Categorie: English

Translations into English

Don’t confuse solidarity with empathy!

Last week some of us “were” Charlie. Or maybe we “were” Ahmet. Or wouldn’t it be better if all of us “were” Nigerians right now? In fact, last summer we “were all Palestinians”, and just a few months ago all of us “could not breathe”. This expression of commitment to the victims of violence or oppression is certainly not new

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Column: Actually, we don’t have any freedom of speech at all

Freedom of speech is an eternal source of discussion. We keep talking about it. But let’s be honest: do we actually have freedom of speech? And I don’t mean that we have the freedom to say: “I am against this government”. We also we’re not talking about the fact that “the Constitution states that…”. And we certainly don’t talk about

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Conservatives of Turkish origin for a long time felt quite at home with the social-democratic PvdA

In November 2014 two members of Parliament of Turkish origin, Tunahan Kuzu and Selcuk Öztürk, caused quite a stir in the PvdA after their party member and deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher announced that in the coming five years he will be investigating the Turkish religious organisations in the Netherlands. The Turkish term for such organisations is Cemaatler and they

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Column: Get lost with this tolerance of yours!

This is a poster used by the Dutch government to promote openness to other cultures: “Now that I use Tolerance I know that you can eat Surinam okra.”

Racism is showing it’s ugly face in the Netherlands. The demonstrations against the racist Black Pete caricature generated reactions that make it crystal clear. We are often told by our supporters that the days of the so very “progressive and tolerant” Netherlands are really over. Our opponents claim that “they” have been quite “tolerant” towards “the allochtons” (= people from

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Job substitution

Hunting for 'volunteers'.

Doorbraak has published a lot of articles on the issue of forced labour for benefit claimants. The emphasis has mainly been on the regime they have to work under. But equally important is the substitution of regular paid work that is the consequence of forced labour. This substitution undermines the entire system of paid labour: why should an employer pay

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About the “Zionislamist invasion” of France and other dangerous nonsense

An insightful article by the French antifacist group Luftmenschen about the conflict between the “anti-Zionist” and “anti-Islamist” currents within the French Left.(1) Both create their own imaginary threats and do not fight for concrete immigrant’s and refugee’s rights anymore. This picture becomes increasingly clear everytime Israel start bombing Gaza again and solidarity demonstrations are being organized. Reaping the benefits from

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There’s no way you can sell forced labour – 19 Q&A on #workfare

Unemployed activist confronts Leiden alderman.

For some time now Doorbraak has been active in Leiden against the introduction of forced labour for benefit recipients. During discussions the advocates of the regulation try to justify it with a whole range of arguments. Here you can read how to counter the most widely used arguments. Translated into English by Jet The original text in Dutch (January 3rd,

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October 10, Amsterdam: action against workfare during meeting of minister with aldermen

Logo van het actiecomité.

The original text in Dutch On October 10, the action committee Dwangarbeid Nee (No to Workfare) will demonstrate during a regional meeting of Social Affairs aldermen from the west of the Netherlands. State secretary Jetta Klijnsma invited the aldermen to talk about the labour market. The committee Dwangarbeid Nee seizes the opportunity to demand the immediate abolishment of workfare, or

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Don’t believe comrades who tell you: “it’s now or never”

Deel van de filmposter.

Yesterday Doorbraak activist Jeroen Breekveldt delivered this talk in a cinema in Wageningen after the movie “Night moves”. A nice discussion ensued with about twenty participants. (Warning: this talk may contain spoilers) First I will introduce Doorbraak and myself. Doorbraak means “Break through”, and we want to break through barriers, especially those within the world of Left-wing groups. Doorbraak exists

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