"Immigration? Not of Muslims!"

Geert Wilders's right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) can hardly be surprised by the cordon sanitaire imposed against it on Friday.

Sietse Fritsma (picture), member of the Dutch Second Chamber for the conservative PVV party, caused quite an uproar on Friday by submitting to the Parliament an official motion calling for an immediate ban on immigration of Muslims to the Netherlands. The Dutch identity is compromised "by the continuous immigration of Muslims who often appear not to share our values," Fritsma stated.

By refusing to even adopt the proposal for parliamentary discussion (and a subsequent vote), all other parties in an unprecedented move established a so-called "cordon sanitaire" against Geert Wilders's controversial party (this French term, of course, drawn from Belgium's political blockade against "Vlaams Belang").

Parliamentary regulations dictate that a minimum of five members raise their hand for a motion to be adopted for further discussion, which normally is a mere formality. Following a call by the Socialist Party not to do so, as it deemed the proposal "discriminatory", all hands stayed down. Only one of eight other PVV MPs was present during the vote, insufficient for Fritsma to "win" it.

His reaction was bitter: "The interests of Dutch society are undermined by this behavior," he said. Party leader Geert Wilders (picture below) was furious: "The cordon sanitaire is a reality. ... The Chamber deprives a party with a constituency of half a million people of its right to present proposals. That is undemocratic and an insult to the PVV voter." He added that it has been "proven once more that the Second Chamber consists of scared and cowardly people who ignore the voice of the people."

In a rather questionable maneuver, the Parliament's chairwoman, Gerdi Verbeet, now claims five hands in fact did go up initially, but most went down again when it became clear what Fritsma's motion was actually about. Too late, it now appears, so it will still be subjected to a vote, in which it will certainly be defeated anyway.

Despite their hiding behind procedural oddities, the establishment parties were clearly motivated by political considerations. But they are hardly in a position to deny the urgency of the matter itself. Fritsma's analysis of the problems Muslim immigration poses to Dutch society is plain right.

I do take issue with his proposed solution, however, or at least with its formulation. The other parties were right to state that banning just Muslims to enter the Netherlands would be unconstitutional. They were keen to ask Fritsma whether he would make all immigrants answer questions at the border about their religious affiliation, a practice in which, of course, a liberal democratic society cannot simply engage.

The PVV should have known it was providing ammunition to the other parties. This is, after all, the country whose ministers are happy to point out that our society will on the long run will be built on "Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions," and that we ought to negotiate even with the Taliban in Afghanistan, should they "stop their attacks, put down their weapons, and wish to come to the negotiating table." (I devoted an entire blog in Dutch to the latter incident, but this statement should really be beyond any serious consideration.)

Why not reformulating Fritsma's proposal so as to ban the inflow of lower-educated immigrants altogether, as they threaten social cohesion and often engage in criminal activities? In other words, why not ban a non-racially-defined group from entering the Netherlands which basically consists of the same people anyway, but also includes the thousands of young crooks from the Netherlands Antilles who are equally terrorizing our cities' streets? (And yes, I know these are Dutch citizens, but that is another matter which is up for some serious scrutiny.)

These are tangible issues, easy for the Dutch to grasp. By reducing the problem to Islam alone, I fear that the PVV will overreach itself and scare away many of its voters. In the end, the country's immigrants should be judged on their ability to adapt to Dutch society and to make a net contribution to it. That their cultural background is the ultimate cause for the failure of many of them to do so, is of secondary importance.

With a bit more political skill, Geert Wilders and his party could certainly achieve much more than they do now, and so be of major service to the Netherlands.