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.
| Forum for Democracy Youth Organisation Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (JFVD) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Iem al Biyati |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Headquarters | Herengracht 74, Amsterdam |
| Ideology | Far-right National conservatism Right-wing populism Euroscepticism |
| Mother party | Forum for Democracy |
| International affiliation | European Young Conservatives |
| Website | www |
Organization
editJFVD 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
editIn 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]
References
edit- ^ "Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (JFVD)". Parlement.com. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "Hubs". Forum voor Democratie. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ "Jaarverslag bestuur JFVD 2020" (PDF). www.jongerenfvd.nl. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
- ^ JFVD. "Bestuur en organisatie". JFVD (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-01-06.
- ^ Rutten, Rik (17 November 2020). "Jongerentak FVD royeert kritische leden" [FvD's youth wing expels critical members]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ Ton van Dijk (28 April 2020). "FVD-jongeren 'fascistisch' en 'antisemitisch' in appgroepen". Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ Chris Klomp (1 May 2020). "FvD straft zes leden om 'onacceptabele' whatsappjes". Het Parool. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ Harm Ede Botje en Mischa Cohen (21 November 2020). "Nazifoto's geen bezwaar bij de jongeren van Forum voor Democratie". Het Parool. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ^ "Coördinatoren jongeren FvD uit functie gezet na ophef over 'antisemitisch en homofobe' appberichten" [FvD youth wing coordinators removed from office after controversy about 'antisemitic and homophobic' WhatsAppp messages]. AD (in Dutch). 22 November 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Bestuur FVD-jongeren trekt zich terug in onderzoek naar antisemitische appjes" [FvD youth wing's board suspended itself from investigation into antisemitic WhatsApp messages]. NU.nl (in Dutch). 22 November 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Annabel Nanninga wil 'volledige sanering' jongerenpartij FvD". Het Parool. 22 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.