Geert Wilders and the Election

[monitoradiation]

I don't know whether to be happy or not. Geert Wilders, as many here know, is that Dutch politician who commissioned Fitna, the film that was critical of Islam. His party, the Party for Freedom or PVV won 4 out of 25 seats on the first day of the elections when it was expected that it wouldn't win any.

Am I the only person who is slightly worried about this?

While I support his view on Islam, it seems that Wilders' political views with regards to how to put those views into action is disconcerting; specifically these below points that he put in his political manifesto (There're more cited by Wikipedia, these are the ones I found troubling):

# The present Article 1 of the Dutch constitution, guaranteeing equality under the law, will be replaced by a clause stating the cultural dominance of the Christian, Jewish and humanist traditions.
# Reduction of the influence of the European Union, which may no longer be expanded with new member states, especially Turkey; the European Parliament will be abolished. Dutch financial contributions to the Union should be reduced by billions of euros.
# An immigration ban of five years for immigrants from non-western countries. Foreign residents no longer shall have the right to vote in municipal elections.
# A ban of five years on the founding of mosques and Islamic schools; a permanent ban on preaching in any other language but Dutch. Foreign imams will be forbidden to preach. Radical mosques will be closed; radical Muslims will be expelled.
# Educational standards will be restored, with an emphasis on the educational value of the family.

He's specifically targeting Turkey (point 2 in the block quote), a rare combination of a country which is democratic, secularist but largely Muslim, from joining the EU. I think this could have huge repercussions on the perception of Turkish people to be rejected on the face of their beliefs, rather than their political inclinations.

Are we seeing some kind of rebound of anti-religious movement? Thoughts?

 

[Mapp]

Wilders and many like him are part of an anti-Islamic, right-wing backlash that is taking place across Europe. His aims are specifically designed to promote what he sees as a purer vision of Europe, free of foreign cultural influence. While he isn't openly racist, like Le Pen in France, or some of the other new right wing movements, I find many of his views to be similar. Simply because he cloaks his views as anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic doesn't make him an ally in the fight against zealotry.

 

[nbarrett100]

What can 4 MEP's out of 700 actually achieve?

 

[Homunclus]

I guess these extreame right xenophobic parties are on the rise...at least here on Portugal the two main communist parties combined got 20% of the votes and our own own xenophobic party is a minor party very few have heard off and even few care about

 

[Sando]

A xenophobic right-wing party (True Finns) did awfully well in Finland. It's quite horrible to be honest, especially as this seems to be the trend in all of Europe.

Edit: They got about 10% of the votes to be precise, which in Finland luckily means only one MEP.