Freedom of association goes both ways

PVV voters not welcome

The anti-jihadist blog Gates of Vienna published an article stating

The skate shop “Toms Outlet” in Amsterdam does not want to have any customers inside who voted for the party of Geert Wilders. On the shop window it reads: “PVV Voters Not Welcome”. ....
The Amsterdam photographer Thomas Schlijper took a picture of the shop window, which was also published at GeenStijl.nl: “Where have we actually seen this before?”

Invoking Godwin

There is nothing wrong with the proprietor of a shop refusing entrance to PVV-voters. He is free to associate with whom he wants to. Also the use of a Godwin by Geenstijl is inappropriate. The reference is to the "Jews not admitted" policy Dutch public places had to enforce on orders of the Nazi-occupation authorities in 40-45. This is inappropriate because such a state enforced policy has a broad reach which can not be compared to individual busness proprietors associating with customers at their own discretion.

Problems with Muslim males in Western societies

Compare it to the right of bar and nightclub owners to refuse for instance young muslim males, because these are a menace to the non-muslim customers especially women.

Freedom of Association

There is such a thing as freedom of association. This freedom seeks to prevent the state from interfering in the social relations of citizens. Progressives use anti-racism legislation to undermine this freedom. This gives free way to intrusion by the state on the social relations between citizens. Conservatives should oppose anti-racism legislation on the principle of freedom of association.

Conservatives for progress

Gates of Vienna positions itself as a conservative blog. It is sad to see Conservative giving extra power to the assault by the state into the social relations of private citizens.

Catch the Jew-baiter

Harassment of Jews

In my previous post I wrote on the harrassment of Jewish pupils by Amsterdam schoolchildren, known to be Muslims.

Sniffing-out the harassers

Esther's IslaminEurope blog reports that Labour (PvdA) politician Ahmed Marcouch wants to use "decoy Jews" in order to identify harrassers of Jews. Appearently Marcouch wants to use people who must dress in such a way they seem Jewish in order to provoke antisemites so that they can be found out. Use Jew-bait to catch Jew-baiters, so to speak.

I wonder: after they have been found out, what is going to be done in order to change the minds of the haters of Jews? Punishing them will only increase their suspicions of Jews being against them.

Muslim youth attack Jewish pupils

Jewish schools in Amsterdam

Before this blog featured an interview with Henri Markens, the former principal of a Jewish school in Amsterdam. Last week a Jewish school, Rosj Pina, saw its pupils harrassed (Dutch) by what was identified as youth of Muslim origin, during a public walking event. This has been happening since 2005. Schools are withdrawing from the public walking event because of this and many other incidents of disorderly behaviour by Amsterdam youth.

PVV coalition shot down

Not talks with the Christian-Democrats

The new leader of the Christian Democrats (CDA), Maxime Verhagen, has shot down the possibility of a rightwing coalition of right liberal VVD, CDA and the Freedom Party (PVV). Today Mr. Verhagen turned down an invitation by negotiater (informateur) Mr. Rosenthal (Dutch) to start talks either with VVD's Rutte and PVV's Wilders separately or together. Mssrs Rutte and Wilders reacted dissapointed.

Over the left

With this refusal of talks the prospect of a rightwing coalition has become unlikely. Negotiater Mr. Rosenthal will probably start to look into the possibilities of a coalition with leftwing parties, such as Labour (PvdA), Lib-Dems (D66), Greens (GL) or Socialists (SP).

Whites need not apply

Dicrimination in hiring by the state

Unbelievable. There is another story of racial discrimination by the Dutch police in their appoinments policy. Before I blogged about the efforts by the Minister of Justice to increase the number of minorities working for the police, by hiring and promoting quota. These quota blocked all male applicants. There was some anger in the Dutch press at this blatant policy of discrimination. In addition several minority appointees turned out to be incompetents. And it seemed the policy had gone out of the window.

Job reservation for women and minorities

Well, it is back again. Last weekend the police placed an recruitment ad (Dutch) to hire an administrative division head for the police organisations of Frisia, Groningen and Drenthe. The ad bluntly states that

this position is reserved exclusive for women and non-dutch candidates.

Article 1 and Article 3

Discrimination does not get any more blatant than this. This goes directly against article 1 and article 3 of the Dutch constitution. According to the commission who has written the text of the ad, the text has been approved even by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Ernst Ballin. For the record, the Christian Democrat Hirsh Ballin replace Labour Minister of Justice Guusje ter Horst, after Labour left the government coalition a few months ago. Article 1 of the constitution says that all cases will be treated equally in The Netherlands. Article 3 states that all appoinments for public office must give all applicants equal consideration.

Discrimination in the private sector

Another case, a large grocery chain, "AH-to-Go", hires a lot of non-dutch staff to work in filling the shop racks. Many of these are Moroccans and this population gropu is notorious for their violence. At some point e-mails surfaced of AH-to-Go Managers asking job agencies supplying them with workers to put a cap on the number of ethnic Moroccans. A few days ago the Public Prosecutor announced that the three managers who wrote the offending e-mails will be prosecuted for discrimination and trespassing against article 1. of the Constitution.

