European Turks splintering away from the mainstream

The European public and European leaders reacted with concern when the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan opposed assimilation of Turks in Europe, specifically Germany. In 2008 Erdogan said:

I repeat... assimilation is a crime against humanity [..] I explained over there (Germany) that they must differentiate very clearly between assimilation and integration.

Multi-culturalist ideologues hold that society is coming together and that national, religious and ethnic boundaries are being erased. Indeed, some boundaries are fading. Differences between religious denominations fall away as religion is taken less serious by Europeans. Regions are losing their distinct flavour as regional dialects, customs and building styles are dissapearing and replaced by individualism and blander modernist styles. However it is becoming increasingly clear that the Multi-culturalist story is overlooking new and widening chasms causing sharply separated social groupings.

There is evidence that societies in Europe are not coming together, but falling apart. Children are not going to school together. The phenomenon of "black schools" has been a contentious issue in The Netherlands for years. Some examples across Europe:

Belgium: Esther reported that a Flemish school set up separate classes for immigrants and ethnic Flemish children in response to parent requests. Read: Belgium: Apartheid in Schools.

Danmark: in two other reports Esther showed Danish schools are splitting up classes as well and the issue is alive in Sweden too. Read Danish Apartheid 1 and Danish Apartheid 2.

Germany: in his recent book "Deutschland schafft sich ab" German banker Thilo Sarrazin addresses the issue in Germany.

Austria: Gates of Vienna mentions an Viennese school with 98.5 percent foreigners in its classes.

The Netherlands: anecdotal evidence. A Turkish friend told me that the Turkish community in The Netherlands has become self-contained. He and his friends agree that they hardly meet Dutch people outside the workplace. "Dutch people do not want to know us anymore".

The setting up of a separate society does not only happen at the levels of daily social interaction the school-going anymore. Esther reports today Turkish doctors setting up clinics aimed at the market of Turks living in The Netherlands. The clinics see an opportunity to deliver their services in a way that suits Turks better, as communication with Dutch health care professionals is deemed problematic.

If society was really coming together as the Multiculturalists keep insisting, would there be so many examples of social separation accross Europe?

Ground Zero speech by Geert Wilders

A fine speech was given at Ground Zero by Geert Wilders today to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the 11 September attack by the spearhead of Islam: the Base or Al-Qaida.

Dear friends, May I ask you to be silent for ten seconds? Just be silent and listen. Ten seconds. And listen… What we hear are the sounds of life in the greatest city on earth. No place in the world, no place in human history, is as richly varied and vibrant and dynamic as New York City. You hear the cars, you hear the people, you hear them rushing to their various destinations, you hear the sounds of business and of pleasure, you hear the cheers, you hear the cries, the buzzing sounds of human activity. And that is how it should be. Always. Now close your eyes – I know it’s a beautiful day, but close your eyes. I have been told that this day nine years ago was just such a beautiful day -- and remember, or try to remember, or try to imagine the sounds which were heard here on this spot under this same blue sky exactly nine years ago. The sound of shock, the sound of MORE

The right wing says: give it another try

Sultan Wilders shows his magnanimity

After the Christian Democrat (CDA) MP Ab Klink, who busted the coalition talks, left Parliament on Monday the road was open to restart the talks. Initially Freedom PArty (PVV) Geert Wilders refused saying there were still two ant PVV MPs left in the CDA. But on Tuesday he relented. Chief Christian Democrat (CDA) agreed. That evening the leader of the right liberal VVD Rutte announced to the press that the negotiations would indeed be restarted. This embarrassed the Queen of The Netherlands. According to the protocol she has to be informed first and act first. The act she could have done is to appoint another chairman (informateur) of the negotiations.

Dividing the spoils

Rutte was hauled over the coals about his gaffe in parliament. But the negotiations continued and apparently most issues have been hammered into a settlement (regeeraccoord) out and what is left is mostly the VVD and CDA rewarding themselves with the minister and deputy minister positions.

