Geert Wilders Shocks the Netherlands on Election Day — Will He Get to Lead?
The Netherlands is considered a left-liberal country, but in reality it is evenly divided between left and right. The elections of June 9 indicate a slight tilt to the right, which in itself is not a dramatic event: on many occasions in the past the right had a small majority. But media outlets are reporting the outcome of the elections as a huge change in Dutch society.
It is not. It changed ten years ago.
The unrest among Dutch voters has been visible since the rise of Pim Fortuyn, the amazing Dutch politician who was killed in 2002 by a radical leftist animal-rights activist. A couple of the main issues in the Netherlands (or Holland — the name Holland is used for only the two most western provinces of this small country) had been neglected by the traditional political parties, and Pim Fortuyn was the intellectual, emotional, and theatrical politician who was able to bring these two issues — immigration and the future of the welfare state — to the forefront of the political debate.
Holland is still struggling with Fortuyn’s legacy. He called for a stop to immigration of people from Islamic countries, and for a reformation of the expensive welfare state. Fortuyn, who was an openly gay man and proud about it, was worried about the very conservative values Muslim immigrants brought with them to Holland from their remote villages in northeastern Morocco. Fortuyn warned about the negative effects of a new group of immigrants who had left their countries for economic reasons, but didn’t understand — and even rejected — the values of the new country to which they had moved. The tolerance, the liberties, and modest riches of Holland were the result of its Protestant values and Judeo-Christian roots.
After many failed efforts to have his political ideas accepted by the established parties, Fortuyn started his own political movement. The polls at the time indicated that within six months his movement could draw one-third of the total electorate. It would mean an electoral revolution.
Fortuyn was about to become the first openly gay prime minister when he was murdered. His death is still an open wound in Dutch society.
Geert Wilders is the direct heir of Fortuyn’s message.
Wilders was MP for the VVD, the conservative-liberal party (as in classical liberal), and ran into trouble with his party’s leadership because of his strong opposition to the possible EU membership of Turkey. He considered Turkey an Islamic country alien to the core values of Judeo-Christian Europe.
For centuries, Holland has been a functional coalition of religious minorities. In the 16th century, various Protestant creeds united and fought the occupying Spanish Catholics. They established a small country of freethinkers and merchants, open to the world and tolerant of different opinions and ideas as long as the status quo between the provinces and the merchant families was left untouched. The division of many smaller parties is still a reflection of that basic situation.
In yesterday’s election, Wilders’ Freedom Party — despite heavy opposition from the leftist parties and the mainstream media — got 24 seats in the 150-seat Parliament. The VVD, the party Wilders left, became the biggest party, with 31 seats. The Christian Democrats, the solid centrist party that traditionally has been part of the governing coalition, was cut in half, from 42 to 21.
I think the Dutch response to the lack of integration of the part of their Moslem minorities is perhaps the best in Europe. It is a very strong, yet tolerant response that demands that new citizens accept the historical values of the old citizens; it is long overdue. One of the biggest problems I think has been the failure of the welfare state to promote integration and an almost ingrained laissez-faire attitude when it comes to people’s private lives. I’ve heard that there are many parts of the Netherlands that have become no-go zones for homosexuals, which is completely unacceptable to the Dutch. Instead of throwing the gays under the bus, many have decided to not pander for votes but stand up for their way of life. Kudos.
Even Wilders wants to spin the issue. No matter how hard it tries, Holland
cannot escape the Liberal morass. Wilders seems to think that forcing
Muslims to assimilate will procure the happy ending a TV-fed culture craves.
But how will this “assimilation” possibly work? Enforce dress codes..ie
tell Muslims what they will wear? Have Govt agents in the mosques..arresting
those who dont toe the Dutch Govt line? And all this while every Muslim
has a Quran telling him on page after page ..to kill the infidels who
obstruct the Will of Allah? Sorry..but there is no happy ending to this.
The Muslim secret societies have already formed, soon the car bombs
will be going off, the street corner assasinations will begin. Of course they will catch the culprits and during the televised trials the next generation of eager Muslim “martyrs” will be being bred. And it will be going on 100 years from now. This is how MultiCulturalism ends this is the face of “Diversity”
Scary but true. We might as well get used to it. 4 generations from now we will all be Muslim. All women will be waring Burqa, Hijab or Niqab. And we will be happy about it.
Guess again.
I disagree. Radical Islam is pure evil and evil will eventually be defeated. It has to, or we will all die.
Forgive my naivete, but can we really believe that it is G-d’s will for the world to be taken over by Islam? What is the sense of that? The only thing that comes to mind is that this is the beginning of the End of Days, since the only chance we have is to fight this evil or die.
