The politics of resentment
Attacking elites for appeasing Islam has become a right-wing staple.
When "tolerance" becomes a word of abuse in a place like the Netherlands, you know that something has gone seriously wrong. The Dutch have always taken pride in being the most tolerant people on Earth. And in less feverish times, no one could possibly have taken exception to Queen Beatrix's speech last Christmas, when she pleaded for tolerance and "respect for minorities." But Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing, anti-Muslim Freedom Party, was so disgusted by the queen's "multicultural rubbish" that he wanted her to be stripped of her constitutional role in the government.
Wilders, a popular rabble-rouser whose party occupies nine seats in the Dutch parliament, has compared the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf," wants to stop Muslims from moving to the Netherlands and thundered that those who are already there should tear up half the Koran if they wish to stay. In his eyes, tolerance toward Islam is cowardly appeasement. He thinks that Europe is in peril of being "Islamized." "There will soon be more mosques than churches," he says, unless true Europeans have the guts to stand up and save Western civilization.
Notwithstanding his call to ban the Koran, Wilders and his admirers claim to believe in unfettered free speech as a Western birthright. No criticism of Islam, however offensive, should ever be hampered by political correctness. And Wilders uses every opportunity to test the tolerance of Muslims, which is often very limited indeed. His latest provocation is a short film denouncing Islam, which is yet to be shown but has already caused panic. Remarkably for a Dutch politician, and a minor one at that, news of Wilders' antics has reached the world media.
Some commentators have suggested that Wilders, born and raised a Catholic in a provincial Dutch town, is a true believer like his Muslim enemies, a man driven by the goal of keeping Europe Judeo-Christian. He may be a believer, but this is probably a red herring. His war on Islam is also, and perhaps even mainly, a war on the cultural and political elites, the Dutch intellectual establishment, the Eurocrats of Brussels, the liberal-minded queen. His speeches are studded with references to the arrogant elites who are out of touch with the feelings of the common man. Tolerance is seen as weak and typical of people who live far removed from the harsh realities of the street, where upstanding Dutch folks are being menaced by violent and unruly foreigners.
