Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie explained

Forum for Democracy Youth Organisation
Native Name:Dutch; Flemish: Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (JFVD)
President:Iem al Biyati
Headquarters:Herengracht 74, Amsterdam
International:European Young Conservatives
Regional1 Type:European
Ideology:Far-right
National conservatism
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
National Socialism (minority)
Mother Party:Forum for Democracy

Dutch; Flemish: Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (JFVD; English: Forum for Democracy Youth Organisation) is a political youth organization in the Netherlands that acts as the youth wing of the Forum for Democracy party.

Organization

JFVD is aimed at people between the ages of 14 and 27.[1] It has a national board with five members and a regional hub for each Dutch province controlled by one member of the national board with at least two coordinators working with them. These hubs organize events such as summer camps for members, debates and lectures.[2] The membership was claimed to stand around 4498 in 2021.[3] [4] The JFVD was originally founded and chaired by Freek Jansen. He was subsequently succeeded by Iem al Biyati. The youth wing publishes a magazine called De Dissident.[5]

Controversies

In April 2021, the JFVD was investigated by the mother party after Dutch magazine HP/De Tijd published instances of members sharing messages in WhatsApp groups that were deemed to have extremist and racist content (including praise of Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant) . In response, then FVD Senator and vice-chairman Lennart van der Linden described the messages as "disgusting" but added "we do not want to be a thought police for things that people do in private" and that one of the people involved was not a member of the party.[6] The FVD subsequently discharged three members as a result of the incident.[7] In November 2021, Het Parool revealed more instances of remarks deemed racist, homophobic and antisemitic made by members and alleged that the JFVD chair and parliamentary candidate Freek Jansen had appointed individuals who had made controversial statements into coordinating positions of the youth wing.[8] Jansen responded to the allegations by saying that the youth wing had no place for "racist and antisemitic ideas".[9] [10] However, the controversies led to calls from some FVD politicians for the youth wing to be disbanded and were cited as a reason by some FVD MEPs and Senators for quitting the party over what they felt was a slow and inadequate response to the incidents.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (JFVD). Parlement.com. 10 November 2018.
  2. Web site: Hubs. Forum voor Democratie. 2018-11-10.
  3. Web site: Jaarverslag bestuur JFVD 2020. live. www.jongerenfvd.nl. https://web.archive.org/web/20210920124303/https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/fvd/pages/2974/attachments/original/1630916810/Jaarverslag_bestuur_2020.pdf?1630916810. 20 September 2021. 26 September 2021.
  4. Web site: JFVD. Bestuur en organisatie. 2022-01-06. JFVD. nl.
  5. News: Jongerentak FVD royeert kritische leden . Rutten . Rik . NRC . nl . 31 May 2021 . 17 November 2020 . FvD's youth wing expels critical members .
  6. Web site: FVD-jongeren 'fascistisch' en 'antisemitisch' in appgroepen. Ton van Dijk. 28 April 2020. 26 May 2020.
  7. Web site: FvD straft zes leden om 'onacceptabele' whatsappjes. Chris Klomp. Het Parool. 1 May 2020. 26 May 2020.
  8. Web site: Nazifoto's geen bezwaar bij de jongeren van Forum voor Democratie. Harm Ede Botje en Mischa Cohen. Het Parool. 21 November 2020. 22 November 2020.
  9. News: Coördinatoren jongeren FvD uit functie gezet na ophef over 'antisemitisch en homofobe' appberichten . AD . 22 November 2020 . 31 May 2021 . nl . FvD youth wing coordinators removed from office after controversy about 'antisemitic and homophobic' WhatsAppp messages .
  10. News: Bestuur FVD-jongeren trekt zich terug in onderzoek naar antisemitische appjes . . 31 May 2021 . nl . 22 November 2020 . FvD youth wing's board suspended itself from investigation into antisemitic WhatsApp messages .
  11. Web site: Annabel Nanninga wil 'volledige sanering' jongerenpartij FvD. Het Parool. 22 November 2020. 22 November 2020.