Some animals are more equal than others

750 privately owned houses

This blog featured a post yesterday about the City of Amsterdam which is confiscating the second house of people who have a first house elsewhere. 750 owners are risking de facto confiscation. The confiscated houses have to be rented at controlled nominal rents to people who are deemed needy by the municipal bureaucrats, according to the housing statute of the City of Amsterdam. Labour party (PvdA) politicians are still defending the policy on the thinnest of grounds. Namely that the shortage of houses is "so acute". But no grounds are needed when men are bent on being tyrants. Whim is the heart of tyrranny.

Forced into loss

These house owners have to rent out the houses at rents which do not cover the costs of the mortgage, they are forced into heavy losses. But the municipality does not care about their troubles. It does not feel their pain. 

400 municipality owned houses

How could it know their pain? The municipality does not own houses, does it? However today Dutch daily "De Telegraaf" dug up the fact that the municipality owns about 400 houses in the centre of Amsterdam (Dutch). Two municipality owned firms, NV Zeedijk and NV Stadsherstel, obtained these houses in campaigns to end the large power drugs- and other mafias have in the Amsterdam red light district. By forcing suspect and seedy owners to sell their houses in this district. This by force of another right to property undermining law: BIBOB. But that is another story.

Paying mortgages is a pain

The municipality paid good money to obtain these houses. It had to get mortgages from banks to finance the purchases. And now the municipality has to pay the montly payments on the mortgages. According to the statutes used against the owners of second homes the houses are not used for living by the owner. And they have a value below 163,000 Euro. So they qualify as houses which must be rented out at controlled, nominal rents, according to the Amsterdam housing statute.

Amsterdam and its newest, bestest friends

However the houses are rented out through nearby hotels, Krasnapolsky and Barbizon, at 200 Euros per night. The location of the houses is the best, there will be a lot of demand for these municipality owned houses. The municipality and friends must be making a killing on this deal. The civil servants enforcing the confiscations from the private owners of second homes have been instructed to waive the statute for the municipality owned houses. This was confirmed by former Amsterdam Alderman Hans Gerson in September 2009 on the grounds that otherwise the municipality would own the houses at a loss. That is enough reason when the municipality has to bear it, but not enough reason when prive owners have to bear it.  

See no evil

Oh and if houses are rented out and it does not get into the books? There is no keeping track of the coming and going of tourists and travellers is there? This situation is ideal for the creation of black, undeclared money flows. Who knows who might be on the take?

Some animals are real pigs if you ask me

A Harbinger of Spring

The laywer

Last Friday the 13th a Dutch news and commentary show Knevel en van den Brink featured a well known Dutch criminal laywer Mr. Theo Hiddema. What causes me to mention him was the fact that the laywer is known for some time as a Freedom Party (PVV) supporter and managed to bring the ideas and policies and the reasons for those policies of the PVV to the limelight.

Keeping the right-liberals on track

Amongst other things Mr. Hiddema mentioned that the Dutch courts are flooded with criminals of foreign origin. At some point his interviewers said that Geert Wilders was too radical and that it would be better to vote for the right-liberal VVD, which has a very restrictive immigration paragraph. To which Hiddema replied that the VVD would only be reliable on immigration as long as the PVV was there to compete with them for votes.

A joy to listen to. Unfortunately it is all in Dutch but still here is the video:

The right to property undermined in Amsterdam

No protection for property owners

Within The Netherlands Amsterdam has been infamous for the weak protection of property rights. Bikes and cars be stolen without the police being willing to investigate the matter. I am speaking from experience here. Real estate, such as houses and apartments, is prey to a violent and arrogant squatter movement, who may take over empty buidings counting on the protection and assistance from the city government, and the public utilities for supply of power and water. This has been so since the late 1960ies.

Movements for property rights

Since the Fortuyn populist revolt in 2001 there is a counter-movement, seeking to bring back the protection of property. Fortuyn was bankrolled by big real estate owners, who sought the protection of their property rights and the destruction of the squatter movement. The leadership of rightwing parties in parliament saw in this a part of the agenda of the populist movement that they could implement without touching the multicultural ideology. They were hoping to isolate the populist movement from its financial base and they felt they needed to give something to their respective conservative bases to ease the grass roots pressure on the party leadership. And so the Balkenende cabinet wrote and passed a anti-squatter bill. This bill is going to take effect on 1 October 2010.

The bitter-enders of the left

The left did not give up so easily. Last June the national council of Public Prosecutors announced that they would not enforce the new anti-squatter law (Dutch). Law or no law, Naboth could go to Hell. Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin insisted that the law would be enforced. Whatever that is worth.

But the left is not finished in its quest to replace the rule of law with the rule of whim of bureaucrats. And the the whim of its favoured violent special interest groups such as squatters, animal rights activists and such 1.). Which in the past furnished them with the assassin of Pim Fortuyn, when they needed one. To show their disdain for property rights the Labour Party (PvdA) dominated City Council is confiscating privately owned apartments (HT KV) whose owners are living in a first home elsewhere. Distributing the apartments to their own needy clients at a nominal controlled rent. A typical apartment with a monthly mortgage payment of 1,000 Euro will be rented out for a maximum rent of 548 Euros. So the owners will not be able to make good their investment. In addition the clients of the City Council may run down or damage the property of the owner, with uncertain recourse for the owner through the overloaded courts.

This is not at all new. In book 6 - Democracies and Oligarchies - of The Politics and The Constitution of Athens 2.) Aristotle remarks on phenomena which tend to bring democracies down:

The demagogues of our own day often get property confiscated in the law-courts in order to please the people.

The Rule of Law is a good thing

Kleinverzet introduces his article by remarking that

all and sundry on the Dutch left are decrying Geert Wilders as a potential threat to Justice and Rule of Law.

In the context of the lack of protection of property rights invoking the Rule of Law by the left is indeed totally unappropriate. The Rule of Law is a convenient stick to batter Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV). The left has never shown respect for the Rule of Law when it fettered their unrestrained rule.

By contrast, it is the effort of the supporters of the populist PVV and its forerunner, which put the nation back on the track of the rule of law. The efforts to enshrine and protect private property are part of that quest.

1.) This blog featured articles on the collusion between the Dutch establishment and violent radical leftist groups and how this was a fertile breeding ground for the assassin of Pim Fortuyn. E.g. connections to Fortuyn's assassin.

2.) Aristotle's Politics and the Constitution of Athens may be purchased from Amazon here.

Christian democrats dragged along kicking and screaming

No to Wilders

According to Esther at IslaminEurope a group of Christian Democrats (CDA) is opposing the deal with the Anti-Islamic Freedom Party (PVV). As a part of their efforts they are collecting signatures of CDA-members on a website (Dutch).

