The Netherlands: Vicarious Shame – Return to the Banality of Evil

The Netherlands: Vicarious Shame

Return to the Banality of Evil

On this beautiful autumn Saturday, I would much prefer to write about different topics—perhaps Rumi, or Tagore’s Gitanjali—but today, such reflections are out of reach, given the disturbing intentions of the Dutch Minister of Refugees and Migration, Marjolein Faber, a member of the far-right PVV. Her appalling proposals must be resisted.

If I take seriously the words of Hannah Arendt, who famously explored the “banality of evil” and showed how the atrocities of WWII were made possible by ordinary people manipulated into conforming to a grotesque set of norms, then the necessity of resistance becomes clear. Professor Wolfgang Benz, in his work “Protest und Menschlichkeit,” has also highlighted the moral dilemmas of political resistance.

Recently, the installation of the Schoof government—a ‘Netherlands First’ administration with a far-right signature—was a source of embarrassment for the country. However, this embarrassment has now been overtaken by vicarious shame.

The Dutch Cabinet has declared the asylum situation an emergency—though there is no valid reason for such a declaration. Yet, Marjolein Faber, Minister for Asylum and Migration, never ceases to amaze with her relentless push for radical measures to limit asylum intake, many of which are legally questionable and challenge both Dutch and European laws.

Her latest proposal? To place signs at asylum seekers’ centers stating, “Here we are working on your return,” making it explicitly clear that efforts are being made to send asylum seekers back to their countries of origin. Deputy Prime Minister Mona Keijzer has supported this, claiming that “you can’t be clear enough.”

With these new proposals, Faber and the PVV are taking the symbolism of exclusion and intolerance back to an era when minorities, foreigners, and Jews were vilified—when signs like “Jews not wanted” or “Juden unerwünscht” appeared, stoking the fires of racism and nationalism. The ghosts of the past are never far away.

In one of the richest and wealthiest countries in the world—ranked 14th in GDP per capita—the Netherlands, a nation that once prided itself on tolerance, consensus, and balanced governance, is now seeing these divisive measures take root.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof, at his weekly press conference, claimed not to know the exact wording of the signs but acknowledged that Faber “has made some suggestions.” He further stated that she “firmly intends to continue with this,” and that he is awaiting her final plans. The first signs are set to appear in Ter Apel and Budel, according to Schoof.

By supporting this, Prime Minister Schoof is not only humiliating his government—he is diminishing the moral standing of the entire country.

WJJH – 4.10.2024

Diatribe: The proposals by Dutch Minister Marjolein Faber, advocating for restrictive asylum measures reminiscent of historical exclusionary practices. With the growing extreme right influence within the government our humanity demands to resist these divisive measures, also given the Netherlands’ waning commitment to tolerance and humanitarian values. P.M. Dick Schoof is humiliating himself and the country by supporting this.