Dutch racists breaking out into the open

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 21

Dutch racists breaking out into the open

From

WALTER ELLIS

in Amsterdam

The Anne Frank Foundation, a Dutch human rights organisation, is fighting a legal battle in the Netherlands to help stem a growth of support for far-Right, racist politics. It was set up in memory of the young Jewish girl whose diary of concealment from the Nazis during World War II has been a best-seller for more than 30 years. In 1979, the Dutch Centrum Partij — ironically meaning Centre Party — won its first parliamentary seat, in Rotterdam. An opinion poll, carried out earlier this year by the Socialist radio station Vara, indicated that the party was well on the way towards having the support of 5 per cent of Dutch

voters and could expect to win as many as eight, mainly big city seats, if an election were called this year.

Now Vara has revealed that in an internal memorandum intended as a policy document, the Centrum Partij was ready to sanction violence against foreigners living in the Netherlands.

Wim Bruyns, chairman of the education division of the party, wrote in the memo, called “Holland for the Dutch,” that in certain circumstances the use of force against foreigners and immigrants was legal and justifiable. As an example, he quoted disturbances this year between white residents of Rotterdam and a com-

munity of mainly Turkish “guestworkers.” The clash nearly turned into a full-scale riot and left a number of Turks injured. Bruyns wrote that what had taken place was “an understandable expression of the feelings of the indigenous Dutch.” It was, he said, “a justifiable form of opposition.” The Anne Frank Foundation immediately referred to its “deep sense of shock” at the tone and sentiments of the memorandum and attempted to take out a court injunction against its dissemination. But the Amsterdam public

prosecutor ruled that it had been intended for internal circulation only and that Bruyn’s ideas were his own concern. Now the Foundation is to take the case to the civil courts. It is not the first time the Centrum Partij has been involved 'in controversy. When Hans Janmaat became a member of Parliament in September, 1982, other parties in the chamber took strenuous action to avoid sitting next to him. He was condemned for his views in speech after speech by his new colleagues.

Later, the party had to fight to ensure that several of its candidates who had been voted in as local councillors could actually take their seats.

Next, a Left-wing mole, describing himself as a “Christian Jew,” claimed that Centrum Partij group, which he had infiltrated, had associations with neo-Nazi and SS associations. This was denied.

Traditionally, the Netherlands is portrayed as a liberal, progressive country, little tainted by racism, but in recent years, as unemployment has soared, the influx of blacks from the former Dutch colony of Surinam, together with the problem of Turkish and Moroccan labourers and their families,

have caused many attitudes to shift to the Right. There are today more than 300,000 Surinamers and around 350,000 “guestworkers” in the country, many of them concentrated in the major cities. An element within the old Dutch working class resents this, and the Centrum Partij is able to exploit its fears. A survey published last year showed that while most Dutch people believed in equal treatment for foreign workers, 9 per cent felt they should be fired from their jobs and repatriated. Nearly a quarter of those questioned said that immigrants without jobs should be sent back to where they came from.— Copyright, London Observer