Geert Wilders: A Dutch Patriot

“Government leaders, judges, even some churches, trade unions, universities, the media . . . All of them are blinded by political correctness and have chosen the side of Islam.” – Geert Wilders

In the early 2000s, the cozy Dutch political landscape changed forever. Since the Second World War, the Netherlands had been ruled by one of three traditional parties: the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats, or the Conservatives. Their rule was shattered in 2002 by the rise of Pim Fortuyn. Fortuyn’s party, the LPF, (Lijst Pim Fortuyn) had been in existence for only for three months but came second in national elections–an incredible achievement.

Fortuyn’s success was due to one reason: His LPF was the only party that talked about the threat Islam poses to the West. Unfortunately, Fortuyn never lived to see the success of his party. He was assassinated in July 2002 in what was the first political murder in the democratic history of the Netherlands. The LPF disintegrated a few years later as a result of financial mismanagement, infighting, and lacklustre leaders. However, Fortuyn’s success revealed the existence of a large voting bloc that opposed mass immigration and Islamization, and his death left a major power vacuum. This vacuum would soon be filled by Geert Wilders’ PVV (Freedom Party).

Rise to power

Geert Wilders was born in 1963 in the southern Dutch province of Limburg. His political career started in 1990 when he joined a moderately conservative party known as the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). In the late ’90s, Wilders lived in a suburb of Utrecht that had a relatively high foreign population, with a substantial number of Muslims. Many believe that his understanding of mass immigration and Islam began during that period.

In 1998, Mr. Wilders was elected to parliament and became known for opinion articles that were usually about foreign policy. He had a genuine interest in the Middle East, focusing on countries such as Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. He was one of the first politicians to warn about Islamic extremism, an issue that was unknown in the Netherlands. After the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Mr. Wilders’ interest in Islam grew. He also noticed the success Fortuyn had achieved by opposing Islamic immigration.

In the following years, Mr. Wilders’ stance on Islam hardened, which led to conflicts with others in the VVD. In 2004, he released a manifesto insisting that the VVD move further to the Right. The manifesto urged, for example, that foreign aid be cut in half and that radical imams be expelled. Mr. Wilders also wanted to prevent Turkey from ever becoming a member of the European Union (EU).

The VVD leadership warned Mr. Wilders to soften his stance. Mr. Wilders refused, and in 2004 he left the VVD but kept his seat in parliament, which infuriated his former colleagues. Later that year he founded the Groep Wilders (Group Wilders) party. He promised it would avoid the mistakes made by Pym Fortuyn’s LPF. He believed that it was important that his new political party not become a membership-based party, because infighting among members was one of the major reasons the LPF collapsed. According to Dutch law, a party must have at least two members. Mr. Wilders’ party has always had only two members: Geert Wilders himself and the Geert Wilders Foundation.

No turning back

In 2004, Mohammed Bouyeri butchered the Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh on the streets of Amsterdam. Mr. Bouyeri was a member of the notorious Hofstadgroep Islamic terrorist group composed mainly of Muslims living in Holland. A week after the murder, Dutch anti-terrorist forces laid siege to a Hofstadgroep apartment in The Hague.

A fire fight ensued. Four officers were wounded with a hand grenade, but special forces were able to wound one of the terrorists and arrest two others. Inside the house were more hand grenades and machine guns, and the secret services uncovered plans for terror attacks on a nuclear plant, Amsterdam Airport, and the Dutch parliament. However, a few members of the group were still on the loose. Later, another terrorist was arrested with a machinegun in his possession. The authorities reported that he was on his way to assassinate Mr. Wilders.

Since then, Mr. Wilders has been surrounded permanently by armed guards from the Dutch secret service. He lives in hiding, in heavily guarded safe houses that contain bullet proof “panic rooms.” When he leaves these secure locations, he always wears a bulletproof vest, even in parliament.

Mr. Wilders says he receives approximately 10 death threats a week, which he reports all together at the police station. Several Islamic clerics have issued fatwas ordering that he be beheaded. He is on hit lists of Islamic terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and ISIS. In 2015, two armed Muslim terrorists were killed in Texas when they tried to storm a conference at which Mr. Wilders was speaking.

The Party for Freedom

In 2005, Mr. Wilders established the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), into which Group Wilders was merged. PVV was to be the vehicle for participation in the 2006 elections and for a search for party candidates. It would focus on opposition to Islam, the legacy of Fortuyn, cutting non-Western immigration, and euroscepticism.

According to Mr. Wilders, Islam should not be seen as a religion but as a totalitarian ideology that seeks to dominate every aspect of life. The PVV wants to stop the construction of new mosques and close all Islamic schools. In parliament, its members have offered repeated proposals to ban the Koran and tax women who wear the head scarf. Also, Mr. Wilders wants all foreign criminals deported, along with their families.

The PVV, like other patriotic European parties, does not focus on race. Instead, the European Right tends to campaign on ethnicity and religion. However, this does not mean that the PVV would welcome non-Muslim, Third-Worlders such as African Christians. They would usually be described as “fortune seekers” or “useless immigration.” The PVV’s main enemy is Islam, in recognition of the profound change that took place in Dutch public opinion after the murders of Fortuyn and van Gogh.

The PVV also wants the Netherlands to leave the European Union and reintroduce the former national currency, the Gulden. In the European Parliament, the PVV is a member of the Europe of Nations and Freedom political group, which includes similar European parties, such as the National Front, Vlaams Belang and Lega Nord.

