Who are we? What are our main goals? Why are we doing this? – The congress of the FYEG member organisation DWARS that took place in Rotterdam from the 12th to the 13th of June was mainly dealing with questions of identity. About 70 people from all parts of the Netherlands gathered to discuss these issues, but also to evaluate the outcomes of the recent elections where GroenLinks, the mother party of DWARS, won ten seats in the Dutch parliament.
Regarding the elections a panel discussion was organised with two newly elected members of parliament and one academic expert on party politics in the Netherlands. The outcomes, the campaigns and possible coalition formations were critically assessed. Especially the good results for the right wing, xenophobic PVV (Party for Freedom) of Geert Wilders were seen as an alarming development for Dutch politics.
Saturday afternoon several topical workshops were organised. One was about sexuality and representation of sexuality in the media. After the presentation of a study about attitudes towards sexuality among young girls and boys in the Netherlands, we had a very passionate debate about what sexuality actually is (a biological need and a socially formed human interaction?), how media changes our own picture of sexuality (does porn improve my sex life?) and what can be done in order to make young people feel more confident about their sexuality (more sexual education, less sexualisation of the society?).
Furthermore, a new board was elected with Eline, the former spokesperson of FYEG, as “Vorsitter”. The other members of the new board are Layla de Jong as vice-chairwomen, Jaap van der Heijden as Secretary, Truuske Smits as Treasurer, Sander Kamphuis as International secretary, Marten Zoetbrood as political secretary, Giel van der Steenhoven as political secretary, Anna Schutte as political secretary, Rik van der Laan as general board member and Laura Tilly for Promotion and member issue.
One aspect of identity – the main focus of the congress – is of course the question of being part of a European movement such as the Federation of Young European Greens. DWARS is one of the biggest member organisations of FYEG. As the representative of FYEG at the congress I gave a short input on what we are doing at the moment, how the people can get involved and pointed out that a European identity is and has always been a major aspect of being Green in Europe.
To sum it up, I must say that I have learned a lot about Dutch politics, that I had a lot of fun and that I have to agree with the campaign recently launched by the Dutch Young Greens: Ik hau van DWARS:)!
Terry Reintke, Board Member FYEG
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