The big picture

However, a poll taken by Maurice de Hond shows that 78 percent of those who voted CDA support a deal with the PVV. Out of 65,000 members 330 signed the petition of the hardcore multiculturalists. The results become more relevant if we assume that only active members voted for the petition. Active members are 10 percent of party members generally in The Netherlands. 330 out of 6,500 active members is roughly five percent.

The rotten party system

Before this blog featured a post on our rotten party system in The Netherlands. Members are active in parties because they want jobs in the party or in the administration. There are 12,000 political offices in the administration and 15,000 paid party slots to divvy up between the active party members of whom there are in total about 300,000. Ten percent or 30,000 of them are active members so there is a job for nearly everyone. But the only way for a party to be able to reward its active core with an paid appointment is by being part of a government. So the CDA has little choice, now that there is a possibility of a rightwing government. They have to be in this government, or the main reason why they are able to recruit members wil fall away.

Doomed anyway

The hardcore multiculturalist five percent may kick and scream but most of them will go along. That is until the CDA has been made irrelevant by the Scylla of secularisation and the Charybdis of the rise of the PVV.

Populist Crossfertilization

Esther's IslaminEurope featured an article on the Danish People's Party (DPP) which proposed that a parlimentary commission will annually calculate the costs of immigration of non-western immigrants into Denmark. In July 2009 I wrote that Freedom Party (PVV) MP Sietse Fritsma:

has been asking Dutch government ministries what their immigrant related costs are and how they relate to the costs of native Dutchmen. He has also asked questions about the revenue of the state related to immigrants. He has forecast the result that immigrants ON AVERAGE cost more than they bring in.

Here we see the fruits of co-operation between rightwing populists in Europe, just as we may see it with the rightwing minority government which is being formed after the Danish example in the Netherlands.

Dechristianizing the Christian Party

Multiculturalism does not sell well

In an article on this blog last week I stated that the:

.. PVV .. is becoming the premier rightwing party.

At this point in time one of the rightwing electoral rivals of the Freedom Party (PVV), the Christian Democrats (CDA) are reconsidering their strategy recommendation with a view to winning back a voting base that will ensure their power. The problem for the Christian Democrats is that they received 21 seats in the 150 parliament in the latest election, while they are used to receiving a bit less than a third of the votes, with around 45 seats. The voting base of the Christian Democrats has been diminishing since the 1960ies, due to secularisation. And this is made more acute by the appearing of a rightwing competitior, the PVV in a time of doubts over the viability of the multicultural society that has beeen foisted on the unexpecting electorate by the political elite.

Inclusiveness is the answer

The answer according to CDA prominent Mr. Bert Ramakers is to broaden their ideological foundation. That means stopping to be a typical Christian-Democratic party (Dutch) and to appeal to adherents of other religions, primerily Muslims. It is not surprising that Mr. Ramakers takes this view. Inclusiveness is the only option permitted in the multicultural society. And on a first glance it makes sense too. Immigrants are a growing portion of the population, so if the Christian-Democrats appeal to this base they can win votes there.

The fruits of inclusiveness

However, the question is, is it really all that easy. Labour (PvdA) has appealled succesfully to immigrant voters for a long time. They have a headstart on the Christian Democrats. And attracting immigrants is a mixed blessing. The PvdA is shedding ethnic Dutch voters faster than they can win immigrants. The voter base of the CDA is more averse to a pro-muslim program than the Labour base and they will desert the party to rally to the PVV. So the Christian Democrats are damned if the do and damned if they don't.

The Rest

And this is half of the reason why the PVV has the potential to become the premier rightwing party in The Netherlands. The other half concerns the other rightwing competitior of the PVV, the right-liberal VVD.

A Minority Government

The Fragmented Dutch political landscape

The Dutch political landscape is splintering and in the June elections this resulted in a heavy fragmented Left and Right. Both with four parties. Under such circumstances it is difficult to form a cabinet which can constitute a viable government. An added difficulty on the right is the Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders, which breaks the consensus of the political elite on Islam, multiculturalism and mass-immigration.

Negotiations to form a cabinet

Negotiations in June on a right-wing government of Christian-Democrats (CDA), right-liberals (VVD) and PVV broke down in June. Especially the CDA was hostile to Wilders' anti-Islamic agenda. Due to the adverse economic situation Labour (PvdA) did not want to form a leftwing government, they feel the need to shrink the state budget and the leftwing partners could not be made to agree. A centre government of the main leftwing and rightwing parties was tried but was found wanting. Meanwhile the PVV started rising in the polls again and taking votes from the rightwing parties, who were shrinking.

We are seven weeks without a government now and counting.

The minority Cabinet

The Queen appoints a functionary who leads the negotiations, a informateur. In each variant the informateur concerned gave up his mission to form a cabinet.

This week the Queen advised CDA-leader Verhagen to co-operate to try a new variant on the right. They must form a minority cabinet with the right-liberal VVD, which would be tacitly supported in key areas by the PVV. Or other fleeting coalitions of non-government parties in order to legislate specific issues.

A declaration of discord

This is leading to some results. As parties come closer to a deal, the need for caveats and conditions is felt and yesterday CDA, VVD and PVV made a joint declaration on their differences on how they view Islam.

The declaration was translated and put on GoV. It reads:

The three parties VVD, PVV, and CDA disagree about the nature and character of Islam. The dividing line is in the characterization of the Islam as either a religion or a (political) ideology.

Parties accept each other’s different views on this subject and will also act on this based on their own views.

However, there is much that binds the parties: making the Netherlands stronger, safer, and more prosperous is the common goal and starting point.

- - - - - - - - -

Therefore — accepting each other’s differences of opinion and fully assigning to one another the freedom of expression with regard to the differences of opinion — it is agreed that the PVV will support elements of the yet-to-be-negotiated government agreement from a position of support. The VVD and CDA will on their part honor the wishes of the PVV in the support agreement to be settled.

In any case the, such support agreement arrangements should settle the details of the measures for budget cuts and firm agreements on immigration, integration and asylum, safety, and better care for the elderly, whereby it is clear that for the PVV the willingness to support the budget cuts is linked to the content of the agreements to be settled in the fields of immigration, integration and asylum, safety and elderly care.

Mark Rutte [VVD]
Geert Wilders [PVV]
Maxime Verhagen [CDA]

The Hague, July 30, 2010

So the PVV has not had to compromise its view that Islam is a political ideology and not a mere religion. While the leftwing of the CDA is appeassed by the declaration's insistence that the Christian-Democrats see things differently.

The benefits of this almost a deal

Taking a long view this set-up may be very beneficial for the PVV. They keep their distance to the government, while being able to deliver some real benefits to their voter base. VVD and CDA will get the plush jobs but in a few years there will be new elections and they will probably have to face a strengthened PVV which is becoming the premier rightwing party.