In previous cases entrepreneurs and managers of private firms have been fined for similar policies.

Do as I say, not as I do

Obviously politicians and the servants of the Dutch state think that they set the laws for the citizenry but that the laws do not apply to them. So they are allowed to do what citizens are explicitly forbidden. The state is far more powerful than individual citizens and private firms. This tyrannical application of power causes distrust and resentment amongst the population at large.

Some animals are more equal than others

Still cases like thise attrackt an increasing amount of attention. There is a connection which is overlooked. Freedom Party (PVV) Geert Wilders is prosecuted for hate speech and discrimination under the same laws as those which are being used against the AH-to-Go managers for making statements which are critical against Islam. It would be a major injustice if he would be convicted for thought crime, while the states pursues a policy of discrimination. It could well happen. Judges are formalistic. Their definition of discrimination is that which the laws and statues define as illegal discrimination. But even if Mr. Wilders is convicted it will not stop him or the PVV, but the injustice will rather be more wind in their sails.

Wilders and the cost of immigrants

A program to keep Holland Dutch

Dutch populist Geert Wilders is well known for his pro-Dutch stance and opposition against the Islamisation of The Netherlands. In order to stop creeping Islamisation Wilders wants to end all immigration from Muslim countries, send back criminal foreigners to their countries of origin and reduce all other immigration to maximum 1,000 per year.

Stopping all non-western immigration

But Wilders does not only oppose Muslim immigration. He critisises all non-western immigration. I blogged in July 2009 that PVV parlementarian Mr. Sietse Fritsma requested Minister van der Laan of Integration to calculate the cost of immigration. After much hemming and hawing van der Laan refused to make such calculations, arguing that the government cannot put a price tag on groups of people. Geert Wilders argued that the government constantly puts all kinds of price tags on people, but alleged that the government does not want to make it known how costly immigration is. Ethnic Dutch women have only 1.6 children each. Supporters of high levels of immigration in the government have always maintained that immigrants will pay for the pensions and health insurance of the aging Dutch population.

Finding out whats going on

When the government refused to break down the expenses of the government between ethnic Dutch, western immigrants and non-western immigrants Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) tasked an economic research institute with the task at their expense. This institute, NYFER, diligently did its research, wrote a report and published it in May, a month ago. "Budgetary effects of immigration of Non-Westerners" it is called. The report limits itself to the costs of Non-Westerner immigrants to the state and ignores the costs to society at large.

A bucketful of Euros

To compress the findings of the report to the utmost: the cost of immigration of 25,000 non-westerners annually was calculated at 7.2 billion Euro. The report estimates that 25,000 immigrants who stay here per year is roughly the yearly count in the past ten years.

Raising the pension age

An important issue for the rightwing parties in the elections was raising the pension age from 65 to 67 in order to keep the welfare system affordable. The PVV made keeping the pension age at 65 an important part of their election platform. During the campaign Geert Wilders was able to argue that raising the pension age to 67 would only make an economy of 7 billion Euros until 2030. So just stopping non-western immigration for one year would be able to finance his promise to keep the pension age at 65. And this promise helped to convince enough voters of those who used to vote for the populist leftist Socialist Party (SP) to take three seats from the Left and bring them over to the right.

In conclusion: the PVV does not only discuss the agressive and supremacist ideology of Islam, but debates other excesses of the Multicultural society as well. Geert Wilders does not only use Islam critical arguments, but also economic arguments.

Employers hostile to Wilders

The Freedom Party shockwave

The populist Freedom Party (PVV) had 9 seats in parliament between 2006 and now. The 24 seat victory of Geert Wilders' Freedom Party in the June 9 elections sent a shockwave through The Netherlands. And one of the ships hit by the PVV shockwave is the Dutch business world and they are truly unsettled. Their mouthpieces, the employers' federation has warned in March against the rise of the PVV:

The head of the Dutch employers' federation has accused far-right politician Geert Wilders of "seriously" damaging Dutch interests abroad.

Bernard Wientjes, who chairs the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW), said it was outrageous that Mr Wilders recently presented himself in London as the next Dutch prime minister and then derided Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as "a complete fool". Mr Wilders' statement, which was broadcast around the world, caused shock in the British press.

Mr Wientjes, who heads the largest employers' organisation VNO-NCW in the Netherlands, says Mr Wilders poses a serious threat to the Netherlands and the Dutch economy. He underlined that three quarters of Dutch GDP comes from revenue earned abroad.

Mr Wientjes stressed that his federation will do business with any Dutch cabinet, including one joined by Mr Wilders' PVV party. But he emphasised that he hoped Mr Wilders party would not be included in the next government following parliamentary elections on 9 June.

And on Friday bussiness daily FD (Financieele Dagblad) published the responses of the chairmen of the employers federations FME-CWM, MKB-Nederland,Holland Financial Centre and VNO-NCW what kind of a government they want on their frontpage. All of the federation are rooting for a coalition which exludes the PVV. In an half page interview inside Mr. Wientjes of VNO-NCW again insisted that he hopes that a centre righwing or a centre leftwing government without PVV is formed. Mr. Wientjes was shocked by the good showing of the PVV and the Socialist SP despite their weakness in the polls. He mourned the weakening of the political centre. He regretted the evident splintering of Dutch politics and could not give a reason for the strength of the PVV apart from his strength in the television debates.

