Column | Where the border is

Cynically, it was a good thing that the jacks overplayed their hand this week. We had become too lenient towards them, an attitude that was not free of some false sentiment: those poor peasants, they were the victims again.

The grimmer they got, the more guilty we crept into our shells. Everywhere you could hear the same forgiving mantra: Although the farmers were rough in the mouth, who wouldn’t be with so little perspective? ‘Perspective’ had become a sacred concept among politicians, commentators and, of course, the farmers themselves.

Even King Willem-Alexander brought it up, declaring that he “cared the farmers in his heart” and uttered the word ‘perspective’ four times in one minute, as if a cloud of nitrogen welled up inside him. As long as we offered the farmers perspective, everything would be fine. A few days later, he had to add impatiently that “violence and intimidation are not a solution.” A reporter asked him where the line was, but alas, he didn’t know yet.

Hopefully he’s come across enough people now who could tell him that. The border is where you enter someone else’s country without permission. That can be the domain of a minister, but also of an ordinary citizen, and it is certainly a police station in Apeldoorn in which arrested colleagues are located. Anyone seeking liberation from such a police station should not be surprised if he himself is locked up.

The endearment with which many good citizens spoke of the peasants cannot be fully explained to those who have followed the peasant leaders closely. Some of those leaders use the word “war” too eagerly, although they never mean the war in Ukraine, which is too far from their box bed. Their war enthusiasm concerns a kind of civil war in the Netherlands, a battle between towns and countryside, between government and citizens. The ‘elite’, together with its mainstream media, the NOS in the lead, should be made a big head smaller.

The undisguised aggression is already reflected in the controversial interview that Mark van den Oever, chairman of Farmers Defense Force, gave on 18 June. de Volkskrant gave. In it he lists the action plans: shutting down the food supply, blocking highways, and a return visit to the home of minister Christianne van der Wal. Many citizens still applauded then, although everyone could have known: this will not happen without violence.

I can advise everyone to also watch the video in which Van den Oever announced last Tuesday’s actions, ‘the day of death’, as he said in all seriousness. What strikes in that film is the combination of aggression and hypocrisy. Van den Oever claims that his club is withdrawing from “the battle”, but at the same time he suggests that uncoordinated actions will take place: “You know what to do.” He still hoped that the citizens “will be spared, even though that may not always succeed”.

Van den Oever counted on the bourgeoisie to stand behind the farmers. To prevent that, I would urge him to advise: “Just keep it up.” Preferably together with Gideon van Meijeren, his good knowledge of FVD. A promising perspective.