt has called "recipient observers" (931). The third phase is the transitional community phase. In this phase the migrants gradually develop their survival skills (working knowledge of the host language, securing income from a job or state social welfare, development of interest groups to negotiate with bureaucratic authorities) and loosen their orientation toward their country of origin. Self-doubt, a culture of complaint, and feelings of political deception work to create an ambivalent community that lives both here and there hut knows it has no choice but to reconfigure its identity in order to develop toward accommodation and possible citizenship in the new country. Here the migrants show themselves to be "instrumental adapters" (Levitt 931). The fourth phase sees the emergence of a diaspora community. Either by choice or by necessity, people abandon any plans to "return home" permanentlyand invest in their lives in the host country. They gradually concentrate on education and acquiring skills, raising families, earning money to support relatives in the home country, and solidifying organizations for mutual assistance, cultural (e.g., religious) expression, and establishing partnerships for negotiating with the authorities and institutions. Acceptance of dual identity emerges, and children are raised as members of the new society. Those who can afford it occasionally visit their country of origin, but few settle there again. Interest in cultural aspects of and products from the home country greatly increases: music, films, culinary products, clothing, and other items are imported. In this phase, ethnic restaurants and musical groups
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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands based in the traditions of the country of origin emerge and find a market. The fifth and final phase is that of the transnational diasporic communitythe mature diaspora, so to speak. In this phase, the community is no longer one of migrants but consists of citizens with a dual orientation toward both countries, who are familiar with and more and more at home in both, although based in the new homeland, which affords economic opportunity and stability. As Steven Vertovec has suggested, this phase is characterized hy new modes of cultural reproduction and a new type of consciousness and "sustained hy a range of modes of social organization, mohility and communication" (450). The public self-presentation of such communities is strong, and their organizational efficacy has increased as they try to make their mark in the puhlic sphere. There is a prominent presence in cyberspace, often with influential Weh sites (see Hafkin, this volume). Memhers of the diaspora engage in commercial and cultural exchange with their former homeland, and many regularly travel back and forth. In this phase, a growing number of people may have two physical homes and networksthat is, the focus on territoriality as such decreases, hecause hoth homeland and hostland, as well as the connecting networks, are important. Territory, for diasporans, chiefly becomes a (nostalgic) signifier, often with a quite dated or partial narrative framing. If possible, dual nationality is maintained. The Ethiopian American community can he said to have entered phase 5. Only in this phase do the migrants or diaspora members show themselves to he "purposeful innovators" (Levitt 931). Obviously this is a general model that is partly dependent on the particular stage an individual finds him- or herself in depending on the time of immigration. Recent arrivals may be in phase 2, struggling with the problems of loss, displacement, and suffering, while the community as a whole is marked as transnational (and can thus ease the inclusion of newcomers). In phases 4 and 5, the factor of generational change also hecomes important. The model is tentative and to he developed and tested further, hut it can he applied to any diaspora. It could he filled in with reference to social, economic, and political-legal conditions that affect or determine the status of the migrant/diaspora group, and thus come to explanations of its stage of development and its identity processes. I maintain that the Ethiopian Dutch community has heen going through such a DDM since the late 1970s and hy 2007 had reached phase 4, becoming a diaspora community. Their entry into phase 4 is a recent phenomenon and was accelerated specifically hy two events that occurred in 2007: the celehration of the Ethiopian Millennium in September, which led to a notable staging of public activities and self-promotion, and the new Dutch I .,365

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 government's reprieve law of May 2007,^ which gave most former Ethiopian asylum seekers (who had no legal status and were in limbo for more than a decade) residence permits and thus the prospect of citizenship (see below).

Emergence of the Ethiopian Community in the Netherlands The number of Ethiopians in the Netherlands is only a fraction of the total migrant population in the country. According to 2006 official figures, they numbered 10,300some 5% of the total African diaspora in the Netherlands, which officially numbers about 230,000.^ The first Ethiopians in the Netherlands arrived for (higher) education during the later years of the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I (r. 1930-1974), when agricultural experts, civil servants, and engineers were trained. The flow of students has never ceased since, and, indeed, the Netherlands is still a popular destination for Ethiopian students, as Table 1 shows. In the late 1970s, political refugees started to arrive as a result of the repression of the Derg government and the civil war in Ethiopia (the "Red Terror" and ethno-regional conflicts). Between 1976 and 1984, about 1,000 arrived, nearly half of whom were Eritreans (then statistically counted as Ethiopians), and a further 6,309 asylum seekers arrived between 1985 and 1996 (Emebet Dejene 83-5). Since 1996, between 100 and 150 Ethiopians have arrived every year, most of whom are unsuccessful in obtaining asylum but remain in the country nevertheless.^ The steady flow of Ethiopian immigrants in the late 1990s and 2000s continued after the Ethiopian regime change in 1991, fueled by the persistent unrest, violence, and politicaleconomic insecurity in the country. In 2002, as Table 1 shows, the main motive of Ethiopians (and of most Africans) who came to the Netherlands was to receive asylum (56%). But education was a strong second (20%), much more important than the average for Africans.^ For Ethiopians we thus see a bifurcated migration: at the lower end of the social scale are the asylum seekers, and at the top end those seeking (mostly higher) education. In the past five years (up to 2008), the proportion of
Table 1: Immigration motives of African immigrants, 2002: Percentage of total Work Asylum Family Marriage Education Other reunification partner All Africans Ethiopians
[

