The brutal killing of 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam shook the full Netherlands. The girl was attacked with a knife on her way to her flat after spending the evening with her friends.
The perpetrator, according to reports, is simply a 22-year-old man who resided in the country as an asylum seeker. The same man is besides suspected of another assaults: a rape effort on August 10 and a violent sexual attack on another female 4 days later. For many Dutch, this event became a frontier point. For Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom organization (PVV), it is time to make it clear: the asylum strategy should be closed immediately.
Wilders wasn't in words. After disclosure of the suspect's origin, he demanded a complete ban on the admission of fresh asylum seekers:
"It is time for a complete ban on asylum. Now. The Netherlands is full, full, completely packed.”
In a published election manifesto, PVV left no illusions about its imagination of the country's future:
"PVV faces democratic resistance. Against asylum centres, against mass immigration and Islamisation, against nuisance and crime — and against the decades of left-wing liberal politics that led our country to the present, lamentable state.”
And then:
"We've had adequate of this. adequate nuisance asylum seekers, adequate criminal immigrants from outside the Western world, adequate foreigners who prey on our social strategy — and adequate politicians besides cowardly to stand up for the Dutch. PVV puts the Dutch first.”
The PVV proposes full suspension of the asylum strategy for a minimum of 4 years. It demands the completion of household reunification, the transfer of all Syrians and adult men from Ukraine to their countries, the termination of the UN Convention on Refugees, the closure of borders from fresh asylum applicants and the deportation of all foreigners convicted of crimes.
These are not fresh demands — Wilders had tried to push them before, but were blocked by liberal coalitions. As a result, the government collapsed and the fresh elections were scheduled for October. But now, after the tragedy in Amsterdam, his voice is gaining strength.
Lisa's death has moved the full society, not just the right. In Amsterdam, a march was organised “regain the night” in protest against force against women. Wilders, however, rapidly criticized the communicative that he felt was avoiding the point. According to him, it is not the "men's problem" but the consequences of uncontrolled migration from muslim countries:
"We have no problem with men. We have a migration problem. Men from countries whose culture — muslim — has no respect for women were massively allowed into our country. These people have never been forced into integration. Multicultural apologists of open borders have created hell for women here."
Wilders cites Dr. Jan van de Beek's data, according to which migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Syria are even 20 times more likely to commit sexual crimes than the Indigenous Dutch. For the leader of PVV, this is no coincidence — it is the consequence of a collision of the social strategy with a deficiency of real requirements for visitors from cultures that reject Western values.
Its message is simple: the current migration policy has failed. The state does not defend its citizens. The admission of asylum seekers without real selection led to average Dutch (such as Lisa) becoming victims of their own system.
Wilders besides talks about costs. Not only human, but besides financial. In his opinion, the Dutch pay besides advanced a price:
"The foreigners usage our welfare state. And the Dutch pay for it. They pay with their security, money, suffering.”
In this sense, his rhetoric is not only a slogan but a comprehensive criticism of the state — from security, through social, to national identity. In his vision, the Netherlands is meant to be a country that breaks off the multicultural experimentation and returns to a strict policy of border protection, culture and citizens.
Does that convince voters? There are signals. The polls show increasing support for PVV. Even if any of Wilders’ public opinion is besides harsh, many of the same people admit that they feel little and little safe — and more and more alien in their own country. Wilders seems to say what many think, but is afraid to talk publicly. any commentators accuse him of populism. Others see him as a politician who simply named things by name. 1 thing is certain: Lisa's tragedy has become a turning point. She showed that the problem was not just about politics or statistic — but about real people, real victims and real mistakes.
Regardless of the result of the October elections, migration and safety will prevail in the Dutch public debate. The Wilders already present sets the course for this debate. His words are strong, but they do not fall in vacuum. They are raining in a country that, as he claims, is “full, full, completely clogged.” And in which more and more people say, "We've had adequate of this."
