Today De Telegraaf reported that the group chairmen of the major mainstream parties have organized a roundtable discussion next Wednesday with each other as well as with experts to discuss "a party ban for FVD." FVD leader Thierry Baudet responds to this news. Remarkably, we do not read any similar interview in other media, whereas normally journalists should really give people like Baudet a rebuttal. It is indicative of the state of journalism that this does not happen. Not just not now, but not for three years.
Thierry, welcome. There is some uproar over the news that the remaining group leaders are going to hold a "roundtable discussion" to discuss whether FVD can be banned. How do you react to this news?
The Telegraph's headline is sensational. They are trying to push it into a certain corner. I degenerated into real opposition during the corona crisis. Policy opposition is allowed, not system opposition. Then they are going to try to cancel you. But we are for peaceful solutions and this has nothing to do with undermining democracy.
You talk about system opposition. What exactly do you mean by this term?
By systems opposition, I mean questioning the prevailing world view, the ground assumptions. That is NATO as the cornerstone of our foreign policy, climate change thinking, Woke ideology, and the whole system of Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Finance. If you fundamentally think differently about that, the system is going to fend for itself.
How do you think this defense will take shape?
From the perspective of the system, I think it would be very irrational to ban us, because then you create a martyr. I rather suspect that they are going to further marginalize us, for example through financial sanctions or intensified censorship on social media.
You mention censorship. How do you envision this?
For example, Twitter has already announced that they are going to comply with the EU content code. So I think they are going to continue to ramp up censorship in the near future. This may start to mean that we are going to be censored on social media where there is little or no censorship now.
And financial sanctions?
Yes, they could, for example, withhold 50% of our subsidies or give us a large fine, as with Ongehoord Nederland. It is more along the lines of what can be expected that they will do such a thing than that they will actually ban us.
How do you respond to the accusation that FVD is anti-democratic?
We are simply not anti-democratic, that just doesn't make sense. On the contrary, we are in favor of more democracy than the other parties. It's too bad, I'm a patriot, and I believe society becomes so much stronger when you have open debate.
But you feel that this open debate is threatened?
Absolutely. It's really quite tragic that the value of freedom of speech is so threatened. Or actually already gone.
You talk about a possible future in which PVD will be further marginalized, possibly even into "untouchables. How do you envision this future?
They want to show to the whole society: this is what happens when you step over the red line. If you have questions that should not be asked, if you have knowledge that should not be shared. But I remain calm. I understand their psychology.
And what if this actually happens? What is your strategy then?
We will look for other methods to spread our message. Maybe then physical meetings will take a storm, I don't know exactly. But the current group of people in the Netherlands find it very annoying that alternative media exist, they find that very difficult. They are going to try in every possible way to push that out of the social field.
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Do you have a final message for the Dutch?
The crazy thing is that society has an interest in having people who question everything. After all, that makes the general thinking stronger; because people who support the traditional narrative must then make their arguments stronger. Questioning is not undermining. It only makes our democracy stronger.