Here’s what happened yesterday in my native country the Netherlands, as reported by Al Jazeera:
Television pictures late on Wednesday showed Wilders in The Hague asking supporters after local government elections whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?”.
“Fewer! Fewer!” the crowd shouted, with a smiling Wilders answering: “We’re going to organise that.”
The same article also informs that criminal complaints for discrimination and inciting hatred are being filed by some Moroccan organizations. In reality, hundreds, if not thousands of complaints are being filed against Wilders. I myself am still figuring out how to do this from abroad.
Wilders, who has been building European alliances with other such neo-Nazi parties, has a long track record of racism and xenophobia and practices the kind of propaganda that comes straight out of the school of Joseph Goebbels and Julius Streicher – there is more than just one parallel between his rise and that of the Dutch Nazi party in the thirties. They even use the same flag.
His party, the PVV, is entirely organized along Nazi principles. Other than Geert Wilders himself, who is the self-appointed leader, it has no members and the program is thus not voted about, thus adhering to the Führerprinzip (Leader Principle; belief in the leader – Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks). It’s finances are secret. Journalists are shunned and only welcome at party gatherings if they stay in designated areas, separated from the crowds. Wilders maintains an authoritarian rule over his party, and MP’s are frequently expelled after even the slightest criticism on the Leader.
This has made the PVV a success, but it’s also its weakness. Take away the leader and the entire thing collapses, as we have seen earlier in Holland with the LPF party of Pim Fortuyn, Wilders’ predecessor. This is why these criminal complaints are important; Wilders needs to be taken off the streets and into the courtroom, and we need to start thinking in terms of asset forfeiture just like we do with drug cartels, car theft rings and other criminal enterprises.
Maybe throw in a couple of his most obnoxious followers for good measure.
The Moroccan community in Holland has obviously responded furiously to Wilders and his chanting to have “fewer” of them. Will they file the complaints and then leave it at that? I hope not. If I were Moroccan and living in the Netherlands, I’d want to go on strike. Hell, even while I’m not Moroccan I’d want to go on strike. Not just to make Wilders apologize and coerce the Public Ministry into prosecuting him, but also to force the rest of the politicians – who have shown little to no resolve so far in combating the rise of neo-Nazism in Holland – to act tougher against the blonde-dyed racist and guarantee better protection of those groups in the country who may have their roots elsewhere.
And guess what? Judging from what I’m reading on social media, the time might just be ripe for such an initiative.