Prescient Moments

Here's an excerpt from a previous posting I made a few months ago:

• 'I predict that immigration will play an important part in coming elections throughout Europe. Don't be surprised to see parties with anti-immigraiton policies make significant gains, despite repeated charges of of "racism," "xenophobia," and "fascism" that will certainly be hurled against them relentlessly.'

It goes without saying, I wasn't very shocked at the results of the recent Dutch elections. The winner of the election was the Liberal Party (which, confusingly, is actually the center-right party) with 31 seats. Labor came in a VERY close second with 30 seats. Nothing too earthshaking so far. However, my prediction proved accurate when the far-right PPV (Freedom Party) more than doubled their number of seats to 24. It is very likely that a Liberal (read:conservative)/PPV coalition will end up ruling what is widely considered the most liberal country on the most liberal continent.

To really grasp the importance of the PPV, you must understand the person at the center of the party, Geert Wilders. He is the lone face (and Bouffant) of his party. He created the party, and he runs the party. He floats on a raft of typical conservative issues: low taxes, emphasis on sovereignty, etc. However, his extreme views on immigration, particularly from Islamic countries, is where he is unique among powerful European political parties (the BNP is not powerful). He has stated openly that he hates Islam (though is keen to emphasize that he doesn't hate Muslims). He is calling for a five year moratorium on immigration from non-Western countries. He has motioned for the Koran to be banned in the Netherlands. He even directed a short film called "Fitna" which basically argues that Islam and terrorism go together like falafel and flatbread (this film is available on the internet. Just Google it).

It will be interesting to see what role the PPV will assume in the next government, and how far Mr. Wilders is allowed to enact his platform. More broadly, it will be interesting to see which direction the richer, more structured Germanic countries go as their less disciplined neighbors (and fellow EU members) to the south continue to implode economically.