As the day of the event approached, the Dutch media characterized the gathering as 'new-right' and 'far-right'. Author, freelance researcher, and teacher Chris Aalberts, for example, opined that the event's organizers could not claim that it would be an open debate because the whole line-up of speakers was 'right-wing'. Huub Bellemakers, a member of the left political party Groenlinks, noted that "From the look of the organizers, the speakers, the introductions and the definition of the problem, it is clear that it's a new-right meeting." Bellemakers was invited to attend the event, but declined to do so.
The left's characterization of the event is interesting because the organizers' original concept was to have both left-wing and right-wing speakers come together to discuss this important issue, and hopefully come up with possible solutions. But almost all left-wing guest-speakers declined to attend, which obviously left an impression of the event being a right-wing gathering. The left in the Netherlands - the most densely-populated country in the Western world - apparently doesn't want to discuss immigration in an open and honest way.
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