[pp.int.general] WARNING

[Nicolas Sahlqvist]

I did not know they played this kind of game, scary!

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 11:12 PM, Reinier Bakels <r.bakels at planet.nl> wrote:
> As you may know, the "European" elections in NL were today. It seems that
> Wilders' "PVV" is very succesful with it populist Euro-critic approach.
> While many of us presumably are Euro-critic as well, think twice before
> considering cooperation with these people.  They are basically an
> anti-democratic movement: unlike other parties in NL, the PVV has no
> members. It is led by mr. Wilders himself. While other parties carefully
> avoid to isolate Wilders, because history has shown that a "cordon
> sanitaire" can be counter-productive, Wilders and the eight other PVV
> representatives in our (150 seat) parliament don't discuss, but only make
> one-way statements, in a very unconstructive manner. They foster the idea
> that islam is a threat for our society. The PVV is an excellent propaganda
> machine: many people indeed start believing that islam is a threat, and to
> some extent, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if muslims feel that they are
> hated, they may radicalise.
> While populist leaders often make stupid mistakes, Wilders is very smart.
> For instance, he fosters the image of being a friend of Israel. While his
> views on muslims show a striking resemblance with the views on jews in nazi
> Germany, no one can blame him for being anti-semitist.
> Unlike in interbellum Germany, imho there are no major "objective" problems
> in NL, so Wilders has to develop its own problem. Which is Islam. Other
> themes are "climate histeria". And - of course - Europe is a grateful topic.
> Wilders will be prosecuted in court because he may have violated the limits
> of freedom of speech. Dutch law contains a provision that was added in the
> 1930s specifically against nazi propaganda. It is compliant with the ECHR
> because that allows the freedom of speech to be limited if there is a
> "pressing need in a democratic society". Of course, this court case has
> already been marked as a political showcase. Unfortunately, NL does not have
> a constitutional court. Incidentally, Wilders wants to curtail the freedom
> of speech of imams.
> The big failure of other parties in my analysis is their failure to make
> "noise". Most of the leaders of the traditional parties are brilliant
> professors, but lack charisma and, most importantly, the ability to make
> NOISE. Wilders has simple statements that appeal (many) simple people.
> I think here are many parallels with germany in the 1920s.
>
> reinier
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