by our political correspondent John Tyler
04-04-2008
Former Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, known for her hard-line policies and no-nonsense approach, is the anchorwoman behind a new political movement, launched in Amsterdam on Thursday. Called Proud of the Netherlands, its central aim is to defend the Dutch national character.
Proud of the Netherlands and proud of herself:
Rita Verdonk applauds her new movement
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At the launch of her new political movement, Rita Verdonk spoke forcefully about the need to protect and revitalize the Dutch identity:
"What drives me are all the people who want to be proud of our country... Too many people have lost this pride. Many are worried about the Netherlands, worried about Dutch culture."
Freedom from foreign control
She named freedom of expression and freedom of religion as essential elements of Dutch culture, as well as the freedom from foreign control, a remark that was received with enthusiastic applause.
Ms Verdonk also defended the right for anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders to make his anti-Islam film, Fitna. She remarked that this country is in danger of losing its character:
"When we Dutch people find ourselves constantly having to move over and adapt to new cultures in our own country, I say - enough is enough!"
The comments were reminiscent of Verdonk's tenure as minister of immigration, when she made a name for herself in Dutch politics as tough-as-nails and a straight shooter.
Tapping into discontent
Ms Verdonk presented herself as an outsider in relation to the political establishment in The Hague. The established politicians only have time for the general public when the elections roll around, she argued. Once the votes have been cast, they withdraw into their own little world again to dish out cushy jobs to one other. By painting this picture, Rita Verdonk is tapping into the ongoing discontent among a section of the Dutch population that has turned its back on The Hague. The opinion polls suggest her party has enormous potential for growth.
Ms Verdonk also called for the number of parliamentary seats to be halved and for civil service jobs to be slashed. She also proposed that chief civil servants should automatically lose their jobs with the arrival of a new cabinet. It would then be up to each new minister to decide whether they be reinstated.
The budget for overseas aid was another area that came in for the Verdonk treatment. She reckons it can be cut by two-thirds, freeing up funds that can be pumped into problem areas within the Netherlands, such as education and healthcare or salaries for teachers, nurses and the police.
Geert Wilders
Proud of the Netherlands, like fellow right-winger Geert Wilders' Freedom Party, will not be a traditional political party. It won't have members, and won't get any state funding. Which is why Mrs Verdonk has been spending much of her time raising money.
Thursday's launch was also a fund-raising event. Many of the few hundred people who came to the Passenger Terminal in Amsterdam paid 75 euros to get in, and a few dozen paid 500 euros each for the privilege of having dinner with Verdonk on the ship 'The Classic Lady'.
Tags:
Freedom Party,
Geert Wilders,
immigration,
Proud of the Netherlands,
Rita Verdonk
Blake,
08-04-2008
- USA
'Tribe' and 'Clan' are terms with a primarily historical reference and which rarely refer to future-directed concepts. By definition, they normally refer to ethnically, genetically, or ideologically defined groups, and this is at the core of the issues addressed in this article. The changing times need a concept of networking that does not revert to past concepts of clan and tribe, often associated with ethnic purity and ethnic cleansing. Tribalism and clannishness similar to what Verdonk and Wilders advocate are developing in these troubled times in larger American cities, and the result is ethnic tension and isolation which undermines social harmony. 'Cooperative' would be a better concept for coming times... people uniting in locally-interdependent groups based on immediate economic and political realities, rather than primal traditional clan and tribe biases and a reversion to traditional values 'looking out for one's own people only' disconnected from evolving realities. This again points to central issues in the advocacies of Verdonk/Wilders. It's called ethnocentricity, it is fertile grounds for racism, and each and every ethnic group is capable of practicing it. Take a good look at South Africa or Zimbabwe and what has happened and is happening there, and you will see where maintenance and promotion of traditional concepts such as 'tribe' and 'clan' lead... gross socio-economic inequities and continual social tension. Tribalism and clannish assume attachment to and concern about one's one immediate social network only. They saturate violent prison cultures, street gang warfare, and societies rife with social friction. None of these are healthy models for a future society.
We need democratic globalism to replace abusive corporate globalism... to take the 'globalist' concept away from economic 'slavemasters' and give that power to the people of the world. For example, support and empowerment of the United Nations over and above NATO or the Arab League or ASEAN or other myopic regionalist organizations focused only on local interests in an often competitive manner that is more conducive to warfare than peace. Each regional grouping makes accommodations to the benefit of the whole without compromising itself into disfranchisement.
Jan,
06-04-2008
- CANADA
Blake--Tribes and Clans are the only way humanity will survive. When "the crash" occurs you will be trying to create a small group that will care for and protect one another. Tribes are not groups of 16 million people, they are groups of 20-50 people. These people do not have to be the same colour, height etcetera, they just have to help each other.
Jon Reykdalin,
05-04-2008
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One immigrant's take on 'The Proud Nation'
http://www.boomchicago.nl/en/news-and-images/actors/gregs-space/index.cfm?i=3530
Hiram,
04-04-2008
- USA
"Freedom from foreign control"... Rita Verdonk, you are fighting for a Dutch character of yesterday and it will never return. The Dutch character starting dying the day the Netherlands entered into a binding communion with the EU. People like you and Wilders are fighting a good cause but the cause is futile. Why? The Dutch nation is now dependent upon the EU in trade and defense. You can leave the EU or you can follow the directives set forth by the EU. Those directives allow the citizens of member nations to move freely throughout the Union. The migration of people changes the culture. If you choose to leave the Union, with whom will you trade? The EU? I think not. The EU will punish you. The U.S. is classic example of how independent states lost their identity. It took about 80 years and a civil war before the individual states lost their sovereignty. The Dutch don't have 80 years. Rita Verdonk, you and Wilders need to take a chill pill and go with the flow. You can't win!
Blake,
04-04-2008
- USA
We are having similar problems in California. What is needed is a more moderate middle-path position on problems relating to inundation by immigration. Immigrants need to be ready to assimilate to the culture they move to, rather than attempt to impose their values or divide their new homeland. This also should not be a liberal-conservative issue, but a pragmatic issue. Tolerance is required in both directions. Political dialogue needs to be established between groups. The 21st Century needs to accommodate to strategic and democratic international cultural fusion rather nationalist/ethnic isolation. The era of tribes and clans should be over and done with, and that requires accommodation by both immigrants and longterm citizens, with lengthy discussions of which adaptive changes will promote democracy and the well-being of the greatest number of people. It seems that 'conservatism' is the biggest problem of all, creating and maintaining the rifts and friction - and the greater the conservatism, the greater the problems.
