Holland's Leading Candidate For Prime Minister Was Just Convicted Of Inciting Hatred Against Muslims

Maybe because I lived in Amsterdam for 4 years and write about the politics there from time to time, I like to think that DWT readers were familiar with Dutch neo-fascist Geert Wilders even before he noisily aligned with Trump and even before Trump went from being a national joke to being a national tragedy. Yesterday, Wilders, the likely Trump/Putin candidate for prime minister of Holland next year, was convicted "of inciting discrimination and of insulting a group for saying that the Netherlands would be safer with fewer Moroccans," in a statement he made in 2014. The judges didn't convict him of inciting hatred and didn't fine him as the prosecutors requested. Using a typical demagogue tactic he led a throng of racists in The Hague chanting "fewer, fewer" after asking the question, "Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city and in the Netherlands?"

Nina Siegel, writing for the NY Times speculated that "the trial seems to have improved his party’s standing, rather than diminishing it, among voters." A master of manipulation and classic propaganda technique, Wilders calls his far right party the Freedom Party (PVV), although what it advocates is far from freedom for millions of people living in the Netherlands. Just listen to his carefully misleading statement below (in English, not the language of his country). Wilders had boycotted the court for the verdict, using the opportunity to portray himself as a victim of the establishment, calling his conviction "a great loss for democracy and freedom of expression," instead. One day the 3 judges will regret that they didn't send him to prison and throw away the keys.

The general election is scheduled for March 15-- just 3 months from now. All of the most recent polls-- including one by Ipsos released Thursday-- show the Wilder's neo-fascists leading, more so after Trump's win here. The Ipsos poll has the PVV with 29%, the center-right VVD with 27%, a religious-right party, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) with 18%, the progressive D66 with 17%, the Socialists (SP) with 12% and the Labour Party (PvdA) with 11%, same as the Greens (GL). Most other polls have shown the neo-fascists with higher numbers,although none with enough support for an outright win. The VVD would be unlikely to form a right-of-center government without Wilders and Wilders would be unable to form a fascist government without current prime minister Mark Rutte and the VVD. Rutte always says he won't involve his party with Wilders unless he "withdraws" his racist statements about Holland's huge Muslim population, about 5% of the population. Part of Wilders' election manifesto is a promise to close every mosque in the country.