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\nGeert Wilders is far from the first racial demagogue to appear in Dutch politics; he’s just more succesful than most. His most recent predecessor was Hans Janmaat, who at his best only managed to get three seats in parliament with his party, the socalled Centrumdemocraten<\/cite>. In constrast, Wilders managed to get nine seats in his first election and is currently polling anywhere from fifteen to twenty seats. Of course, Wilders is operating at a time when rightwing radicalism and Islamophobia have almost become respectable and opinions that would’ve gotten him ostracised twenty years ago are now applauded. But, as Dansen met de Duivel<\/cite> (“Dancing with the Devil”) shows, there are other reasons why the Centrumdemocraten never grew very far beyond the real hardcore racist vote of about two percent or so.\n<\/p>\n \nDansen met de Duivel<\/cite> is the story of how its author, Peter Rensen, infiltrated the party and his experiences working for them. Inbetween his personal experiences he also sketches a quick history of Janmaat and his party. What comes across is a party that’s content to stay relatively small, doesn’t really want to move beyond the comfortable limits of the protest pary, as that might entail losing control. Janmaat himself was kicked out of the first racist group he was involved with and got elected for, the Centrumpartij<\/cite>, who remained first competitors and were more openly racists than Janmaat’s party. He wasn’t about to let that happen again.\n<\/p>\n
\nDansen met de Duivel
\nPeter Rensen
\n167 pages
\npublished in 1994
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