Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 10:52 AM
The rise of right wing populism in Europe since 2000 have been greeted by the centrist and leftist parties with consternation. In Holland there was a lot of discussion whether Fortuyn (and later Wilders) should be engaged or ignored, whether a cordon sanitaire as maintained in Belgium against the Vlaams Blok is still appropriate when the right obviously gained such popularity. In Holland, the decision was not only to engage them, but to invite them into government. Consequently for the last decade, political discourse has deteriorated significantly this side of the Channel, with calls to ban the Koran and assorted ant-islam madness filling the airwaves and newspapers.
Oliver Willis has the video of Nick Griffin of the racist BNP appearing on BBC’s Question Time. This is the Brits showing us how to engage the right wing. Note that Question Time is not particularly progressive, and it would be difficult to characterize Jack Straw as a radical. In fact, and this is what is so admirable about it, centrist and moderate politicians are here openly showing their disgust with Griffin and his racism.
Hope the example soon gets following here in Holland. I’d really like to see Wilders squirming for a change