Islamophobia Watch

Three-time Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, who brokered talks on forming a government between his Christian Democrats, the Liberal Party, and the anti-Islam Freedom Party, said he now opposed the plan, citing concerns about freedom of religion.

"My stance has developed from a 'yes, but' to a 'no, unless'," Lubbers wrote in an Aug. 20 letter to the Christian Democrat leader in parliament, Maxime Verhagen, and party chairman Henk Bleker published by Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant today.

Lubbers's change of view may jeopardize the formal negotiations that started last month on establishing a Liberal-Christian Democrat government that would rely on the support of the Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, to get legislation through parliament. It would be the Netherlands' first minority administration since World War II.

Other senior Christian Democrats have also expressed opposition against the talks with Wilders. His party seeks to ban new mosques, curb immigration, cut development aid and reduce European Union influence in the Netherlands.

"Freedom of religion – also of Islam – and no discrimination based on religion or world view have to remain essential features of our constitutional state," Lubbers wrote. "On that, there can't be a shadow of a doubt."

Bloomberg, 16 August 2010



With cabinet negotiations entering their third week, a weekend poll shows that 39% of Christian Democrat party members are against any form of political cooperation with Geert Wilders' anti-Islam PVV.

The poll, carried out by TNS Nipo for the Algemeen Dagblad, also shows that 13% of the 67,000 party members would give up their membership if Wilders is involved in a new right-wing government.

Fewer than half the members, 49%, are in favour of a right-wing government with the involvement of Wilders.

Dutch News, 23 August 2010

The Dutch government has launched a damage-limitation campaign to try to counter what it fears is the disastrous international impact of the Islam-bashing populist Geert Wilders.

Wilders, whose success in June's general election catapulted him into the role of kingmaker in attempts to form a new coalition government, is to travel to New York to take part in protests on 11 September against the proposed Muslim community centre near Ground Zero.

Maxime Verhagen, the acting foreign minister and Christian Democrats' leader, has voiced fears that Wilders's speech in New York will tarnish Dutch reputations. He has also taken the unusual step of circulating confidential orders to Dutch diplomats around the world on how to answer questions about Wilders's influence in a new government and on the fallout for Muslims in the Netherlands.

With characteristic robustness, Wilders has told Verhagen to mind his own business. He clearly intends to grab attention with a tub-thumping exercise in Islamophobia in New York. "Good feeling. Important speech. No one will stop me. No mosque at Ground Zero," he tweeted after booking a flight to New York. "Stop Islam, defend freedom" is his rallying cry.

The tensions over 9/11 and New York come as Wilders savours his growing clout at home. His Freedom party is running at 31% in the most recent opinion poll, ahead of all other contenders, and he has spent most of this week at a secret location with Verhagen and Mark Rutte, the liberals' leader, haggling over the terms for a new coalition government.

Wilders, whose party almost tripled its seats, from nine to 24, in the June election, is not joining the new cabinet. Instead, he will prop up a rightwing coalition of liberals and Christian Democrats in return for pledges of a tough new crackdown on immigration and other policy concessions. If the talks succeed, Wilders will be in the enviable position of wielding power while abjuring responsibility.

Guardian, 21 August 2010

Dutch MPs returned temporarily from their summer recess today for a special debate with chief negotiator Ruud Lubbers about the progress of the coalition talks.

The public gallery was jammed solid as the party leaders on the left and the right passed judgment on the proposed coalition of the conservative VVD and the centre-right Christian Democrats which could become the first minority government in the Netherlands since World War II. They plan to rule with parliamentary support from Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic Freedom Party.

Labour Party leader Job Cohen said Geert Wilders was the real winner. He was "the puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes. With all the advantages and none of the responsibility."

Green Left's Femke Halsema called the minority coalition the "worst conceivable alternative" and accused Christian Democrat leader Maxime Verhagen of betraying his principles. She quoted his own words about Geert Wilders about whom he once said "by spreading fear and hatred he is involved only in destruction".

RNW, 4 August 2010