Outsiders and Insiders

The children of the asylum seeker

This week the Court of The Hague has made a verdict in the case of the children of an Angolan asylum seeker which is regarded by many as a break-through. The woman's request for asylum was turned down as were her appeals. She refuses to go back to Angola however.

The state has refused to take care of the woman and her brood any longer. The asylum seeker centre Ter Apel have said she will be expelled from the centre in September or therabouts. The women went to court and demanded ongoing care, shelter and education for her brood from the state arguing that the state is is responsible to her and her offspring even while she and the father disobey the law.

The The Hague Court ruled that international treaties such as the European Social Charter and the International Convention of the Rights of the Child oblige the state to take care of the needs of the children. Not supporting them is a wrongful act.

The Minister of the Interior, Ernst Hirsch Ballin, has to react within a month.

A Dutch Court and pirates from the gulf of Aden

More from Dutch Courts. In June a Court in the port city of Rotterdam ruled in a case brought by the state against five Somali Pirates for hyjacking a ship registered in the Dutch Antilles, and therefore part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. The pirates had been arrested in the Gulf of Aden by a Danish Navy crew, from a Danish ship which is part of a international anti-piracy flottilla.

The flottilla is suppossed to protect the trading shipping which carries commerce between the major civilisations. Because the attack on the ship took not place in Dutch waters it was questionable whether the Rotterdam court and Dutch law would apply to the case at all. The ruling of the Rotterdam court was that the court and Dutch law were relevant to the case and sentenced the pirates to five years in prison in The Netherlands. The pirates announced their intention to apply for asylum once their term was up.

Being broad-minded

In the above described cases it is striking how broad Dutch judges see the responsibility of the Dutch state and the application of Dutch law. And how little they are concerned with the interest of average Dutch citizens. Dutch citizens will have to foot the housing, medical and educational bills for the Angolese asylum seekers children. For the inprisoning of the Somali pirates and for the bills of giving houses and benefits to the Somali pirates once they are released. And for the expenses of the wifes and children the pirates will bring into The Netherlands. Actually the "punishment" of the pirates is no punishment at all, but an incentive for Somalis to join pirates and make money by hyjacking ships and in bonus to all the loot perhaps receive the right to come and live in The Netherlands on the purse of the Dutch tax payer.

Smaller and bigger international pirates

The international treaties the judges base their rulings on have been promoted by transnational elites which is distant from the common people. The latter have had no voice in the matter. As the growing popularity of Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) shows the public is getting fed up with having to foot the bills of the rest of the globe. But the PVV is up against a powerful array of international treaties which overrule Dutch democracy and therefore the power of the PVV to influence the the course of the Dutch state. The state, originally a tool of the nation to protect and serve its interests has been hyjacked by these transnational pirates.

Internationalist Alliance for Freedom

Thus it makes sense for PVV leader Geert Wilders to launch an international effort. What he terms the Geert Wilders International Freedom Alliance in order to counter the power of the transnational pirates whether they are Dutch judges, transnational lawmakers and influence peddlers, African seekers of unearned economic benefits or Somali Pirates.

The date of the trial against Geert Wilders

The trial in July

In February this year this blog reported that the trial against Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders would held in July. July is almost over and still no trial.

The new date for the Geert Wilders trial

The website of the Court of Amsterdam, rechtspraak.nl, states that the Wilders trial (Dutch) will be held in October. The hearings will start on the fourth of October and the verdict is planned for November 2. The reason for the delay which is given is the fact that some of the witnesses Mr. Wilders called up would be unable to make it at an earlier date.

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.

Lack of trust and a greater lack of trust

The two minute silence

Today on May the Fourth is the day of the commemoration of those who died during the Second World War. In most communities in The Netherlands there is a gathering at 20:00 hours and a two minute silence is observed. The biggest gathering is on the Dam in Amsterdam, which is attended by the Queen.

The bad memories

This year there was some extra tension as last year there had been an attempt to kill the Queen on April the 30ieth, Queensday. Both days are linked in the Dutch national psyche if only because they are just four days apart.

The event

As usual a large crowd had gathered on the Dam to watch the ceremony of wreath laying, military music and the two minute silence. Halfway into the silence a man started screaming an incoherent yell. Then someone else yelled as well and then a mass panic broke out. The crowd surged, children and grown ups were trampled. There were dozens of lightly injured and a considerable number of broken bones.

The applause

After a short while people calmed down. The master of ceremonies announced a calming message and people even applauded. For what?



The soothing message

Later this night the authorities announced that they had arrested a man, a criminal and a drugsdealer and that he will be investigated.

The conclusion.

People are insecure and jittery. Trust is lower than it has been in a long time. It will only go down further.

Fragmentation in The Netherlands

The Rise of the PVV

The results of the Dutch municipal election had a big effect outside of The Netherlands. This is due to the good results of Geert Wilders' PVV (Freedom Party). The right-wing PVV came in second in the city of The Hague, the seat of the national government and today I read that Geert Wilders will actually take a seat in the municipal council. In the new city of Almere the PVV came in first and became the biggest party. Both cities saw the PVV litterally starting from zero seats. Nothing illustrates the fragmentation of Dutch society better. The older parties have lost much of their connection to their electorate. This fragmentation means that the political class of about 30.000 hard core party members are socially and ideologically isolated from the voters they are supposed to represent. They do not know what to do with the unhappiness of the voters. This unhappiness is an effect of cultural alieniation as a result of growing Muslim and other immigrant colonies amongst the ethnic Dutch, fear of crime and potential job loss as a result of the global crisis. The older parties want to appeal to the public on issues such as the economy, whereas the dominant and most urgently felt issue in The Netherlands is the threesome that starts with an I. Immigration, Integration and Islam. These issues are monopolized by Mr. Geert Wilders' PVV and he stands to gain from them, becoming the second biggest party. Or perhaps even first.

Why The Hague?

Mr. Wilders chose his battle grouds well. The four main cities in The Netherlands are Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Amsterdam is quite prosperous. The city is 50 percent immigrant origin, who vote monopolistically for the Left. The ethnic Dutch in Amsterdam are quite prosperous and many support the Left feel like world citizens and have reason to do so. Their party of choice would be the Greens or D66, a quintessential Liberal party. The PVV could gain here as they start from zero, but not as much as elewhere. Rotterdam already has Leefbaar Rotterdam, a strong populist local party in Pim Fortuyn's track, so any effort in Rotterdam would result in canibbalisation on the right. Utrecht is relatively unaffected by immigration. The Hague has a strong tradition of voting for nationalist parties and a serious problem with immigrants. It was a good battle ground for the PVV and they got an excellent result.

Why Almere?

Then there is Almere. Almere is a new city built in the 1960ies on land that was reclaimed from the sea in 1942. It lies a bit to the East from Amsterdam. The city is populated by people who moved from Amsterdam in the 1970ies and later. A strong motive to move was the takeover of Amsterdam by Muslim immigrants. These days there is a influx of non-western immigrants into Almere and the people there do not want to be ethnically cleansed once more. Voters turned out in significant numbers to vote PVV, voting attendance was high in Almere compared to other years and relative to the rest of the country. The PVV mobilizes voters who used to not vote.

