Baudet faces task of rebuilding Dutch far-right
party after reelection
The populist politician returns as party leader after
resigning over racism row.
BY ELINE
SCHAART
December 7,
2020 5:32 pm
https://www.politico.eu/article/baudet-resumes-role-of-dutch-far-right-party-in-shambles/
Thierry
Baudet is again the face of the Dutch far-right party Forum for Democracy (FvD)
— at least what’s left of it.
On Friday,
Baudet was reelected as the leader of the anti-EU party following a power struggle
that saw many prominent members jumping ship, including its three lawmakers in
the European Parliament.
With his
party in tatters, the former populist prodigy is now facing the immense task of
recruiting new people, starting with candidates for the Dutch general election
in March.
“We will
leave this period behind as soon as possible,” Baudet vowed after his
reelection, adding that he would continue to fight to “save the country” and
“protect our civilization.”
The party’s
implosion came as its standing in the polls took a sharp dive, with many voters
turned off by Baudet’s support for anti-lockdown activists and groups spreading
coronavirus conspiracy theories.
A recent
poll projected that the FvD — which currently holds two seats in parliament —
would win around four seats if an election were to be held now, compared to 15
in February and 24 at the height of its popularity 18 months ago, when it took
the largest vote share in provincial elections.
That
victory stunned the Dutch political establishment. The upstart party, founded
in 2016, also secured 12 of 75 seats in the country’s upper parliamentary house
last year, putting it in joint first place — but after the recent wave of
resignations, only four of them are left.
A number of
controversies in recent years have fractured the FvD, including accusations of
racism against its members and allegations of close ties with Russia, both
denied by Baudet. The party also split in two after a disagreement over the
misuse of funding between Baudet and one of the co-founders last year.
Baudet’s
fortune seemed to finally run dry last month when Dutch newspaper Het Parool
published evidence of the FvD’s youth branch, run by his close ally Freek
Jansen, posting anti-Semitic and racist chat messages.
Instead of
firing Jansen, as senior party members had demanded, Baudet announced on
November 23 he was stepping down as leader but later said he would still stand
in the leadership contest.
That
sparked a mass exodus and public snipping between the different factions.
Baudet was no longer able to enter the party’s headquarters after the board
changed the locks, and an ex-girlfriend and candidate for the general election
told Baudet live on television that she was no longer backing him.
It also
kindled new allegations of racism within the party. One senator claimed that
Baudet told a dinner party of prospective MPs that the Hungarian-born
philanthropist and billionaire George Soros — often a target of anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories — was responsible for COVID-19 and wanted to “take away our
freedoms.”
The senator
also recounted how Baudet responded to concerns about anti-Semitism in the
party by saying that “almost everyone I know is anti-Semitic.” Baudet didn’t
deny making these statements but refused to explain what he had meant.
Baudet’s
reelection on Friday — by two-thirds of party members — prompted a slew of new
resignations, including those of the three FvD MEPs. All three declined to
respond to questions from POLITICO.
MEP Derk
Jan Eppink said in a statement that he and his colleagues “will continue to
stand up for the Dutch interest in Brussels,” adding that under center-right
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, “the Netherlands has become an ATM for the European
Union.” The three MEPs will stay in the European Conservatives and Reformists
(ECR) group, the FvD’s political family, in the European Parliament.
That means
that the upcoming election will likely turn into a contest between the two
political veterans.
According
to the latest polls, Rutte’s liberal party is set to remain the largest party
with 36 seats — three more seats than it won in the 2017 election. Wilders’
Freedom Party is projected to win 27 seats, up from 20 in 2017.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN HET PAROOL
Nazi photos no objection to the youth of Forum for
Democracy
As chairman of the FvD youth department, Freek Jansen
allowed members to remain with homophobic and far-right ideas while disbarring
whistleblowers. The young following continues to spread extremist ideas.
Harm Ede Botje
and Mischa CohenS 21 November 2020, 8:00 AM
Forum for Democracy's
youth include members who are anti-Semitic, homophobic and have Nazi
sympathies. This can be seen from new screenshots of app groups, owned by Het
Parool, posts on an Instagram account and conversations with anonymous sources.
Earlier this
year, it emerged that the party had expelled three members for extremist slurs
in an app group, and three others were suspended. But little seems to have
changed since then. The question is whether Freek Jansen, chairman of the JFvD and seventh on the list for the House of
Representatives, really wants to clean up. For example, one of the radical JFvD'ers was not disbarred, but was appointed
coordinator of the JFvD in South Holland in September.
It concerns a
23-year-old political communications student who claimed in an app group that
'Jews have international pedo networks and women are flocking to pornography'.
He also stated that 'National Socialism had the best economic formula ever'.
"Is this
wise?"
Concerned
JFvD'ers asked their board this spring
to disbar the student in question and seventeen others. But then the
whistleblowers themselves were dealt with harshly. At least five of them were
disbarred, including the regional coordinators in South Holland.
In a letter from
the JFvD's board, the five were accused
of playing an 'inflammatory role'. They allegedly leaked 'demay material' to
the press with the 'apparent aim of damaging the reputation of the JFvD'.
The 23-year-old
student who made the anti-Semitic remarks was then appointed in South Holland.
