| Press release For immediate release 23 November 2023 Anti racists raise the alarm as far right Geert Wilders Freedom Party wins Dutch elections, taking 37 seats Anti racists are sounding the alarm from London to Amsterdam as far right Geert Wilders Freedom Party is poised to win the Dutch elections, taking 37 seats. The elections – set for 2025 – were brought forward amidst an “unbridgeable” disagreement over policy on immigration and asylum rights. The victory for far right Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party comes alongside fascist forces – Forum for Democracy and their split JA21 – losing seats despite their gains in the 2021 election. Other parties of the centre right, and centre, also lost seats, including the conservative party, the Christian Democrats and the Democrats 66 party. While the Green Labour alliance seats were up, the Socialist Party lost seats. The forces of the far right and racism are celebrating the Wilders win across Europe. Geert Wilders publicly expressed deeply Islamophobic views – including linking Muslim immigration with terrorism and calling for a ban on mosques and the Quran. He called for restricting immigration from Islamic countries, and was convicted of inciting discrimination, although later acquitted, and he was refused entry to the UK back in 2009. Then in 2018 he spoke in London at sizeable demonstration demanding to free fascist Tommy Robinson during his imprisonment for contempt of court after filming outside a trial in Leeds. At the time, Michael Bradley, a Stand Up To Racism national organiser, told the Guardian that the mobilisation of the far right in London that day was “a culmination of several months of activity, beginning with mass marches by the Football Lads Alliance last summer. There has been a general building up because they can see how well the far right has done in Europe and the US, and the Robinson thing has given them a banner to rally around.” Today, as the results of the Dutch election produce shock waves around the world, anti racists warn again of the dangers of mainstream parties and governments opening up the space to the far right through increasingly racist policies and rhetoric. Here in Britain, anti racists have celebrated the departure of the widely reviled home secretary Suella Braverman, and the defeat in the courts of the heinous Rwanda deportation and detention plan, but are stressing the need to organise a movement to oppose racist division. Less than a fortnight ago, it was the comments by Braverman and prime minister Rishi Sunak that led to some 2,000 far right and fascists taking to Whitehall to “defend” the cenotaph from what anti racists condemned as an “imaginary threat, incited by Sunak and Braverman”. The Resisting the Rise of Racism and Fascism conference organised by Stand Up To Racism and the TUC last Sunday saw over 950 registered and a sharp discussion on the need to counter the dangerous way in which governments are fanning the flames of far right and fascist forces. Read more here Stand up to Racism co convenor Weyman Bennett said: “The Dutch election results, while shocking and great cause for alarm, are a reflection of a process we are seeing taking place across Europe and elsewhere globally. “The intensification – by governments and parties of the mainstream – of brutal anti migrant and refugee racist policies and virile scapegoating rhetoric with Islamophobia as the lynch pin, is opening up the ground for the far right and fascists who are vying for this same ground to grow their organisation and influence and win political legitimacy. “The Wilders victory follows not only in the wake of the collapse of the Dutch government amidst a rank racist debate over immigration policy, but also after fascist Giorgia Meloni of Brothers of Italy has become prime minister, after troubling and continuing gains of fascist Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, after the victory for far right Javier Milei taking the presidency in Argentina, after gains by the fascist Sweden Democrats, and other worrying developments. “With a Trump victory a strong possibility in the US elections, we must fear the trajectory will continue as governments fail address the political, economic and ecological crises and instead lean ever more toward an unbound pace of racism, division and scapegoating. The answer – the lesson for us here approaching our own general election – is to build mass, broad, anti racist and anti fascist opposition on the streets, in our workplaces, colleges and communities to block the progress of the far right threat.” Ewout van den Berg, Platform Stop Racisme (Netherlands) said: “Wednesday the far-right PVV won the Dutch elections. Wilders stood on a platform of racism against refugees and muslims. At the start of the elections, the ruling VVD-party made clear that they now would be open for a coalition with Wilders party. This gave the PVV new legitimacy. “The task for the left is now to unite the different movements and defend against the attacks and racism by a likely Wilders governement.” Saida Derrazi, Comite 21 Maart (Netherlands) said: “Wilders is extreme right, anti-refugees, anti-migrants, anti-Muslim, anti-Moroccan, anti-democracy, friend of the far-right in Israel, and supports Netherlands for the Dutch. “Wilders’ PVV has become a large party, with 37 seats. Chances are he will form a new government. “The first victims of this outcome are the refugees and Muslims. And tomorrow everyone is a victim. That is why we must show solidarity. Racism leads to fascism.” ————–NOTES TO EDITORS: FOR VIDEOS AND QUOTES FROM THE SCENES AT EMBANKMENT AND WHITEHALL ON 11 NOVEMBER, GO TO (credit Stand Up To Racism): https://standuptoracism.org.uk/press-release-fascist-tommy-robinson-protest-gathers-1000-marched-on-cenotaph-in-wake-of-sunak-and-braverman-comments/ Stand Up To Racism is part of the World Against Racism and Fascism international coordination that is calling for mass demonstrations globally on 16 March 2024. See more here For further information & interviews please contact: info@standuptoracism.org.uk |