Unite!

Last month, political party PVV presented its election program on an A4: a program full of promises and intentions, quite a few of which raise quite a few eyebrows. For example, if it were up to the PVV, all mosques, all Islamic schools and all asylum seekers' centers would have to be closed. All temporary residence permits given to asylum seekers in recent times should be revoked. The Netherlands must leave the EU ("become independent"). And completely scrapped public broadcasting, and all subsidies to development aid, windmills, art, innovation, etc. will be removed.

It won't get all that far, but disturbing are the plans. How is it possible for a party to publish this kind of nonsense and still be taken seriously? And by no small number of Dutch voters at that. Do they not see the evil in the PVV? Probably not, they probably see in the program of the party and its leader a solution to their own anger and fears. After all, with its bold statements, the party touches sensitive chords with large groups of voters who are afraid and troubled in a changing world and perhaps long for how everything once was or seemed. In the PVV, they see a solution.

It is time for a new dissent, a new "opposing party. Time for a political party of artists. Aren't they pre-eminently the ones who can think around, who can show things in a different way, who are creative, have an open mind and can represent them with power? There are solutions and criticisms coming from artists that suggest that a political party shaped by artists will be one of decisiveness, intelligence and nuance. In short, there are enough strong and intelligent artists who possess political talent to collectively organize a powerful dissent and offer a strong alternative.

Therefore, this call: 'Artists of the land, unite!' Politics needs - we need - you to wake up. Politics needs you to calm down, to offer alternatives, to become human, to neutralize fear and to be able to look at reality in a new way. Unite and put your brain at the disposal of national politics.
You can put aside the fear that you will have to write endless documents: as a party program, an A4 will do.

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