Following the PVV’s big election victory last week, meetings were held in many cities. In Amsterdam and Utrecht, people took to the streets and pasted peace posters on windows.
“Impotant anger and anxiety, combined with morality, are essentially unstoppable,” Kees van den Bos, professor of social psychology at Utrecht University, says of these actions. But he says such initiatives could also lead to further polarization.
Van den Bos believes people feel like “they have no choice.” Van den Bos: “You think, ‘I have to do something.’ They are full of it. Morality is also included in this emotion, which is a really powerful driving force of behavior.”
The PVV’s stance on climate policy, Islam and asylum policy is clear. PVV also did not sign the Rainbow Ballot Box agreement. Wilders’ “less-is-less” speech about Moroccans in 2014 led to the party leader being prosecuted for group slurs and sentenced to prison until the Supreme Court.
“We take the rule of law seriously”
Yesterday around thirty to forty officials gathered at the Dokwerker monument in Amsterdam. According to one organizer, this was not a demonstration against the election results. “But the point is that the largest party has an agenda that contradicts what we promised in our oath of office,” the organizer said on NPO Radio 1’s current news program Nieuws en Co.
“In any case, we now want to show that we take the rule of law and the constitution seriously and are ready to stop our work if the situation requires it.” A Dokwerker employee said he “represents everyone, including PVV members.” . “But PVV is a party that is not for everyone. “That’s why it’s necessary to be here,” the official told News and Co.
direct polarization
The actions were not well received by PVV voters and politicians. PVV member Martin Bosma reacted sarcastically
For example, Greenpeace’s “No to Climate Denial in the Tower” campaign sparked angry reactions on social media, with comments such as “Demonstrate against democracy” and “Don’t whine, get it done.” De Telegraaf drew attention to this issue in his article “Criticism of emotional demonstrations against PVV profits”.
Van den Bos believes the measures will further stimulate this dynamic. “You can also see now that PVV voters feel morally judged,” he says. “You can easily encourage polarization with that.” Political scientist André Krouwel of the Vrije University agrees. “But of course this polarization already existed, it is a structural problem. “This is an expression of that.”
For example, PvdA council member Pieter Paul Slikker in Den Bosch wrote on LinkedIn that he did not attend a protest against “hate” in his city on Sunday “because the city and society deserve a dialogue right now.”
According to Slikker, this dialogue is necessary, among other things, “in districts where there is dissatisfaction that led to this outcome. “Therein lies the language, the connection and the program that brings a city together rather than dividing it in two.”
swear
For those who want to talk to political opponents, a meeting will be held this evening at the Arminius Discussion Center in Rotterdam. There are cards for PVV voters and non-PVV voters. Tickets for the evening of the debate for non-PVV voters are sold out.
“I absolutely welcome this,” says Krouwel. “We live in a time when ‘reality is polarised’. People can have completely different views about the world. When someone says: his own worldview is wrong, people often begin to swear. But research shows that nothing works better than bringing people together.” People who think they have nothing in common. Most of the time they experience the same problems. “There’s no use in swearing.”
People took to the streets in Amsterdam and Utrecht, among other places:
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
