The unexpectedly meaty win for controversial, hard-right politician Geert Wilders in Wednesday’s general election in the Netherlands set international headlines on fire.
Right-wing nationalists across Europe rushed to congratulate the populist politician, sometimes dubbed the Dutch Trump - partly for his dyed, bouffant-like hairdo, and partly for his famously firebrand rhetoric.
Geert Wilders’ publicly expressed views - including linking Muslim immigration with terrorism and calling for a ban on mosques and the Quran - are so provocative that he has been under tight police protection since 2004.
Wilders was convicted of inciting discrimination, although later acquitted, and he was refused entry to the UK back in 2009.
But Europe’s far right believes their views have now become more mainstream.
I don’t get it. We know the numbers, which were published by our own governments. Crime is up significantly compared to pre-migrant crisis.
According to cbs, crime is down significantly since 2010, from 1.2 million registered crimes in 2010 to 806k crimes in 2022. Of course that doesn’t give the whole picture. CBS also reported 47% less murder/killings compared to 20 years ago.
Maybe the migrants are more visible now than they were, maybe it’s more concentrated in certain parts of the country. It’s no secret that the government is really mismanaging the situation.
But that wasn’t the point of my initial remark: punching down, blaming the people that have the least power, that’s doesn’t make sense and isn’t fair.