Why Geert Wilders' set back is good news to the world
For once, the lack of success of the far right movement headed by Geert Wilders in the Netherlands came as a mild relief to the entire world.
Wilders, who stands for everything that is against Islam, the Muslims and immigration in Netherlands and beyond, is a threat to democracy and a victory by his party would have damaged Europe even further.
He is also anti-globalisation, refusing to see the new world as it is, and wanting perhaps an all-white Netherlands.
After the shock Brexit and the even shocking Donald Trump victory in the US, the world could do without a Netherlands’ election shocker.
The Netherlands’ incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte has won the election, and this victory dealing a decisive blow to the Wilders.
Just how did Rutte win the elections after trailing in opinion polls for weeks, is short of a mystery.
Did Turkey play a role in the defeat of Wilders?
A diplomatic spat between the Netherlands and Turkey showed the strength of the Dutch PM who lambasted the Turkish President Recep Erdogan for his ‘Nazi’ comments.
Erdogan, certainly not forgetting that Turkey was a Nazi ally during the World War 2, said the Netherlands and its politicians were like the Nazi’s after they banned Turkish officials from speaking at pro-Turkey rallies in Amsterdam.
The reply from Rutte was to throw the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs out of the Netherlands, a move that might have consolidated his image among the voters.
Turkish family affairs minister was detained by the authorities to prevent her addressing a Rotterdam rally in support of the Turkish president and escorted to the German border, reported The Guardian.
The British newspaper said Police later used horseback charges to break up a pro-Turkey crowd that had gathered at the country’s consulate in the city.
The scenes of the Police cracking on the Muslim crowd and taming them, as well as Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya being escorted to the border with Germany, changed the mood on the eve of the elections.
But Rutte has to be credited for his arguments that the country’s economy was doing good and that democracy and the values of the country were built upon should not be trampled just because Wilders wanted more political powers than he had before the polls.
But it is too early to bury Wilders head into the sands of the shores of the beautiful country.
France is the next big test for the European right-wing movement.
The world is anxiously waiting for the Presidential elections in France where far-right leader Marine Le Pen – the anti-EU leader heading the National Front – is gaining ground.
The New Statesmen said the world – for the first time – could see the far-right win in France.
It said =no one can predict the outcome of this election.
But the world’s hope is now resting on a candidate who can end up becoming France’s unsung hero.
Emmanuel Macron, the former economy minister with no party has built a “political movement” with great momentum and is said to be the only one who can, in the end, stop Le Pen.
For sure, he has successfully – for now – swept on the centre of both left and right, but will that be enough for him to clinch an unexpected victory and give another blow to the rise of the extreme-right movements in Europe?
Picture shows Dutch PM Rutte – Credit: The Internet!