There is something else that could result in a working amalgam: the fact that German banks, French Banks, Italian Banks, British Banks, and possibly other banks in Europe are for all intents and purposes, insolvent. Why would the Dutch cast a blind eye towards that?
Wilders would rather see the Netherlands enter into an ad hoc amalgam with Scandinavian countries which do not cook their books (ie assign what was shelled out for assets that have been reassessed profoundly downwards).
As long as bond holders have bonds that bear a closer resemblance to the rock of Gibraltar, they will be okay, and the more bonds have that resemblance, the better. However, there are more bonds that have a closer resemblance to quicksand, and whoever holds the greatest number of them is in the worth economic shape.
An immigrant that refuses to integrate is a colonist.
Well done Geert. Nice to see a European with a set of balls.
There is no reason for the Muslims to integrate with Dutch society or for them to integrate into any European society into which they immigrate. Given their very high birth rates, high rates of immigration and the very low, below replacement, birth rates of native Europeans it is only a matter of a few decades before Islam takes over Europe. The Europeans can either halt and reverse Muslim immigration or be ready to face the prospect of Sharia law, forced conversions, dhimmitude, and every other pathology of Muslim societies. Demographics is destiny and Islam is irredeemable.
Thank you for walking us through the Dutch political situation. As an American I often find myself thinking the whole world revolves around the US. Your insight into the struggles of another formally free society as it comes to grips with its open-minded passivism, and the not-so-open-minded passive invasion, is poignant. In many ways it is different than here, but I believe ultimately it ends the same: either people stand up and fight for their principals including freedom, or they fall and others who are willing to fight win. You can’t have it both ways, people are not all open minded. Some of them are down right closedd minded, driven by deep convictions and a willingness to die for those convictions. Too bad we in the west have lost that conviction. But that is how freedom dies. One day, it will rise again.
But that is how freedom dies. One day, it will rise again.
Where has freedom risen where totalitarian Islam has ruled? The seriousness of the Islamic threat to freedom is not understood. Islam is a totalitarian, imperialist, supremacist ideology. The fact that a majority of its adherents are moderate in their daily lives is irrelevant. The ideology is extreme and its leaders are extremists.
In the end the only solution will be to eradicate Islam from the Western world. If not, we will inevitably loose the freedoms we have, slowly or quickly, depending on the level of dhimmitude in our so-called leaders. Ultimately it is not about headscarves and minarets and integration or assimilation, it’s about our right to live as free individuals in our own countries versus the desire of totalitarian ideologogists to make us submit to the demands of their god.
Yes it is the only solution, but it will not happen. There will not be a “final solution” on Muslims. It is not possible in a democracy. Western civilization is over. It was a nice run and an interesting foot note in history. We are going to become Muslim every single one of us. The only question up for discussion is: Which Muslim sect?
I suspect it will be Sharia Law that will prevail. It is the most virulent strain of Islam….. because it is the most violent and its followers are the most devout and zealous. The more moderate strains are completely cowed by it…. even in the United States. The liberal democracies of the world have little stomach to resist it. It will be a progressive and agonizing decline into humiliation and slavery for those peoples who were so tolerant… of intolerance.
Well, without being silly, one could say Israel. Aside from a few Crusader years, Islam had ruled the area since the 7th century. Then in 1948 it all changed.
Dang…there go those pesky Joooos again.
But it can be done. Unfortunately, bloodshed will always be involved. Let’s hope the Netherlands can show Europe the way to keep its identity.
Well, Islam was once dominant in Spain, southern Italy and the Balkans. So it’s not surprising Muslims are returning to those very same areas in an attempt to recapture them – and given the appeasement and Muslim immigration, they could well succeed.
re Israel: It’s an article of faith that the “non-believer” must be in a state of submission to the believer (Muslim). And no infidel is held in lesser regard than the Jew. So it galls them to no end that not only does the Jew (as represented by the Jewish state) triumphs over his Arab and Muslim neighbors militarily, economically and technologically, but Jews actually *rule* over Muslims. THAT for them is the ultimate humiliation. Rather than use such cognitive dissonance as a spark to rethink their ideology, they resort to war to “correct” this state of affairs.
When you hear about moderate Muslims consider this. Hans and Karl of 1940’s Germany may have been very moderate but to what end? They still worked at the ME-109 factory and kept the trains running to the death camps, etc.
The point is, if you’re not a stand up guy for what is right then what difference does it make how “moderate” you are? And you can easily count the moderate Muslims who are standing up and speaking out on your fingers and toes and have many left over.
IF I could replace the leftists in Israel’s Knesset with clones of Wilders-alternatively, we should offer Wilders honorary Israeli citizenship, and let him proceed from there….- I would sleep better at night.
