As Stonyground mentions, there have been developments in the Netherlands.
A new populist party surfing a wave of rural anger at government environmental policies has emerged as the big winner in Dutch provincial elections, dealing a heavy blow to the four-party coalition of the prime minister, Mark Rutte.
The success of the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) in Wednesday’s vote, which will determine the makeup of the senate, casts doubt over the government’s ability to pass key legislation, including its plans to slash nitrogen emissions.
“The Netherlands has clearly shown we’re fed up with these policies,” BBB’s founder, Caroline van der Plas, told the public broadcaster NOS. “It’s not just about nitrogen, it’s about citizens who are not seen, not heard, not taken seriously.”
The Dutch government’s war on farming was, to any rational person, utterly insane. Not only was it wiping out livelihoods, but it also undermined the food chain. I’m not sure what they thought would happen, given that the famers have been protesting for months now.
The green lobby has overstepped the line here. Just as it appears to have in the UK with the ULEZ and 15 minute cities insanity. This extremism can only go so far before reasonable people decide that enough is enough and their tolerance for it ends. In London, for example, cameras are being vandalised as the rebellion is starting to take shape. Of course, this being the Guardian, the backlash comes from a ‘populist’ party – populist here meaning ‘far-right.’ But what the Guardian and the governments across the globe regard as far right is merely the normal, sane majority who are not taken in by the extremist screeching of the various leftist lobby groups – be it greenery, qwerty or women with penises reading to children. The silent majority will remain silent for only so long.
The Dutch have a different voting system to us, so a seismic shift is easier to obtain. However, if a party like Reform does well in the local elections, it might cause the insane mayors across the country a shake up (and they all need removing anyway). Across the pond, the vile Lori Lightfoot’s serial incompetence and race baiting has just come to an end with a humiliating defeat at the re-election coming in a poor third. Of course, lacking any self-awareness, she is blaming racism. Did we expect any different from this vile woman?
I am feeling slightly optimistic. I know the monster has not been slain, but it has taken a few wounds of late and that is a good thing.
Sri Lanka has already run the experiment and plunged the country into an economic crisis. I can’t understand why the Dutch government saw any value in repeating it.
The striking thing about these fanatics is their sheer mindlessness. I think this tempers their edge to a not inconsiderable degree.
The ideologues and fanatics of the more recent past – whatever you think of them morally – were adults, with an adult sense of things. Softly, softly catchee monkey. This had been working for them rather well.
But the infantilism of the latest batch of recruitsdoes does have its compensations.
There is some real kickback against the milk float fantasy too. The fatherland, it would appear, is not too keen on the destruction of an industry which, I recall reading not too long ago, accounted for around a seventh of all jobs.
I think there is a Birmingham ULEZ which has just written off something like 70000 fines.
Like you I am starting to get a sense.
The next five years will be very interesting.
The Glasgow LEZ starts in a couple of months, and although the people up here tend to be more passive in the face of these things (they like to call it “sensible”), I do sense a growing frustration with these Green shenanigans. We had parking controls put in round our way about six months ago, and the prices are already about to go up by around 50%. That’s not going down well.
“We had parking controls put in round our way about six months ago, and the prices are already about to go up by around 50%.”
They want to tax, charge and fine drivers to force them out of their cars. That’s why that pint-sized tyrant Khan is going to push ahead with his emissions zone crap in London. He is chairman of an organisation called C40 Cities. If you look at their website, it’s the usual social justice bollocks – climate change, equality, diversity, inclusion etc. Their ultimate goal is to reduce car ownership to zero by 2030.
I love the terms populist and populism they’re great aren’t they? You mean parties that lots of people vote for? In a democracy? How very undemocratic.
Yes, I’ve often wondered whose ‘democracy’ certain politicians witter on about, while they complain about ‘populism’. Maybe ‘democracy’ is when people vote for them and ‘populism’ is when voters decide they don’t want what that certain brand of politician is selling.