Dutch embrace radical left as European dream sours

[rpannier]

Just over two months ago, the small Dutch community of Almelo woke up to a tragedy that turned out to have national repercussions. On a modest street in a rundown area, Aziz Kara, a 64-year-old Turk, became embroiled in a ferocious argument with his neighbours. When he was struck to the ground, the impact of the blow put him into a coma. Ten days later Kara died of a brain haemorrhage.

In normal circumstances, the death would have preoccupied only the local media. But as the Netherlands prepares for its second national election in two years, Kara's case was different. When relatives and the local community organised a silent march through the streets of Almelo, politicians and mourners came from The Hague and across the country. National newspaper columns were devoted to the incident, which quickly became a PR disaster for arguably the most influential far-right politician in the European Union, Geert Wilders.

To Wilders's acute discomfort, the man who allegedly beat Kara to the ground was called Henk. And his wife – who apparently shouted racist abuse at the victim on the ground – was called Ingrid. The resonance of the names was lost on no one. In the last two years, the Netherlands has learned to live with another "Henk and Ingrid" – a fictional couple born of Wilders's own populist imagination. Just as Basildon man and Worcester woman became stars of elections in Britain, Wilders's blue-collar caricatures were successfully deployed to voice the anti-immigrant, anti-Islam sentiments of his Freedom party (PVV). "Henk and Ingrid are sick of paying for Ali and Fatima," went one anti-immigrant slogan.

link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/02/netherlands-elections-socialist-party

[Enthusiast]

1. Clearly the Fascists are employing

a well worn strategy of the past. All over the Western World, including the United States of course, we are witness to this race baiting. The world is in a very dangerous spot at the moment.

The American media won't even acknowledge that a radical far right even exists in the United States. At the same time we hear endless complaints about the dangers of socialism and communism. These complaints are NEVER challenged. I call that a "dangerous spot".