Why Fascism Triumphs in the Netherlands

Far Right Geert Wilders and His Party PVV Won the Election in the Netherlands

The general election in the Netherlands was held on November 22, 2023. For the 150-member House of Representatives, the Dutch went to the polls. When the election results were announced the next morning, it was seen that the Dutch people strongly supported a far-right, Islamophobic, demonized party and its leader, who had no place in the political scene of the country for nearly two decades. The far-right leader Geert Wilders won a major electoral victory. The Freedom Party (PVV), led by Wilders, won 23.5% of the vote and managed to secure 37 parliamentary seats. Geert Wilders is a well-known politician who has been closely followed in Turkey throughout his political life. The election result has given Geert Wilders and the Freedom Party an almost unprecedented democratic legitimacy to chart a different course for the Netherlands from now on. It remains to be seen, however, whether Wilders will be able to become Prime Minister, and whether he will be able to muster the necessary parliamentary support. 

Nevertheless, Wilders, fueled by the fact that nearly a quarter of the Dutch voted for him, speaks with confidence and is certain that he will become prime minister. "The PVV can no longer be ignored, we will run the country," Wilders said.

Before the elections, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that he would not lead his party in the elections and retired from politics. In the 2017 elections, Mark Rutte's opponent was Geert Wilders. Wilders' electoral strategy based on the theme of xenophobia was not successful against Rutte in 2017. In the 2023 elections without Rutte, with the same strategy, Wilders received the majority of the votes and made his party the first party.

2017 Effects of the Turkey-Dutch Diplomatic Crisis before the General Elections

In the 2017 general election held on March 15th, the liberal VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy), the party of current Prime Minister Mark Rutte, won 33 seats with 21.3% of the vote. The far-right anti-Islam and anti-European Union Geert Wilders' party PVV (Party for Freedom), on the other hand, managed to become the second largest party in the Netherlands, winning 20 seats with 1% less votes. In 2017, there was a political crisis between Turkey and the Netherlands. Before the referendum to be held in April 2017, AKP officials planned to hold a meeting in order to get the votes of Turkish citizens living in the Netherlands, but the Dutch government did not agree. 

So much so that on March 11 (four days before the elections in the Netherlands), the Netherlands canceled the meeting and flight permit for Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to attend in the Netherlands. On the same day, Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, the Minister of Family and Social Policies, was declared persona non grata and deported from the country. Erdoğan accused the Dutch government of being "fascists and Nazi remnants" and suggested that the Dutch ambassador to Turkey, who was out of Turkey on leave at the time, should not return to his post for a while.

Prime Minister Rutte's stance during the crisis with Turkey was cited as the reason why he unexpectedly broke away from the xenophobic Wilders, with whom he was neck and neck in all polls, and became the first party in 2017. The conservative CDU (Christian Democratic Party), which is on the center-right, became the third largest party by winning 19 seats, while the liberal-progressive D66 (Democratization 66) party became the fourth largest party with 19 seats.

Netherlands Election Results: Cold Shower for the European Left

It seems that the Dutch put a higher premium on a "Netherlands first" type of leadership. Wilders was therefore endorsed. It is also a protest vote against the rampant elitism of the Rutte government over the last decade, including a halt to unlimited immigration and all disastrous climate policies. There are those who call it a call for a U-turn in Dutch politics.

The biggest proof of this is the huge gap between the PVV and the other major parties in terms of electoral results. Timmermans' progressive Greens came second, but with only 15.5% of the vote and 25 seats in parliament. The VVD, formerly led by Rutte, came third with 15.1% of the vote and 24 seats. The CDU and D66 fell behind, followed by the New Social Contract (NSC), a newly formed anti-establishment but politically centered party with 12.8% of the vote and 20 seats. Overall, conservative parties lost seats in this election, mostly to the benefit of Wilders. 

