Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Right, we just had another all time low for one of Hollands stupidest politicians: the semi-fascist Geert Wilders. This Wednesday he came up with yet another dumbass idea: he wants to forbid the Koran because - according to him - it is just as bad as Hitler's "Mein Kampf". It is not the first time that Wilders came up with such a stupid idea. Earlier this year he stated that Muslims that want to stay in Holland should "rip out half of the Koran and throw it away". I am for freedom of speech but this kind of pathetic populism is just outrageous. I guess Wilders just is screaming to be murdered and then live on like some hero, just like Pim Fortuyn.

What a clown!

On March 15, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed by an angry group of senators, including Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's great friend and senator. Caesar initially resisted his attackers, but when he saw Brutus, he supposedly spoke the words "Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?" or: "Even you, Brutus?") and resigned himself to his fate. People often cite this quotation when they feel they have been betrayed. It is also the quote that comes to my mind when I see what is happening in the Dutch political party called VVD. The VVD (the "Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy") lost a lot of voters during last weeks election. A lot of the people voted for other right-wing parties. One of the main reasons for this is the fact there is an internal power struggle within the VVD between the leader of the party, Mark Rutte, and the number two, Rita Verdonk.

On May 31, 2006, Verdonk lost out to Mark Rutte in the 2006 VVD leadership election with 46% of the vote. So Rutte became leader of the VVD with Verdonk sort of as a 'running mate'. But clearly both can't stand each other. Verdonk developed a reputation for toughness and outspokenness, with her uncompromising immigration policies earning her the nickname IJzeren Rita (Iron Rita). But in my opinion she is just a populist politician with an impulsive style of governing and a peanut where her brains should be.

However, in last weeks elections Verdonk received a greater number of preference votes (620,555) than Mark Rutte (553,200) did. A first in Dutch politics: never before did someone that was second on the voters list receive more votes than the number 1. So clearly people seem to prefer her over Mark Rutte (who, I admit, has as much charisma as a beached whale). Probably the same kind of people that otherwise would for right-wing enfant terrible Geert Wilders (the man whose hair looks like a beaver exploded while sitting on his head)

And now a new crisis unfolds in the VVD party; Verdonk effectively drove a dagger in Rutte's back by announcing she still wants to lead the party (although she says this is not an issue at the moment because the party said Rutte is the current and only leader of the party) and thinks there should be a committee that "investigates" the unique situation that occured (meaning that she got more votes than Rutte).

Verdonk - in my opinion - stands for all that I hate in a politician. Populistic, riding on negative sentiments about foreigners (anti-Islam) and only thinking about her own benifit and not that of the party. If you look at her track-record in politics she is just one big disaster. And now it looks like she is going to succeed in tearing apart the VVD as well. The party has assembled for a crisis meeting at 19:30 tonight and I have a sneeky feeling that either Rutte or Verdonk is going to leave the party. In essence: "this town is too small for both us".

Et tu, Brute?

There we have it: our Dutch government is resigning after losing the support of one of its coalition partners, D'66. D'66 pulled its support because Verdonk, known as "Iron Rita" for her tough stance on immigration issues, refused to resign over her treatment of Hirsi Ali. The announcement came after two days of debate in our parliament, where Verdonk did a complete U-turn on her stance on Hirsi Ali. Last night the debate lasted from 9pm in the evening till 5:30am this morning. Personally I'm glad it happened: this government had become a complete farce after all the fuzz about several subjects. It's the second time a goverment led by Balkenende trips over it's own shit. Oh well, we will have some new elections soon I guess. And I'm sure it's not going to be a good thing for the current government parties (CDA, VVD and D'66). Continue reading "Way to go morons" »

Can SOMEONE please explain to me what the hell is going on here in Holland with all the damn political bullshit that's going on around Ayaan Hirsi Ali? After all the political debate about her (potentially) loosing her Dutch citizenship, because she lied about her name and montivation when asking asylum in The Netherlands, everything is taking a new twist. Minister Verdonk survided all the debates so far. Parliment forced her to find a way to let Ali keep her passport and so she did. According to Somalia law you can choose what last name (family name) you want to use: this can be your mother's maiden name, fathers name and even your grandparents name. Well, in this case Hirsi choose the name Ali (her grandfathers last name). So now Verdonk says Hirsi Ali didn't acquire her passport illegally, because she did not lie about her last name.

Ok, now. Just contemplate this: it means Hirsi Ali lied about lying about her name? Uhm? Are you following this? So, in other words: nothing was wrong and all the political hoopla was for nothing? I do not understand (Dutch) politics anymore I guess.

The whole situation is too ridiculous for words. It was just a big stunt by Verdonk to get more publicity in her battle against Mark Rutte for the leadership of her political party, the VVD, which she lost anyway! Futhermore, as it turns out Verdonk put some considerable pressure on Ali to sign a statement in which Ali takes more or less responsibility for the whole affair, just to cover her ass (the fact Ali signed this statement even though she always claims to be so principled is another story). Also, this ruling by Verdonk might set a precendent: other asylum seekers that 'lied' about their names might have been expelled even though they should not have. All in all it has just turned into a political scandal - or farce if you like - of the biggest magnitude.

Trying to explain this affair to a foreigner is just about impossible, just like it is impossible to explain to a tourist what the mechanism is behind our so called 'strippenkaarten' we use with our public transport.

Later today Verdonk will have explain all this before parliment. I pray she gets booted out the governement this time.

Say someone comes to your country to ask for political asylum. In order to get it there a few criteria provided by law that you need to meet. These criteria are pretty straightforward and leave no room for discussion. Among them: your real name, real date of birth, the country you come from is on a list of countries that are known to violate human rights and you should apply for political asylum in the first country in which you arrived when you fled your own country. These are the rules and they are pretty simple, right? So on the premises of the information you give you are recognized as an asylum seeker and after a while you apply for citizenship, get a job and even become an outspoken politician and highly public figure.

Then, you admit - in public, on TV and in magazines - that you lied about your real name, age, and the fact that this was not the first country you came too and that in fact you didn't even came from a country that was on any list as being dangerous. All in all very big lies.

Under normal circumstances this would have been political suicide and your citizenship would have been revoked and you would have been put on the first plain out of the country since you came here under false pretences. The law applies to you just as it does to all others. Right?

Well, no. Not in the case of (Ex-)Dutch (ex-)politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali - or as her real name is: Ayaan Hirsi Magan. Controversial from the second she entered the Dutch political area, now her role in Dutch politics is over.
Continue reading ""Ayaan Hirsi ... »