Wilders, Geert

Political career

In September 2004, Wilders left the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, of which he had been a member since 1989 , and founded his own party, the Freedom Party (PVV). The reason for leaving the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy was Wilders’s disagreement with the party’s position on the start of negotiations with Turkey on joining the European Union , as well as many other issues.

In the national elections in November 2006, the Freedom Party received 6% of the vote and 16% in the elections of Dutch representatives to the European Parliament on June 4, 2009 ^[3] .

On March 3, 2010, PVV first participated in municipal elections and won first place in Almere and second in The Hague ^[4] .

On June 9, 2010 in the parliamentary elections, his party received 24 out of 150 seats, taking third place ^[5] . In July 2010, Wilders announced his intention to create an international anti-Islamic movement, the International Freedom Alliance , taking as his model the Freedom Party ^{[6] [7]} . In October 2010, the Freedom Party supported the ruling coalition ^[8] , formed by the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democratic Party , but did not receive ministerial portfolios.

In 2016, in connection with Brexit, Wilders in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper said that the party he led began preparations for a referendum on the withdrawal of the Netherlands from the European Union. He also noted that the well-being of his country “depends on independence and the ability to make decisions for himself” and stressed that what has happened in recent months has shown that “we should rather resolve the issue of a referendum on EU membership,” because, in his opinion, “ Brussels should not dictate with whom we have economic and political relations. ” In addition, Widders pointed out that “the restoration of relations with Russia is a priority for a traditionally trading country, which the Netherlands has always been,” because it believes that for many centuries both countries “despite the existing conflicts, found only benefit from mutual cooperation”, and also that “Today the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions is a necessary condition for our prosperous future” ^[9]

In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the Wilders party took second place, gaining 13.1% of the vote and received 20 seats in the House of Representatives of the General States as a result ^[10] .

Political Opinions

Wilders positions himself as a representative of libertarianism - the ideology of free will, although sometimes he is associated with extreme right-wing fascists , and his opponents from the left and Muslims call him "right-wing extremist" ^{[11] [12]} , but he himself strongly objects to such a comparison. stating that "my allies are not Le Pen or Hyder " and that "we will never unite with the Nazis ." He considers Margaret Thatcher's greatest role model ^[13] . On many issues, his views coincide with those of another well-known Dutch politician Pim Fortoyne .

Wilders is a supporter of Israel in the Middle East conflict and has lived in this country for 2 years ^[3] . Wilders believes that "Israel is the first line of defense of the West" against what he calls the Islamic threat ^[14] . Wilders rejects any compromise on the part of Israel in resolving the Palestinian issue, considering it the only right decision to “rename Jordan to Palestine and resettle all Palestinians there” ^[15] . In January 2012, Wilders called on the Dutch government to “apologize for the“ passive ”reaction to the mass deportation of Jews by the Nazi invaders during World War II” ^[16] .

He is known for his harsh criticism of Islam and his proposal to ban the immigration of Muslims to Holland, explaining that “not because Muslims are bad people, but because our cultural heritage and society based on Christian and Jewish values ​​are better than Islamic society "And believing that if you do not stop" immigration due to " political correctness ", we will lose Europe. " In addition, he believes that "there are moderate Muslims, and many Muslims in the West are law-abiding citizens," although he denies the phenomenon of "moderate Islam." And Islam as such for Wilders appears as "a totalitarian ideology against freedom, rule of law and separation of church and state" and he would "expel the Prophet Muhammad from the country if he lived in our time." In his short documentary Fitna , which caused widespread international outcry and mixed ratings, showing shots of the terrorist attacks that the Islamists staged, he compared Islam to Nazism and criticized the Qur'an by comparing his suras to extracts from Mine Campf by Adolf Hitler . ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]}

On January 20, 2010, a trial began in Amsterdam accusing Wilders of inciting hatred of Muslims, as he called the Qur'an a source of Islamic terrorism ^[21] . In April 2008, the court already considered a lawsuit against Wilders from the Netherlands Islamic Federation on charges of calls for violence and did not find a violation of the law in his statements ^[22] . On February 3, 2010, Wilders opened a special site dedicated to the current lawsuit ^[23] . According to Deutsche Welle correspondents, Wilders' use of the tribune of the court to promote his views led to a further increase in his popularity ^[24] . In June 2011, Wilders was acquitted. Judge Marsel van Austen ruled that Wilders' statements about the bellicose nature of Islam and his calls to ban Muslim immigration and the Qur'an should be considered in the broader context of immigration policy debate and cannot be directly linked to the propaganda of hatred and discrimination against Muslims in the Netherlands ^[25] .

Ratings

The American historian, specialist in Islam and the Middle East conflict, Daniel Pipes, considers Wilders one of the most promising and respected politicians in the Netherlands and believes that he has every chance to become the country's prime minister ^[3] :

Surveys currently show that PVV receives the most votes and is becoming the largest party in the country. If the Wilders became Prime Minister, he could lead Europe all along.

Ph.D. Phillip Pleschunov claims that Wilders’s rating growth was ensured by “his widely disseminated anti-Islamic statements, supported by the Fitna documentary criticizing the Qur'an and comparing it with Adolf Hitler’s work“ My Struggle ”” ^[4] .

Karni Eldad, a Haaretz correspondent, said Wilders said that if he becomes prime minister, he would ban the burqa , ban mosques, and take steps to stop immigration from Muslim countries ^[26] .

It should be noted that in the first round of television debates before the 2010 parliamentary elections, Wilders received the least number of votes from viewers ^[27] , and the Freedom Party led by him received 15.5% of the vote.

• Islamophobia

• Akayev V. Kh. ,Dohaeva A. B. Cultural syncretism: on the contradictory unity of the religious and secular aspects // Theory and Practice of Social Development. - 2012. - No. 11 . - S. 26-30 .
• Belov E., Shkurenko O. 10 quarrels of infidels with Islam // Ogonyok . - 05/17/2010. - No. 19 . - S. 25 .

• Herth Wilders Website
• Freedom Party Website
• Wilders, Geert - an article in the Tapedia . year 2012.
• Pleshchunov F.O. Islamophobia as a slogan in the elections to the European Parliament
• Pleshchunov F.O. Islam - the main problem of the Netherlands?
• Geert Wilders' Speech In Berlin On 2 October 2010
• Geert Wilders speech in Berlin: “Stop the totalitarianism of Islam”, 10/08/2010
• Captain Peroxide vs Muslims. What does the Dutch Trump offer voters?