6 2

50 56

13 3

24 9

5 20

2 10

Source: CBS data, 2003

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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands asylum seekers has diminished somewhat and the proportion of immigration for purposes of family formation and reunification has gone up. Most Ethiopians live in the west of the Netherlands, mainly in big cities such as Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In the 1990s, the Dutch government introduced an immigrant-distribution policy and assigned newcomers to smaller counties and towns all over the country, in order to prevent large concentrations of people from the same group in a single place, prevent "ghettoization," and enhance integration. However, immigrants assigned to the east, south, and north of the country still try after some years to move to the western part, where facilities are better, where their relatives often live, and where they can find organized community life (Ministry of Justice, Afrikanen 66). In the Netherlands there is no sponsorship system; immigrants cannot be brought in hy family members or sponsors, except occasionally for reasons of family reunification, temporary study, or acute social or health needs. Economic migrants are not accepted except hy specific invitation of an employer. A small number come with official work permits and are usually on temporary contracts. Most Ethiopians arriving in the Netherlands have heen asylum seekers. From the moment they arrive, they fall into a subsidized existence: they are assigned to reception centers, are questioned, and may receive some basic language and acculturation courses. Then, without their status being clear, they are moved to temporary housing and finally to city council housing (rent paid hy the government). They are legally forhidden to study or work for the duration of their application procedure, including the appeals period. As Andrew and Lukajo note, "An asylum seeker cannot attend any training of any kind, including learning the Dutch language because this would lead to integration" (226). These migrants often receive legal assistance from the Dutch Refugee Council (VluchtelingenWerk Nederland), an important voluntary organization helping African and other asylum seekers, and from private asylum lawyers.^ If their request for asylum is not immediately rejected, migrants are granted one of three types of status permits: the preliminary temporary resident permit (in Dutch, WTV), the temporary resident permit (VTV), or the "A-status," the highest and key to eligibility for permanent residence.^ The suhsidy system and the very long waiting period for most asylum seekers before a decision is taken and the appeals against a rejection are finisheda process affecting several thousand Ethiopianshas meant that any economic and social initiatives by Ethiopians as a community were discouraged. Those rejected and waiting for a decision on their appeals were in limho for years, living in conditions of lingering insecurity.