Let's see what happens

Queen of The Netherlands shows Multi-cultural colour again

The figurehead of Multi-cultural ideology

The heraldic colour of the Dutch Royal family is orange. But ideologically the present Queen Beatrix colours red and in the present day and age that means she supports Multi-culturalism.

After the negotiations for a right wing coalition ran to the ground last Friday, the chairman of the negotiations or informateur Mr. Ivo Opstelten had to give up his position.

The Queen then appointed another informateur. It is the second time he was appointed. The previous time he had to chair the negotiations for a left wing coalition. It is Tjeenk Willink, the Head of the Council of State. After Tjeenk Willink spoke to all the left wing last time he made a final report to the Queen as is his job. He added an addendum stating that in order to protect the core values of The Netherlands it would be necessary to maintain the principle of non-discrimination ridgidly, down even to immigration policy. This means that Mr. Willink favours continued mass-immigration in the face of the considerable electoral victory of anti immigration parties Freedom Party (PVV) and right liberal VVD.

Incredibly this ideologue has now been appointed as chair of the new negotiations of the new round of negotiations again.

PVV's Geert Wilders already called for Tjeenk Willink's replacement.

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold

Dutch society is losing its anchors. Political parties and politicians are weakening, as is the judiciary, the police and the Church. The Queen by expressing her favour for Multi-Culturalism so strongly and partisanly is undermining another anchor of Dutch society: the Monarchy. Society is splintered and unstable and the people at the top are hastening the unravelling of the social and political fabric. It is an incredible spectacle. Greatly saddening.

Geert Wilders is taking charge

The true focus of the political game

In my opinion the Freedom Party (PVV) is becoming increasingly dominant in Dutch politics. Politics is increasingly revolving around Geert Wilders the PVV and its program for years. Politicians who want to make a name for themselves, do so by publicly opposing the PVV program and by expressing their hostility to Geert Wilders. This is seen in the come back from oblivion by leftist D66 under Pechtold.

Today is Mr. Wilders' 47th birthday and this is a good occassion to focus on his and his party's achievements so far.

Getting closer

Recently Wilders' dominance is coming sharper into focus. Last Friday the attempts to the formation of a right wing coalition with the PVV ended over the expression of refusal and opposition of three CDA members to alliance with the PVV. The CDA is split over their approach to Multiculturalism and the internal conflict is made flesh in this refusal of Ab Klink and the other two CDA rebels. This again shows the centrality of the PVV in the political proces. Furthermore it was Geert Wilders who withdrew from the negotiations after declaring the unreliability of the torn Christian Democrats (CDA). Mr. Wilders showed his dominance by taking this action.

The axing of the rebel

Finally today Ab Klink, the CDA rebel, left parliament politically broken, a fact which has been noticed by all those who are in active politics. Just one week after Mr. Klink wrote his letter expressing his opposition to continuing negotiating for a coalition with the tacit support of the PVV he has been forced to remove himself from the stage of national politics, probably for good. The message is clear, this is what happens when one opposes the PVV.

Not bad for a party which was started just four years ago.

Christian democrat Klink stops kicking and screaming

End of a career

Last Friday the news came out, that the negotiations for a right wing cabinet of right liberals (VVD), Christian-Democrats (CDA) with tacit support of the populist Freedom Party (PVV) ended in failure. Negotiations were given up after Ab Klink, a CDA MP and one of two negotiators on the CDA team, had sent a letter to his party leadership in which he articulated his principled opposition to collaboration with a populist party such as the PVV. Apart from Ab Klink two other CDA MPs were opposed to any political alliance with the PVV, no matter how informal.   

This resulted in PVV-leader Geert Wilders asking for assurances in writing that all CDA MPs would fully support the settlement or agreement that was to be reached in order to from a coalition government. The CDA negotiating team, from which Mr. Klink had already been removed  refused to do so. At this point the unreliability of the CDA as a possible coalition partner had become fully exposed. The PVV then broke off the negotiations.

