Report from the Netherlands: rise of the far-right Islamophobes.

SSY’s reconnaissance man in the Netherlands, Thomas Swann, takes a look at the Dutch political situation in the wake of the collapse of the government, and the rise of Geert Wilders:

The Dutch Parliament in The Hague

With the collapse of the governing coalition still very fresh in people’s minds, the Dutch local government elections that took place on the 3^rd of March were widely predicted to prove disastrous for the two largest parties. Indeed the Labour Party (PvdA) and the conservative Christian Democrats (CDA) lost around 700 and 200 local council seats respectively. In addition, the left-wing Socialist Party’s (SP) share fell from 306 seats to 250.

The repercussions of the elections began to be seen almost immediately, with Agnes Kant, parliamentary leader of the SP stepping down hours after the poor showing for her party. On the basis of recent opinion polls, the SP looks set to lose more than half of its 25 seats in the Dutch parliament. The party’s steady growth in the last decades has seen it become the main parliamentary opposition to the ruling PvdA/CDA/Christian Union (CU) coalition (like Scotland, the Dutch electoral system makes it highly unlikely that one party will secure enough seats to form a government by themselves, and so coalitions are made to allow a government with over 50 per cent of the seats to be formed). However, the SP’s tone on the issue of immigration, championing a ‘Dutch jobs for Dutch workers’ line, for example, has lost them support among left-wing activists.

In Nijmegen, christened ‘Havana on the Waal’ (the Waal being the river that passes through the city) because of its strong left-wing showing in previous elections and the large student and squatter movements that existed in the past, the SP’s share of the vote fell to just over 12 per cent. On the 16^th of March the left-wing coalition between the SP, Green-Left and the PvdA was replaced by a centre-left grouping of Green-Left, the PvdA and the social-liberal D66. According to Alex de Jong of the Dutch socialist organisation Grenzeloos, the SP lost credibility as a result of their response to the credit crisis of the last two years: ‘The crisis, the SP leadership thought, would force the other parties to renounce neoliberalism and move them closer to its positions. What is happening instead is that working people are made to pay for anti-crisis measures and that the SP lost its profile as the party of the opposition. A left-wing perspective in the debate about the causes and solutions for the crisis was barely visible.

Geert Wilders: "I'm too sexy for my racist shirt"

Another casualty of the local elections was the leader of the PvdA, Wouter Bos, who had previously held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. Two weeks before the local elections, Bos’s time as Deputy PM came to an end when the ruling coalition in parliament collapsed following crisis talks on withdrawal of Dutch troops from Afghanistan. The PvdA had refused to support NATO’s request for a longer deployment (a position supported by the CDA) and demanded that the Dutch mission end this year, as was previously agreed.

Perhaps the most striking result of the local government elections, however, was the victory of the extreme-right Party for Freedom (PVV) headed by anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders. The PVV stood in only two towns but came first in one and second in the other. In Almere the PVV won 9 seats becoming the largest party with 21 per cent, and in The Hague they came out with 8 seats, second to the PvdA. While the PVV has not been successful in forming a ruling coalition in either town, their role as the largest opposition party does not bode well. In the Dutch parliament, where the PVV holds only 9 of 150 seats, they have already been instrumental in shifting policy to the right. The ban on squatting, narrowly passed with the PVV’s support, had originally contained a 4 month jail sentence for anyone convicted of squatting. In exchange for the support of the PVV, the CDA, VVD and CU agreed to increase this to 1 year.

Wilder’s anti-Islam stance has met with popular support. Two polls conducted in the last weeks revealed him to be the third most popular candidate for Prime Minister with as much as 17 per cent of the people backing him. In addition, the PVV has in recent months been repeatedly suggested to come out the winner in the general elections to be held in June. The party, of which Wilders is the only member, came second in the European Parliament elections and is expected to gain between 25 and 27 seats in the Dutch parliament. While this would not put him in a position to rule, any coalition without the PVV would be difficult. So, while Wilders may not become Prime Minister of the Netherlands, his racist views on Islam, Moroccans and immigrants from Muslim countries will pull government policy further to the right.

The English Defence League - respectful and polite

To get a picture of the kind of policy this might be, just take a look at some of Wilders’ demands: changing the part of the Dutch constitution that forbids racial and religious discrimination, closing the borders to Muslims, banning the Koran, taxing head scarves and banning such clothing from public buildings. While this type of rhetoric may prove popular with the BNP and the English Defence League (who turned out to support Wilders on his recent UK visit), there is as yet no figure in UK politics comparable to Wilders. His success has been attributed to his ability to present racist and Islamophobic views while distancing himself from extreme-right thugs. This is something the BNP is unable to do. However, the environment in the UK is ripe for someone else to maneuver into position and grab the anti-Islam vote and at the same time appear respectable and so appeal to a larger amount of people than the BNP can.

While the main political parties, with the exception of the D66, have been unable to properly challenge Wilders in parliament, anti-racist activists have come together under the banner of the Wilders Sluit Ook Jou Uit (Wilders Shut You Out Too) campaign. This grouping aims at building a grassroots resistance to Wilders and the extreme-right policies he supports. The mainstream parties in the UK are proving themselves just as incapable, or perhaps unwilling, as their Dutch counterparts in seriously challenging Islamophobia and a racist line on immigration. Ulitmately, they argue simply that their policy is better for dealing with the problem of immigration, rather than attempting to challenge the perception of immigration as a problem. Therefore, it seems that in the UK too, resistance to Islamophobia will not be found in parliament or on Newsnight, but instead on the streets and in the communities who are prepared to reject racist populism and stand up for the rights of immigrants.

Geert Wilders manages to make Glenn Beck sound moderate: