Wilders & 'Fewer Moroccans' – Exposing and Challenging Racism in the Netherlands
The leader of the racist Freedom Party Geert Wilders received a lot of criticism after a comment he made on the campaign trail at a market in The Hague on Wednesday.Geert Wilders was on a market in Loosduinen with the local frontrunner for the Freedom Party, Leon de Jong, campaigning for municipal council elections which are set for the 19th of March. During the visit Wilders stated on camera:
Most important are the people here on the market, the Hagenaars, Hagenezen and Scheveningers. We are doing it for those people. They are voting for a safer and more social city with fewer problems and, if possible also fewer Moroccans.
Although not surprising, the comment makes it clear that Wilders has now expanded his rhetoric of exclusion from not only Islam and its manifestations to an entire ethnic category: Dutch-Moroccans people.
On the night of the local elections Wilders asked his audience whether they wanted ‘more or fewer Moroccans’:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGy-CYhZczo]
Wilders’ comments sparked outrage online. A Facebook group called “I’m filing a complaint against Wilders” was created, and it’s received numerous comments and over 97,000 likes so far. On Twitter, Dutch-Moroccans began an online selfie campaign with the hashtag #BornHere where young men and women posed with their passports to emphasize their ties to Netherlands. Dutch-Moroccans, local media and religious groups have also filed discrimination complaints against Wilders.
The controversy was covered by Al Jazeera’s The Stream with
- Joost Niemoller Journalist and blogger
- Mariam El-Maslouhi Dutch-Moroccan Foundation
- Femke Kaulingfreks Researcher
- Tofik Dibi Former Member of Parliament, The Netherlands
Martjn, readers,
GW may have expanded his ‘rhetoric of exclusion,’ he has also made it very clear that he “has said nothing new.” The idea of ethnic cleansing has always been part an parcel of his thought, So far, he just chose his words more carefully than he did this time around. But to anyone following the man’s career and the doings of his (financial) support, it is clear that etnic cleansing is the goal of many in Europe and the US.
Thanks, Martijn, for giving us coverage from abroad. It is more than high time that the perfidious policies of GW and his ilk are exposed all over the world.
Yours,
VHJM van Neerven
editor-in-chief & senior counselor
VNC.communication.counselÂ
Amsterdam
facebook.com/VNC.communication.counsel
Strange, Wilders never spoke about ethnic cleansing. It seems to be a political strategic issue for which the media is used to keep Dutch people away from a vote against Europe and pro sovereignty. The issue is then made bigger than it was and after that spinned in the media with the meaning to make people afraid of giving their political mandate to the PVV. Wilders is very clear about what he wants. Less criminality, less violence, less social costs, and a discussion about deportation of criminals, a discussion about a more selective welcome in Holland because the country hasn’t the money trees to go on looking away from every misbehavior en criminality.