Amsterdam - Dutch opinion leaders published a page-size advertisment in the daily Trouw on Wednesday calling for tolerance and a softer tone in the debate about migration and Islam. In their statement, the 717 signatories, including prominent politicians, artists, authors, relgious leaders and academics - called on the Dutch to "break the downward cycle of intolerance and indifference" in the Netherlands.
Dutch nationals can support the statement by signing it on the website www.benoemenenbouwen.nl.
The statement was initiated by Christian Democrat Doekle Terpstra, who called upon Dutch society to counter the "wilderization," a sarcastic reference to Dutch liberal-right politician Geert Wilders, one of the Netherlands' most outspoken Islam critics.
Responding to the publication in Trouw, Geert Wilders called the signatories "silly and naive fools."
