Sometimes I’m dismayed at what happens in Dutch Politics. Especially since the founding of the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), which is Dutch for Party for Freedom.

This is the party that Geert Wilders founded, and is basically his response to some problems we have in our country with certain immigrant groups. These issues are a legacy of these groups not fully integrating in our culture. These issues are then worsened by the response from those of Dutch decent to these immigrant groups. What basically is happening is people from both groups are being reactionary towards each other and are creating a downward spiral.

Among the children of the immigrants (third generation) this translates in some rejecting Dutch culture and values. One expression of this is them identifying more with the faith of their parents, which then translates into things such as hatred towards gays (the children are often far more conservative than their parents are).

For those of Dutch decent this has can translate into discrimination towards these groups. Someone with a Moroccan sounding name is less likely to get a job he’s qualified for than someone who doesn’t have a Moroccan sounding name. There’s also the perception that a lot of those from these immigrant groups are criminals or violent, which people tend to act on with how they react towards them.

It’s true that there’s indeed more crime among these immigrant groups, but the reasons for that are quite complex and isn’t as simple as saying that it’s caused by them being Islamic. But this is exactly what Geert Wilders is blaming this on. He uses the feelings people have towards these immigrant groups and in the process makes the problem worse.

Yes we need to address these issues, but an us versus them attitude isn’t helping. Especially when the immigrant communities recognize the problem and want to solve it. You need a dialogue to figure out underlying causes so you can work together for solving it.

I’m talking about this because one of my Facebook friends shared the following image:

It’s a letter asking PVV supporters to go to The Hague (the city where the Dutch government resides) to protest against our current cabinet of the Netherlands. Bit of a surprise for me that the friend who shared this is a supporter of the PVV. But it’s his opening comment on that sparked this blog post:

I’m not ashamed of it, my political preference. Never been, and now apparently the majority of our country isn’t either.
For those who still denigrate Geert Wilders as a “hitler” or “racist”, then you have never studied his positions.

And if you can’t appreciate his haircut, or statements… Read his program for once.
It’s not really boring or anything, it will give you a good mood!
Just click on the PDF

Well I don’t attack Geert Wilders based on his hairdo or some out of context statements. I go after him because I have read his election program and I find it disgusting. Just take a look at the statements made in the immigration section:

• Islam is not a religion but a totalitarian ideology
• No new mosques
• No new mosques in urban areas
• Introduce minarets ban
• Close all Islamic schools
• Close mosques where violence is preached
• No more foreign funding of mosques
• No head scarves in health care, education, seat of local government, or anywhere in the government; also not at organizations subsidized by the government
• No head scarves in the States-General the heart of our democracy; not in the cabinet of the Netherlands or worn by their officials, not MPs, not employees and not worn by visitors, no one.
• Those with multiple citizenship do not have the right to vote
• Ban the burqa and the Koran, tax head scarves
• For non-Dutch: only after working ten years in the Netherlands and no crimes have been committed in that period will that person receive the right to become a Dutch citizen, and only after that may that person receive benefits
• Only benefits for those who speak Dutch well and don’t wear a burqa
• Prohibition of multicultural grants
• No preferential treatment of asylum seekers for homes etc

Taxing women who wear a hijab is not right, especially if you don’t do this for anyone who also wears religious symbols. He actually called this a head rag tax (kopvoddentax) in parliament when he proposed this, other politicians laughed at him because they thought that he wasn’t being serious.

Most of these measure are unconstitutional, chapter one article one of the Dutch constitution states:

All persons in the Netherlands shall be treated equally in equal circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race or gender or on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted.

Or what article six from chapter one says:

Everyone has the right to practice his religion or belief, either individually or in communion with others, in accord with each ones responsibility under Dutch law.

These are constitutional rights that allow you to practice your religion freely as long as you do not harm anyone or threaten public safety. And I didn’t even quote all the articles of the Dutch constitution he violates with these proposals.

Implementing these suggested measure means  you need to change the Dutch constitution, changes that will make us as bad as the religious countries Geert Wilders is critical about. This will not solve the problems we have, it will worsen it.

But this isn’t even the biggest issue I have with this political party, they are a climate science denier party. For example one of their provincial branches said (archived here):

There is no scientific consensus on the human impact on the phenomenon of ‘climate change’.

Or what they said when the NOS (Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation) hired a special climate correspondent (archived here):

By choosing such a leftist subject they opted for supporting the leftist cause. The NOS apparently is receptive to the alarmist theories of Al Gore, who argues that humans can influence the climate. This is a highly controversial theory that only does well with left-wing politicians and left-wing activist groups.

Or this comment from them (archived here):

They argue that livestock contributes for 18% to climate change. To which climate change are they then referring to? The impending Global Cooling?

It’s fine that someone has certain political beliefs or has proposals they think might solve an issue we as a country face. But this is a political party that places political ideology above everything, going as far as denying scientific findings. This makes them a party you should not support if you want to create a better world.