Taking the consequences

Mr. Ab Klink understood that he had become unreliable in the eyes of possible political partners of the CDA. That he had become a liability to his party. Today he stopped being a CDA MP and if I understand things correctly he will be replaced by someone with a lower ranking on the CDA list of MPs. Mr. Klink did express  (Dutch) that the reason for him leaving Parliament was that he had become unreliable in te eyes of others.

Now that Klink is gone there are still two left in the CDA parliamentary fraction, who are opposed to co-operation with the PVV, as Geert Wilders noticed. He reacted non-committally:

we will see were this takes us

Apparently he does not see a reason to rush into new negotiations.

Ab Klink was a protege of Mr. Hirsch Ballin, who is the Minister of Justice. Under Hirsch Ballins the public prosecutor of the Court of Amsterdam has indicted Geert Wilders for political offenses, such as "hate speech" and "discrimination". In my view the forces behind the case against Wilders, which will resume in October, have been weakened by the set back or perhaps end of the career of Ab Klink.

No right-wing cabinet

It is now 17: 46 hours and I see an article popping up on Nu.nl. It says that the negotiations for a right-wing cabinet in The Netherlands have failed. There will be a televised press conference at 18:00 hours.

This is dissapointing. It will have repercussions for the Court case against Geert Wilders I m afraid.

Christian democrats dragged along kicking and screaming 3

The CDA opposition to Wilders

The negotiations to create a new right-wing coalition are marred by the unreliability of some of the Christian Democrat (CDA) MPs. Yesterday this blog featured an article about an option to enlist the support of the orthodox Christian SGP-party. This party with two MPs would extent the right-wing majority from 76 to 78. In case of wavering in the CDA two MPs could refuse to support a proposed bill. However the number of CDA MPs who are hostile to co-operation with the Freedom Party (PVV) is three.

What are their names?
Their names are:
- Ab Klink;
- Adriaan Koppejan;
- Katleen Ferrier.

Interestingly the latter is an immigrant from former Dutch colony Surinam. Ab Klink was on the negotiating team, negotiating for an agreement to form a right-wing government with the tacit support of the PVV.

What can be done?

Is there an options to replace the MPs by the party leadership? According to Dutch electoral law (Kieswet) MPs are elected to their seat on their personal title and not on a party ticket. The MP owns his seat and the party does not. The party is just a club or association (vereniging). The number of three rebellious Christian Democrats is a serious impedient to the formation of an effective right-wing cabinet.

Broadening the base

Christian Democrat unreliability

This blog previously featured a piece mentioning that even if a right wing minority cabinet with tacit support of the Freedom Party (PVV) is established it will not amount to much. The three parties have a minimum majority. 76 out of 150 seats. With various members of the Christian Democrats unreconciled to the idea of having to actually implement measures against mass immigration and multiculturalism the government will not be able to be very effective. Therefore it will be unsatisfactory for all participants both the CDA, the right-liberal VVD or the PVV. One way to diminish such problems is by broadening the base of the cabinet beyond the present 76 MPs that it counts. By pulling a fourth party into the settlement.

Two extra MPs

For instance by pulling an orthodox Christian party, the SGP, into the coalition the base will be broadened  from 76 to 78. With a mere 78 MPs the defection of up to two MPs from the CDA will be meaningless.

Permanent alliance shifting

This is doable. A minority government settlement (regeeraccoord)  is going to be more loose, allow more leeway than the very narrow contractual settlements that rule two party majority coalitions. It is possible to find agreement from issue to issue and vote to vote. There will be temporary coalitions formed in order to pass any vote and the pace of passing legislation will be much lower than has been the custom. This is a boon from a conservative point of view.

Politics will be in constant flux and be hard for the people to follow. This will lower the standing of politics and politicians even more than is now the case.