The effect of the municipal elections on the national elections

The PVV only participated in elections in the aformentioned two cities. Polling expert Maurice de Hondt analyzed the voting behaviour (Dutch) in the municipal elections and the expected effect on the national elections on June the 9th. It turns out that the PVV has big support amongst those who voted other parties in the municipal elections. Especially the Liberal-Conservative VVD party, the new right-wing splinter TON and voters for local parties will vote PVV. All together Maurice de Hondt estimates that the PVV will become the biggest party in the national parliament with 16.2 percent of the votes. Bigger than the CDA (Christian Democrats) and PvdA (Labour). This is a picture of incredible political fragmentation.

The Geert Wilders Hate Speech Trial

What does the fall of the coalition and the new national elections imply for the hate-speech trial against Geert Wilders? June is one month before the resumption of this trial against PVV leader Wilders in July. Firstly, it means that some dark influence behind the screens against Mr. Wilders was removed in the form of Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst (PvdA) stepping down. However on the Justice Ministry there is still a dark presence in the form of Hirsch Ballin (CDA). Hirsch Ballin is also the provisional Minister of the Interior so he can make life interesting for Mr. Wilders. It remains to be seen what he will do. Providing we ever really find out. After the elections in June formal or informal PVV support will be necessary to form a new right-wing coalition government which is the preferred option for the CDA. This means they will be directly in contact with Geert Wilders all the time and he will be able to influence his trial that way, while the top Christian-Dems will do some horse trading. The formation of the government will take months. In the end a three or four party coalition. Voters get an unrepresentative government again as the new coalition will be the result of political bartering behind closed doors.

A field of liberal destruction

In conclusion. The Netherlands is no political or social unit anymore. The nation has been destroyed by Liberla policies and has to be rebuilt or to be broken down and abandoned. The PVV may want to change that but it lacks the means to do so.

Dutch municipal election: coming on foot

Local politics influencing national politics

The 2010 municipal elections had been scheduled for March 3. The national coalition government of PvdA (Labour), CDA (Christian Democrats) and CU (Christian Union) fell apart just before these elections, due to the PvdA socialist seeking political advantage by making a pacifist gesture over Afghanistan to their core voters. This was a repeat of what they did over Srebrenica in 2001. Hence the municipal elections had a big impact on the national elections which are due in June.

Three trends

The municipal elections are notable for a number of trends appearing. The further weakening of trust in Dutch society, the increasing fragmentation of the public and the increasing polarization of ethnic Dutch against Muslims and vice versa.

The end of The Netherlands

Trust weakened in Dutch society as a result of voting irregularities in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Political fragmentation reflecting a deeper social fragmentation is manifest in the weakening of main parties and the rise of the PVV (Freedom Party). The increasing ethno-religious polarization is evident in a number of coups by ethnic Turks and other Muslims in order to take over local chapters of Leftist parties such as PvdA. This phenomenon of local Muslim coups is becoming more and more widespread for a while now and I blogged about such a case on February 2, a month before the elections.

The way back

I suppose the most fundamental trend is the erosion of trust, caused by mass-immigration. A Chinese proverb states: trust comes on foot and goes on a horse. It will take generations to rebuilt the trust that was squandered in the last 20 years of mass immigration and multi-culturalism.

Is Europe dead or dieing?

Does Fortuyn's anger reflect the mood of the public?

In a comment on Lawrence Austers VFR I wrote about a clip of an angry Pim Fortuyn vowing not to take Islamization anymore:

This clip indicates the mood of a significant part of the European public.

Mr Auster replied:

Snouck says the clip reflects the mood of a significant part of the European public. I sadly disagree. No one EVER sees such ideas and feelings being expressed in public in Europe. If such ideas and feelings were being expressed by a significant part of the European public, Europe would be a different continent from what it now is, and would be on the path to saving itself, instead of being on the path to Islamization and death.

That is a big compliment to Mr. Fortuyn and Mr. Wilders. But is it true that such ideas or feelings are not EVER being expressed in public? Obviously the Islamisation of Europe is advancing in most European countries, including The Netherlands. But in Flanders the Vlaams Belang, in Italy the Lega Nord, in Denmark the People's Party, Switzerland the People's Party and in Germany Denmark's People's Party, Holland's Party for Freedom, Switzerland's People's Party, in Germany Pro-Deutschland are speaking up against Islamization and mass-immigration as VFR commenter Bjorn Larsen also points out.

How must opposition to Multi-culturalism be expressed?

As a proof of his statement Mr. Auster says:

If such ideas and feelings were being expressed by a significant part of the European public, Europe would be a different continent from what it now is, and would be on the path to saving itself, instead of being on the path to Islamization and death.

Is this really so? Would Europe be choosing live if this sentiment was expressed by the public? Firstly, the public is not able to express itself coherently, so it must be leaders who give words to the mood of the public. Secondly, the way to do it must be acceptable to the public. The reason why Fortuyn was acceptable was because he initially expressed himself as a defender of European freedoms and equality. If he had started off as he did in the video he would never have gathered a following. These expressions only became acceptable after he had become a electoral power. I do not even think it is all that important, that this sentiment is expressed in this way at all. It is important that the sentiment exists in the leadership and the public. But opposition must be expressed in a calm and deliberate way in order to not to preclude it from becoming respectable.

There is a decade of struggle ahead

I do not think Europe is as dead as Mr. Auster seems to think. An opposition is being built against Multiculturalism, which has the mainstream. Multiculturalism is losing ground as more and more bad news about immigrant communities is coming out. But it will take at least a decade of hard work before there will be a new consensus in the smaller countries and the bigger countries may even take two decades.

Turkish political language in municipal elections

On 3 March there will be municipal elections in The Netherlands. The PvdA (Labour) party is being embarrassed by Dutch and Turkish members who are campaigning in Turkish. Rotterdam PvdA candidate Fikri Demirtas has a Turkish language poster. Amsterdam PvdA candidate Lodewijk Asscher has a Turkish language poster. Amsterdam candidate Freek Ossel also has a Turkish language poster.

Vunerable right flank of Christian parties

There will be municipal elections on March 3. Two days ago on 15 February there was a political debate on Dutch public TV. Amongst others the PVV (Freedom Party) send Geert Wilders and the coalition party CU (Christian Union) was represented by Arie Slob.

