My country, the Netherlands, is doing extremely well in the 2018 Winter Olympics. It is great to see how the Dutch successes are reinforcing feelings of national pride and patriotism. Thank God for the Olympics! Cheering one's own athletes over foreigners has nothing to do with discrimination, racism or jingoism. Sporting events are one of the few occasions where people can still unabashedly display feelings of national pride without being judged for it by the leftist cosmopolitan elites.
 Jorien Ter Mors of the Netherlands celebrates winning the gold medal during the Ladies' 1000m Speed Skating at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, February 14, 2018. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) |
National pride is fantastic. In his farewell address as president, Ronald Reagan said that one of the achievements he was most proud of was "the resurgence of national pride." Reagan called it "the new patriotism." Patriotism is one of the biggest strengths of a nation. Waving the national flag is so much more than bringing a tribute to successful athletes. It also links us to a heritage and a tradition. Our national flag symbolizes ancient loyalties embodying the legacy of our fathers, which we want to bestow on our children.
The nation-state is one the greatest contributions of Western civilization to the world. It is the home of our democracy as well as the guarantor of our freedom. Adherence to the nation-state is also a moral duty. Our Judeo-Christian civilization is based on the values of Jerusalem, Athens and Rome. Jerusalem, where the love for the state of Israel was taught. Athens, where service to the democratic state was the highest good. And Rome, where honor depended on duty to the Republic.
Islam is totally alien to this central idea of our Western civilization. It does not want us to love our country. It wants to eradicate all nations and replace them by the Ummah, the worldwide Islamic community. Islam is not nation-centered but globalist by nature. That is why our cosmopolitan elites with their globalist dreams of supranational institutions like it so much. Since the 1960s, a loathing of morality and patriotism has become the style for those who consider themselves our elites. Discriminating against their own people has become their fashion. They feel appalled by great Western thinkers, such as the 13th century Italian, Thomas Aquinas, who wrote that "no-one can properly worship God without honoring his country, for the greater virtue – honor to God – includes the lesser – honor to parents and country."
The Olympics, however, reflect the Western ideals. It is no coincidence that they originated in ancient Greece with its many states.
Next week, the Dutch athletes from Pyeongchang will return home. Dozens of supporters will flock to Schiphol airport to prepare a warm welcome. They will wave the national tricolor and the entire nation will share their joy and glory. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is likely to honor them and receive them. And so he should!
And yet, it is the same Mark Rutte, who, like his colleagues of the political elite in the European Union, is conducting policies which actively discriminate against his own people in favor of foreigners. In sports, he is cheering the Dutch over the foreigners, but in politics he is doing exactly the opposite.
There are dozens of examples of this. While asylum seekers in the Netherlands get health care entirely free, the Dutch have to pay a huge deductible out-of-pocket and have to insure themselves for extras, such as hearing aids, glasses, physiotherapy, dental care, postnatal care, etc, which asylum seekers get for free. The asylum seekers also get free housing and are allowed to jump the queue, while Dutch citizens on average have to wait eight years for social housing. Two thirds of all welfare expenditure is spent on non-Western immigrants, while Dutch citizens have to foot the bill. Non-Westerners often also get preferential treatment when applying for jobs in the civil service, because the authorities want to encourage "diversity," and so on.
For years, my party has been opposing this discrimination against our own people in our parliament. Because the government parties refuse to change their policies, a few weeks ago, I lodged an official complaint against the Prime Minister for discrimination on behalf of thousands of my Dutch compatriots. This week, the Public Prosecutor announced that he will not prosecute Mr Rutte because the government policy is one of "positive discrimination," which the Public Prosecutor considers permissible. I will now take the case directly to the court. A government that is positively discriminating in favor of foreigners is negatively discriminating against its own people.
Just as the millions of Dutch, who are currently watching the Olympics on their television sets, are cheering their own athletes, governments should be the cheerleaders of their own people. We need to bring the spirit of the Olympics to politics, the spirit of patriotism. The nation-state has the duty to positively discriminate in favor of its own people. It has to cheer them on, encourage them, be proud of them, as we now are of our athletes. And always will be.
Geert Wilders MP is leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in The Netherlands.
Martin Schaffel