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Volume 2, Number 17              June 2 - 8,  2002                     Quezon City, Philippines

Filipinos, Dutch Progressives Wary of New Rightist Gov’t

New anti-immigration and anti-political refugee policies loom in the Netherlands as a new rightist coalition takes over the government. Social welfare subsidies are threatened, too.

By D.L. Mondelo

Chief Correspondent for Europe

Bulatlat.com

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- The results of the recent national parliamentary elections in the Netherlands indicate disillusionment of the Dutch electorate who have seen years of social democratic rule. But since political platforms in the Netherlands are hardly distinguishable from one another -- like the traditional political parties in the Philippines -- the Dutch electorate has ironically chosen to elect "more of the same."

This "more of the same" government which would now be led by the coalition of the Christian Democratic Party, VVD and the List Pim Fortuyn (the party of the murdered anti-immigrant and anti-Islam politician Pim Fortuyn), would most likely further tighten immigration laws, increase taxes, significantly cut down more social welfare benefits, further deny so-called illegals access to social, medical, educational and legal services, and further fan hatred and discrimination against Muslims and other peoples of color.

This assessment of Dutch politics is shared not only by progressive Dutch individuals and organizations but also by Filipino women community leaders in the Netherlands.

"There has been a big change in the politics of this country," says Orchid-Valenzuela-Flores, a long-time publisher and columnist of the monthly community newspaper, Munting Nayon.

Valenzuela says she expects to see changes in the policies concerning social welfare and immigration, but takes a wait-and-see attitude.

"It is quite obvious that the new government will be very, very tough in their immigration policy," remarks Edna Mijares-Nijo who was among the batch of Filipino nurses who came to the Netherlands in the early seventies.

Mijares says during the seventies when the economy of the Netherlands was flourishing, the Dutch were inviting workers and called them "gast arbeiders" (guest workers). But now, Mijares laments, migrants and migrant workers are called "allochtonen. " which in Dutch is an unkind term for "alien."

"The following weeks, months and years will merely be an unmasking of the new Dutch government," predicts Ruth De Leon, a member of the general secretariat of the International League of People's Struggle (ILPS).

"What we will see in Dutch politics is the enforcement and enactment of more laws detrimental to migrants, refugees and even the working people of the Netherlands," asserts De Leon.

More daunting task

The progressive movement in the Netherlands, she adds, is now confronted with the more daunting task of educating the people about the real character of the ruling parties that advance and protect the interest of big business, and rallying them towards a genuinely pro-people politics and politicians.

"The new government will make policies to protect the country first and migrants later," maintains Marina Quindiagan, a longtime community leader, political observer and critic of the Dutch monarchy.

According to Quindiagan, the Dutch government will stop open immigration, send asylum-seekers back or give them amnesty, eliminate undocumented migrants, tighten the controls on the number of people receiving social benefits, and cut social welfare subsidies.

"The new Dutch coalition government is a very right coalition. This will mean more anti-immigrant laws, more taxes and drastic cuts on social welfare," argues Coni Ledesma, a member of the peace panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and a resident of Utrecht for more than 25 years.

"Ordinary Dutch people were disgusted with the government led by the social democrats. The people are tired of having to wait very long before they get medical treatment, traffic, rising prices and unemployment, and of the insensitivity of most Dutch politicians," Ledesma adds.

She explains that aside from these problems, the killing of right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn and the Sebrenica scandal further angered the Dutch people, thus contributing to the humiliating defeat of the ruling social democratic government.

Ledesma also says that speculations have also been going around progressive political circles that the murder of Fortuyn was the handiwork of the Dutch secret security service to deliver sympathy votes for the openly rightwing political parties. As for the Sebrenica scandal, Ledesma says that the social democratic government exonerated the Dutch commander and his battalion deployed supposedly as peacekeeping troops in Sebrenica. Their misdeed was allowing the Serbs to take away the men of Sebrenica  and had them massacred while supposedly these men were under their protection in a neutral zone. Bulatlat.com

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