The CU is part of the ruling coalition togehter with CDA (Christian Democrats) and PvdA (Labour). CU is supposed to be a Conservative party, but it moved to the left on many issues and is losing its right-wing profile. This makes the CU vunerable to competition from the right especially from the Geert Wilders' PVV. This became glaringly obvious during the debate. At some point Mr. Wilders launched an attack against CU's Arie Slob asking

Mr. Slob you represent a Christian Party in The Netherlands. Do you think Islamic culture is equal to Christian culture, can be combined with the rule of law in a democratic state, do you see Islam is a totalitarian ideology [more of the same from Wilders].... ?

Arie Slob answers for the CU:

There are a million Muslims in The Netherlands, they cannot be excluded, they have to obey the rules everybody has to obey our rules [waffles on]

Geert Wilders interrupts:

That is no answer to my question, you are not answering my question is Islam equal to Christianity ?

Arie Slob:

Do not turn groups of people against each other

Wilders [mockingly in a falsetto voice]:

He is not answering my question he is not answering my question!

The public laughs. In the studio a political commentators says that the question is clever and is impossible for the Christian Union to answer.

Snouck's Commentary: as the right-wing parties are moving to the left they become more and more vunerable to competition from the PVV. The PVV stands to make a lot of hay during the national elections from the failure from CDA and CU to champion the Duch Christian heritage. Polls show all parties a vunerable to competition for votes from the PVV, but the Christian parties more than the Leftist parties. In the municipal elections the effect will not be significant as the PVV is only participating in four municipalities.

The whole fragment of the debate can be viewed here (Dutch).

Pim Fortuyn shows his true colours

The night of Fortuyn

Two counter-jihadists who go by the nom de guerres of Vlad Tepes and VH have translated and subtitled many Dutch videos which have been given wider circulation on the GoV blog. One that really needed to be subtitled is a part from a documentary "The night of Fortuyn". This documentary shows the night of the coup against Pim Fortuyn on 10 February 2002. Fortuyn had been a leader and spokesman of the Leefbaar Nederland party. The party board had appointed Fortuyn in order to challenge the cartel of political parties that run the Netherlands. When Fortuyn during a Volkskrant interview showed himself hostile to mass immigration of Muslims the leadership demanded that he either resign or promise not to make any anti-immigration and anti-islamic remarks anymore. Fortuyn refused to shut up and at some point late at night he gave his motives for doing so in an tirade which was filmed. In this he gave vent not only to his own rage but to the rage of many Dutchmen and it explains the popularity of his platform and Geert Wilders' platform. If you are not Dutch and you wonder where the support for Geert Wilders and the PVV (Freedom Party) is coming from here is part of the answer.

Appeasement in Gouda

Gouda has a history of violence by Muslim youth

The Dutch town of Gouda has been plagued by violence by Muslim youth for a long time. Usually the violence is committed by groups of youngsters of Moroccan origin, as featured in posts on this blog in November 2008. Today De Telegraaf featured an article which showed how the Gouda authorities are dealing with troublemakers. They give the trouble makers money to organize a party on New Years Eve in order to avoid Muslim rioting. The De Telegraaf article revealed that the municipality had given 2,250 Euro to the rioters to hire a DJ and cater a party.

Moral Hazard

This a move is a moral hazard. It is an incentive to rioters and criminals. In another Dutch provincial town there were race riots on New Years Eve between Moluccan and Moroccan Muslim youth, which featured in the news prominently. Obviously reality diverges from the Multi-Cultural idyll. With the Wilders trial in the background news such as this provide a constant source of illustration of Geert Wilders and other opponents of the Multi-Cultural society.

Liberal Lying about benefits of immigration

Are immigrants public charges?

In July last year PVV (Freedom Party) MP Sietse Fritsma asked the Dutch Government by way of Integration Minister Eberhart van der Laan what the cost of immigration was to the Dutch taxpayer. Mr. Van der Laan refused to answer, which increases the suspicion many Dutchmen have that immigration is only a boon to the immigrants and not to the Dutch. Minister Van der Laan motivated the refusal by saying that it is wrong for the state to calculate the costs of immigrants broken down by country of origin. A parlementarian majority supported him.

Or are they an economic benefit?

Minister van der Laan visited Morocco from 7 to 11 February. During the visit he stated to newspaper "Le Matin" that

immigrants from Morocco are an economic benefit to The Netherlands.

In a reaction PVV leader Geert Wilders and MP Sietse Fritsma asked the Minister how he could know that, as he had refused to calculate it in July 2009.

Liberalism and equality

In conclusion: to the Liberal mind that everybody worldwide is equal and all cultures are equal is a foregone conclusion. So it does not have to be researched. When a Liberal is confronted with the question whether non-western immigrants he realizes that non-western immigrants cost more than they bring in material advantage. In order to remain liberal Liberals will the knowledge away. And soon they will revert to the belief that all people and cultures are equal.

The Wilders trial will not commence until July

At VFR Lawrence Auster wrote:

Oddly, there doesn't seem to be any news on any proceedings in the Geert Wilders trial for today, February 4, neither at Gates of Vienna, nor at the Wilders on Trial website. Stunning development: the Wilders trial has been adjourned for four months--correction: for up to nine months.

Snouck: I mailed Mr. Auster as follows:

The court has requested Mr. Geert Wilders to provide verhinderdata (can't-make-it-dates) from the three witnesses whom he's been permitted to call. The trial will resume in June if I am not mistaken. My notes say three to four months from now.

See how considerate and reasonable those who-have-been-appointed-over-us are, you cowboys?

LA replies:

Thanks for this information, which is entirely unexpected. I had no idea that the trial, which began less than two days ago, was about to adjourn for four months. I thought that the January 20 session had been a preliminary, procedural session, and that the trial proper had begun on February 3, as various sites including VFR reported on February 3. Everyone was geared up for the big event, which now we learn won't take place until the summer, if then. I can't imagine why this basic information was not reported or mentioned at any of the interested websites. And, by the way, what basis do we have for criticizing the American media's non-coverage of the trial, when the trial won't begin until June?

If there had to be a delay of four months in order to schedule the testimony of three witnesses, then it would not be unreasonable to suppose that if all of Wilders's eighteen proposed witnesses had been accepted, there would have been a delay of twenty-four months. A distant observer may be forgiven for thinking that the Wilders trial is shaping up to be the Dutch equivalent of the interminable case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, in Charles Dickens's Bleak House.

LA continues:

I've asked Snouck where he got the information that the trial had been adjourned until June, since I see no hint of that at any of the sites that are linked here.

Snouck writes:

This information was provided in the hearing. The full hearing in Dutch was put on the internet by the NOS (Dutch State Broadcasting) here at the end. I have not seen a full transcript in Dutch or English.

However, I made a mistake. Apologies. I listened to the last part of the hearing again and the trial will take place between 1st of June and 31 October. Not in June. The exact date will depend on the availability of the witnesses.

LA replies:

Unbelievable. So it will take place in June at the earliest.

