Europe & Far-Right Parties, Op-ed

Last week, a Dutch appeals court upheld the conviction of Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders for insulting Moroccans in comments he made at an election night gathering in The Hague in 2014. However, the court overturned Wilders' conviction for inciting discrimination. 

The court considered that the collective humiliation had been proven when Wilders called on the crowd to "reduce the number of Moroccans" in the country. 

Judge J. M. Ryanking said: “The court considers that Mr. Wilders has been found guilty of inflicting a collective insult.” However, the court has not decided any punishment against Wilders for the accusation linked to a political gathering that took place in 2014. Wilders then asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. This sparked a chant of "Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!" — to which he replied: "We'll take care of it."

The case is being followed up by most observers before the elections due next year, and previously, the leader of the anti-Islamic Freedom Party had considered the case to be a mere "political trial" and a discussion on freedom of expression. His party constitutes the second largest parliamentary bloc after Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s liberal party; “The People for Freedom and Democracy”.

Mr Geert Wilders is a far-right leader; and he is the main talking subject, not only in the Netherlands, but in most European countries, because of his strong hatred of Islam and immigrants. The man has no recognition of the other, nor the rules of coexistence, nor the rights of communities, Islam, or public freedoms. Anyone who has these traits, is, definitely, living in a world of intense hatred with which any serious dialogue is difficult.

More than two years ago, many European countries adopted right-wing discourses in their governance, especially since many political actors consider the presence of a Muslim community in their homelands as a real threat to the identity of their countries, and consider that Muslims are not sufficiently integrated into societies.

They attribute this to different cultural backgrounds and to values, ​​before other causes associated with ghettos or economic difficulties. If we go back to the available opinion polls, with differences between young and old respondents as well as and voters from the right and their counterparts on the left - a large percentage of them associate Islam with the rejection of Western values.

We see that clearly in their view of the issue of the veil and building mosques, as it is more than 59 per cent, for example, oppose Muslim women to wear the veil in the street, and only 32 percent consider it a matter that does not concern them, and 39 percent of the French express their opposition to building mosques, compared to 22 percent in 2001.

The problem today is that many of the extreme right political parties in the Netherlands, France and Germany have found in the US President Trump, since he assumed power, an example for the seizure of the public political sphere.

In addition, we find them adopting the rhetoric that brought him to the White House, just as we find that he himself has defended those who seemed to have a sense of loyalty, intellectual and spiritual subordination, only to sign an unannounced agreement to bring them to power.

Perhaps the biggest example of this is the statement made by the US President in 2017, in which he quoted an old friend who loves the French capital, saying that “Paris is no longer Paris,” meaning neither the decision-makers are up to defend their country nor their immigration policy is paying off.

The electoral factor and the need to mobilize a greater number of votes is the reason that makes Western entities today sick with stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and all immigrants, and it is what inject thoughts at the minds of Westerners that the identity and culture of their countries are in danger, or their reference identity.

This issue of identity is ignited by political parties whenever necessary, similar to what happened in the nineties of the last century when thousands of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia marched and sought political asylum in several countries ....

It is also impossible to ignore the historical accumulations that feed national sentiments that go beyond the borders of the Netherlands and Germany to include most of the European countries, especially after the arrival of an elite of rulers to power, without having a previous political experience that makes them differentiate between political party propaganda and what must be taken in terms of decisions to maintain the balance of society within the state ....