Seeing Past the 'Post-9/11' Framing: The Long Rise of Anti-Islam Politics in the Netherlands

In the early 2000s, anti-Islam parties rose to unprecedented prominence in the Netherlands. Within the Dutch polity, the parties’ mainstream popularity is widely understood as a product of the post-9/11 climate; defined by “Islamist” terrorist attacks throughout Western Europe, and concurrent political discourses on the “crisis” of multiculturalism. Researchers critical of this interpretation have analysed anti-Islam politics in the Netherlands as a product of the post-9/11 security climate. Yet framing anti-Islam politics as ‘post-9/11’, underestimates the long-term presence of anti-Islam politics and disguises systemic issues of minority discrimination that have long plagued Dutch society. In order to ‘see past’ the post-9/11 framing, this paper examines the history of anti-Islam politics within the broader historical context of the Dutch ‘multicultural myth’ and issues of including newcomers into Dutchness since 1945. The curious trend amongst Dutch politicians to circulate anti-Islam politics through independently released books/films is explored and its significance discussed.