Dutch politics – Page 14

Dutch Finance minister attacks shareholders

Published on March 4, 2009

It’s a bit late, considering even I already argued this same point four months ago. Bos also ignores the role his own ministry has played in fermenting this crisis. After all it’s the ministry of finance, through the various insitutions it controls that’s supposed to safeguard the financial markets and which failed miserably. They completely missed the problems with the Icelandic banks for example, gave their blessing to the takeover of ABN Amro which destroyed four banks and counting and in general stayed true to the neoliberal partyline of minimal interference as the market knew best.

The anger at the bankes is understandable, but it was the whole system that failed. The recession isn’t caused by a few too greedy CEOs, but because capitalism always encourages short term greed no matter the consequences and the measures and safeguards that were put in place after the last Great Depression were deliberately dismantled from the seventies onwards. Something in which succesive finance ministers actively colluded. The Netherlands should become more American in its approach towards the markets, with less state control and more freedom for business. The current recession is the logical end result.

Dansen met de Duivel — Peter Rensen

Published on February 28, 2009

Cover of Dansen met de Duivel

Dansen met de Duivel
Peter Rensen
167 pages
published in 1994

Geert 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. 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 (“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.

Dansen met de Duivel 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, who remained first competitors and were more openly racists than Janmaat’s party. He wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Terug Naar Je Maker!

Published on February 25, 2009

You may have noticed that this is Charles Darwin’s 200th birth year. So did the local creationists here in the Netherlands, especially one Kees van Helden. Kees is a professional Christian, who had been in the news before for protesting against supposedly blasphemous advertisements put out by Dixons in 2007 and who has his own lobby organisation, Bijbel en Onderwijs (Bible and Education), mainly known for agitating against Harry Potter, “the modern face of witchcraft”. This Kees van Helden thought it would be a neat idea to use the Darwin anniversary celebrations by publishing his own anti-Darwin leaflet and delivering it to each household in the Netherlands. Saving souls through direct mailing, so to speak.

Fair enough. Now for the brilliant bit.

Several Dutch bloggers were annoyed enough by this to start a counter offensive: “terug naar je maker” (back to your maker). If you dislike getting creationist propaganda through your letter box, send it back. They set up a website and included nice, polite example letters to make your viewpoint clear. So far, so ordinary.

But then some bright spark downloaded the leaflet from Kees’ own website, then produced an annotated version explaining just what’s wrong with it… It’s a brilliant way of turning creationist propaganda into just another tool to explain evolution, a very teachable moment.

The same person also found out who’s really behind it, as the people who produced the leaflet used an old template identifying the organisation they worked for: the Schreeuw om Leven (Scream for Life) anti-abortion foundation set up by Bert Dorenbos, the ex-director
of the Evangelistische Omroep (Evangelical Broadcaster). And where do we know the EO from? Exactly, from censoring the evolution bits out of David Attenborough wildlife documentaries…

Wilders refused entry

Published on February 12, 2009

So Wilders tried getting into the UK anyway and got turned away at Heathrow:

A Dutch MP who called the Koran a “fascist book” has been sent back to the Netherlands after attempting to defy a ban on entering the UK.

Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders had been invited to show his controversial film – which links the Islamic holy book to terrorism – in the UK’s
House of Lords.

But Mr Wilders, who faces trial in his own country for inciting hatred, has been denied entry by the Home Office.

He told the BBC it was a “very sad day” for UK democracy.

The Dutch ambassador was also at Heathrow to make clear his government’s opposition to the ban on Mr Wilders entering the UK.

Schadenfreude or not, the way in which the UK government handled l’affaire Wilders was really cackhanded. By banning him from the country they’ve overinflated his importance, gave him another chance to play martyr for free speech and got him a shitload of free media attention, more than he could’ve gotten showing his nasty little film in the House of Lords. Showing Fitna there might have been a provocation, but the way this was handled you still have the provocation but now with added legitimisation.

Undesirable alien

Published on February 11, 2009

Geert Wilders

turnabout is fair play. Geert Wilders is denied entrance to the United Kingdom because he’s a threat to public safety:

A far-right Dutch MP whose film linking Islamic texts with the terror attacks on New York sparked protests around the Muslim world was last night banned from entering Britain.

Geert Wilders, who leads the small Dutch Freedom Party, was due to show his controversial 17-minute film at an event in the House of Lords tomorrow, but was informed yesterday by British officials that he would not be allowed to enter the country. The decision sparked an immediate diplomatic row after the Dutch Government pressed Britain to reverse the ban.

Now he knows how it feels to be an undesirable alien. He and his allies are of course squealing like stuck pigs about this outrage but really it’s no different from wanting to limit the number of Antillians coming to the Netherlands even though they’re Dutch citizens, to name just one example. That this has led to a diplomatic row between us and the Brits was predictable, even though we should be ashamed Wilders got elected to our parliament in the first place. Refusing him entry to the UK isn’t an insult to parliament: having him in the Tweede Kamer is an insult to parliament.