The party supports the division of Belgium into Flemish and Walloon regions. After division, the Netherlands and Flanders would unite to form a new country to be called Greater Netherlands. It would focus on the cultural, linguistic and ethnic similarities between the Dutch and Flemish people. Martin Bosma, the party’s ideologue, has recently tried to strengthen the ties with the Afrikaner people of South-Africa, who are descended from Dutch settlers and whose Afrikaans language is essentially Dutch.

The PVV is often described as conservative, right wing, or even far right. However, right-wing parties are usually strong proponents of free markets and laissez faire economics. If the PVV were not anti-immigration and anti-Islamic, it would be known for favouring liberal social policies, such as improving public healthcare and not raising the retirement age.

Little-known Facts

Very few people know that the PVV has a considerable following among immigrants to the Netherlands. Greek Cypriots, Copts, Middle-Eastern Christians, and people from India support Mr. Wilders in substantial numbers because of their experiences with Islam in their home countries.

The PVV is a staunch supporter of Israel. According to Mr. Wilders, Israel is a beacon of light in an area of darkness. PVV members believe that if Israel falls, so will the West. Some suspect that Israeli and perhaps American Jews play an important role in financing the PVV. This assertion is supported by former PVV politicians and journalists.

The Freedom Party also has a considerable following among homosexuals. The LGBT movement is usually considered left wing and pro-immigration, but for at least a decade, homosexuals have been harassed and beaten by migrants, especially Muslims.

Every year, Dutch high schools organize so-called student elections that simulate national elections, in which students between ages 13 and 18 vote for existing parties. Despite the “progressive” propaganda deeply rooted in the Dutch educational system, the PVV wins every time.

The PVV also opposes Eastern European immigration. Mr. Wilders says Poles, Romanians, and Hungarians are a threat to Dutch workers.

Controversies

PVV has made a lot of enemies. One would think that the political elite and the media would understand that the demonization of Pim Fortuyn was one of the reasons he was assassinated, but this does not prevent a vicious, nonstop campaign against Mr. Wilders.

One of the biggest opponents of the party is the Social Democrat party, which is pro-immigration and has many Muslim politicians. The Social Democrats vote against every policy proposal of the PVV, even those that would improve social conditions.

In his book The Fake Elite of the Counterfeiters, party ideologue Mr. Bosma claims that joining the PVV is a “point of no return.” Former employees of the party complain that they are blackballed and cannot find new jobs. The largest workers union of the Netherland, FNV Bondgenoten, refuses any debate or discussion with PVV representatives.

In 2007, when hundreds of thousands of people voted for the PVV, the former police chief of Amsterdam said on live television that Mr. Wilders needed to be “destroyed.” He added that all those PVV voters “have no place in this new society we are trying to build.”

In 2009, Mr. Wilders was barred from entering the United Kingdom because the home secretary considered him a hate monger. Curiously, the United Kingdom rarely prevents even the most radical imams from entering the country.

In 2011, Mr. Wilders was sued by a number of Islamic organizations that accused him of racism and inciting hatred of Muslims. Mr. Wilders, who claimed he was only speaking the truth and using his freedom of speech, was acquitted.

Later that year, the PVV won a large number of seats in the Dutch parliament and became the third-largest party. Mr. Wilders agreed to support the ruling coalition of the VVD and the Christian Democrats in return for PVV influence on immigration and the EU.

In 2014, as part of his campaign literature, Mr. Wilders printed satirical stickers that portrayed the flag of Saudi Arabia. The text on the Saudi flag was changed to “Islam is a lie, Muhammad is a criminal, the Koran is poison.” When Saudi Arabia threatened economic sanctions, the Dutch government apologized for Mr. Wilders’ “childish behaviour” and sent officials to Saudi Arabia to beg for understanding. The country’s largest trade organization, VON-NCW, also condemned Mr. Wilders.

That same year, Mr. Wilders asked an audience: “Do you want more or fewer Moroccans?” The crowd shouted “Fewer, fewer, fewer!” Mr. Wilders replied, “We’re going to organize that.” A well known Dutch actor then wrote on Twitter: “Volkert, where are you when your country needs you?” That was an allusion to Volkert van der Graaf, who killed Pim Fortuyn. The largest Moroccan association in the country filed suit against Mr. Wilders; its leader said Mr. Wilders’ remarks “make us feel very insecure.”

Mr. Wilders believes that the Dutch courts are biased against PVV politicians and that it will be impossible for him to get a fair trial. As if in confirmation, a Dutch judge claimed in an interview that anyone who votes for the PVV could never become a judge, because PVV voters cannot think with sufficient subtlety.

The PVV’s greatest electoral victory came in 2010, when it came in third in the vote, and increased its number of seats from nine to 24. However, in 2012, in the face of a withering media campaign, the party lost nine seats. Current polls, on the other hand, predict that the PVV would become the biggest party in the country if elections were held now.

The current invasion of Europe by Middle-Easterners no doubt contributes to the PVV’s current popularity. Mr. Wilders strongly opposes the open-door policy of the European Union and favours the Australian approach of sending back all illegal immigrants. Furthermore, the party wants to reintroduce border controls within the European Union and house all refugees in their own regions.

If this current tidal wave of Third-Worlders has a silver lining, it will be to boost the popularity of men such as Geert Wilders who are fighting on the front lines to defend Europe.