Listen up, folks, because I’m about to drop a truth bomb they don’t want echoing through the polished marble halls of the Netherlands: Islamophobia isn’t just a dirty little secret anymore—it’s business as usual.
That’s right. Rabin Baldewsingh, the man wearing the “Anti-Discrimination Coordinator” badge like a band-aid on a bullet wound, has finally said out loud what many of us already knew: discrimination against Muslims has been “normalised” in the Netherlands. Translation? Bigotry’s gotten a VIP pass in a country that once liked to print postcards with the word “Tolerance” on them in swirly fonts.
Now don’t get me wrong—Rabin’s not the villain here. In fact, he’s standing in front of a political bonfire with nothing but a garden hose labeled “Nice Words About Diversity.” And while I tip my hat to his honesty, let’s not be naïve: acknowledging rot is one thing. Scrubbing it out of the foundation? That’s a whole different arena — and trust me, the heavyweights running this circus aren’t offering gloves.
Baldewsingh dropped the hammer during a conversation with Dutch newspaper Trouw, sounding about as fed up as a man who’s been trying to fix a sinking ship with a paper towel. He listed grim violations: Muslims being denied job opportunities, facing hostility in public spaces, and being locked out of housing like lepers in the Middle Ages. This isn’t accidental; it’s systemic — and worse, it’s been downgraded in the public mind from “unacceptable” to “meh, Tuesday.”
The Dutch government, caught flat-footed once again, talks a big game about “equal treatment.” But when the rubber meets the cobblestone, empty slogans don’t stop a Muslim job seeker from being ghosted, laughed at, or silently blacklisted. Baldewsingh himself admitted the biggest hurdle: society “no longer sees” discrimination—it’s camouflaged as “cultural critique” or “preserving traditions.”
Oh, please. If I had a euro for every politician using “freedom of speech” as a fig leaf for blatant racism, I could buy myself a tulip empire and rename Amsterdam “Denialsville.”
And let’s not kid ourselves into thinking this is a Netherlands-only special. Across Europe—and let’s be real, across much of the so-called “Western world”—Islamophobia is the noxious fog rolling under every political door. You can bet your bottom guilder that if voters are angry, broke, or scared, some snake oil salesman will pull out the “Muslim Threat” act faster than you can say “populist grift.”
The game here is older than the windmills: distraction, division, and domination. Meanwhile, families suffer, communities harden, and another generation grows up feeling like strangers in their own hometowns.
So what now? Rabin Baldewsingh wants to create a “National Strategy Against Discrimination”—which sounds swell, like hanging a “Do Not Disturb” sign on Titanic’s door after hitting the iceberg. It’s a start, but let’s be honest: strategy without teeth is just a booklet nobody reads.
If the Netherlands—or any nation—wants to stop the rot, they better strap in for a real culture war: one that pits dignity against hateful normalcy, justice against comfortable bigotry. And it won’t be won by press conferences or decorative policies. It will take real leadership, real courage.
And spoiler alert: those are in devastatingly short supply.
The game’s on—and if you think playing nice is going to fix this, you’re already losing.
Step into the arena or get used to watching bigotry rule the stands.
—Mr. 47
