Today, Spitsnieuws shows this foto, in which two Dutch flags (with orange banner instead of red) are seen hanging in the PVV-rooms in Dutch Parliament.
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| Orange-White-Blue flag seen hanging in PVV-room in Dutch parliament |
Our foreign readers should note that this flag has been forbidden in the 1930s somewhere, because the national socialist party NSB (Hitler-fans in the Netherlands) started using it as a party symbol as the flag essentially refers to a period in time when the Netherlands kicked the Spanish out (Historic News outlines that it also came in use in South Africa during the apartheids-regime). Questioned about this today over the radio, the PVV denies that this all happened.At present the PVV is firmly denying that the flags even hung out there. While another inside source is ready to outline that the flags were hung out there, but it was never intended to refer to the NSB or second world war period. The idea was to refer with pride to the earlier days of the Netherlands, when we were a more important country then now. But, those who hung the flags might have been unaware of the more recent connotation and reference to the NSB.
Well, there you have it, this is Dutch politics and PVV in optima forma. Let's look at the two possible explanations here and let's note that the the group feeling in the group PVV-MP is tight (and may even come close to groupthink):
1- As Geert Wilders is currently very much annoyed and angry about the comparisons with the pre-worldwarII time, so will his followers. Confronted with the comparisons with Worldwar II, I imagine they feel wronged by the comparisons and out of anger felt: 'Well, if they compare us with the 1930s populist movements, we might as well behave as such'. In this possible explanation we need to appreciate that this behaviour equals that of a wronged school boy. And one could imagine a school boy who is punished for doing something wrong, receives punishment. Then, given that he has already got the blame and the punishment, the boy continues to milk out his punishment by continuing the obstinate behaviour that he was punished for.
2- The group PVV MP's feels misunderstood. They are battling for a clean, beautiful Netherlands, with freedom for all but all of Dutch press and society appear now to be against them and don't share their goals. But luckily some spirits within the PVV-fraction in Parliament still know what they are fighting for. They want the Netherlands to once again become the country that it was: a country that with pride and confidence stood up for itself against a foreign oppressor (in this case not Spain but Islam). So to improve the group morale in these harsh times (when the party's goal: freedom of speach is in fact counteracted by the PVV itself and gets a lot of criticism) some MPs chose a symbol that might unify them and remember them of their worthy goal: the old Dutch flag from the 16th century. In doing so, they lacked the historical awareness and education to remember the other connotation of the flag: the NSB.
By the way, the reasoning above may also hold true for the party emblem that the PVV uses (thanks to @Tibeart and historisch nieuwsblad). This is their stylized gull and the text: Party for Freedom:
Now, let's have a look at one from the NSB (with the text in white: Does thou desired Freedom or Servitude.. and in black: Freedom, only through the NSB):
So, whichever of the two explanations best fit the real situation of this moment, both are equally surprising and amazing.
PS (12.05). While Wilders himself now remains invisible with no comment, his 'thought leader' Hero (yes, that seriously is his first name) Brinkman twitters that he is glad that the flags are now gone (and were meant to refer to the Dutch golden age)... meaning that explanation 2 might have been most accurate.
