Lyceum & Book Club - Week 16 - Lecture Notes on Far Right Politics Are Now Mainstream
- Mar 31, 2022
- 1 min read
The New Dutch Disease Is White Nationalism
An upstart far-right party in the Netherlands threatens to entrench xenophobia in one of Europe’s most progressive countries.
Rutte’s win wasn’t a definitive victory for sensible centrism; indeed, Rutte managed to triumph over the Dutch far-right by moving consistently further to the right himself - by dog whistling to anti-immigration voters and adopting positions similar to Wilder’s own.
If the biggest electoral headline from the Netherlands a year ago was Rutte’s success in fending off a challenge from Wilders, the less trumpeted but equally noteworthy news was the success of a new player in town - the self-styled far-right intellectually-turned-politician Thierry Baudet. Presenting himself to his audience on at least one occasion draped over a grand piano, Baudet, who is 35, combines a sentimental attachment to European high culture with the spirit of an online culture warrior. He has expressed support for Donald Trump and V Vladimir Putin, both of whom he views as strong leaders.
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The New Dutch Far-Right
Thierry Baudet and the party he leads are laundering racist politics into the mainstream.
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