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 Social Profile of Ethiopians in the Netherlands At least 32% of Ethiopians now in the Netherlands are secondgeneration immigrants, that is, born in the Netherlands. Most of the migrants came in their twenties, either as political refugees or as economic migrants, and then gradually started forming families. Interestingly, the Ethiopian community some years ago (CBS data for 2000) had a relatively higher rate of intermarriage with Dutch people than other African groups: an estimated 15% of men were married to Dutch women, and some 28% of Ethiopian women to Dutch men (Ministry of Justice, Afrikanen 66). While the number of intermarriages is now declining (Ministry of Justice, Integratiekaart 50), the earlier high rate may partly reflect the population composition of the community in the 1980s, which included many singles (mostly men), reflecting the earlier pattern of political and economic motives for migration. In 2005, 54% of the Ethiopian community was male and 46% was female (van Heelsum 83). Some 28% of the community (over age 18) was single, and 9% were single-parent households, well above the Dutch average and also above that of African migrants in general. Only scarce data are available on the educational profile of Ethiopians in the Netherlands. A 2002 survey found that 14% had university education, 44% had finished high school, and 41% had finished only primary school and/or junior high school or vocational training (van Heelsum 86). Ethiopians in the Netherlands state that education is very important both for themselves and for their children, who are encouraged to perform well at school. Nevertheless, complaints about their lack of opportunities as vulnerable newcomers are frequent. Ethiopians are also critical of the Dutch education system, which they view as characterized by lax attitudes, little respect for teachers from pupils, and little exercise of authority by teachers. Ethiopian Dutch children, however, are generally doing well in school. Statistics show that of all migrant communities, Ethiopian children (together with Chinese) are the most successful in secondary education, showing no difference in this metric from native Dutch children (Van Rijna et al. 7). The integration or well-rootedness of a migrant community in a host society is usually measured by a number of key indicators, notably language mastery, employment, access to housing, and educational achievement. Self-organization also seems important. Language, more than in the United Kingdom or the United States, is key to migrants' participation and visibility in Dutch society. But there are prohlems here. Ethiopians have no familiarity with Dutch before their arrival. Moreover, while many can manage
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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands on a hasic level, most do not master Dutch, and the few who succeed take a long time to do so. In the Netherlands, however, a good knowledge of Dutch is vital. As one informant said, "If you don't master it [Dutch] you don't count, you get slighted. Already a foreign accent is seen as a liahility, except in educated, intellectual circles, perhaps" (personal interview, 18 Sept. 2007). Once in the country, Ethiopians have not had the opportunity to study long enough to attain mastery, hecause the Dutch law prohibited many asylum seekers from enrolling in serious (subsidized) language courses. All have pursued some form of language education at some stage (van Heelsum 86), hut most did not finish and did not attain fluency. Those who did attain fluency did so hy studying on their own and hy insisting on speaking Dutch with everyone. The best speakers are obviously found among the younger generation, those horn in the Netherlands. When hoth parents are Ethiopian and speak Amharic (or another Ethiopian language) at home, the children are usually fluent in both Amharic (or Oromiffa or Tigrinya) and Dutch, and switch languages effortlessly; in a mixed marriage with a Dutch partner, the children often do not speak good Amharic but usually understand what is said. The lack of language skills has led to problems in the lahor market, where Dutch is a necessity, except perhaps in academic environments (e.g., research) or occasionally in the higher echelons of husiness. African migrants often know either English Q.\ke the Ethiopians) or French, the other leading colonial language, but this does not help them much in the Netherlands. Data in Van den Tillaart et al.'s field study suggest that at least half of those who work do so at a joh helow their level of education, training, or experience. In 1999, 50% of Ethiopians had a joh and 14% were unemployed (63); the rest were employed in domestic services off the books (16%),^^ were unfit to work, or were enrolled in educational or vocational training. Of those employed, only half had permanent employment. Virtually all Ethiopians live in rented housing, either provided by city councils after the asylum procedure has ended or assigned by the Central Asylum Agency. Ethiopians do not own houses, due to their low income, lack of savings, and lack of secure joh prospects, as well as hecause of the extremely high real-estate prices in the Netherlands. A remarkable aspect of Ethiopian Dutch life is the plethora of selforganizations that has emerged over the years (Lindenberg), including, in 2004, no less than 114 organizations of Ethiopians and Eritreans. ^^ In early 2008 it was estimated that there were about sixty to seventy organizations of Ethiopians (not counting either Eritrean groups or Dutch organizations that work on development projects on or in Ethiopia). This phenomenon could he seen as a

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 sign of division and discord in the community hut also, as some Dutch are inclined to say, as a measure of integration, hecause Dutch society is itself equally marked by a huge number of similar and duplicating organizations and associations. Most importantly, voluntary organizations of minorities and other civil-society groups can receive subsidies from local and state authorities, as they are seen as working in the public social interest. Most of the Ethiopian Dutch organizations are either political groups (e.g., political party hranches or support groups), religious groups or congregations, public-interest/advocacy groups focusing on Ethiopia and the Horn,^'' or development organizations run by a few people. There are also some consultancy agencies. Growing in numher recently are cultural associations. An important general organization claiming to represent most of the Ethiopians in the Netherlands is the Vereniging voor Ethiopirs in Nederland (VEN), the Union of Ethiopians in the Netherlands, which in 2006 said it had almost 600 memhers. Various ethnonational groups from Ethiopia also have their own organizations; for example, there are at least three Oromo organizations^'* and four OgadenSomali organizations, which stand outside the mainstream of Ethiopian organizations. The latter two communities may be said to form an Ethiopian sub-diaspora, de-emphasizing their Ethiopian-ness.^^ The complex organizational picture in the Ethiopian Dutch community in 2006-2007 revealed plenty of small-scale activities but neither a strong presence in the public sphere nor an assertive and independent leadership that set the agenda for Ethiopian diaspora presence. Most active was a group of politically concerned people (first-generation refugees) who sought contacts with NGOs and with various Dutch ministries, seeking to advise them ahout development cooperation and Ethiopian political conditions. In the early 1990s, religious activities also emerged in a more organized form with the establishment of branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and various Evangelical congregations. At Home Abroad: Rebuilding Ethiopian Sociability in the Diaspora Most Ethiopians note that their first years in the Netherlands were very difficult because of the unintelligible social environment, homesickness, and the behavior of the Dutch. Ethiopian cultural codes are in general more suhtle and sensitive than the Dutch code of directness, which is often rather blunt. Political refugees in the 1980s may have been more tolerant of this because their arrival in a new country made them feel safe and out of
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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands danger; nevertheless, few Ethiopians found that Dutch people or institutions understood their background and problems. Those who were able to adjust did so primarily through the support of friends or relatives. First-generation Ethiopian adaptation in the Netherlands (in phases 1-2 of the DDM) could be characterized as a quest for the renewal of solidarity, community, and social identity. As the community went through phases 2 and 3 of the DDM, they remained active in exile politics, trying to influence Dutch institutions and agencies (e.g., NGOs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where frequent contacts were sought) and to maintain contact with other sections of their diasporic political organizations abroad. Several members of the community initiated their own Web sites and newspapers, organized conferences, published in the Dutch press, and hecame active in diaspora politics. To some extent, politics and ethno-politics still divide the community. One can speak of a numerically dominant general Ethiopian category (the largest, with people of mixed hackground, including Amhara, Gurage, Kfa, Wolaitta, and some other southerners), a Tigrayan sub-group, an Oromo sub-group, and also the previously mentioned Ogaden-Somali sub-group. These four sub-groups (a flfth would be the Ethiopian-Eritreans) stand somewhat apart from each other in community affairs and rarely mix socially. This division has its origins in the period of the Derg (1974-1991), when most of the Ethiopians now in the Netherlands came fleeing the Red Terror or the ethno-regional conflicts, and has been maintained in the post-1991 period. Common features of the full range of Ethiopian sub-group diaspora/exile politicsincluding the radicalization of views, the use of strong and polemical language, and emphasis on homeland ethnic and geographical boundariestend to be reproduced in the Netherlands, hut have by no means reached the level of some US Ethiopian Web sites (see Lyons, this volume; Hafkin, this volume). Ethno-regional sub-identities among the Ethiopian Dutch exist (at least the four main ones mentioned) and partly map onto their Web sites and socio-political associations, which tend to avoid each other. Attempts are made to minimize this political tension through religious activity and neutral cultural events for both the community and the general Dutch audience (see below). Indeed, Ethiopians make an effort to rebuild sociability, notably through weddings, religious holidays and celebrations, and funeral gatherings. The preparation and exchange of Ethiopian food for such occasions is a major aspect of socializing and of bonding, in which mutual help is well developed and strict rules of reciprocity are in place. Thus communities are created or re-created in the new hostland setting. 371

