Cooperation with the highly radicalized FVD is not possible

The motion was largely symbolic, but not without significance. This week, the House of Representatives adopted a motion by PRO (GroenLinks-PvdA), which asks the cabinet “not to enter into agreements with politicians who call for violence against refugees or spread the repopulation theory.” The three coalition parties D66, VVD and CDA, which this concerns most, voted in favor of the motion. They had no choice. Because in a parliamentary debate a week earlier, the faction leaders of these three parties had said that there could be no structural cooperation with parties that are guilty of this. That debate was about the ‘normalization of violence’, following statements by Gidi Markuszower (Group Markuszower) about the use of ‘maximum violence’ against Palestinian refugees. The motion did leave open the possibility that the parties would seek ad hoc cooperation with the faction, which has already been the case in the past happened.

Markuszower’s statements were unacceptable and fit into a pattern of radicalization of the far right. Violence, or at least the threat or flirtation with violence, is starting to become more normal among politicians. But the normalization of extremism goes beyond just openly speculating about violence. This normalization also happens by not saying things.

FVD faction leader Lidewij de Vos has long refused to respond to statements by party members about ‘repopulation’, the racist conspiracy theory that there is a controlled agenda to replace the Dutch population with migrants. And that’s not the only thing she doesn’t respond to. The far-right FVD shows a pattern of racism, anti-Semitism and conspiracy thinking. Often with veiled language, but clearly visible to their own supporters. Candidate council members turned out to have ties to far-right and neo-Nazi groups. The party associates openly associated with leading figures from the identitarian movement. And intelligence services have been concerned for years about the spread of extremist ideas about ‘repopulation’ and ‘remigration’.

Lidewij de Vos spoke last weekend a conference on ‘remigration’ in Portugal. That meeting was a sign that far-right politicians are increasingly expressing their ideas more openly. Members of the far-right Dutch groups Voorpost, Pegida and White Lives Matter were also present. The ties between these and foreign groups are becoming closer, their strategies seem more coordinated.

Rarely do far-right politicians directly call for violence, which made Markuszower’s statement striking. Usually it is done through suggestion, the dog whistle, whereby one’s own supporters know enough and the unsuspecting outside world slowly gets used to extreme ideas. The Overton window, the spectrum of more or less accepted views by public opinion, has shifted considerably to the right in recent years. This is because the far right manages to dominate the political and social conversation and determines the themes. The rest of the political system is moving to the right, and that is worrying.

Parties in the middle all too often radiate powerlessness. For fear of missing voters’ sentiments, they adopt the themes of the far right. In the debate about violence, Lidewij de Vos received many critical questions, but they often asked her to distance herself from extreme statements by party members.

That’s the wrong question. FVD is not a party that is fundamentally reasonable and where extremism can simply be dismissed with a condemnation. Extremism is part of the party ideology. Moreover: asking to take back statements, which Markuszower and De Vos did not do wholeheartedly, has no meaning whatsoever. It has already been said, and apparently the party leaders are behind it. Far right parties cannot be treated according to old Hague laws, they have their own logic.

The National Voter Survey, this week appearedprovided a detailed and worrying insight into the radicalizing supporters of the FVD in particular. Approximately a quarter of FVD voters find violence acceptable to overthrow democracy. Nearly two-thirds have an ‘aversion’ to politics, voters say they feel ‘disgust’ when they think about politics. The poison of extremism, the normalization of enemy and conspiracy thinking, seeps into society.

Politicians from other parties should never normalize racist, discriminatory or downright dangerous ideas. This means that cooperation with FVD or the Markuszower Group is not possible. Not only in major chords, but also in daily practice. The Jetten cabinet has not made it easy for itself by governing as a minority coalition. This makes the coalition partly dependent on far-right parties such as FVD and the Markuszower Group.

That doesn’t mean voters and their concerns shouldn’t be taken seriously. But there is a line drawn with a politics of hate. Debate can be had with politicians who call for or flirt with violence, but that limit must always be observed. Getting politicians to distance themselves from extreme statements is treating the symptoms; the point is that the ideas behind those statements are by definition unacceptable.

There is no quick fix for the rapid normalization of far-right ideas. It is an international phenomenon. What helps is more awareness about dog whistles and extremist language. What also helps is a more confident attitude from parties that support the democratic legal order. An attitude in which boundaries are set that are also enforced.