Christian democrats dragged along kicking and screaming 2

Towards a right-wing government

The rebellion amongst the Christian Democrat (CDA) negotiating team has been surpressed. The leadership of the Christian-Democrats (CDA) has resolved to continue the negotiations to form a minority cabinet. This is a cabinet of right-liberals (VVD) and CDA with the tacit support of the populist Freedom Party (PVV).

Heads roll

The instigator of the unrest, negotiator and MP Ab Klink has been removed from the two men negotiating team. He has been replaced by Ank Bijleveld, who will continue to try to create a settlement which will find acceptance with the VVD and PVV.


Whether this will end the troubles afflicting the CDA is unlikely. They will continue to prove unreliable, even though all 21 MPs of the CDA agreed to continue negotiating.

Steaming ahead

Meanwhile the PVV is already e-mailing its volunteers to prepare them to assist in the campaign for the Provinces and the Senate in March 2011. Perhaps we will even have a new cabinet by then.

Formation running aground

 The sandbar

Well it has happened. Yesterday the ship of the negotiations for a cabinet consisting of right-liberals (VVD), Christian Democrats (CDA) and the populist Freedom Party (PVV) has run on a sandbar, stalled and the crew is trashing about.

A split team

The negotiations team to form a new cabinet consists of 6 persons. Two from each party. The CDA is represented by Maxime Verhagen and Ab Klink. Ab Klink opposes formation of a cabinet with support from the PVV on grounds of principle. It is not clear which one of Klink's principle's have been violated. Otherwise Klink has send a letter to the party leadership last Monday stating that he thought that his party is getting a raw deal out of the negotiation. He should know. He is one of the two negotiators.

The other negotiator on the CDA team, Maxime Verhagen, wants to press ahead with negotiations.

A narrow majority

Klink has a essential poition any cabinet of VVD, CDA and PVV will have 76 seats out of 150. That is the tiniest of majorities. Every seat is pivotal.

Getting underway again

The CDA MP's met in the early afternoon and have resolved to have talks with all the individual MP's. The idea is to sound them out whether they would agree to continue with the negotiations for a minority cabinet. Whether this makes any sense when the minority cabinet needs all the seats it has. And Ab Klink already having made clear that he wants the negotiations to discontinue is unclear to me.

CDA in dissarray

It is becoming obvious that the CDA is in convulsions and that the troubles which befell Labour (PvdA) and VVD when they had to confront the issues of the failing of Multiculturalism are now hitting the CDA. Its orderly ranks are being ripped apart by discord and fraticide. The CDA is nearly without leadership. The former PM Balkenende has left after the halving of the vote for the CDA. Balkenende's deputy and replacement Camiel Eurling conveniently left politics just before the elections. The old guard of the party is plotting in the shades to sabotage co-operation with the PVV.

Any resolution to these problems is going to be short-lived

Two more weeks

The three week term

The chairman of the negotiations for a cabinet (informateur) of Christian Democrats (CDA), right-liberals (VVD and the populist Freedom Party (PVV will last longer then originally announced. When these negotiations started it was said that an agreement would be reached in about three weeks.

On Friday informateur Opstelten announced that it would take another two weeks more (Dutch). He stated that all matters have been breached by now, but that there still remain many minor points which defy a full concensus.

The 2011 budget

That means that the budget for 2011 which is traditionally presented in early September will be set up by the old government. That is just the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the Christian Union (CU), without the Labour Party (PvdA) who broke the previous government.

Geert Wilders stands up for his people

Geert Wilders defends his voters

As negotiators are working on putting together a new coalition government of CDA, VVD and PVV, more and more formerly prominent politicians are coming out with their opposition against a possible government including the Freedom Party (PVV). These former prominents are all members of the Christian Democrats (CDA). The reasons given for their opposition to a coalition with are that the PVV endangers the Rule of Law and excludes and demonises the Muslim part of Dutch society.