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 Ambivalent Integration For most Ethiopians, the Netherlands was not their country of first choice. It is a difficult society, they say. Dutch society allowed them to stay, and provided them with procedures and support structures, but did not really welcome them or give them sufficient opportunities. The rather closed and regulated nature of Dutch society is a source of comment: There is a huge misunderstanding here: the Dutch are easy-going, are not against marrying or having relationships with foreigners, including Africans, they lack respect for authority, and are individualists. But they still are very conformist and conservative in their ways of doing things and their outlooks. It is fine for them to allow foreigners as refugees if situations in their countries are so bad. Perhaps they like to show, or see it confirmed, how nice and peaceful and well-organized their own country is. But they, the Dutch, cannot get used to the idea of our staying here forever, it seems. How often didn't I get the question, wellmeant or not: "When are you going back?" or "Doesn't your country need you, with your experience and skills gained here?" (personal interview, 2 Feb. 2008) Furthermore, the first generation of political refugees saw themselves as living in exile, and were waiting for a change of regime and a chance to return home. Many still feel this way today, struggling with the question that one Ethiopian opposition leader recently posed: ... the thorny question that I suspect every exile must ask himself to give a larger meaning to his/her existence. The question is how do you justify your continued existence in exile once the main reason for your exile in the first place is there no more? When the reason for migration is voluntary and purely economic, this is less a nagging problem. But, for political refugees, it is such an emotional issue that most fail to take advantage of the opportunities provided hy their new home, living instead a meager dayto-day existence, afraid that they will become attached to their new country and forget their country of origin. (Berhanu) Obviously, the political situation and the violence in Ethiopia remain foremost in the minds of many Ethiopians. There is constant concern about the tensions and tragedies befalling their home country (see, e.g., "Petitie"). There is a perpetual ambivalence among Ethiopian Dutch as to how and why they should integrate. While they are currently in phase 4 of the DDM, their hond with the homeland is more cherished
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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands and growing stronger in cultural terms. Interest in their religious, culinary, musical, and cultural heritage is persistent and ongoing. Defining and constructing "heritage" in the diaspora is a major theme in most diaspora/migrant communities, and the Ethiopians in the Netherlands are no exception. In her survey of Ethiopians in the Netherlands during the 1990s, Emehet Dejene emphasized their "continued focus on the homeland." But recent interviews indicate that while there is still a deep affective link with the culture of the home country, Ethiopians are also coming to terms with their situation as citizens of a new homeland, the Netherlands.^^ Many no longer see themselves as sojourners who will eventually return home, and attempt to live as new memhers of Dutch society. Nevertheless, they remain proud of and publicize their heritage, and they show continued commitment to giving material support to their relatives in Ethiopia. Ethiopians are one of the less conspicuous African migrant communities in the Netherlands. They are not seen as heing a prohlematic community, and few Ethiopians figure in Dutch crime statistics. Nevertheless, the community has its share of problematic teenagers and of disoriented and highly frustrated people whose lives have run aground because of their long wait for a status and their lack of prospects. Many of them were well educated in Ethiopia hut were not successful in getting a joh in the new country. Most Ethiopians say they do not suffer from persistent, structural discrimination, and attrihute cases of individual discrimination to the ignorance, ill manners, or stupidity of the "foreigners" involved. The Role of Law and the Millennium Moment With reference to the theme of this volume, one could say that until recently, the general demographic, socio-economic, and perhaps psychological conditions for confident cultural expression and experimentation among Ethiopians in the Netherlands simply did not exist. This changed in 2007. A Change in Legal Status In May 2007 the Reprieve Law (generaal pardon-regeling) hrought significant change and a reversal of status for many Ethiopians in the Netherlands. The new center-left coalition government decided to review all cases of former asylum seekers and refugees, granting them resident status. Most of the candidates had been in the Netherlands for more than a decade in limbo, often illegally. In 2007 these former refugees received permits and hegan the
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Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 process of hecoming citizens.^^ The law sparked great relief among Ethiopians and created a visible optimism and renewed vigor to start a new life, with language study, education, joh training, and employment. The Ethiopian organizational leadership took up new initiatives to assist the new status-holders, which in turn led to more Ethiopian community building as well. While the Reprieve Law of May 2007 thus gave a major boost to the Ethiopian Dutch community, Ethiopian Web sites also exhibited more agitation and debate on Ethiopian politics and socio-economic prohlems after the suppressed 2005 elections and the two rounds of street killings in Addis Ahaba in June and November 2005. The Millennium Moment The Ethiopian Millennium was ushered in on 11 September 2007 with a flurry of activities. Ethiopians and their Dutch supporters used this milestone to mohilize the community, to appeal for personal involvement, and to push for development efforts and for public attention to Ethiopia and its problems. A Web site announced the reasons and plans for the Ethiopian Millennium Foundation (Stichting Ethiopisch Millennium, or SEM) and a series of public events of a cultural nature followed. ^ The SEM organized a photo exhibition at the National Ethnological Museum in Leiden called "Ethiopia on the Move," featuring work on contemporary Ethiopia by some Dutch and Ethiopian diaspora photographers. In Amsterdam, Ethiopian films were screened and the City Lihrary in The Hague mounted an exhihition on the Ethiopian script. From September 10 onward, daily events were held featuring local and national Dutch politicians, public demonstrations for peace in the Horn of Africa, and other large parties and meetings. On 16 September, events culminated with a market for Ethiopian products and a program of lectures hosted by the National Ethnological Museum. In the course of the year 2000 EC (20072008), the SEM continued to organize various seminars on the environment, gender, human rights, and migrant life; events were sponsored hy nineteen Dutch development NGOs, city councils, and cultural foundations. One remarkahle initiative was the Amen Ethiopia project, a Dutch-Ethiopian initiative involving a forty-day overland tour in July-September 2007 from Europe to Ethiopia hy Ethiopian peace and civil-society activists, with visits to religious, civic, and political leaders in the countries they crossed. This "pilgrimage of hope" was intended to draw worldwide attention to Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa as trouble spots in need of reconciliation and development, linking Ethiopians abroad and in the home country with support from the wider world.

