Geert Wilders Once Again Endures a Firestorm of Criticism

by Jerry Gordon (April 2014)

commented in a mid-February 2014 article on the results of the Swiss anti-immigration referendum that these parties might be in contention to take upwards of 150 of the 751 seats in the May 22nd  to 25th European Parliamentary Elections. The Swiss People’s Party referendum on immigration control passed by 19,000 votes. The Economist called Marine Le Pen’s first round municipal election results on Sunday, March 23rd, a veritable “triumph.” Perhaps indicating that her National Front party would do well in the second round on March 30th in France. It trumpeted the devastation of France’s media and President Hollande:

In a November 2013 Iconoclast post we wrote glowingly about the prospects of the Euro skeptic alliance led by Le Pen and in The Netherlands by Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV).

posted on his developing alliance with a refurbished National Front in France led by Marie Le Pen. Their alliance hopes to include other like-minded Euro skeptic parties in the UK and elsewhere in the EU. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in the European edition, Wilders laid out the prospects for a new Glorious revolution of National Patriotism, “The Resurgence of European Patriotism.”

drew attention to his NExit report on the costs and benefits of The Netherlands leaving the EU.

“Assessing the economic impact of the Netherlands leaving the European Union” purports to be a macro-economic analysis of the effects of exiting the EU in terms of future impacts on gross domestic product, national and personal income, as well as other costs and benefits. NExit puts gravitas behind Wilders’ proposal. It should be considered the opening bow shot in the upcoming May 2014 European Parliamentary elections where Wilders has already built up a head of steam in the polls in Holland. Further there are the burgeoning alliances with similar Euro skeptic parties like Vlaam Belang in Belgium and Marine le Pen’s National front in France as well as other parties in the EU.  

Among the benefits of NExit report benefits from the departure of The Netherland from the EU were:

All of those glittering prospects came before the March 19th, municipal elections in The Netherlands with surprising results both for the Dutch ruling coalition parties and a savage backlash against Wilders.

“Electoral Bloodbath for Dutch Labor”:

The Labor party lost big time in the midterm municipal elections on Wednesday 19 March. Really big time: it was a historical bloodbath. For the first time in nearly a century, it lost the Red Big Cities, the traditional stronghold of Dutch social democracy. It lost Amsterdam. It lost Rotterdam. It lost The Hague, Enschede and Groningen.

Nationwide, Labor took just over 10% of the vote, down from 15% four years ago: a major drubbing, representing a loss of 1/3 of their vote. The other government party, Prime Minister Rutte’s VVD, fell from 15% to  less than 12%.

Mr Wilders asked supporters of his Freedom Party if they wanted more or fewer Moroccans there. His followers chanted: “fewer, fewer and fewer.” According to a BBC noted the menacing demographic realities of the Moroccan émigré community roiling The Netherlands:

Mohammed Bouyeri. Bouyeri was incensed about Van Gogh's film Submission, about women under Islam, based on a script written by Somali- Dutch politician, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ali subsequently left Holland for America, becoming a noted author and advocate for women’s rights. Below, Wilders unapologetically answers his critics. 


Source: Gates of Vienna. Vlad Tepes provided the subtitles.

exclaimed:

TV-footage of this nasty event caused a storm of shock and rejection all over the Netherlands. Social organizations, churches, media, other political parties: all reacted in the strongest possible words, accusing Wilders of threatening a whole ethnic community and poisoning the inter-ethnic relations in the Netherlands.

Peter Martino, writing in his Gatestone Institute article cited the virulent reactions:

providing pre-filled “Wilders forms” and offering to come to people's homes if they intend to press criminal charges, rather than having them come to the police station, as is the normal procedure. The aim clearly is to bog the politician Wilders down in costly court cases for weeks and months, perhaps even years, to come.

have received threats and local PVV politicians supporting their party leader also had charges pressed against them. The pressure against other PVV politicians and their families has led to the departure of two of the 14 PVV parliamentarians, one of the four PVV members of the European Parliament, and several provincial and municipal councilors.

carrying the black al-Qaida flag. Others carried slogans such as “Wilders hond van Israel“, which literally means “Wilders dog of Israel.” Calling someone a dog is an Islamic insult.

reported that just prior to the March 19th municipal elections a Dutch Moroccan rapper Hozny released a video clip simulating a person made up to look like Wilders kneeling before an al Qaeda flag about to be executed.

In the video by Hozny, which is interspersed with clips of Wilders and photos of Hitler, a politician in a cheap blond wig is kidnapped by men in black ski masks. The video ends with the politician tied up and on his knees as the men point guns at his head. The clip has been viewed more than 61,000 times since it was posted less than a day earlier.

That was an eerie and dangerous allusion to the assassination of Van Gogh and earlier that of Pym Fortune.

Tom-Jan Meeus of the leading newspaper NRC Handelsblad asked my opinion on this development. I wrote a response that both endorsed and criticized Wilders:

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/05/european-immigrants-in-marrakech). That said, I wish that Mr. Wilders went about protesting this issue in a more cautious way.

Amerikaanse geldschieter neemt afstand van Wilders,” which translates as “U.S. money-lender distances himself from Wilders.”

This title is inaccurate in two ways: First, the Middle East Forum Education Fund did not lend money to Wilders but paid his lawyer to cover his legal expenses. Second, I did not distance myself from Wilders here but merely reiterated long-standing differences with him. In his article, Meeus also ignored my point that Moroccans likewise are uneager to have more Europeans live among them.

expressed unease about the import behind Meeus’ headline:

“Why Spinoza Was Not Murdered.”

The West Speaks.

 

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