Wilders on Twitter

Wilders reacted yesterday on Twitter by defending his 1.5 million voters and to call for an end to the demonisation against them.

Who and by whom?

It bears pointing out that while the former CDA prominents mourn the possible exclusion of the followers of Islam, they actively seek the exclusion and demonisation of the PVV-voting base. Therefore it is not exclusion and demonisation as such they are against and differ with the PVV. It is who must be excluded and demonised. And it is about by whom there must be demonisation and exclusion that they differ from the PVV. They seek the moral high ground by their complaints about the baseness of demonisation and exclusion. While practising both of these as part of their political art.

The Good Book

And this Sunday's Bible reading is from Matthew 7, verses 1 - 29.

Fretting about the Formation

Formation negotiations

Since the 9 June 2010 elections Dutch politicians have been working on various possible coalitions. A left-wing variant and a centre variant have been tried and since July 31 a right-wing variant is under negotiation. Within a few days the negotiations for the right-wing minority government with the tacit support of the Freedom Party (PVV) will have gone on for a month. With nothing to show for it. Additionally former CDA Prime Minister Lubbers wrote some leaked letter to the secretariat of the party stating his opposition to a coalition with tacit support of the PVV today.

So I am starting to fret.

Minor contentious issues

I was put at ease by an article in the "Het Financieele Dagblad", a financial daily which takes itself somewhat serious. They report that insiders state that the negotiators of the Christian Democrats (CDA), right liberal VVD and the populist Freedom Party (PVV) are close to a settlement. Close means early next week.

The insiders say that major issues have been resolved. Only a minor issue has to be taken care of.

A list of agreed cuts

The article mentions other cuts, which are not problematic. Development aid, defense, cuts in the care for handicapped youngsters, tax cuts, cuts in the number of civil servants and their salaries, cuts in subsidies to public broadcasting and cuts on the Dutch subsidy to the EU have been agreed upon.

The health budget

For the CDA a problematic issue remains the planned cuts on the health budget. So if these insiders are right this is all they have been talking about for the past two days.

I feel much relieved. Nothing to worry about. Everyting is in order.

German top banker aligns himself with Geert Wilders

Emerging opposition

In European countries like Belgium, The Netherlands and Denmark the ruling Multiculturalist ideology is effectively challenged. Vlaams Belang, PVV and DFP are formed as opposition parties who manage to convey the failures of Multiculturalism and the dangers of mass-immigration. In other countries criticism of Multiculturalism is still effectively barred. But even there cracks are appearing. E.g. in Germany a top banker, Thilo Sarrazin, is not mincing his words and attracting a lot of attention. Mr. Sarrazin notably is a member of the Social Democrat party or SPD. He recently wrote a book with the title "Germany is self-destructing"

Germany is self-destructing

Esther's IslaminEurope featured a Der Spiegel article a few days ago. Notable exerpts are:

This week, though, the Social Democrat (SPD) seems to have outdone himself. German media outlets, including SPIEGEL, have published excerpts of his soon-to-be-published book on Germany's supposed demise. As Sarrazin makes abundantly clear, that demise comes as a result of immigration. The bluntness with which he presents his ideas has kicked off a debate in Germany, and within the center-left SPD, as to whether Sarrazin has crossed the line into racism and whether he should be censured. []

If the fertility rate of German autochthons remains at the level it has been at for the past 40 years, then in the course of the next three or four generations, the number of the Germans will sink to 20 million," he writes in the book. "And, incidentally, it is absolutely realistic that the Muslim population, through a combination of a higher birth rate and continuation of immigration, could grow by 2100 to 35 million. []

Through the language used in his polemics, Sarrazin appears to be aiming to push the highly divisive debate over immigration and integration closer to that of right-wing populists elsewhere in Europe, like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.