The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands In the wake of the millennium fervor, other initiatives included the development and presentation of a new Ethiopian coffee hrand called Meleya ("identity") hy (Dutch) students from the New Business School Amsterdam and (Ethiopian) students from St. Mary's University College in Addis Ababa. This initiative, developed hy two Dutch Ethiopians, was intended to make good and responsihly produced Ethiopian products hetter known in the Netherlands, since the Dutch associate Ethiopia with hardly any products apart from art items (icons) and Ethiopian traditional clothes. ^^ The Ethiopian Dutch Network for Development Cooperation (Ethiopisch-Nederlands Netwerk voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, or ENNOS) was founded in 2006 as the main vehicle for gearing up to the millennial events. Seminars, lectures, training courses, and other gatherings sought to bring together the Ethiopian Dutch diaspora hy circumventing internal divisions and underlining social, developmental, and cultural aspects. On 8 March 2008 (International Women's Day), some Ethiopians in The Hague, at the request of the City Health Board, organized a workshop on gender issues. The subject was the place and problems of women in Ethiopian culture, focusing on female genital alteration. At a presentation given hy an Ethiopian Dutch woman telling her own story, many Ethiopians present were discomfited by the suhject, and some walked out. Someone later remarked that this kind of gathering was designed mainly to cater to the subsidy-providing Dutch circles, to score easy points on a controversial issue: "This is not cultural renewal or interest creation for a wider puhlic, but only bowing to frnji [foreign, i.e., non-Ethiopian] agendas." As a "Millennium event" the meeting did indeed seem ill suited. Many Ethiopians, while appreciating the city authorities' interest in their community, expressed their deep reserve about this issue and about the woman telling her story, perhaps because in some way the occasion might "shame" them as a community. The millennium activities, including the surge of cultural events and of development efforts in Ethiopia, have increased the stature of the Ethiopian community in the Netherlands, whose puhlic cultural profile had previously heen shaped largely by musical performance. For years, there have heen regular performances hy Ethiopian singers and hands, mostly for mixed Dutch and Ethiopian Dutch audiences. One of the most famous Ethiopian Dutch singers is Minyeshu Kifle, a dynamic singer-songwriter who performs Ethiopian and other African songs supported hy her band, Ch'ewata, which includes some Dutch members. Her songs about life and memories of Ethiopia do not address the Dutch diaspora but are all set within an Ethiopian frame of reference. Ethiopians come to listen to her, she says, because they are happy to hear ;375!