In June of this year he made his voice heard again in the app group 'Hub
Zuid-Holland', in which member gideon van Meijeren is also active. He posted a
link to a video with the text 'Meine
Ehre heisst Treue', the motto of the SS.
Another app group
member wondered: 'Is it wise to promote
videos with the mottos of the Wehrmacht
and Schutzstaffel respectively'? The addressed did not go into it and appped
moments later: 'I believe that the racist seems more and more honorable towards
the non-racist fellows.'
To a telephone
request for a response, the student does not respond: we are according to him
'wrongly connected'. He doesn't reply to a message.
Report from
Germany
Another
JFvDmember with extreme views was promoted this summer to the organizer of
the FvDsummer camp in the Ardennes.
During the 2019 camp, he stood out as an ordinary participant because he played
clearly audible SS songs on his phone. He manages the anonymous Instagram
account 'FryslanSakisch' and calls himself 'Germanist' and 'Völkisch'.
This summer, he
reported on that account a trip through Germany, visiting a museum of Nazi
paraphernalia. In a photo of the book Der Untermensch he wrote: 'Had the
honor to see
this classic masterpiece in real life'. In that anti-Semitic hate script
from 1942, Jews were portrayed as 'bullies' and as 'spiritually of lower order
than animals'.
In a photo of SS
knives, he tapped 'Meine ehre heisst
treue'. A number of photos were deleted by Instagram on October 4, 2020
'due to violence or dangerous organizations'. He does not give a telephone
response to his utterations because he has to 'take a test'. He refers to the
press officer of Forum.
Word joke
One of the
followers of 'Fryslan Saxon' is Iem al
Biyati,a European Studies student who, according to her Linkedin
account, works at forum's party office.
In a comment, Al Biyati says she follows
'400' Instagram accounts and doesn't know what it's about. She performs in
the FvDnews, where shepresents the
'Biemjournaal', as on 20 September when she interviewed party leader Thierry
Baudet about Prinsjesdag. She is
national coordinator of the JFvD and was co-organizer of the summer camp. In
August she posed in dirndl costume next
to Freek Jansen – in lederhose – during a gathering in the Ardennes.
Al Biyati is one of the
JFvD'ers who was reported earlier this year by concerned young people
within JFvD. In an app group, she replied 'this is the most
desirable' when someone apped that in the Netherlands they wanted '95 percent
white and 0 percent Muslim'. She also wrote – in her own words as a 'word
joke': 'You give gay people your finger and they immediately take your whole
paw'. She posted in one of the app groups the music the far-right Australian
terrorist played on his way to two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch where
he killed 51 people. "That was kind of an
edgy joke," she says now.
In addition to
the document with leaked screenshots, the FvD board has seen other documents
showing that Al Biyati was also active in other radical app groups
in November 2019, in which one of the attendees used anti-Semitic texts.
Another shared a pamphlet from the far-right organization Outpost, shortly
after Al Biyati had placed a call for an
intern in the FvD Senate Group .
Al Biyati says she can't follow all the discussions in
the many app groups in which she posts. She agrees that 'disgusting things'
have been said in app groups, but says she wants 'nothing more to do with it'.
Altrightscene
It is not only
members of the JFvD who shared racist
and anti-Semitic statements, but also chairman Freek Jansen himself spreads
far-right ideas. During a JFvDcongress,
he talked about the need for "domination" to save our civilization
from imminent ruin. The speech was full of allusions to the alt-right scene- theglobal radical right movement.
Jansen was also
criticised for allegedly praising the Third Reich, according to his former
employer, the registrar of the municipality of Westland. An anonymous employee
supported the registrar's accusations in HP/De Tijd, Jansen himself dismissed
them as 'ridiculous and defamatory'.
Harm Ede Botje
and Mischa Cohen recently published the book My Opinions are Facts; The making
of Thierry Baudet.
Response
Two of the
members of JFvD mentioned in this article have been anonymously listed because
they are not official employees of the party and do not come forward in this
way. They were both asked for comment but would not comment. Chairman of
the JFvD
Freek Jansen refers to the press officer of Forum for Democracy. He says
he's "all very annoying." Following previously leaked apps, talks
were held in May in which JFvD'ers expressed regret and 'some almost cried', according
to the spokesman. For privacy
reasons, he does not wish to comment on
the new information in this article. Thierry
Baudet, according to the
spokesman, wants 'nothing to do with all this'.
JFvDBoard:
'Research into anti-Semitic expressions'
Following the
publication in Het Parool, the youth board of the Forum for Democracy(JFvD)is
investigating members who are alleged to have been anti-Semitic and homophobic
in app groups and Nazi sympathies. According to the board, the members
concerned have been 'relieved of their duties in the interests of the Party'.
The JFVD board
says it is shocked by the article and has spoken at length with those involved.
They would "throw the accusations away" from the allegations and
argue that they are quotes that have been taken out of context. JFVD President
Freek Jansen: "I want to stress that racist and anti-Semitic ideas have no
place in our association. We support FVD's election programme and not behind
the issues we are now being associated with."
The board has
asked Paul Cliteur, Olaf Ephraim and
Wybren van Haga to launch an investigation "to see how
this can be better prevented in the future".
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