Provocation in Amsterdam used as a pretext to attack the democratic rights of Dutch workers

As the hysterical international press campaign accusing Amsterdam residents of orchestrating pogroms against Jews begins to crumble, the Dutch government’s plans are increasingly coming to light. The far-right Dutch government, led by Prime Minister and former head of the Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) Dick Schoof and the neo-fascist Geert Wilders, works closely with the fascist regime in Tel Aviv and uses ‘anti-Semitism’ as a pretext for unprecedented terror. attacks on democratic rights.

There were no ‘Jew hunts’, ‘pogroms’ or ‘Kristallnacht’ in Amsterdam on November 8. There was no mass murder of Jews by heavily armed fascist gangs backed by capitalist state authorities, such as Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany in 1938. -Rooted democratic sentiments opposing genocide and political racism persist in the city’s working class. Instead, there was a deliberate attempt to provoke and criminalize opponents of NATO and Netanyahu’s Nazi-style “final solution” to the Palestinian issue.

In terms of the authorities’ political plans, last week’s events were actually more similar to the Reichstag fire of January 30, 1933 in Germany than to Kristallnacht. The Nazis used the Reichstag fire to initiate a well-prepared and unprecedented persecution of workers, youth and intellectuals and to establish the Nazi regime. The Dutch ruling class, in turn, is trying to strengthen Schoof’s right-wing government and grant it authoritarian powers to address growing working-class anger.

On November 8, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema issued an ‘Emergency Decree’ declaring the city a ‘high-risk safety area’. This gives the police full authority to carry out preventive searches among Amsterdam residents and to ban all demonstrations in the city. Initially declared a weekend ban, it was quickly extended until November 14.

On November 10, during his press conference after a ministerial meeting, Schoof called for an even tougher response against those responsible for “anti-Semitic violence.” The Schoof government, following its German counterparts, has begun drawing up “a comprehensive strategy” to combat “anti-Semitism.”

After a crackdown on protests last weekend, police arrested 281 demonstrators at a banned demonstration on Wednesday evening. Videos circulating on social media show riot police shouting at protesters and beating them with batons.

Schoof is threatening to revoke the Dutch passports of dual nationals accused of ‘anti-Semitic violence’, which would lead to their expulsion or deportation from the country. The European Conservative reported that Schoof “shared Wilders’ feelings” and, after meeting with leaders of the Jewish community, said: “There is a group of people with a migration background who have turned their backs on society and do not share its Western values.”