Diaspora 15:2/3 2006 songs about their country, about home, which they all miss (Carvalho). Minyeshu performed at several millennium events in 2007-2008, where she was well received by non-Ethiopian audiences.^ It is remarkable that there is no production to date of diaspora Ethiopian literature: no novels, autobiographies, plays, or poetry have been published by Ethiopian Dutch authors, either in print or online. Lack of fluency in Dutch may be one reason, but the main one is the lack of full and secure integration of the community. One might expect an upsurge of such products in phase 5 of the DDM (see above). This contrasts notably with the situation in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Israel. The first Dutch Ethiopian book published in the Netherlands was Alem Desta's popular-historical work on Ethiopian women, which appeared in 2007. The recent upsurge in the number of cultural events and thoughts about self-presentation and about the changing links with the country of origin has been substantial among the Ethiopian Dutch. A focus on cultural events in the wider sense and on social issues has allowed the community to move toward a more confident selfexpression of positive elements in Ethiopian culture: sociability, music, art and material culture, religious experience/spirituality, customs of mutual support in life-cycle events or crises^ ^and, of course, Ethiopian cuisine, both in the home and via a growing number of Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurants (see McCann, this volume). In this respect, the millennium year has enabled Ethiopians in the Netherlands to move decisively toward fuller participation in the wider society. We might cautiously conclude that the Ethiopian Dutch community is in the process of gradually becoming a more mature diaspora (phase 4 of the DDM, above), rediscovering and redefining elements from the Ethiopian (cultural) tradition. But it has not yet reached a real "transnational" character (Anteby-Yemini 623)^^ and is still marked by a certain passivity inherited from the past. Only a few people have been able to take full advantage of and think through their dual positioning as Dutch and Ethiopian. There is, however, a steady expansion of cultural and business links, with younger people and women playing a prominent role in creating the conditions for larger-scale cultural exchanges of both a commercial and a non-commercial nature. Gradually, members of the diaspora have also begun to transmit social remittances in their contacts with the home country (Levitt 933). In noting this transition, we must recall that not all Ethiopians feel committed to community formation and to providing aid to the home country. Apart from internal divisions, there are those who want to live their own lives and resent social control and obligatory reciprocity. The marketing
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The Ethiopian Diaspora in the Netherlands of Ethiopian heritage, as some see it, is in the hands of professional and organizational leaders and their Dutch partners, and does not involve all Ethiopians. In reflecting on the various phases of the DDM, it may be stating the ohvious to say that to claim that the community as a whole is in a specific phase does not preclude specific individuals from attaining success in cultural achievements, regardless of their community involvement or the phase they are in. But it remains to be seen how the community as a whole develops, pursues creative opportunities, and relates to and makes use of its Ethiopian heritage. That it took so long to realize the conditions for self-expression and visihility within the larger Dutch societycertainly as compared with the Ethiopian American community, which also started to emerge in the late 1970sis not only a result of the community's small size, its difficult struggle with the heritage of loss, and a need to overcome socio-economic prohlems hut also a product of the restrictive social and institutional environment of Dutch society.

Notes 1. Very few studies of Ethiopian or other Horn-of.Africa migrants in the Netherlands have been conducted. For some examples, see Dejene; Andrew and Lukajo. The information in the present essay refiects the situation up to early 2009. 2. The term was introduced by the German sociologist Bassam Tibi in 1996 ("Multikultureller") and in 2000 was taken up in German political debate (Europa). 3. Some groups argue for radical Islamization of the migrant communities originating from Muslim countries and for their dissociation from the "impure" host society, but they are a min. ority. The (Moroccan-Dutch) killer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 came from such a group (Gerlin). 4. Apart from secondary sources, data in this essay come from six years of participant observation in the Ethiopian community in the Netherlands, mainly in the west of the country (attending meetings, weddings, parties, and funerals); eight formal interviews with community spokesmen and leaders; study of lawyers' files and advisory work on Ethiopian asylum cases; and informal interviews with forty.three individuals on specific matters in 2007-2008. Statements not cited to specific sources are based on participant observation. 5. In fact this was a legal agreement, approved by Parliament, between the Dutch Ministry of Justice and the Union of Dutch Local Authorities (gemeenten\ see Ministry of Justice, Regeling). 6. The total population of the Netherlands in 2008 was 16.4 million, ahout 3 million of whom were migrants (Central Bureau of Statistics). There are no reliable data on illegal Africans, estimated at ca. 50,000-60,000. 7. Several hundred have found ways to move on to other countries; only some 5% went back to Ethiopia. 8. For Moroccans, on the other handa community formed since the mid.l960s and statistically not counted as Africansthe figure for family formation/reunification motives was a staggering 91% in 2002. This figure remains largely the same in 2008.

