Dutch Muslims revel in far-right’s decline

IBRAHIM serves his kebabs in one of The Hague’s poorest areas with a smile the day after Geert Wilders’s anti-Islamic far-right party suffered a humiliating defeat in Dutch elections.
“Yesterday when results were announced they were glad to hear the good news,” the 23-year-old said of the predominantly Muslim neighborhood’s reaction.
“Everybody sent each other text messages,” said Ibrahim, who is originally from Turkey and settled in the Netherlands a decade ago.
The small shop is one of thousands littered around the country that show the multicultural side of Dutch society: Turkish bread and pastries share shelves with round Dutch cheeses and miniature clog key rings. Dutch citizens overwhelmingly voted in favor of pro-Europe parties, election results showed Wednesday, while shunning both the eurosceptic extreme right and left. Wilders’s Party for Freedom, which campaigned on an anti-Europe and anti-immigration ticket, suffered the largest blow as Dutch voters rejected populist rhetoric in favor of middle-of-the-road pragmatism.
Known for his fiery speeches denouncing Islam, Wilders’s representation in Parliament dropped from 24 seats to 15 after Wednesday’s polls. “I’m proud the Dutch did not vote for him,” said Karima, 20, rearranging her long dark tresses reflected in the shop window.
“But I’m Moroccan-Dutch,” she added, saying she voted for the far-left Socialist Party of Emile Roemer, who won 15 seats, as in the last election. Ibrahim’s boss, Nurritin, also of Turkish origin and living in The Hague for the last 23 years, rolls a cigarette pensively: “I’m happy, don’t get me wrong. But I think the most important thing for people this time around isn’t about religion or immigration. “It’s about money,” he said. “In this neighborhood, people are worried about the cuts (Prime Minister Mark) Rutte wants to make. They can think of only one word: Taxes, taxes and taxes.”
Many resident here think Rutte’s plans for strict austerity to get the Dutch deficit below a Brussels-imposed ceiling of three percent of gross domestic product next year means lower social benefits and higher taxes for the poor.
“It’s not easy here you know,” said a Turkish friend of Ibrahim and Nurritin. “We are worried, we are wondering whether we are going to pay more.” Schilderswijk (“painters’ neighborhood” in Dutch) lies sandwiched between a canal and railway lines on one side and The Hague’s somewhat grubby city center on the other. Some 70 percent of the population here are classified as low-income.
Turkish and Moroccan immigrants make up half the population here and have been at the receiving end of Wilders’s anti-immigrant barbs.
“I’m happy with the result — but I think it’s possible that he (Wilders) might be back,” said accountant Ramazan Erdogan, 26, enjoying a kebab. Down the street, Sebahattin Erbas, 46, is taking a rest in front of his food shop.
“I think that people realized that he’s someone who talks a lot but doesn’t do much,” Erbas said of Wilders. “But if the Liberals and Labour form a coalition, they’re so different that it’s possible the government will fall very quickly, and then, those who are disappointed will turn to Wilders and his facile discourse,” he said.