PVV Blog 1: Geert Wilders: ‘Islam Is Not A Religion. It Is A Totalitarian Ideology’

• by: Jan Jaap de Ruiter

12-23-2023 Great was the surprise and shock when the exit poll of the parliamentary election on November 22nd indicated that Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom would have secured 35 seats, a gain that became even greater the next day. With 37 seats in the chamber, the PVV left the other parties far behind, with GroenLinks-PvdA coming in second with 25 seats. The result was a surprise for the party leader himself and a big shock for the left-wing electorate and the VVD, which had led the government for 13 years.

Since its foundation in 2006, the Freedom Party has not failed to proclaim its vision on society and in particular on Islam and Muslims and has been beating the drum about the danger of Islam for the entire world all these years. The party’s election manifesto speaks of a Netherlands without the Koran, without mosques and in fact the party advocates a Netherlands without Islam and therefore without Muslims.

Together with the victories of two other parties, Pieter Omtzigt’s New Social Contract with 20 seats and Caroline van der Plas’s BBB with seven, and possibly tolerated by the VVD (24 seats), it now seems that the PVV can start its march to the center of power. Prime Minister Wilders, who would have thought, taking over the reins from VVD Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Mark Rutte, who, oh the irony of history, refused to collaborate with the PVV after the debacle of his first cabinet, which stumbled in 2012, supported by the PVV, and fell due to that same PVV.

The PVV already achieved its first success with the election of PVV MP and veteran, and party ideologue Martin Bosma as the chairman of the House of Representatives.

The question that naturally arises after the election victory is what the PVV (Party for Freedom) will do when it comes to implementing the anti-Islam program. Before the elections, the PVV leader had repeatedly indicated in debates that he would put his overly extreme and factually undemocratic proposals regarding Islam and Muslims “on hold,” but what are these assurances worth when, for the past 20 years, he has been beating the drum of discrimination and sowing hatred?

In fact, party leader Wilders contradicted himself in his very first speech. Of course, he celebrated the significant victory, but afterward (neglecting the democratic tradition of congratulating winning parties), he told his supporters that the PVV would give the country back to the “Dutch.” He didn’t specify who these Dutch people are and from whom the country should be taken. Furthermore, he vowed to be a potential prime minister for all people, whether, in his words, they were “Christian, Muslim, or unbeliever.”

He mentioned the word “Muslim,” declaring that all people are equal to him should he become prime minister, while simultaneously expressing the intention to give the country back to “the Dutch.” There is clearly a contradiction here, and we can better understand it by reading what Wilders once wrote about Islam and Muslims.

In his book Marked for Death. Islam’s War Against the West and Me, Wilders writes: ‘Islam is not a religion at all… but primarily a political ideology under the guise of a religion’.

According to Wilders, ideology is harmful, and nothing good can come from it. He associates ideology with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and also with France during the French Revolution in 1789. Islam should not be “treated more leniently than other political ideologies such as communism and fascism, just because it claims to be a religion.” Such an approach has significant consequences. He succinctly puts it, “That is the core of Islam: it is an ideology that strives for a global war.” Surprisingly, he softens his view on Islam as a violent ideology by stating the following: “I am talking about the ideology of Islam, not about individual Muslims. There are many moderate Muslims, but that does not change the fact that the political ideology of Islam is not moderate – it is a totalitarian sect with global ambitions.” However, the mitigating circumstances are minimal because, according to Wilders, moderate Muslims are people who have not yet realized how violent their religion is, and if they do, they all become potential dangers to democracy and world order, even in the Netherlands. What Wilders states in his book, he has repeated many times, including in 2015 in a discussion with the then Minister of Social Affairs for the PvdA (Labour Party), Lodewijk Asscher, in which he said: “If anything is unconstitutional, it is Islam itself: totalitarian, violent, hateful towards apostates, homosexuals, women, and Christians.”

If Wilders considers Islam as a totalitarian ideology rather than a religion, then Muslims are not believers, and, therefore, they do not have the right to freedom of religion as stated in Article 6 of the Dutch Constitution. Hence, according to him, any proposed laws by Wilders concerning Islam are not in conflict with the constitution. Islam itself is considered unconstitutional.

Wilders’ statement that Muslims have nothing to fear if he becomes prime minister sharply contrasts with the above. I believe that if the PVV (Party for Freedom) truly comes to power, there is much for Muslims to be concerned about. The party may not immediately introduce anti-Islamic legislation, but if it sees any opportunity to implement such laws, it will not hesitate to do so.
Only time will tell, and I will keep you informed.

Previous post:
https://rozenbergquarterly.com/pvv-blog-introduction-the-dutch-party-for-freedom-an-analysis-of-geert-wilders-thinking-on-islam/

Next post:
https://rozenbergquarterly.com/pvv-blog-2-the-evil-french-revolution-has-made-islam-even-more-evil/

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