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9. All costs are paid by the Ministry of Social Affairs and local authorities as long as their status is not final. For information on the Dutch Refugee Council see their Web site at <http://www, vluchtelingenwerk, nl>, 10. As explained on the Web site of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). 11. Asylum seekers and others waiting for clarification of their status often took clandestine jobs to add to their meager income, 12. I.e., a density of 11 per 1,000 Ethiopians (Van Heelsum 87). Only Somalis had more organizations (Mohogu 206-7). 13. E,g,, the PADA (Peace and Appropriate Development in the Horn of Africa) Foundation and the DIR Foundation (<http://www,dirnet.nl/english/index.php>), both led by Ethiopians, Dir is the Amharic word for "thread" and refers to the Ethiopian saying "Many small threads can together tie up a lion," 14. E,g,, the Oromo Komit Nederland [OKN] and the Vereniging Hawaasa Oromo, 15. Segments of both the Oromo population and the Somali population in the Ogaden have been engaged in separatist initiatives directed against the Ethiopian state since the 1970s. These movements are based on a blend of geographic, religious, and ethnic factors (Abdi; Yusuf). 16. In 2009, between 75% and 80% of Ethiopian migrants in the Netherlands held Dutch citizenship, 17. The majority of these people (ca, 80-90%, according to experts and the IND) were economic refugees who could not ask for asylum on political grounds. 18. SEM has since been renamed Stichting Ethiopie Morgen (Ethiopian Tomorrow Foundation) and can now be found online at <http://www.ethiopie-morgen.nl/>, 19. Apart from coffee, Ethiopia's (weak) image in the Netherlands is associated with long-distance running (e,g,, Haile Gebreselassie's coach is Dutch), 20. Ethiopians have for years come from abroad to give concerts in major Dutch cities. Some collaborate on recording CDs with Dutch groups; in 2006, for example, a Dutch punk-funk band. The Ex, recorded with the well-known veteran Ethiopian jazz saxophonist Getachew Mekuria, 21. E,g,, the rapid pooling of financial resources after the death of an Ethiopian to support the transport of the body to Ethiopia, 22. In contrast to the Ethiopian Jews in Israel,

Works Cited Alem Desta, CandaceInvincible Women of Ethiopia. Amsterdam: Ethiopia Millennium Foundation, 2007, Andrew, Florence Aate, and Nelson Mono Lukajo, "Golden OpportunitiesReality or Myth? Horn of Africa Female Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands," Community Development Journal 40 (2005): 224-31, doi:10.1093/cdj/bsi033 Anteby-Yemini, Lisa. "Ethiopian Jews, New Migrations Models in Israel and Diaspora Studies." Bulletin du Centre de recherche franais de Jrusalem 15 (2004): 60-74, Berhanu Nega, "American Power and the Struggle for Democracy and against Terror in Africa," Lecture. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 26 Feb, 2008,