Islamisation is okay

This shows that the business world is hostile to the rightwing surge in The Netherlands. Business is opposed to a brake on mass immigration and the islamisation of The Netherlands. For them a good business climate and good relation with international trading partners take precedence over the continuity and security of the the nation.

Queen appoints formateur

The negotiator

Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands has appointed VVD stalwart Uri Rosenthal as formateur. A formateur is a negotiator is appointed after elections to assist in putting together a coalition which can govern The Netherlands. Mr. Rosenthal is today going to first try to win Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) in a coalition with the Christian Democrats (CDA).

Dragging the CDA in

The CDA is has been halved in the 9 June elections, as a result of being in government for a long time. They are not very likely to be interested in governing and hence a rightwing coalition is extremely unlikely.

What to expect

It is expected that in a while there will be negotiations with some of the smaller leftist parties who won in order to create a coalition with Labour (PvdA).

Norwegian makes death threat against government minister

Mullah Krekar a Norwegian Mullah issued a death threat against Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg. He is about to be expelled from Norway. If send back to Iraq, where he is from he may be killed. The Mullah threatened:

My death will cost Norwegian society. If, for example, Erna Solberg kicks me out of the country and is the reason that I die, then she will suffer the same fate. I don't know by whom. Ansar al-Islam, Al-Qaida, I don't know. Whoever,

I think the right honorable Mullah is a great poster child for the Multicultural society.

Visiting the Queen

Presenting the Freedom Party to the Queen

Today Geert Wilders visited the Royal Palace Soestdijk, the palace where the Dutch Monarch lives. This is a ritual which takes place after every national election.

The Christian-Democrats

The Queen has appointed a formateur from the VVD, the biggest party. The task of this formateur is to get a coalition together which will be the the government. This will be a mayor task. The favourite of the VVD and the PVV is a rightwing government together with the Christian Democrats. However the Christian-Democrats lost heavily while they were in government and they have little stomach to rule. Even so It is the first possible variant which will be tried out.

The power of the Queen

Once a coalition has been formed they will go to the palace again to have their picture taken on the stairs in front of the palace together with the Queen. Obviously the Monarch has some influence on the government coalition, which are formed. As the Dutch Queen Beatrix is a staunch multiculturalist she favours a combination of VVD with several leftist parties. And because Dutch politics is so splintered now, the power of the parties has waned and the Queen is more influential than ever. Hence my expectation is for a right-liberal - leftist coalition. This coalition will have many parties and be weak and unstable.

Voters favour coalition with PVV

The right-liberal VVD has become the biggest party in the elections of 9 June 2010.

VVD Voters favour Wilders

Polls have shown that the majority of the voters of the VVD desire a coalition with the PVV. 57 percent of those who voted VVD (Dutch) want their party to form a government with PVV. A rightwing coalition is preferred over a coalition with the multiculturalist leftist parties. Only 21 percent of VVD voters favour this. Amongst those who voted Christian Democrats a minority favoured a coalition with the PVV. Most of the former voters of the CDA in 2006 who favoured the PVV already voted PVV in this election. Obviously the PVV was greatly helped by how sick voters were of the Balkenende government.

Freedom Party turns The Netherlands to the right

Some remarkable results in the last elections for Geert Wilders.

Taking votes from the ultra-left

At the parliamentary elections on 9 June Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) managed to turn The Netherlands to the right. Usually rightwing parties win at the expense of other rightwing parties and likewise leftwing parties win by cannibalizing other leftwing parties. However the PVV managed to win votes (Dutch) amongst those who used to vote for the ultra leftwing Socialist Part, a party to the left of Labour (PvdA).

Mobilizing a new base and demobilizing opposition

Another first is that the PVV managed to mobilize many voters who never used to vote. Eighteen percent of his voters did not vote before. At the same time the PVV demobilizes the electorate of other parties, as the total number of voters at this election was lower than in previous elections. To be precise the number of voters dropped by -5.6 percentage points, voter turn out was 80.3 percent in 2006 and stood now at 74.7.

All these friggin parties

Politics gets confusing

A look in closer detail on the splintered and confused jumble of little parties that are now going to populate Dutch parliament at Esther's Islam in Europe blog.

Freedom Party scores major victory

The election results of the 9 june 2010 national election

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) will probably get 22 seats in the 150 seat Dutch parliament. The Liberal-Conservative VVD made a draw with Labour (PvdA) and will get 31 seats. Henceforth nationalism will be a force to be reckoned with.

The collaps of Christian - Democracy

The second most amazing result is the downsizing of the Christian-Democrats which fell to a mere 21 seats, smaller than the Freedom Party.

These results are stunning. The Netherlands has entered a new era. It has left the era dominated by the Christian parties and enters an era of splintered politics and society.