The Anne Frank House and the Leiden University have conducted an interesting study on the recent developments of racism and extremism in The Netherlands and the report on their findings is out today.Along with Islamophobia, extreme right-wing activism and Geert Wilders' Party of Freedom are also topping the list on their findings as the primary factors in the growing trend of hate-driven social change in The Netherlands.
The report goes into lengthy detail listing all possible aspects which may be contributing to the sudden changes towards extremism, but it does not discuss Islamophobia as a separate issue as it does in the case of right-wing extremism and Geert Wilders. Instead, the report strongly hints Islamophobia when it goes into detail citing both, the law and several examples of Geert Wilders political statements regarding Islam and Muslims, in order to prove that what he's doing is in fact against the law and purely intended to incite hatred, racism and discrimination towards Muslims with his hate-filled political agenda. However Geert Wilders cannot be charged with any crime he commits in this regard as long as he keeps making these hate-filled statements within the confines of parliament. As a parliamentarian he is granted immunity when it comes to freedom of speech, which basically means he can say whatever he wants even if it's racist or incites to hatred. As long as he doesn't do it in public, he is OK.
According to this report Geert Wilders and his Party of Freedom do not fit the profile of the typical right-wing xenophobic nationalists like Vlaams Belang (formerly known as Vlaams Blok) for instance, because he is not anti-Semitic. In fact he's against all non-native Europeans, except Jews and he goes out of his way to make it known to the public.
The problem of 'Islamophobia' in the Netherlands has grown considerably in the past year, not only in terms of negative public opinion towards Muslims but also in terms of the increased violence directed at this community and the growing tendency to turn a blind eye to crimes of expression aimed at them.
This is one of the most salient findings in the Racism & Extremism Monitor, a work published today that is part of the running scholarly study being carried out by Leiden University and the Anne Frank House.