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Carvalho, Hester. "Van Ethiopie naar Eindhoven [From Ethiopia to Eindhoven)." NRCHandelsblad 24 Dec. 1999. 15 Nov. 2010 <http://www.nrc.nl/W2/Nieuws/1999/12/24/Vp/cs.html> Central Bureau of Statistics [CBS]. "StatLineBevolking, kemcijfers naar diverse kenmerken [StatLJnePopulationKey Figures on Diverse Characteristics]." The HagueHeerlen: CBS, 2007. 20 Aug. 2008 <http:istatline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?VW=T&DM=SLNL&PA=37296ned&Dl=024,26,41,45,47&D2=30,0-ll)-l&HD=080922-2250&HDR=Gl&STB=T>. Doomernik, Jeroen. 'Tbe State of Multiculturalism in tbe Netberlands." Canadian Diversity 4.1 (2005): 32-35. Emebet Dejene. "Ethiopirs: de band met het land van herkomst blijft bet fundament van bet bestaan [Ethiopians: The Bond with the Country of Origin Remains the Basis of Existence]." Afrikanen in Nederland [Africans in the Netherlands]. Ed. I. van Kessel and N. Tellegen. Amsterdam: ASC, 2000. 81-100. Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. Ethnicity and Nationalism. London: Pluto, 2002. Gerlin, Andrea. 'The Limits of Tolerance." Time 14 Nov. 2004. 6 Dec. 2010 <http://www.time.com/ time/magazine/article/0,9171,782075,00.html>. Immigratie- en Naturalisatiendienst [IND; Immigration and Naturalization Service]. "IND in Bedrief [Introducing the IND]." n.d. 15 Nov. 2010 <http://www.ind.nl/nl/inbedrijfyoverdeind/ cijfersenfeiten/archief/1995-2000/Asiel/vvtv.asp>. Levitt, Peggy. "Social Remittances: Migration Driven Local-Level Forms of Cultural Diffusion." International Migration Review 32 (1998): 926-48. doi:10.2307/2547666 Lindenberg, R. "Etbiopian Diaspora Organisations: Opportunities and Limitations for Development of Transnational Migrant Organisations in Tbe Netberlands." MA tbesis. U of Amsterdam, 2008. Ministry of Justice, Tbe Netberlands. Afrikanen uit Angola, DR Congo, Ethiopie, Eritrea, Nigeria en Soedan in Nederland. Een Profiel [Africans from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Nigeria, and Sudan in the Netherlands: A Profile]. Tbe Hague: Ministry of Justice, 2006. . Integratiekaart 2006. Cahier 2006-8 (Bijlage bij de Jaarnota Integratiebeleid 2006) [Integration Map 2006, Cahier 2006-9 (Appendix to the Yearly Report Integration Policy, 2006)]. The Hague: Ministry of Justice, Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek en Documentatiecentrum, and CBS, 2006. . Regeling Afwikkeling Nalatenschap ude Vreemdelingenwet [Agreement to Deal with the Aftermath of the Former Aliens Law]. The Hague: Ministry of Justice, 2007. Mohamed M. Abdi. A History of the Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle for Self-Determination. Lawrenceville, NJ: Asmara: Red Sea P, 2007. Mohogu, Minanda, ed. Africa in the Netherlands: African Organizations, Artists and Businesses 2002. Leiden: ASC, 2002. "Petitie: Bloebad, Ontvoering en Marteling in Etbiopi" ["Petition: Bloodbatb, Abduction and Torture in Etbiopia"]. PetitionSpot. 15 Nov. 2010 <http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ bloedbadinethiopie>. Schefer, Paul. Het Land van Aankomst [The Country of Arrival]. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2007.

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, "Het multiculturele drama [The Multicultural Drama]," NRC-Handelsblad 29 Jan, 2000, 6 Dec, 2010 <http://retro,nrc,nl/W2/Lah/Multicultureel/scheffer,html>, Semir Yusuf "Contending Nationalisms in a Transnational Era: The Case of Ethiopianist and Oromo Nationalisms," Journal of Asian and African Studies 44 (2009): 299-318, doi:10,1177/0021909609102900 Sheffer, Gabriel, Diaspora Politics: At Home Abroad. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006, Sniderman, Paul M,, and Louk Hagendoorn, When Ways of Life Collide: Multiculturalism and Its Discontents in the Netherlands. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2007, Solomon Addis Getahun, The History of Ethiopian Immigrants and Refugees in America, 19002000: Patterns of Migration, Survival, and Adjustment. New York: LFB Scholarly Pub,, 2007, Tibi, Bassam, Europa ohne Identitt? Leitkultur oder Werte-Beliebigkeit [Europe without Identity? Dominant Culture and the Arbitrariness of Values]. Berlin: Goldmann, 2000, , "Multikultureller Werte-Relativismus und Werte-Verlust [Multicultural Value Relativism and the Loss of Values]," Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte B 52-53 (1996): 27-36, van Heelsum, Anja, "Afrikanen in Nederland [Africans in the Netherlands]," Bevolkingstrends 13,3 (2005): 83-9, Van Rijna, A,S, et al. De Ontwikkeling van een Integratiekaart (CBS Cahier 2004-9) [Developing an Integration Map (CBS Cahier 2004-9)]. The Hague: CBS and Ministry of Justice, 2004, Van den Tillaart, H,, M, Olde Monnikhof, S, van den Berg, and J, Warmerdam, Nieuwe Etnische Groepen in Nederland; een Onderzoek onder Vluchtelingen en Statushouders uit Afghanistan, Ethiopie en Eritrea, Iran, Somalie en Vietnam [New Ethnic Groups in the Netherlands: Research on Refugees and Status Holders from Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Iran, Somalia, and Vietnam]. Nijmegen: Inst, voor Toegepaste Sociologie, 2000, Vertovec, Steven, "Conceiving and Researching Transnationalism," Ethnic and Racial Studies 22 (1999): 447-62, doi:10,1080/014198799329558 Yusuf, Semir, "Contending Nationalisms in a Transnational Era: The Case of Ethiopianist and Oromo Nationalisms," Journal of Asian and African Studies 44 (2009): 299-318, doi:10,1177/ 0021909609102900

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