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Despite the Netherlands’ reputation as one of the world’s leading liberal societies, the holiday season in that country has long been a time when racism reared its ugly head.
In the past, it was the tradition that Sinterklass (Saint Nicholas) would arrive in Holland on the first Saturday after Nov. 11 and begin his travels through the country with his assistants, called Black Peters, often presented in blackface with Afro wigs, who would help Santa know which children were naughty or nice.
This tradition was phased out in recent years because it was rightly seen as racist, a throwback to a 19th century colonialist view of the world. But this year the Dutch are introducing something new and even more odious. They made the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-EU leader of the misleadingly-named Dutch Freedom Party’s Geert Wilders the big winner in national elections this past Wednesday.