The general atmosphere in The Hague and across Europe was very reminiscent of the 2016 US elections. In the eyes of the media and the establishment, the two likely candidates for the prime minister's post were Frans Timmermans of the Greens and the new VVD leader and Minister of Justice, Dilan Yesilgoz, who is of Turkish origin. In 2016, the Democrats were fully focused on Hillary Clinton's victory over Trump. Newsweek even dared to distribute 125,000 copies of its special issue on Madam President early. In the run-up to the election, however, the BBC reported that Yeşilgöz's team had started to raise a toast to the Netherlands' first female prime minister, only to find out that the public had something very different in mind.

The VVD lost because Yeşilgöz channeled her party towards limiting immigration, while Wilders stood out as the real anti-immigrant. It was out of the question for Yesilgoz to stay out of the migration debate. When the immigration issue, the housing crisis and the much-criticized climate measures came together, the Dutch electorate blamed the VVD, which had governed the country for 14 years, for everything that went wrong on these three issues. 

Yesilgöz seems to have learned his own lesson from the election result. He emphasizes that the VVD did not listen to the voters enough. He promises to pursue an electoral strategy more in touch with the people in the next election. On the other hand, Timmermans, the leader of the Greens, targeted Wilders as an experienced politician and said "Now is the time to defend democracy" against the far-right Wilders.

Indeed, European elites seem to be increasingly worried about these results. A possible Dutch government led by Wilders is expected to upset the status quo in Brussels. For example, Wilders and his PVV party make no secret of their opposition to sending more aid to Ukraine. They strongly oppose the federalist structure of the EU. They advocate efforts towards deeper integration. Moreover, the PVV, which has adopted anti-immigration as an identity, is expected to be a loyal ally of the anti-immigration countries in Central Europe. 

Most political scientists consider the Dutch elections as a preliminary indicator of electoral trends across Europe. If Dutch voters are most concerned about immigration, the cost of living crisis and the economic consequences of the green transition, these themes are likely to drive next year's European Union elections. This means that across Europe, left-wing votes will erode, while right-wing votes, especially conservative, nationalist and anti-immigration ones, will rise. This could spell disaster for the left wing in Brussels.

White Elitism and the Netherlands

In recent years, manifestations of racial superiority beliefs, anti-government extremism, hatred and intolerance have been spreading in American society. I expressed my views and evaluations on this issue in my article "Why has the American Right assumed a separatist role in Western societies, encouraging acts of domestic terrorism and dividing the world?" (https://strasam.org/ua-iliskiler/uluslararasi-sorunlar/amerikan-sagi-bati-toplumlarinda-yurtici-teror-eylemlerini-ozendiren-dunyayi-bolen-ayrilikci-bir-role-neden-soyundu-2429)

In this article, I emphasized the "Great Replacement Theory" and its importance. This theory appears as the "great replacement" approach or paranoia, which claims that non-white individuals are deliberately brought to the US and Western countries in order to weaken the political power of white voters. This wave of 'white elitism' from within the US, which clings to the claim of supremacism, can also find cultural adherents in societies around the world. American-style racist, antisemitic, homophobic, Islamophobic, etc. justifications are taken as an example and used as a reference as the basic ideology in acts of terrorism. 

For example, in October 2022, two people were killed in a gay bar in Bratislava, Slovakia by a man who espoused racist and homophobic views. The manifesto published by the attacker before he fired his gun expressed solidarity and affinity with white supremacist ideology. It is also noteworthy that the gunman stated that he was inspired by the terrorist attack on a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, in early 2022, which advocated white supremacism. 

As a matter of fact, the views advocating white supremacy and the need to protect the Dutch geography against immigrants found their counterpart in the 2023 elections. The wave of white elitism has reached the Netherlands. After the October 7 Hamas attack, I believe that the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict also served as a catalyst for the elections in the Netherlands. The current Hamas output is seen by white supremacists as tantamount to the destruction of Israel rather than a national liberation movement. Hamas' party charter, its program, the Sharia order it has established in Gaza, and its organizational structure are seen as religious in nature. This leads to Hamas' lack of support against Israel in non-Muslim countries, especially in European societies where white elitism is becoming widespread. Whatever Israel does, it represents the side that supremacists want to side with, the side that they culturally recognize as their own.

