Sons instructing their illiterate mother on how to vote.  People casting proxy votes for their entire family.  Mosques being put under pressure to support the party’s candidates.  Islamic propaganda leaflets at the entry of the polling station.

A nation in the Middle East, you say? Wrong.  I’m referring to the recent elections in the Netherlands.  Amid the establishment’s cries of joy over the “defeat” of Geert Wilders, another important story was all but brushed under the carpet: the migrant party “DENK” got three seats in parliament and became the biggest party in at least one district of the capital (Amsterdam).

Of course three seats does not mean they will wield great influence, but their electoral success is seen as the beginning of a new trend.  Migrants are turning away from their traditional “benefactors” in the European socialist parties, and forming political movements of their own.  In Belgium we had the AEL (Arab European League), an Arab nationalist (!) party that formed a common electoral formation with the anti-nationalist Belgian communist party PVDA.  This was probably the first “Islamo-Marxist” political party in the world.  The AEL formation has disappeared, but a controversial politician of Turkish descent (Ahmet Koc) wants to create a new party based on the successful Dutch example.

Apart from the irregularities during the election campaign and at the voting booth, the arrival of these “foreign nationalist” parties shows that large parts of the European immigrant communities have different opinions on matters of state as compared to their non-immigrant neighbors.

Some examples: the earlier mentioned Ahmet Koc -- a big fan of the Turkish dictator Erdogan -- got kicked out of the local socialist party during the Turkish purges last summer for a tweet (literal translation): “Allah, protect us from these traitors” (referring to anti- Erdogan Turks.).  This came from an elected official paid by the Belgian state (!).

The Dutch “DENK” immigrant party received widespread criticism because it failed to condemn numerous violent migrant protests.  During a recent diplomatic row between the Netherlands and Turkey, the DENK party refused to condemn the Turkish allegations that the Netherlands is a “Fascist, Nazi country”.  In fact, DENK is seen by more conservative outlets as a franchise of the Turkish state with political influence in Europe.  Their boycotting of conservative news outlets at their victory celebrations and refusal to participate in debates or interviews with radio stations that invite guests who criticize them (like the radio station NWL for inviting the anti-Islamist professor of Iranian descent, Afshin Ellian), shows how little they value free press and freedom of speech.

Few will say these new “immigrant” parties have a positive influence on the integration of new citizens.  The enormous surge of Islamism is not new to the better-informed audiences in the USA.  (In our perpetual stream of good tidings from Europe: local Islamist militias have been training in urban warfare next to a Belgian nuclear plant.)

But apart from religious extremism, the immigrant communities also import strong nationalist sympathies straight from the motherland, especially in the Turkish community.  Belgian children of Turkish descent (sometimes the third generation living in Belgium) have held numerous pro-Erdogan rallies shouting Turkish nationalist slogans and the inevitable “Allahu Akbar.”  An extreme-right Turkish nationalist movement called “The Grey Wolves” has openly campaigned in the city of Ghent to rally support for the upcoming Turkish referendum (in which Erdogan is expected to consolidate his dictatorial powers once and for all).  In Austria, the defense ministry discovered that Austrian soldiers have illegally retained their Turkish nationality after enlisting.  How many of these soldiers of dubious loyalty are active members of the Army is unknown.

This surge in Turkish nationalism becomes especially frightening in light of some recent remarks.  Erdogan called on Turkish-Europeans to “produce more babies to increase Turkish influence in Europe,” while the Turkish foreign minister predicted “religious wars in Europe.”

Luckily for us, our legacy media is too busy painting Donald Trump as the resurrected Hitler to bother informing the public about these serious dangers to the stability of an entire continent.  Advice to our American friends: visit while it’s still here!