A German Fortuyn

The emergence of a respected and high ranking dissident against the Multi-Cultural consensus is disquiting news for the political and media cartels. It is easy to discredit swastika-waving Neo-Nazis. But another thing to defeat the critical analysis of an insider. Sarrazin appears to be a Fortuyn-like figure. Fortuyn was also a former member of the establishment who showed by writing books and columns the inconsistencies of Multicultural ideology. Thus giving words and power to members of the public who had already become disaffected with Multicultural lies. But who felt uncomfortable with the existing rightwing parties, who were seen as connected to the unsavory far right.

The German Christian-Democrats express concern

Last week Franz-Jozef Achterkamp, a German Christian-Democrat, sent an open letter to the Dutch Christian-Democrats urging the latter not to form a government with Geert Wilders. The German Christian Democrats are part of the Multi-Cultural political concern. The rise of the Freedom Party (PVV) in The Netherlands and their possible participation in government adds gravitas to the voices of German critics and dissidents against Multi-Culturalism. Multi-Cultural society in Germany shows the same problems of crime, joblessness and hostility to the native population. Sofar the German media and the political cartel have managed to keep the spirit in the bottle, but there also the pressure on the lid is becoming greater.

International Freedom Alliance

Geert Wilders understands the dynamic and for this reason he launched the International Freedom Alliance, in order to defeat Islam and Multiculturalism in many Western countries apart from The Netherlands. Because this fight is a fight of the whole West, not just The Netherlands.

Potholes on the road to a new government

Trials and tribulations

Dutch politicians of the right-liberals (VVD), Christian-Democrats (CDA) and Freedom Party (PVV) have been on the road to forming a minority cabinet for the fourth week now. And if noises coming from behind the scenes are any indication it is not going well. On a TV news show Knevel en van den Brink the Chairman of the CDA, Mr. Bleker stated that the CDA - VVD coalition has to "bind" or "reconcile" all groups in society. This can be taken as an insistence to continue the policy of mulling over differences between (Muslim) immigrants and ethnic Dutch.

Wilders' reaction

PVV-leader Geert Wilders (Dutch) reacted with a personal attack on Mr. Bleker on Twitter (Dutch). Mr. Bleker is "whinger" according to him. What he means is that the CDA is committing the fault of the Dutch. Which is "to offer too little and to ask too much".

The next steps

The expectation is still that there will be a convenant for government (regeeraccoord) by next week. And if there is a convenant it will be put up for approval by a congress. And the congress is expected to approve the convenant.

The heart of the matter is the nature of Islam

Mr. Bleker and his CDA collegues are pretending that the sole problem could be the inclusiveness or exclusiveness of the ethnic Dutch. They are completely ignoring the point of view of Islam and its adherents. It is Islam which is excluding non-Muslims. It is Islam which states that all societies should be brought under Sharia law. And that all other points of view are wrong. Yes, the PVV policy is one of political exclusion of Islam as a political ideology. This is an essential exclusion if the nature of a Western society is to be maintained. The values of the West and Islam are mutually exclusive.

The use of the CDA

The sooner the membership and leadership of the CDA starts understanding this, the sooner they can do a service to Dutch society. And it is my impression that the rank and file understands this better than the leadership of the Christian-Democrats.

War of Civilisations, conflict of values

At the Wall Street Journal (or Neo-Con Central as I call it in my mind) Ayaan Hirsi Ali has written a well-considered piece. The subject is the irreconcillable gap between Western Civilisation and the other civilisations. Particularly Islam. The piece gives a good introduction to Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilisations" and the consequenses of his thesis.

The greatest advantage of Huntington's civilizational model of international relations is that it reflects the world as it is—not as we wish it to be.

I do hope that insights like these make it into the Western mainstream.

Formation going into heavy seas

Economic issues coming to the fore front

The latest formation attempt of a new Dutch minority coalition of right-liberals (VVD), christian democrats (CDA) with the tacit support of the populist Freedom Party (PVV) is coming to closure. At this point difficult compromises and concession have to be made. An agreement to disagree over the position of Islam was made at the beginning of this formation period and I covered it in "A Minority Government" here. Due to the global economic troubles the VVD wants to cut 18 billion Euros of the state budget. This is proving to be difficult. 

