Dear Dutch people,
Yes, this message is from a kut job stealing, house and rental price raising expat. Like many residents in and outside the Netherlands, I was shocked by Geert Wilder’s party winning the most seats in the general election. You see, in spite of some evidence to the contrary, I truly believed that I was living in a progressive country.
In fact, over the years, things that I thought would never change, for example, the blackface version of kinder vriend Zwarte Piet. I remember when the first black activists demonstrated against Zwarte Piet and how they were demonised by most of Dutch society and victimised by the police. Yet, in most of the Netherlands, the blackface stereotypical Piet is already a thing of the past.
The Netherlands shift to the far-right
I’m well aware that a lot of Dutch people are world leaders in denying the existence of racism. Even when caught making blatantly racist statements or discriminating, the usual response here is, “dat was niet de bedoeling”. (It wasn’t meant that way).
Another common thing is blatant gaslighting. For example, meet Jan. Jan is hoogopgeleid (highly qualified). He lives in Amsterdam Zuid, has a well-paying job, and is happy to spend 5 euros on hot water and milk with some ground coffee beans. He speaks perfect English and spends lots of time in the USA on business.
Jan is at a trendy coffee bar in Amsterdam Zuid with some people who look just like him, right down to the excessive use of hair gel, the blue suit (from Suit Supply) and brown shoes from vanHaren. While engaged in conversation with friends, he happens to mention that his new next-door neighbour is a ‘pikzwart neger’. His friends suddenly look nervously over his shoulder. He turns around, and behind him is a black person. The black gentleman proceeds to tell Jan to ‘doe normaal’ and to stop making offensive comments. Jan replies. “How dare you be offended? This is Holland. We believe in freedom of speech here. I AM OFFENDED that you find my comment offensive.!”
The Dutch (many of them, not all of them), in my experience, truly believe that they can NEVER be racist. Racism is an Eastern European and American thing. It’s precisely this belief that nationality and DNA determine who can be racist, not actions, that has led to so many of you voting for Geert Wilders.
I mean, just look at some of the things he stands for:
- He is a man who has called for a ban on Mosques.
- A ban on the Koran.
- He wants to leave the EU.
- He wants less Moroccans in the Netherlands.
- He wants to ban dual nationalities.
- He wants to close Islamic and Jewish schools
- He would like to tax Muslim women 1000 euros a year if they wear headscarves
But in the eyes of many of his voters, that doesn’t mean he and his party are racist. Neeeeeeee!
Oh, and according to today’s De Volkskrant newspaper, some Turkish people also voted for Geert Wilders. So there you go. I mean, if Turkish people voted for him, then all of his anti-Islamic sentiment is just fine!
Geert Wilders
The good thing about the PVV being the largest party in the Netherlands is:
That we foreigners and descendants of immigrants will no longer have to listen to the nonsense about how super tolerant the Netherlands is. In fact, most of the world is in shock at the result. Foreigners think of the Netherlands as Amsterdam with its red light district, coffee shops and multiculturalism. The election results will make people realise that perhaps this country isn’t as cool as they thought it was.
The other good thing is that Geert Wilder’s proposed policies are extreme, largely illegal, and contrary to the Dutch constitution. Any coalition government is bound to collapse within a year or less. Hopefully, dear Dutch people, you’ll move back to the center of the political mainstream and realise what a disaster voting for such an individual was for both your country and its reputation.
No far-right extremists were hurt during the writing of this post.
