- cross-posted to:
- news
- cross-posted to:
- news
The unexpectedly meaty win for controversial, hard-right politician Geert Wilders in Wednesday’s general election in the Netherlands set international headlines on fire.
Right-wing nationalists across Europe rushed to congratulate the populist politician, sometimes dubbed the Dutch Trump - partly for his dyed, bouffant-like hairdo, and partly for his famously firebrand rhetoric.
Geert Wilders’ publicly expressed views - including linking Muslim immigration with terrorism and calling for a ban on mosques and the Quran - are so provocative that he has been under tight police protection since 2004.
Wilders was convicted of inciting discrimination, although later acquitted, and he was refused entry to the UK back in 2009.
But Europe’s far right believes their views have now become more mainstream.
Intoletance has originally always been a right wing mainstay and that is why the PVV are lumped in with that. But if you look at their program, apart from the anti-islam rhetoric, they want affordable care and lower the pension age. Clear centrist/left-wing viewpoints. And this is overlooked by the oversimplifying media. Yes, PVV are riding on the wave of anti immigration sentiment. But they reached this level of support by not being fascists like the FvD for example. The old left/right wing nomenclature is not sufficient to describe the ways parties amd society change.
On any case, the foreign media is tarring the PVV voters with the brush of racist extremists, and the reality is much, much more nuanced.
You do have a point, but one caveat is that far right parties also often pretend to be more moderate than they actually are and not say the quiet bits out loud until they gain power.
They didn’t let the CBP check their plans and have shared very little about how they plan to pay for it. Anyone can be in favor of lower pensions, affordable care, no tax raises, and more housing, promises cost nothing.
But that’s hardly the point.
Look, I am not saying Wilders is not a creep. But their success right now is despite him and his anti-constitutional viewpoints. There was room for a big populist party with mass appeal and they fill that void. And the media is misrepresenting his voters. I am not one of them, and would never be, but I do know quite a few of people that switched to PVV and they did so because they felt he would work to get the lower middle class and elderly a better standard of living, something all other parties seem to fail to deliver on.
Yes, I know. But I was not making the point the PVV are not promlematic. Read what I wrote.
My point was that the media is portraying his voters as rabit right-wing bigots, and that is simply not true. dangeourly he managed to appeal to the centre, and people that look for housing, healthcare and spending power without too much interest in his extreme rhetoric.
I’ve read what you wrote. I meant to say that they can make promises from all across the political spectrum because they never have to actually implement anything. They can appeal to people who want lower pensions, people who want higher pensions and people who want less taxes at the same time.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it… Like some sort of… National Socialism… 🤔🤔🤔
Listen, I would be the first to point fingers. And I did in case of the FvD. And yes, Wilders is inherently untustworthy and undemocratic.
But the people voting for him en masse do not vote for him for that. I did not make the point that the PVV is not a dangerous party, but the media is portraying his voters as rabid racists, and that is (sadly) untrue, he managed to grab the interest of the lower middleclass and elderly, incuding second and third generation immigrants. They are concerned with housing, healthcare and spending power.