Applying the "far-right" smear 

Elsevier online in one of the first reports on Wilders/PVV stunning performance in the Dutch elections for the European Parliament commented (with good reason) on the reaction of Le Figaro, one of France's foremost newspapers. Their headline above the photo below, which refers to Wilders on the left as "extreme right" roared (in French, of course. A French newspaper mindful of its French Revolution heritage would not stoop - unless it had to - to soil its white paper with a coarse Germanic language like Dutch):

The Netherlands: The Extreme Right comes in second place

Then came the following - in very refined French, of course:

Geert Wilders' party of the extreme right emerged as the second political force in the country after counting in the elections for representatives for Strasbourg.

The Dutchman, Geert Wilders, his peroxided blond hair, his Xenphobic slogans and his rejection of the European Union - there you have the first image left by the European elections. The man who dreamed of "demolishing from the inside" the Parliament of Strasbourg has set the tone for the ballot opened Thursday in The Netherlands and Great Britain: his Party for liberty (PVV, extreme right) gained 17% of the votes in Holland.

You can almost hear the tears dropping onto the keyboard, can't you? In this short space the dismayed reporter, Thierry Portes, used "extreme right" four times. What was it? Did he think his readership was too stupid to get the point the first time?  Not really. It's about dismay, the deep dismay of the leftist/PC class around the world, and although the smear of "far right" is a principal tactic of that class, the muttering repetition is a reflection of the shock that the "people" have betrayed them and fallen under the pernicious spell of a "populist" politician.

Versions of the Le Figaro report continued to appear in the following days as the citizens of other EU countries demonstrated the same ignorant perversity. "Oh, why, don't they listen to the wisdom of those who through the last fifty years have been responsible for the state of the world? Why don't you see how well we have served you?"

The reason that I provided a translation of the Wilders/PVV platform is to challenge those outside The Netherlands to justify the accusation of "far right" on the basis of what the PVV actually say they stand for. Wilders' accusers have to explain what they mean by "far right", "extreme right", "the fringe", and then show how the text of the PVV platform matches their definition.

I am yet to read or hear anyone in the media actually refer to PPV pamphlet produced in 2006. The political put-down tactic of yelling "far right" or "extreme right" in response to criticism of the West's dominant political class is approaching its use-by date.

 

Fringe gains for EU seats in Dutch vote

Far right strikes first blow

Dutch right-wing party gains

Andrew Bolt's blog