- “ Wilders and his people are consistently building their position on the fact that political correctness has stopped a healthy debate on immigration problems,” says Luke Zweiffel
- — For many decades there has been no honest dialog with the Dutch or visitors. average citizens stopped talking about completely apparent things, just out of fear, says
- — A leading Dutch populist is very popular, and Ipsos I&O has considered him to be the best policy of the past year ex aequo with Henri Bontenbal of the Christian-Democratic Appeal,” she notes.
- More articles like this can be found on the Onetu homepage
Michał Litorowicz: The Netherlands introduced on 9 December random border checks at crossing points with Germany and Belgium. How do you justice this decision? Is this the first step towards Dick Schoof's government's "most restrictive migration policy ever"?
Dr. Luke Zweiffel*: That kind of fake moves won't work. Or very poor. And far-right politicians from the Freedom organization (PVV), the largest group in the ruling coalition, are aware of that.
It's a publicity stunt, nothing more?
Yes, it is simply a typical populist play, due to the fact that the problem will not vanish without sealing the external borders of the European Union. Geert Wilders, the leader of the PVV, is well aware of that, but prefers to give his electorate specified an erection. A akin function is provided by the government-sponsored billboard with the slogan "We work to get you home", set up in front of asylum centres. After all, this communication is not aimed at Dutch immigrants who are not acquainted with them, but is referring to PVV voters.
Especially since the number of visitors settling in the Netherlands does not go beyond authoritative forecasts.
Yet the ruling, knowing that the majority of the Dutch were in favour of limiting immigration, announced a plan to introduce a state of emergency, which only warmed the atmosphere. Fortunately, the thought failed, due to the fact that Wilders' coalitions had a red light that would be besides radical.
There is no way to storm borders, but in fresh years immense queues have been created in reception centers. At the same time, the ruling, creatively developing the neoliberal line of predecessors, strive for immense cuts in the budget of immigration services. Or possibly the Netherlands is suffering from a different kind of crisis – not migration, as Schoof's squad convinces, but a crisis of a liberal state and its procedures?
We are surely watching the crisis of Dutch democracy. This quoted migration crisis is only the consequence and kind of smokescreen. alternatively of talking about structural problems, the ruling elites fix themselves on seeking a scapegoat in the form of refugees.
Koen van Weel / PAPPrime Minister Dick Schoof
What precisely is the crisis of democracy?
Studies show that a dangerous and unprecedented phenomenon has arisen in the Netherlands. Nearly 70% of people voting for right-wing, populist formations specified as PVV or the Forum for Democracy (FvD) agree with the view that in national politics the will of the majority is to decide virtually everything. Let us remember that the Netherlands is at least a consensus democracy for now, in which the main rule is simply a compromise. If years ago, in front of a pillar society, specified a political culture had not been put on, the consequence would have been constant unrest, or possibly even civilian war.
Given the fact that Wilders' group is at the top of the polls with about 30% support, the group that is conducive to this recovery is rather numerous. Why do the Dutch, appearing to us as open and modern, increasingly trust populists?
We live in uncertain times marked by wars in Ukraine and the mediate East, which makes people look for community, especially this national one. The populists offer them a symbolic sense of security, even if their prescriptions are illusory only. The PVV electorate is specific, but besides diverse. We may be very amazed to visit 1 of the costly Amsterdam settlements – Wilders enjoys more support among the fresh mediate class surviving there than in the folk class. It's a tiny difference, half a percent point, but very symptomatic. The last part of the puzzle is that PVV has a large sense of the minute erstwhile the migration can of Pandora was opened.
What do you mean?
Wilders and his people consistently build their position on the fact that political correctness has stopped a healthy debate on immigration issues. For many decades there has been no honest dialog with the Dutch or visitors. average citizens stopped talking about perfectly apparent things, just out of fear. With the improvement of social media and progressive alienation, people became susceptible to conspiracy theories brought to them by the utmost right, frequently absurd and threatening. And now we're collecting this fruit.
Nobody tried to take the immigration issue on the banners before Wilders?