The fact of the matter is that Islam is on the march & will stop at NOTHING to impose its will-history repeating itself in a very ominous way.
While Wilders is derided as an ‘Islamophobe’-the fashionable buggaboo of Islamists and their dupes on the left-his stance on Turkey proved eminently true.Today’s addled western leaders, and their leftist fellow travelers, would rather shoot the messenger than the ones seeking to kill western civilization.
The BEST outcome would be is if Wilders takes over his Parliament, and for others in his mold to follow suit.They may very well be what saves the west from implosion.
Congratulations Mr. Wilders. I applaud your success and your bravery. I pray for your continued success in leading your country away from the shackles of Islam. Go carefully Sir. You have stirred them up and they will not want to let you live in peace. May your strength and power continue to grow, and may freedom loving Europeans find courage and inspiration in your leadership.
Woodsman
“an extra-parliamentarian government with independent ministers recruited from academia and the business world”
Sounds like someone is trying to hijack Netherlands’ democracy from the dēmos.
“Recruited” by whom? By those in power of course. “Independent” from the will of the electorate.
Congratulations to Geert Wilders – one of the few hopes for the survival of Western civilization. His courage and positive attitude, his professionalism, his leadership abilities, his likeability, and now, the fact that he has shown us all that there IS hope, that we CAN rouse from our slumbers, that we are beginning to say to Islam: “Thus far shalt thou go, and no further”, and that we can spread this movement throughout Europe and the world, should give all of us the faith and trust that we will NOT allow our so-called leaders to commit the suicide of Western civilization. Let us all vow to continue this work and ensure that we are not enslaved by evil. Let us act, let us pray, let us do whatever it takes to save ourselves. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
Congratulations, Geert. A sign of your strength is how the election results were censored here in North America outside of one or two brave outlets like PajamasMedia and CNSNews.
Don’t bet on the Dutch turning around, nor bet on their goody-goody virtuous super liberal (NOT in the classic sense) counterparts Canada and Sweden. It won’t happen ever.
Fortuyn also was followed by Theo van Gogh who they left in the street with an Islamic diatribe pinned with a knife to his guts.
Just like Americans, when you drown in a sea of looters and pseudo altruists, it’s easy to get mesmerized by lifeboats in the mist.
Stay safe, Gert Weelders, without you some wouldn’t even know that they drown.
Mr. De Winter: great to have a racist be elected to the Dutch Parliment. I would recomend the Hitler should also serve in the Israeli Keneset!!
Yeah, and what about those who assassinated Anwar Sadat and Wasfi Tal?
…great to have a racist be elected to the Dutch Parliment.
The winner! The first to fling the dog-poo ‘racist’ label.
I should respectfully submit that it’s of greater democratic value for Mr. Wilders to bring his observations and goals into the open for honest discussion, than to have critics attempt to shut him out of society by politically correct screeching of mindless labels – or to simply have him murdered, as with Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh. If this be treason to the multicultis, make the most of it.
Why RLS is a diplomat!
Godwin’s Law asserts itself.
Wilders got 1.453.944 votes, 15,5 % of the total votes. That means at least 1.453.944 people are on to the “religion of peace”. And we are spreading our wisdom…
Racist!? Here it comes again. Read this very slowly, perhaps it will sink in better that way. Islam is not a race. Muslims are not members of a race. Islam is a religious cohort and Muslims are simply co-religionists. Is any and everything you don’t like racist? If you can’t be even the least factual, then stay off this site, ok?
#10 Adina: you guys already have a bunch terrorist in the Kenesset. why do need more. Let the poor people of the Netherland have on too. Geert should stay in the Netherland! at least for now!
since we have a Muslim loving President now in the office, myself
a Mulim, I am going to run for congress!it is about time we had
one in the office.. would you guys support me?
Best
I politely suggest that nobody should “reply” to “Miriam Rove”. I sincerely consider that she is mentally damaged and simply wishes to cause offense: replies serve only to feed her lust for causing upset. No offense intended to her, that is how I feel. Perhaps somebody could put a name on her particular condition?
verbal diarrhea
Eamonn #20: first of all I am a he not a she…
secondly I am perfectly sane.
Thirdly this a forum people discussing thier Ideas and beliefs.
fourth I am not offended
fifth: I am not kidding that I am serously thinking about running for the office.
and since our system of government here in the states is basded on bribary no matter repulican/democrates/conservetive or liberal, which means who ever give more gets more, you may want to consider contributing to my campagin.. when I am satisfied with amount of contribution ,I like the rest of our lawmakers will have no problem supporting the policies of the murderous Israeli government. Think about it. It makes sense no? can you imagine haveing and Americam Muslim supporting the aparthaid Israeli government? this would be huge.
