On Saturday and Sunday nights, a group of Dutch citizens gathered at the border between Ter Apel and Rütenbrock in Germany with the intention of performing their own border controls and stopping asylum seekers from entering the Netherlands.
On Saturday and Sunday nights, a group of Dutch citizens gathered at the border between Ter Apel and Rütenbrock in Germany with the intention of performing their own border controls and stopping asylum seekers from entering the Netherlands.
Personally, i think we (i’m Dutch) need to at the very least, consider rethinking our “asiel beleid”. This unhappyness is not something that came out of thin air. This asylum policy has been an issue for many years, and our government fails to address it every time.
But ordinary citizens should not play for law makers and law enforcers. Thats a very dangerous and slippery path we’re on :(
What’s the issue arising from the current asylum policy?
Seeking asylum obviously isn’t the issue - xenophobia and many years of propaganda by Wilders / PVV are.
And what exactly is feeding this xenophobia? Exactly. People are unhappy with asylum policy. And it’s not just far-right extremists at this point.
The main problem is the dissolution of the state care (verzorgingsstaat). People are unhappy because of rising prices, uncertainty of their future and inability to get a home.
It’s easy to get mad at ‘foreigners’ that get here and just ‘get a home’ like that. Populists really exploit that anger, while perle did be mad at 13 years of liberal rule destroying certainties we’ve built up over decades.
If everybody would feel like their basic needs are covered, they could feel more welcoming to foreigners, as if there’s plenty to go around it’s easier to share.
But people get cajoled into thinking that the foreigner is their enemy, whilst the true source of their discontent is the vvd not caring about citizens but about fat, polluting and corrupting businesses, like BlackRock that got free reign to speculate on our housing market.
People have fallen victim to the wilders narrative. Wouldn’t it help to take a deep breath, a step back and look at the data… for instance, the number of asylum seekers is going down (for many different reasons, eg frontex has put up a formidable wall, and the conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan stopped etc), but the right wing and populism are on the rise. I can understand this causes confusion but the danger to Dutch (or European) democracy is now coming from another direction: rightwing extremist terror is increasing. That’s what the statistics and data clearly show. The way Wilders toppled the government was a disgrace, this guy is not a statesman but a Trump-like charlatan, hobnobbing it with Le Pen, orban, Meloni - all anti-democrats.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I never voted for wilders, and i never will. As far as i’m concerned hes just a grown baby who wants to do nothing but throw tantrums.
But it isnt just wilder’s fault. Before wilders we had pim fortuyn. And before that we had… well i’m not sure i was too young then :) but the point is, xenophobia has always been there. It’s the main reason for WW2. And you can’t solve that problem by screaming “YOUR. RACIST!!1!”.
Perhaps thats even part of the problem. The left keeps screaming everyone’s a racist who don’t agree with them. The right keeps screaming every asylum seeker gets our jobs and our housing. And there’s noone who presents the data in a clear, concise way.
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You’re right, it didn’t come out of thin air, it’s a sustained fearmongering campaign by the far-right parties to scare dumb people into voting against their own interests.
And how exactly, is voting for a stricter asylum policy, voting against one’s selfinterest?
Because those that shout the racist politics are also doing all the policies for the rich. Are you rich? Otherwise they are not pushing policies that benefit you, except you don’t see people of different color when you leave your house. If that is more important to you than education, science, environment, health, culture and many others… than you are likely simply a racist =D
I’m not rich. Nor do i vote for populist screamers. My view is, that everyone is making a mess of it. Wether it’s the right or the left.
I love how my comments get downvoted. There’s a lot more stupidity then just those that vote for Wilders.
Your comments are downvoted because you are legitimizing racism. Also, feel free not to call others “stupid”.
Nowhere have i said its okay to be racist. You really shouldn’t put words in people’s mouth. In my original post i said that we need to rethink our policies. Thats quite different from beeing racist.
And also, if people already label me a racist, then why not enjoy it while i can.
You’re actually putting words in my mouth. Interesting. I said your line of argumentation legitimizes racism. I.e., it portrays this anti-immigrant push as something rational which it really isn’t. It’s based in humans being flawed in their pattern recognition, they easily identify people with the wrong kind of beard but they have a very hard time finding out who systematically takes away their rights.
No, it does not.
I find it bezarre that rethinking a policy, in some people’s mind is the same as legalizing racism. Really bizarre.
Thats the problem with modern day politics. Either you’re left or right. There’s no in between anymore.
If they solved the crisis, they’d lose their voters. There is no incentive to solve it.
Fair enough. But the same could be said for all parties.