Flemish minister Bart Somers was a guest of Hannelore Simoens and her ‘7 questions’. The second in the series came from viewer Bruno, who wanted to know whether religiously inspired cartoons are also shown in integration courses. Somers said that this is not the case yet, but that he thought it was a “perfectly plausible idea”. The government is now writing the courses.
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The reason for the viewer’s question is, of course, the horrific murder in France of a teacher who had shown Mohammed cartoons in his class. That is something that certain Muslims take offense at.
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Bart Somers, Flemish Minister for Civic Integration and Equal Opportunities, said that integration courses are currently being written out in full. “I think it is a plausible idea that in such courses you show people that in our society you can say things that might hurt you, that you might find very confronting, but that this is possible in a society where the right to free speech applies. . These could be cartoons of Mohammed, but also the story about the Holocaust. ”
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For Somers, showing Mohammed cartoons in integration courses must be “absolutely” possible in the future. “For me that is even a logical part of explaining what the right to free speech means, because otherwise we will be talking about it at a very abstract level”.
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