The Impact of the Israel-Hamas Conflict on the Dutch Election Results

Although political Islamists believe their own propaganda that there is intense sympathy for Hamas in the world, the reality is the opposite of what they believe. We should not be lulled into the illusion of support for Hamas by reference to the leftist, woke and LGBT groups that participate in anti-Israel rallies in Western countries. In reality, these groups are motivated more by opposition to the system in their own countries than by support for Palestine. Otherwise, they have nothing in common with Hamas.

In "The Clash of Civilizations", Samuel Huntington argued that "global politics, destabilized by modernization, is being reshaped along cultural axes" and that similar cultures tend to converge. Indeed, if we read it correctly, the commonalities and contrasts between nations in today's world are essentially determined by the cultural identities to which they believe they belong. 

The Israeli-Hamas war and the ensuing anti-Israel demonstrations and turmoil on the streets of Europe had a potential impact on the preferences of Dutch voters. The Dutch elections were also important as the first major feedback in Europe since October 7. The pro-Palestinian rallies awakened people across the Netherlands to the reality of unlimited immigration, and an 'anti-immigration' voting preference became the main factor determining the election results.

Along with the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the anti-immigration movements in Europe were the triggers that reminded the Dutch who they were in this election. In a way, by voting for Wilders, the Dutch expressed that they did not want all immigrants, including Palestinians, in their country. Here, the Dutch voters, who positioned themselves according to the image of the 'white European', also registered that they sided with the Israelis, whom they saw as closer to them.

Who is Geert Wilders? What would be the impact on Turkey-Dutch Relations if he becomes Prime Minister?

Long seen as the bogeyman of the Dutch left and even the entire established political elite, 60-year-old Geert Wilders has been the leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) since 2006. For 17 years he has been an MP in the House of Representatives. Wilders is known to be an active politician, having served in the Upper House, the European Parliament, State Governments and some municipalities over the years. Unlike other parties, the PVV is a memberless party. Wilders is the only member of the party. 

Wilders became famous as a politician who opposed the spread of Islam through mass immigration from Muslim countries. He has never hidden the fact that he sees Islam as a threat to his country and his people. Because of his insistence, rhetoric and loudness, he was regularly excluded from participation in the government by other party leaders in the Netherlands. Despite his popularity among voters, he could not find a place in the administration. Wilders believes that irregular migration from Arab countries and North Africa to the Netherlands should be stopped completely in order to stop further Islamization of the Netherlands. 

Although Wilders states that he has no ill will towards Muslims, his characterization of Islam as a "violent religion" and an "intolerant and fascist ideology" naturally causes discomfort among Muslims like us. In an effort to portray Islam as a fascist religion, Wilders has ironically often been called a fascist by his political opponents in the Netherlands because of his hardline stance. Now this fascist leader is the closest thing to becoming prime minister of the Netherlands. By the way, if he becomes Prime Minister, Wilders makes no secret of the fact that he would not want to see a Muslim-majority country like Turkey in the EU and that he would fight for it. I think we should be ready for a bigger diplomatic crisis between the Netherlands and Turkey in 2017.

References

Tamás Orbán, Tristan Vanheuckelom, “Geert Wilders, Bogeyman to the Left, Now in Driver’s Seat”, EuropeanConservative, 23 November 2023, https://europeanconservative.com/articles/analysis/geert-wilders-bogeyman-to-the-left-now-in-drivers-seat/

Buğra Kadir Koçer, “Hollanda Seçim Sonuçları Analizi”, Sakarya Üniversitesi Diaspora Araştırmaları Merkezi, 2017, https://diam.sakarya.edu.tr/tr/icerik/12559/58911/hollanda-secim-sonuclari

Kayahan Uygur, “Gözlerden kaçan ayrıntı... Hamas'ın asıl zararı... Adım adım işleyen plan”, Odatv, 26 Kasım 2023, https://www.odatv4.com/yazarlar/kayahan-uygur/gozlerden-kacan-ayrinti-hamasin-asil-zarari-adim-adim-isleyen-plan-120013271