This
is ridiculous. Avaaz is circulating a petition to thank the "Dutch
people" (whoever that may be) for "choosing hope, unity,
and dialogue over hate, fear and old fascist rhetoric." They
even claim that, "by rejecting Geert Wilders you've helped stop
the rise of the far right everywhere." More generally, the
coverage of these elections in the international press has been a
complete disaster.
by
Mathijs van de Sande
So: a quick
note to my international friends, just to make sure that you all know
what IS going on in the Netherlands, at the moment.
First of
all: to my great regret, the Dutch voters did NOT reject Geert
Wilders. He actually GAINED five seats in parliament. It is true
that, for a long time, polls predicted that he would win a much
greater number of votes (and possibly even win the elections).
Instead, Wilders' PVV came in second. But his power in parliament did
increase, and so it's a grave exaggeration to state that he was
'rejected.'
Second, the
reason why Wilders won less seats than expected, is because the
right-liberal VVD (which is led by prime minister Mark Rutte) has
largely adopted Wilders' racist and islamophoc discourse. The recent
conflict with the Turkish government also helped Rutte to present
himself as a 'tough' leader who is willing to make controversial
decisions at the expense of cultural (/islamic) minorities in the
Netherlands. More generally, during its electoral campaigns the VVD
has tried to promote itself as a more benign and more competent
alternative to Wilder's populist party. But its views on migration,
cultural diversity, systemic racism, or the current refugee crisis
are hardly more progressive or inclusive than Wilders'. The VVD has
closely collaborated with the PVV in the past (did I mention that
Wilders was one of the VVD's most prominent MP's, before he left to
found his own party?), and I'm sure that they will do so again in the
future, whenever it serves their interests. So, again, Rutte's
electoral victory can hardly be read as a 'rejection' of the PVV.
Finally,
many international media have failed to notice that the parliamentary
left now has reached an all time low. All leftist parties combined
(and I'm using the term 'left' in the broadest possible sense) have
only 46 seats (out of 150). Most significantly, the social-democratic
PvdA (which has always been one of the major parties since WWII), has
lost 29 seats. The socialists have lost one as well. The Greens
gained a significant number of seats (they went from 4 to 14), but
that is much less than all left parties combined have lost. Also, it
should be noticed that Wilders' popularity has led to the rise of
various other, extreme-right parties. One of them - Thierry Baudet's
"Forum for Democracy" - has won two seats as well.
In short,
the Dutch Parliament has never been more rightwing, nationalist,
and racist than it is today. There is very little reason to
celebrate - let alone to thank the "Dutch people" for
"choosing hope, unity, and dialogue." What we need, in the
coming years, is a militant, extra-parliamentary opposition. And not
stupid petitions celebrating yet another victory of the neoliberal
right.
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