By Paul Belien
Friday, September 7, 2007
The Left's strategy of importing immigrants to turn them into voters in order to "elect a new people" is backfiring in the Netherlands. After the November 2006 general elections the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) appointed two immigrants ministers, Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb and Turkish-born Nebahat Albayrak, in order to advertise its special care for Muslim interests. Both ministers, who retained their original Moroccan and Turkish citizenship upon becoming Dutch citizens, hold dual citizenship. Geert Wilders, the leader of the "Islamophobic" Freedom Party (PVV), opposed the appointment of the two ministers doubting their loyalty to the Dutch nation. The political establishment reacted with indignation, but the Dutch seem to vindicate Mr. Wilders.
Yesterday, a highly respected Dutch poll showed that Wilders' PVV has become almost as big as the PvdA in the 150-seat Dutch Parliament. If elections were to be held today the PVV would get 19 seats (compared to only 9 in the last elections), while the governing PvdA would only get 20 (down from 33). The PvdA's coalition partners would not be able to limit the damage. The centrist Christian-Democrat CDA of Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, would fall to 38 seats (41 in the current parliament) and the Calvinist CU would grow to 8 seats (up from 6). The present CDA-PvdA-CU coalition would lose its majority.
The November 2006 elections marked a dramatic shift to the Left. Yesterday's poll indicates that public opinion in the Netherlands has again swung to the Right. As I pointed out in last month's American Conservative, Dutch politics resemble a pendulum. The Dutch clearly reject Minister Albayrak's amnesty for illegal aliens. According to the Muslim minister her amnesty proposal, which was approved in Parliament last June, will benefit some 30,000 people. Critics warn that it might lead up to half a million foreigners flocking to the Netherlands.
Last Saturday, Prof. Ruud Peters, who teaches Islamic law at Amsterdam University, told a PvdA meeting that he is "looking forward to the day when the first Muslim woman in a burqa is elected in parliament." PvdA leader Wouter Bos, the Dutch Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, said, however, that ministers Aboutaleb and Albayrak will not put on a burqa. "We are the only party with prominent Muslim politicians. We stand for a tolerant and liberal Islam," Bos said. Geert Wilders doubts whether there exists a tolerant and liberal Islam. Last month he advocated a ban of the Quran, which he called a "fascist book inciting hatred and killing." He said he wants the use of the book outlawed, even in Dutch mosques. The Dutch authorities are considering to prosecute Wilders for his remark, which according to some is an incitement to racial hatred.
Meanwhile, Dutch Neo-Nazis criticize Wilders for his neo-conservatism. Wilders' "casino capitalism" will "make the rich richer and the poor poorer and will only exacerbate the problems of the multicultural society," the website of the far-right Dutch People's Union (NVU) writes. While the Neo-Nazis expect that Wilders' PVV will win up to 30 seats in the next elections they call the politician "dangerous," emphasizing that he is "a friend of Israel."
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