Did the court give a reason for this enormous delay? Since when does it take up to nine months (from February 3 to October 31) to schedule the appearance of a a couple of witnesses at a trial? And if it takes this long to find a time when three witnesses can appear together, then a trial with 20 or 30 witnesses would take years.

And were the parties to the trial surprised by this announcement of the judges? Didn't they think that the trial had begun and was not about to be adjourned for between four and nine months?

And why do you think that neither the news services nor the Wilders website reported this information?

Also, when did the judges make this announcement? On Wednesday the third, or on Thursday the fourth?

Snouck replies:

The announcement was made in the hearing on Wednesday the third. It was published on TV by the NOS and on the NOS website.

Snouck continues:

I am embarrassing myself. It is NOT in June the earliest. It is between 1st of July and 31 October.

The reason given is that one of the scientists (Wafa Sultan) has to come from a foreign country.

Mr. Wilders was angry about something. I do not think it is the delay though. He mentioned to the press his anger over the turning down of his requests for witnesses and experts. He said the Court does not want to hear the truth.

Other facts. The court says the trial will take five days when it will be held. Mr. Wilders may request more time. The Court might grant the request. Some part of it will be heard by a Rechter-Commissaris, a Court functionary. I do not fully grasp why or what that implies. Also the Court has yet to take decision on the status of the experts Mrs. Sultan, Mr. Jansen and Mr. Admiraal. Right now they call the experts "scientists."

I do not know why the website of Mr. Wilders did not post the information. They seem to be posting mostly video. The PVV (Freedom Party) organisation is quite small and underfunded. I can speculate they are hard pressed to provide transcripts and translations.

LA replies:

Today is the fifth. The trial began on the third. I am dumbfounded that none of the reports about the first day of the trial--which were posted on the third--mentioned the adjournment.

In any case, now we now why, as I pointed out in an earlier entry, there was no news about the second day of the trial. There WAS no second day of the trial. But, notwithstanding all the attention that was focused on the trial, no one had told us that.

Paul Belien writes:

As I said in my previous email: court cases being adjourned for several months (sometimes years) is not unusual in Europe.

Europeans have waiting lists when they want to see the doctor, and they have to wait when they want to see a judge.

My guess is that in order to avoid Wilders electorally benefiting from a conviction, the Dutch establishment will try to delay the verdict until after the next general elections. The elections are due in June 2011 at the latest, but the general expectation is that they will take place this Fall.

LA replies:

Ok, but this still doesn't explain why this information was not reported anywhere. Not at Wilders's site. Not at GoV. Not in any news media source. It's surreal.

And then the news only comes from a Dutch blogger who saw the Dutch TV broadcast of the trial and wrote to me about it, a day and a half after the various reports on the first day of the trial had been posted.

We were all treating with great importance, and got into a pitch of intensity about, this historic and fateful trial that was starting. And now it turns out that it's not starting at all, and may not start for another nine months.

Paul Belien replies:

It was not reported because Europeans consider this to be normal. That is how courts work over here: as soon as it suits the court, they will send Wilders a message telling him when to come to court again. It may be next June, It may be next October, who knows.

(And GoV did not report it because they translate info which they get from Europe.)

You get annoyed and frustrated, but that is what the authorities hope to achieve: they want to get you so annoyed and frustrated that you just give up.

LA replies:

Yes, your explanation of the authorities' modus operandi makes sense.

But that still doesn't explain why Wilders's site did not report this. Wilders's supporters in America and England and elsewhere were closely following the trial. Didn't Wilders's staff think that this was slightly important information to tell us?

Paul Belien writes:

You say this is surreal. Of course it is surreal. The whole Wilders trial is surreal.

Want to live the surreal? Come and live in Europe.

Seen this?

"German homeschoolers get political asylum in the U.S."

Wilders, too, will have to apply for asylum in the U.S. one day.

Paul Belien writes:

One more thing: the court also said that the witnesses will be heard behind closed doors.

LA replies:

Did they give a reason for this?

Paul Belien replies:

No.

Snouck adds:

Something I noticed watching and listening to the judge is that he appears scared or intimidated. He pays attention to the non-verbal reactions of Geert Wilders. I think he is part intimidated by Mr. Wilders and perhaps partly does not agree with some decisions he reads out.

And I agree with Mr. Paul Belien. Europeans see nothing unusual in the long wait, because we are used to them. That is one of the reasons why the wait was not reported.

Police protection for threatened aeldermen

Multiculturalism and its champions

Most Western countries are under the spell of the multicultural ideology. Particularly the left-wing parties push this ideology. Critics of multicultural society and its ideology are attacked and pictured as the cause of any conflicts between minorities and Westerners.

The champion of multiculturalism splinter

It is therefore particularly interesting to see an organisation which is a champion of multiculturalism become a victim of ethnic conflict. In the Rotterdam borough of Feijenoord the multiculturalist idyll is in deep trouble. The local (PvdA) Labour faction in the borough council is splitting along ethnic lines. Violence is in the air.

The setting: Feijenoord

The Feijenoord neighbourhood has 70,000 inhabitants with a high percentage of those of immigrant origin. In the 2006 municipal election the Labour Party recovered a lot of the seats that had been lost to the local Fortuynist Party Leefbaar Rotterdam (LR). They got 14 of 21 seats in the borough council. Six of the fourteen are of Turkish origin.

Dutchmen in charge of Labour or not?

The executive of the Feijenoord Labour party went to three Dutchmen. On 4 May 2006 a former Labour party executive, Mr. Johan Henderson, insisted that there were constant conflicts within the Labour party and that the conflict had an ethnic dimension. He suggested that the conflict could be solved if the Turks in Feijenoord would be represented by a Labour Party Turk in the borough council. And indeed, a Gülami Yesildal was appointed as a fourth member of the executive of the Feijenoord council. In October 2007 a new scuffle broke out when a Dutch council member insisted that the Turkish councillors should speak Dutch amongst each other rather than Turkish.

Conflicts persist

In 2008 two of the Labour executives had to step down as a result of conflicts, one Dutch and the other the Turkish aelderman Yesildal. In interviews with local press they spoke darkly of "nepotism" and "a sickness in the Labour Party in Feijenoord".

The current troubles

In December 2009 the simmering conflicts exploded. Usually party meetings are decided by a few core members, who turn up at all the meetings. Eighty to ninety percent of the party members are dormant. A Labour Party meeting was stacked with lots of Turkish Labour members who had never before attended any meetings. Seven Turkish and a Dutch member were promoted to the top of the list. The Dutch member, René Kronenberg, became the new local Labour leader.

Several of the demoted party members and their supporters were furious. A demoted Labour Party cadre said:

This was like a CPN - Dutch Communist Party - take over.

A Labour Party member, Jo den Haan, said

I do not want to be a part of this anymore. It is not about the public interest anymore. When I see stuff like this I think Wilders is right after all

Mr. Den Haan left the Labour Party. Many other members of the Feijenoord Labour Party have ended their membership.

