Is the PVV similar to the NSB?

Since the death of Pim Fortuijn, politicians in The Netherlands have been scrambling to fill the lucrative void that opened up at the far right of the political spectrum. Central to the themes of most wannabes is the (perceived or not) threat formed by immigrants, especially those with Islamic backgrounds. Emphasizing every negative aspect of Islam they can find, the two main contestants vying for right wing votes are Geert Wilders with his PVV and Rita Verdonk with Trots op Nederland (Proud of The Netherlands).

Wilders founded his Party for Freedom (PVV) in February 2006. The PVV started out as a one man fraction when Geert Wilders decided to leave the People Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in September 2004. Wilders could not reconcile himself with the VVD positive stance towards Turkey's possible accession to the European Union, and left the party disgruntled. Wilders decided to go on as “Group Wilders” even though the fraction consisted of only one person. Later, when more people joined his cause, the Group Wilders was renamed PVV even when the party is still revolving around Wilders and his ideas.

Wilders' party is committed to "freedom of the individual"; Wilders believes that the Netherlands has been held hostage by elitist (mostly social democrat and left-wing liberal) politicians for decades. In this his views differ from the “nation above self” doctrine of national socialism. The Party for Freedom combines economic liberalism with a conservative programme towards immigration and culture. The party seeks tax cuts (€16 billion in the 2006 election programme), de-centralization, abolition of the minimum wage, and limiting child benefits and government subsidies. Towards immigration and culture, the party believes that the Judeo-Christian and humanist traditions should be treated as the dominant culture in the Netherlands, and that immigrants should adapt accordingly. The party wants a halt to immigration from non-western countries. It is skeptical towards the EU project, is against future EU enlargement with countries like Turkey and opposes the presence of Islam in the Netherlands. The party is also opposed to dual citizenship.

Wilders has been called a crypto neo-nazi and his party similar to the national socialist movement (NSB) that became symbol of German oppression during the second World War. But is this comparison valid? The NSB, founded in 1931 by Anton Mussert and Cornelis van Geelkerken, started out as an ultra nationalist party with a program based on Italian fascism and German National Socialism. It didn’t target any group in particular until after the German invasion and even had Jewish party members.

Wilders has presented himself as anti-Islamic from the start. After the murder of Dutch cineast and polemist Theo van Gogh by an islamic extremist, Wilder’s references to what he calls “The book (..that..) incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our legal order” became more pronounced, culminating in a movie he dubbed “Fitna” or "Strive" that was meant to prove that Islam had no place in Western society. It was more the press coverage and hype that incited worries about reprisals from extremists than the actual movie. Fitna was no more than a compilation of 9/11 clips and beheadings of hostages by terrorists.

Like the German NSDAP, the NSB followed a political ideology concerned with notions of cultural decline remedied by placing the nation or race above the individual. Wilders' views are different in some aspects. Individual freedom is of great importance in the PVV programme. However; in Wilders' eyes, Islam is an authoritarian religion that is not compatible with the "Western" definition of freedom. The selective use of 'freedom' for different groups was also done by the NSB after 1936. Jews where seen as a thread and must therefore be eliminated from society. The PVV doesn't go as far as to propagate extermination but in demanding Muslims to abandon their faith and the Koran to be declared illegal, the party goes at least for a cultural equivalent.

There are more differences than similarities between the PVV and the NSB. In fact, the PVV has stronger views against a named group than the NSB had before 1936. It's not difficult to see however that the PVV uses rethoric and symbols that are eerily similar to that of the (post 1936) NSB. In “Historisch Nieuwsblad” of June 2008, political historian Gjalt Zondergeld posed the question why the PVV had chosen the seagull as its symbol. This symbol was also chosen by the NSB in the 30’s and 40’s as a symbol of freedom. Wilders furiously denied the allegation but wouldn’t explain the motives behind the obvious similar choice.

The reaction of Wilders resembles that of Eugene Terre’Blanche, leader of the racist South African Resistance Movement (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging) during the apartheid era. Terre'Blanche viewed the end of apartheid as a surrender to communism just as Wilders views modern day politics in The Netherlands as a surrender to Islam. Symbol for the AWB were 3 black 7’s in a white circle on a red background. When it was mentioned that the symbol strongly resembled the German swastika, Terre’Blanche was furious and denied any similarity. The explanation he gave can be read here.

The PVV does not call itself National Socialist and ideologically there are more differences than similarities. But the words and actions of Wilders and company push the party ever further to the right and with it, the whole tolerant, pragmatic climate of The Netherlands. In this may lie the real threat, because in today's modern world the influence of other cultures and religions can't be ignored anymore.