Dutch Muslims fear rise in Islamophobia with Wilders at the helm

The November 22 election victory of anti-Islam Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom (PVV) has put country’s Muslim community on the edge.

After securing 25.3 percent of the total votes, Wilders is in the driving seat of discussions to bring together a coalition government, paving the way for him to become the Netherlands’ first far-right prime minister.

"These election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims. We did not expect such a party with an (election) programme that is against the basic principles of the rule of law to be so big," says Muhsin Koktas, the head of the Contact Body for Muslims and Government (CMO).

Muslims make up the largest religious minority in the Netherlands with a substantial presence of Turkish people.

Wilders’s victory has particularly caused unease among young Muslims, who are deeply troubled by the prevailing political climate.

Musaab Elabbassi Ahmed, the president of the Muslim Student Association of Netherlands (MSA NL), representing over 40,000 students in higher education at a national level, articulated the sentiment as:

“Disappointment of indescribable proportions; a disaster.”

“These are the thoughts echoing through the minds of a million Dutch Muslims waking up today,” he adds.

Ahmed says it was chilling to find out that a quarter of the Dutch population has voted for a politician who wants to bulldoze mosques, ban the Quran and forbid women from wearing the hijab in public places.

“Nothing has been learnt from history in scapegoating religious minorities, as these are just some of the proposals in Wilders's election programme that have catapulted him to success.”

A career built on hate

Geert Wilders has built his political career on the back of his anti-Islam rhetoric.

From drawing parallels between the Quran and Hitler's Mein Kampf to organising contests for sacrilegious cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, he has a history of provoking Muslims since he founded his far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) in 2006.

Besides calling for tighter immigration control, he has frequently branded Islam as a "fascist ideology." At one point, he called Moroccans "scum" and proposed a controversial "head rag tax" on women who wear headscarves.

"We seek a reduction of Islam in the Netherlands, and we intend to achieve this through a decrease in non-Western immigration and the implementation of a comprehensive halt to asylum," the PVV says in its election manifesto.

Many Dutch Muslims say Wilders’s election victory is a testament to deep-seated anti-Muslim sentiments that have seeped into Dutch society.

And a barometer of that far-right tilt is the popularity of exclusionist political parties other than Wilders’s PVV.

Ilyas, a Muslim Dutch journalist who prefers to be mentioned by his first name, is concerned that Wilders will be able to form a far-right coalition in the Dutch parliament.

“It’s not just his party. The third biggest party, VVD with Dilan Yesilgoz, and the fourth party, NSC with Pieter Omtzigt are more towards the right side of the political spectrum as well.

“Together they can establish a far-right coalition that would be one of the most harrowing governments for Muslims and other minorities in the Netherlands so far.”

Geert Mild-ers?

In recent months, Wilders has tried to distance himself from the provocative statements he had made in the past, saying he’ll be a prime minister for "all Dutch people". He even embraced the playful title Geert "Milders."

But for SPIOR (Platform for Islamic Organisations Rotterdam), an umbrella group for dozens of Muslim organisations, this shift in tone is a deception.

“Some utter that party leader Geert Wilders has become mild, but he has not become more moderate; instead, the Netherlands has become more hardened,” said Nourdin el Ouali, SPIOR’s head.

Experts point out that Dutch media played a crucial role in whitewashing Wilders’s racism and xenophobia to make him appear a more acceptable leader before the elections.

“The Dutch media could benefit from some self-reflection. The normalisation of Wilders in this campaign goes beyond mere politics; it is notably evident in the construction of his identity as a 'normal politician.',” said Ico Maly, an associate professor of Digital Studies at Tilburg University, in a post on X.

“He was a guest on many children's programs. He spoke warmly about his cats. He was treated affably and warmly welcomed on talk shows and debates.”

Ilyas also notes the disparity between how the Dutch media presents Wilders and how he is characterised by international outlets.

"Abroad, almost every news outlet categorised Wilders and his party as ‘anti-Islam’. But in the Netherlands, most media-outlets are not willing or maybe afraid to categorise him and his party like that, while it is clear that his party detests Islam, so why not just state that?”

A deep-seated Islamophobia

SPIOR’s Nourdin tells TRT World that the Netherlands has been adopting anti-Muslim measures for years and the situation can become worse with Wilders at the helm.

"That Wilders is now the largest, (political party holding the most seats) is only a reflection of that reality. Islamophobia has been normalised for the past 20 years."

Over the years, Amsterdam has placed innocent Muslims on terrorism lists, banks have frozen or closed accounts of Islamic organisations, a niqab ban, and surveillance of mosques by municipalities and ministries was introduced, says Nourdin.

For many Dutch Muslims it’s heartbreaking to see that politicians who were on the fringes of society become a mainstream driving force of public opinion.

“Twenty years of ostracisation and a political climate of parties absolving themselves of responsibility have normalised once extreme viewpoints,” says Musaab from MSA NL.

“Islamophobia has been ingrained into the social fabric, such that a large portion of Dutch society would prefer a million residents as second class citizens.”

Dutch Muslims fear that hatred and discrimination against them will now become more pronounced.

“People that voted for Wilders were normally quiet about it, they know they were wrong so they didn’t talk about it openly. I think that will change now,” says Ilyas, the journalist.

“And racism will become more widespread and even more common.”