PVV inserting itself BETWEEN CDA and VVD

The right wing notions of the PVV program on Islam, immigration and assimilationare well known. But what is less well appreciated is the leftist slant of a part of the PVV program.

On August the first a commenter R. Hartman remarked: 

There's nothing 'right wing' about the PVV. You might stipulate that the PVV is the least 'left wing', the least socialist party in NL, but it's still socialist. And that's NOT 'right wing', not even 'centric'.

With regards to economic issues Mr. Hartman is right. Although the PVV started out with a hardline free market position, the populists have since adopted an social and economic program to the LEFT of the right-liberal VVD. Notably on the issues of the care to pensioners, the ease with which an employer can fire an employee. As well as the right of the unemployed to receive generous state benefits in the first few months after getting fired, dependeing on how long the fired employee was employed for one employer previous to losing his job.The strategic move that the PVV is making here is recognizing that many voters who are worried about the rise of Islam, rising crime levels and the loss of Dutch and Western values are also concerned about globalisation and the loss of social and economic protection. These voters can be anywhere, both on left but also on the right. The PVV has connected the social and economic concerns of these voters with the expense of non-western immigration as this blog covered in e.g. "The Borjas Question". It has promised voters it would protect them better than the current cartel of parties on all the issues that these voters are concerned about: loss of national identity and rising crime, but also fear of economic replacement by immigrants. 

The right liberal VVD is insisting that many social arrangements have to be scrapped or made less generous in order to cut the budget. But the PVV and the CDA are opposing cuts (Dutch) in pensions, benefits and care for elders.

Culturally to the right

Many commentators are acting surprised that the PVV is creating waves over these issues. This shows that they do not understand what the PVV is about and how their strategists perceive the economic and political landscape. What the PVV is doing makes a lot of sense and is highly coherent. This is another reason why the PVV has a real chance to become to premier right wing party in The Netherlands. It is rightwing on cultural and religious issues. But it highly opportunistic in economic questions, where it may take positions which are associated with the left. Because politics has been about economic issues for 40 years people are looking at politics through a prism of economic theory. This explains that commentators observe the PVV to be coming from the "wrong" direction. 

Make no mistake. This is a big shift and it will not just hit and change The Netherlands, but many if not all Western societies, because all these societies struggle with the problems created by mass-immigration.

No easy compromise

Still, the conclusion must be that Geert Wilders is not easily going to compromise on these matters with the VVD. The formation of a minority cabinet could well fall apart on this issue, because the PVV cannot be seen to compromise to much on these core matters.

Grouping my Formation 2010 articles

I added a new label to cluster my articles on the 2010 formation of a Dutch government for easy access.

The label is Formation2010.

Harbingers of Spring 2

While hammering out a plan

The negotiations to form a new Dutch government are getting ahead. The right-liberal VVD and the Christian Democrats (CDA) are still seeking to form a minority cabinet with the support of Geert Wilder's Freedom Party (PVV). The PVV is sitting at the negotiating table. Although a 78 percent majority of the CDA voters favour a rightwing cabinet with PVV support, such a coalition is more controversial amongst CDA party members. With full media support a anti PVV group managed to gather 1,000 signatures of CDA members who oppose forming a coalition even with mere tacit support from the PVV.

Support for co-operation

On the other hand a quickly raised group favouring a right-wing minority cabinet also managed to get the signatures of 1,000 members of the CDA. This group is represented by a John Kuijt. Mr. Kuijt said he expected his party not to support any changes to the constitution, which is what the PVV wants, notably in the area of hate speech codes.

Standing out

It is quite amazing that 1,000 members of the CDA are going on the record to show their willingness to co-operate with a party that is the biggest enemy of Multiculturalism. That takes some moral courage.

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.