Do you remember that D66 meeting last month where Sigrid Kaag warned about the increasing power of the extreme right?
When the first photos appeared online, things really exploded on Twitter; ruthless Kaag haters saw other people they hate besides their favorite nemesis. A GP in training, a writer, me as a moderator.
For example, there were the complimentary qualifications addressed to me by Bart Nijman, deputy of the tasteful GeenStijl, which deals in intimidation of dissenters, toxic sexism and racism and which is one of the driving forces behind the delirical Kaag hatred.
Nijman, who wrote on the day my brother Hafid died that it was a pity that I was still alive, reproached this ‘chubby muse’ (his followers reacted wittily: ‘she is 100 kilos heavier!’, ‘hate no’, a corruption of my first name) to be a ‘front soldier of decency’ (someone discovered the alliteration generator).
Harm Beertema of the PVV, a party that excludes Muslims, refugees and bicultural Dutch people, complained about exclusion by D66 and Kaag. Beertema is against swearing, he wrote. But not when his party leader calls Kaag a witch.
It’s strange that these finely tuned types were not involved in the composition of the guest list. The extreme right wants to determine who D66 associates with. That is like the mullahs who want to determine which feminists can and cannot have a say on women’s rights.
I think that too many people still underestimate how dangerous the far-right sewer is: it is a violent jumble that undermines society and derives its satisfaction from the humiliation of progressive women, refugees, bicultural Dutch people, LGBTI people.
They dominate Twitter, and they master the tactics of exclusion like no other: by attacking progressive opponents often and massively enough, frightened bystanders automatically drop out to get to safety. It is a way of socially isolating and intimidating individuals into silence.
The dynamics that arise are fascinating and disturbing at the same time: complete strangers project ideas and stick self-written labels on you, creating a monstrous caricature in their heads that they blindly believe in.
I’ve been going through it for years, initially resisted it until I realized how pointless it is. There is no lower limit for these people: no deceased mother or brother is safe from them.
‘What are you worrying about, it’s just the internet’, it sounds, but you miss it. The boundaries between online and offline no longer exist. The hatred seeps through your keyboard and into your life.
In recent years, these intimidation techniques have been largely ignored by the extreme right and other angry citizens. This started years ago in the depths of the internet, on sites such as the now defunct Het Vrije Volk – where people fantasized about the execution of left-wing politicians, ‘Nazi-Islamic whores’, such as Jolande Sap and Ineke van Gent – and spread to other podiums and parliament where they are now represented by parties such as the PVV, FvD, JA21 and BBB.
Spoiled by that tolerance policy, they now feel that the rules do not apply to them. Whether it concerns terror farmers who dump asbestos, Staphorsters who attack anti-Black Piet demonstrators, Sylvana haters who make lynch films, ‘mother hearts’ who call writers pedo or torchbearers who believe in witches.
Of course, they are just using their freedom of speech, the most cheesy argument of the last twenty years. And that in itself would be fine, were it not for the uninhibited and loud use of it to silence others.
They feel misunderstood and so they have the right to swear and harass you. But you have no right to a reply, because that is a curtailment of their freedom and ‘polarization’. Own freedom and safety first. It’s like going into a boxing match with handcuffed hands. In such a way, the step towards vigilant direction and burning torches becomes very small.
I know from experience that as a target you are usually on your own. With a bit of bad luck you even get the question if it’s not your fault. But by asking that question, you legitimize the perpetrators and open the gates to even more intimidation and violence.
This is not about an elitist appearance, posh accent or a sharp pen. Everyone’s safety is at stake when individuals are exposed to the frenzied anger of the mob and a politician is dehumanized and threatened on a daily basis.
Hassnae Bouazza replaces Floor Rusman as columnist.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of February 25, 2023