Nieuws van de afdeling

15 May 2002

Declaration regarding the parliamentary elections of May 15, 2002

At the parliamentary elections of 15th May the SP won the support of 559,000 voters, representing 5.9% of the total poll and a near-doubling of the level of support at the last elections in 1998. The SP now has five MPs in the Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber), the directly elected and more significant house of the Dutch parliament. In addition to more voters, the SPs election campaign attracted more new members, growing from 27,000 in January to a current total of around 30,000.

6 May 2002

Declaration on the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn

It was with astonishment that we learned of the cowardly murder of Pim Fortuyn. We were often in agreement as to what was wrong; our solutions, our ideas about how to improve things, differed. The voters had the choice, as they should. That is democracy. It is a disgrace that the bullets which killed Pim Fortuyn also killed this choice. We send his family, friends, those who knew him and those who followed his ideas our sincerest condolences in the face of this loss.

8 October 2001

‘Attacks on Afghanistan Inhuman, Ineffective and Counterproductive’

The Socialist Party of the Netherlands is the only Dutch parliamentary political party to have spoken out in opposition to Bush and Blair’s war. Their five Members of the "Tweede Kamer", the lower house of the Dutch parliament, condemned unequivocally the approach taken by the United States in the fight against terrorism, viewing the Anglo-American attacks as inhuman, ineffective and counter-productive.

1 October 2001

Senator Bob Ruers calls for international action for asbestos victims

SP Senator Bob Ruers, who has supported Dutch victims of asbestos for years (and with great successes) took part in a South American conference on asbestos in Buenos Aires, October 2001. Here you can read his speech at the conference.

20 September 2001

SP pleads for non-violent response to terrorist attack US

The SP is deeply shocked by the attacks against innocent US citizens. The atrocity of the attack in which thousands of men women and children were killed outranks any previous action in terms of horror and suffering. The world has every reason to be in horror. The SP fears for a chain of terror and retribution. An escalation of violence will enhance the contrasts in the world and jeopardise world peace.

27 July 2001

‘Our mission after Genoa is to broaden the resistance against globalisation’

Though Harry van Bommel – SP Member of Parliament – felt the teargas in his throat and saw the havoche rioters made in Genoa, he was deeply touched with the widely supported resistance against globalisation. ’I have seen the crowds passing by, students, people from workers unions, delegates from several churches and of political parties from all parts of Europe, protesting peacefully. It was very impressing.’

International