Please let me know.
M
Dear Miriam, Possibly the fact that you are a man in a woman’s name is the cause of your condition. This is the ONLY response I will make to you, regardless of what you say in your next rant – even if you offer me $50k to reply. Seriously. You will NOT hear from me again. The main reason that I will not correspond with you is that I feel I would be facilitating your obvious madness. The secondary reason is that replying to you would be a total waste of my time. Miriam, see a doctor, for your own sake. Then, do as the good doctor orders. When you feel better, take a hike on the wild side. And keep walking. Over and out from Dublin.
irony.
The first modern ‘jihadist murder’ was of a Dutchman. It was in Indonesia, three years after the explosion of Krakatau in 1883. Wandering Saudi preachers convinced a docile local Islamic public that Allah was angry with them for allowing the Dutch to run everything, and the volcano was the expression of anger from their god. Local preachers actually traveled to Saudi Arabia to get instruction in Wahabi Islam and came home breathing fire against the west. One day in 1886 an Indonesian man in a turban walked into a Dutch colonial general store, screamed allahu akhbar, and knifed to death a Dutch customer.
What goes around comes around. The Dutch are on the front line again. At least they have a good fighter in Wilders.
Some of these letters are so depressing in their acceptance of ultimate defeat and bondage to these throwbacks that I am disgusted and disheartened.It is true I believe,that a major unplesentness between people all over this Earth who refuse to live like dogs,and these primitives is coming our way,and it’s picking up speed.Yes,it looks really bad,and yes,it’s going to be one hell of a fight,and it’s going to last a long time and probably make a mess of the planet,but we will prevail. I believe that people are awakening all over the world,thanks to courageous men and women like Wilders.People who love life,and work towards making life better for themselves and their children all their lives long, are slow in the extreme to anger,but they do have a tripping point and Islam is going to regret having pushed the world to that point.It ain’t gonna be pretty.T.
Somebody referred to the demographics being on the Muslim side.
This video spells it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU
The sad fact is, we could cure islam in an afternoon, but we no longer have the will to survive.
Assimilation requires a desire to become one of many. (E Pluribus Unum) In history, many immigrants did not want to become a part of the nation they had emigrated to. However, with no mass communication & no easy travel, they almost had no choice to do so, or wither on the vine.
Today, with instant worldwide communications & with air travel making worldwide movement into a mere hours in the air issue, many immigrants have the feeling they can remain of & for the ‘old country’ since they can be home within hours or talk to home in seconds.
Many nations permit ‘dual citizenship.’ The concept is a nice one. Its a feel good one. However, it also allows & even promotes divided loyalties. If one is of both nations, they have allegiance to no nation.
The Netherlands populace are a historically tolerant people. This is a good thing. It means they are accepting of others & their differences. However, it does not account for the very real fact that some coming in, are not as tolerant, nor have they been raised in such an atmosphere, nor do they believe its a good idea. In fact for some immigrants. tolerance is weakness & allows for “their” values to be watered down.
Unfortunately, this appears to be the case when it comes to many Muslims. Their religion alone does not promote tolerance of others. If it did, the executions of gays, honor killings, & the severe limitations of other religious faiths, would not happen.
So when Muslims enter into a tolerant nation like The Netherlands, they are appalled by the tolerance shown to those Muslims & their faith, despise. The folks in The Netherlands will have to come up with a means to demand assimilation of immigrants, just as America should do the same.
The reason there are few multiple marriages is envy & a lack of tolerance for another’s feelings or positions. This is similar when it comes to citizenship.
Geert Wilders is a complicated man. He is also a man who realizes why his nation is experiencing many difficult days. He knows the nation cannot survive if a faction gains control & demands all others do only as they say or find acceptable. He knows such a controlling faction would not demand a majority of one party, just the cooperation of two or three parties, so that all others would have no choice.
Unless & until nations require assimilation of immigrants, we will have worldwide unrest. Those who disdain sovereignty, want you to think only globally. But they fault to mention the “global” thoughts they want you to think, are specifically “theirs & theirs alone”. YOUR global thoughts matter not one wit!
This is why nation-states will continue to exist. People around the world ARE different & in fact, viva la difference! Its what makes the world & people interesting. Its what has provided the world with different foods, dances, music, architecture, poetry, literature, cars, & so much more.
We can all act in the best interests of mankind, while we enjoy the uniqueness of our individual nations.
I hope Geert Wilders succeeds. He’s a good guy who will help his nation remain as terrific as it is! Those who want to join in, can. Those who do not, should probably never have come there in the first place.