Violence in the air

On 30 January tensions had run up so high that three former aeldermen felt compelled to request police protection. They feared for a threat against their safety from the Turkish Labour members. They mention intimidating looks and e-mails. The customs of Anatolia have settled in The Netherlands. This was reported by the Algemeen Dagblad (AD), a Rotterdam newspaper.

Source:

* This article was based on two articles by Carel Brendel, a former Labour Party member, author and blogger. Here and here.

Re-criminalizing political activism in The Netherlands

The effect on political activism of the Wilders' trial

In response to an article by Lawrence Auster about Geert Wilders' trial on VFR commenter Lydia Mc Grew wrote:

I assume he's being tried by a jury, so would it be jury nullification? Or would it actually be a statement that he hadn't violated the law? Generally an acquittal means that you didn't break the law in question, however awful the law might be. So if there were a law against going to church, being acquitted on the charge would mean you were "not guilty" of going to church. On the other hand, sometimes juries acquit someone as a kind of statement of protest against the law itself. It would be much better if the entire "incitement to hatred" law in Holland were overturned by whatever mechanism exists in Dutch law for that purpose. As it is, Wilders' aquittal would leave the law in place to be used to intimidate others. A jury nullification of a bad law means that the defendent was lucky to get away with it this time. That's an unsatisfactory outcome in the long run.

First this: Dutch Courts have no juries. AFAIK none of the continental European countries have juries.

Non-liberal political activism before Fortuyn

In the Wilders trial there is a Court of three judges. If they acquit Wilders this will have the effect to somewhat lessen the threat against those who want to criticize religion. As far as I know there is no defined threshold which must be crossed before a judge can penalize a politician or a political group who criticizes an ethnic or religious minority. In 1996 a political party was penalized even though the judge noted that it had not used discriminatory or racist language, but promised to "abolish the multicultural society". Around the same time the NVU, a "volk nationalist" party was banned from demonstrating in support of the expulsion of Mr. Gümüs, a Turkish illegal immigrant. So even expressing support for the state could be punished.

The watershed of 2002

After the meteoric rise of Mr. Pim Fortuyn the judiciary was much less ready to penalize critics of multiculturalism and multicultural society. In fact there is a tyrannical aspect to the employment of article 137. It depends on what the political echelon and the judiciary feel they can get away with and how much they need to get society in line. In the 80ies and 90ies the judiciary prosecuted and penalized multicultural critics out of a sense of moral rectitude and because they could. There were no drawbacks. Today the judiciary is in a state of confusion and the political elite is devided. The reason this trial is underway seems to be that diehards are trying to turn back the clock and to force the bad spirits of religion criticism and national self-assertion back in Pandora's box.

A new phase of of Dutch glasnost or its end?

If Mr. Wilders is convicted to a jail term of more than a few days this will dampen the debate on the dark side of multicultural society. If he is acquitted The Netherlands will have formalized its current pragmatic glasnost policy. This will cause the currently prevailing ideology of multi-culturalism to fail more quickly. Because multi-culturalism is based on the false premise that all races, cultures and religions are equally good in the long run multi-culturalism will fail anyway. The question is how much damage it will do before it is discredited and our elites will abandon it.

Is Truth a defense?

Wilders strategy so far

As I wrote before the crux of the indictment against Wilders' is his comparing the Quran with Mein Kampf. Wilders insisted that the entire indictment was read out. The judges of the trial did not grant this, and allowed the public prosecutor to read a summary, leaving out parts that were doubly quoted in the indictment. Wilders intention must have been to get as much of his quotes verbatim publicized. The advantages he sought are:
1. Islam is shown in its full glory as the Wilders quotes are Quran quotes, red in tooth and claw. This turns Islam into the defendant.
2. The entire indictment speech becomes quotable even after a possible conviction of Wilders for hate speech. The indictment will prove a treasure trove for those who wish to continue to expose the truth about Islam. Wilders is aiming for a tactical advantage here.

The instruction of the Court of Amsterdam provides the indictment

The indictment has been written up by the Public Prosecutor acting on an instruction of the Amsterdam Court. A laywer, Mr. Hiddinga, pointed out on TV yesterday that the instruction by the Court of Amsterdam was written as a indictment. This shows the intent of the Amsterdam Court. For this reason Wilders tries to get the Amsterdam Court declare itself not the designated court for a trial against him on the ground that Dutch procedural law designates the trial to take place at the court in the place where the defendant resides. The public prosecutor argued that Wilders made his attacks on Islam on the national media and therefore the trial can take place anywhere in The Netherlands. It remains to be seen whether the Amsterdam court will indulge Wilders on procedural grounds.

Wilders' defense wants witnesses

Wilders has requested the judges to grant his requests for witnesses for the defense such as Arabists Hans Jansen and Simon Admiraal, in addition to the assassin of Theo van Gogh, Mohammed Bouyeri. He needs these witnesses in order to make his defense that he spoke the truth about Islam and it is absurd to be convicted for speaking a truth.

Truth was no defense in Belgium

In my opinion this will not work. In Belgium the nationalist party Vlaams Belang of Filip Dewinter was convicted for hate speech when they quoted government statistics on immigrant crime. "Truth was no defense" declared the Belgian court. Dutch judges are notoriously procedural. The law says that there are protected classes, classes which are protected due to their ethnicity, gender or religion. The adherents of Islam are one of these protected classes. This follows from the modified article 1 of the Constitution and article 137 of the Penal Code. In 2006 I have pointed out that these articles are similar in they way they work to articles in the Constitution of the Soviet Union. And this trial against Wilders is similar to the Stalin's trials against his enemies of the 1930ies. This trial against Wilders is a political trial. It is a show trial. The intent is to intimidate the Dutch population into acceptance of the Multicultural society and to stop critizising protected classes.

My take on the outcome of the trial

Truth will be no defense. Wilders WILL be convicted if the trial in Amsterdam goes on. The question is whether the judges will impose a heavy punishment on Wilder, such as two years in prison or a symbolic punishment say a 5.000 Euro fine.

The crux of Wilders' indictment

A legal expert speaks

Mr. Hiddema, a Dutch laywer interviewed (Dutch) on Dutch news and commentary TV show Netwerk yesterday explained what the long indictment against Wilders is about (HT Geenstijl). The centerpiece is Wilders' comparison of the Quran with Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Wilders at fault or the Quran?

According to Mr. Hiddema the trial against Mr. Wilders must prominently feature a comparison of Hitler's call for the use of violence against Jews and other minorities and Mohammed's prophesies of war against the unbelievers. Particularly the Jewish unbelievers.

