UN Official Compares Donald Trump, Other Western 'Demagogues' to Daesh

Rasa - The UN’s human rights chief has compared Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump and other Western populist politicians to Daesh (ISIL) in a hard-hitting speech at The Hague.

News ID: 423273

Date: 06 September 2016 - 19:50

RNA - Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who has held the position for two years, called for action to confront European and US politicians who breed “an atmosphere thick with hate”, as he fears it “may descend into violence”.

The speech was primarily focused on controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who recently said he wants to fight Islam and ban all mosques.

Mr Wilders, who is the leader of the most popular party in the Netherlands, released an 11-point plan pledging to ban expressions of faith considered “contrary to the country’s order” and says mosques, Islamic schools and asylum centers will be closed.

Mr al-Hussein described the plans as “grotesque” and said populists use "half-truths and over-simplifications," the Independent reported.

"What Mr. Wilders shares in common with Mr Trump, Mr Orban, Mr Zeman, Mr Hofer, Mr Fico, Madame Le Pen, Mr Farage, he also shares with Daesh [ISIL]," he said.

“All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion – living peacefully in isolation, pilots of their fate, free of crime, foreign influence and war,” he said.

“The formula is therefore simple: make people, already nervous, feel terrible, and then emphasize it’s all because of a group, lying within, foreign and menacing”.

The 52-year-old, who is the son of Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid, Lord Chamberlain of Jordan and previously served as Jordan’s ambassador to the US, was sure to clarify hisposition on Daesh, describing them as “monstrous and sickening”.

“Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh, which are monstrous, sickening; Daesh must be brought to justice.

“But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists.”

He finished the speech with a rallying call, warning everyone not be led by the deception and asking people to “speak out and up” and to “speak the truth”.

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