Naturally, they tried – just mention the murdered in 2002 Pima Fortuna. If he remained alive, any of the tensions might have been relieved, due to the fact that we would be dealing with civilized populism with a much more human face than the 1 from the sign of PVV.
ROBERT VOS / PAPA coffin with the body of the murdered Dutch politician Pima Fortuna (2022)
Or is it inactive about the conservatism of the Dutch, which we do not see in Poland?
Their expected openness is simply a myth. Indeed, in the 1970s many changes of a world-view nature were made in the Netherlands – they stopped punishing for prostitution, abortion or soft drugs. But even 10 years earlier it was a very conservative and patriarchal society. Today, too, the average de Jong or Jansen are not folklore.
Does the popularity of Wilders and his anti-immigrant rhetoric besides stem from the weakness of the Dutch left, which since 2017 has not co-created a single cabinet?
The left, not only Dutch, fell victim to her own success. After she managed to push through an eight-hour working day, pensions or paid holidays, the Dutch – like Poles – began to treat all these social safety as an obvious. We do not realize that the benefits of the welfare state are not given erstwhile and for all and under force of large capital we may lose them. At the same time, the left – both Polish and Western European – is overly focused on cultural or worldview issues, not on class conflict, which does not cease to exist. alternatively of pointing out that global economical operators avoid paying tribute to the state and that jobs vanish not due to migrants, but due to the globalisation and improvement of AI, the left was pushed into the ideological arena. Referring to religion and conventional values, the right feels at home. It's a duel in advance doomed to fail.
The left-wing part of the Dutch scene misreads moods besides in the sphere of migration?
I'll take an example from 4 decades ago. In a manifesto published in the 1980s, representatives of the Socialist organization (SP) expressed the opinion that certain groups of immigrants culturally did not fit the Dutch socio-cultural model. The SP proposed to pay them a adequate amount of money, e.g. in the form of pensions, so that they could return and settle in their countries. The Manifesto met with a furious attack from another leftist parties, mostly the Labour organization (PvdA). There were allegations of xenophobia and fascist tensions, but nobody wanted to discuss the real problem.
Doesn't that mean the left abruptly becomes completely anti-immigrant and intolerant? Should it only be little politically correct?
All you gotta do is halt pretending that the dangers have magically evaporated and that there are no individuals who misuse social benefits. At the same time, it is essential to do everything possible to scope out to immigrants who want to integrate, and the state will extend a helping hand. So that the Dutch of Moroccan origin do not complain that they collide with the glass ceiling. Even though he's a good student. Escape from these difficulties, failing to announcement them is water on the mill of populists selling organization reports that immigration sucks out of the Dutch budget €17 billion per year. To whom will people believe if, as part of a misunderstood tolerance, no state institute or even left-wing think tank print reliable reports on this subject?
Is the PVV doomed to success, or is there anything that might interfere with her plans?
Perhaps at any point the Wilders will go besides far, and the Dutch will conclude that fear of immigrants cannot obscure the fact that the country is leaving democracy and that the power is beginning to restrict civilian liberties. However, for the time being, the leading Dutch populist is very popular, and Ipsos I&O has considered him the best policy of the past year ex aequo with Henri Bontenbal of the Christian-Democratic Appeal (CDA).
The paradox is that Wilders clearly does not fit the Dutch policy scheme. She is rather an avid warlord – Fortuna appeared with him as a personification of flight and openness to dialogue. The urges and views of the PVV leader do not fit into the political culture of the Netherlands, and in this I would see the origin of his future defeat. I am amazed that Prime Minister Dick Schoof, an authoritative of blood and bone, has made an alliance with individual like Wilders. Is he not aware that only the far right is gaining on the Allies?
Weekly Review*Dr hab. Łukasz Zweiffel – Politologist, prof. of Pomeranian College. For 25 years she has been working in science, dealing with contemporary political and social ideas, cultural values and their impact on socio-economic life, with peculiar emphasis on their importance in the Netherlands and Poland. Author of the book “Dynamics of social change in the Netherlands and reflected in the political strategy in the 20th and 21st centuries” (2013); co-author of the publication “Dutch Left in the Electoral, Parliamentary and Cabinet arenas from 2000 to 2020” (2021).