Wilders says he speaks nothing but the truth

This is also the reason why Wilders insisted on having the indictment read out in full by the public prosecutor. The indictment consist of many Wilders quotes which in there turn are Quran quotes. With these quotes it is Islam that is the defendant. During his speech to the judges yesterday Wilders insisted that he had no objection to Muslims in The Netherlands personally. But that his objection was to Islam and the increase of Islamic power in The Netherlands. Wilders says that what he says about Islam is true, that his quotes truly represent what Islam is about.

The postion of the media

After the Netwerk news show ended it showed a kind of ad. The ad featured Ghislaine Plag, the presenter of the Netwerk show praising the virtues of the Multicultural society including footage of a happy headscarved Muslim women.

This makes it again clear that most of the media, who are subsidized and therefore owned by the state are in cahoots with the rest of the elite, the politicians and the judiciary. They are not independent, they want Wilders' viewpoint banished from the political discourse.

What does Wilders want?

I watched the first session of the political trial of the Dutch state against Wilders. Wilders was insisting trough his laywer Moscowicz to have the whole indictment against him read by the Public prosecutor, rather than having the prosecutor summarizing the charges. Wilders' priority seems to be to make Islam the defendant in this trial.

Geert Wilders on trial for criticizing Islam

This morning the first session of the political trial against Mr. Wilders started at the Court in Amsterdam. The session started at 11:00 hours. In front of the Court demonstrators gathered to show their support for Mr. Wilders' opinion and the Freedom of Speech.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas people!

Wilders' defense uses Muslim assassin

The defense of Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders was recently summoned by the Court of Amsterdam on charges of hate speech. Mr. Wilders' laywer Mr. Bram Moszkowicz has announced (Dutch) that he will ask Mohammed Bouyeri to be a witness in the defense of Mr. Geert Wilders. Mohammed Bouyeri or Mohammed B. is the assassin of Theo van Gogh.

The proof is in the assassin

The point which the defense of Mr. Wilders will attempt to prove by the assassin's testimony is the inherent violence of Islam against those who do not submit to Islam, the Kufar or all non-muslims. Mohammed Bouyeri explained his motivation to murder Van Gogh at length in a letter which he pinned to the chest of his slain victim with a knive. The letter was analyzed by Professor Hans Jansen. A translation of Professor Jansen's lengthy and highly elucidating analysis of Mohammed Bouyeri's letter was published on Islam in Europe and is available here.

Wilders: showing up in force

Geert Wilders summoned for Insulting Islam

Geert Wilders is summoned by the Court of Amsterdam on December 4. The charge is insulting Islam.

Calling for a demonstration for FOS

The case is due on January 2010. Yesterday Mr. Wilders (Dutch) called for a demonstration supporting Freedom of Speech (FOS) at the the concrete Court of Amsterdam on the Parnassusweg. His hope is a show of force to persuade the judges to let him walk on account of "societal unrest" if anti-islamic views are surpressed by judges.

Turkey refuses to talk to Wilders

Dutch parlementarians will not go to Turkey over Wilders row. Dutch delegation's Turkey trip cancelled over Wilders.

The Dutch parliament said the MPs have decided to cancel a trip to Turkey after Turkish government said Geert Wilders is unwelcome in the Islamic country. A delegation of Dutch parliamentarians to visit Turkey in January has been cancelled after members of the Turkish government refused to meet anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders

Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said:

We reject the racist views of this person... He is unwelcome in many European countries as well

The Turkish spokesman is probably referring to the UK, which refused entry to Wilders earlier in 2009. But a British judge refused to uphold that decision.

At the head of the Party for Freedom, he [Wilders] has also voiced fierce opposition to Turkey's European Union membership bid, likening the country to a Trojan horse whose accession would prompt more Muslims to immigrate to Europe.

The Turkish parlementarians probably thought that the other members of the Dutch delegation would not support Wilders and isolate him. The refusal of the Dutch MPs to make the trip to Turkey causes a dent in Turkish and Dutch relations and is a good thing for The Netherlands. I do sincerely hope that more meetings of Dutch politicians with politicians from Muslim countries will be severed and that the influence of Islam on Dutch politics will decrease accordingly. This is a good example of the positive influence Wilders already has, without even having any formal power.

Communist past in Eastern Europe higly suspect

Down with Hammer and Sickle

In Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states legislators are considering legislation to ban Communist symbols (HT Esther). Eastern Europe was occupied since 1945 or longer by Soviet Communist supported regimes who cloaked themselves in the Red Banner with the Hammer and Sickle. The Soviet-Communists furthered their ideology by murdering dozens of millions of people in their wars of the state against the people between 1917 and 1936. Particularly Poland wants to outlaw symbols of the Left similarly to the way that Nazi symbols are outlawed in many parts of Europe.

President Lech Kaczynski approved an amendment to the criminal code which outlaws production, possession, spread and sale of items or recordings containing symbols of communism. Anyone who disobeys the law – for instance, waves a red flag singing The Internationale in the centre of Warsaw – can be fined or even sent to jail for up to two years.

It is true that the totalialitarians were mass murderers irrespective of whether they came from the Left or the Right. To be precise Left-wing movements mass murdered on a far greater scale than the Nazis. It is good to see that nations such as Poland are cognizant of that.

Attacking windmills

It is also sad that this results in symbolic legislation. Evil can not be defeated by laws. Especially not laws attacking mere symbols.

Swiss ban minarets

Ban towers!

The outcome of a Swiss referendum is that in future it must be forbidden for mosques to built minarets on their mosques. Basically it is a building ordinance forbidding towers on buildings built by a specific religious denominations.

Other towers apart from minarets

Churches will not be prevented from building towers neither will synagogues or Buddist temples. In my opinion it will be difficult to write this referendum into Swiss law. The Swiss contstitution uphelds equal religious rights to all religions. So unless the constitution is changed it seem difficult how this referendum can ever be passed into law and upheld.

Multicultural society coming apart at the seams

Even if the minaret ban is not written into Swiss law it will still show strong hostility of the ethnic Swiss against encroachment of Islam on their society. Slowly but surely the different religious and ethnic groups in Europe are growing apart. Were this will end is anybodies guess.

Lisbon Treaty: official end to the social contract

The end of the nation state in Europe?

Today on December the first the Lisbon Treaty has come into effect. This means that the European Union (EU) has now officially taken over many of the functions and powers that used to be the prerogative of the national state. A process that was started in the early fifties of the 20ieth century to create supra-national political entities whose powers will eat up the powers that used to belong to democratic nations state has reached its full flowering. Despite a French and a Dutch referendum that stated that a majority of the citizens of those nations do not want to end their political represantation by national states.

No reciprocal obligations

The pretence of the European elite of democratic representativity has ended. Therefore legitimacy has been stripped away. The elite openly states they do not care about any obligations they might have towards the governed. The peoples, the nations of Europe have likewise been freed of their obligations towards the elites, the political class and the class of bureaucrats and managers which legislate our lives in detail.