For more than 100 years, a statue of Christof Columbus has marred the plaza, but in 2021, Las Mujeres que Luchan occupied and renamed the roundabout to focus on the struggles of Mexican women. Since then, the square has been home to rallies and protests. Various political struggles are honored and commemorated in this square. The Mujeres que Luchan is a network of very diverse movements and struggles: from searchers for disappeared persons, groups working against feminicides, for political prisoners to the defense of territory of original admirers.

On the anniversary itself, the organization placed a commemorative stone and changed signage. With the celebration of the square’s 3rd year of regular occupation, the women hope to increase the pressure to make the square’s name change official. Although those new name signs were taken down by the authorities after a few days, the actions in the square continue! These included an action against the state’s nalatisgheid to guarantee a non-violent life for women and an action for the right to abortion and for the release of women incarcerated because of abortion. On World Breast Cancer Day, a garland of 2,000 bras adorned the plaza to raise awareness of the extent and impact of this disease and to address failing medical policies.

The Mujeres que Luchan are taking over public spaces for their re-signification and decolonise the site occupied by Christopher Columbus to create a site of living memory, representative of the struggles of women in Mexico!

Het Actiefonds is proud to support this ongoing occupation and celebration. For all women’s rights and a decolonization of public space!

The root cause of femicides is a general culture of silence when it comes to violence against women. More than half of all women between the ages of 15 and 72 reported having experienced some form of violence in their lives in a 2018 INSTAT survey, most often intimate violence from a partner or husband. Not only does women’s economic position make them vulnerable to mistreatment (the husband is often the only one with an income); at the societal level, intimate violence is completely normalized.

The latest OECD domestic violence survey from 2018 supports this conclusion. It states that 47 percent of Albanian women surveyed indicated that a good wife obeys her husband even when she disagrees with him. In addition, 19 percent of the women surveyed agreed that it is a wife’s duty to sleep with her husband even if she does not feel like it. Among men, that percentage is most likely a lot higher.

As long as intimate violence remains a private matter, society cannot effectively intervene to combat it. Take, for example, the case of Albana Dedaj. Even though her husband already had to go to prison once for abuse, she was not offered any help from the authorities to protect her from him. After he was released again, he ran into her one day, grabbed her, poured gasoline over her and himself, and then tried to set them on fire with a lighter. Dedaj narrowly escaped and went to work. Her co-workers wondered where the gasoline smell was coming from, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell them what had just happened. She fled to the restroom and put on her work clothes, but the smell didn’t dissipate. In desperation, she went to the outhouse and called the emergency number, but the police refused to pick her up. ‘We are not a cab service, we are the police,’ the man on the other end of the line replied. ‘If you get a chance, take a cab or a bus to the police station.’

Things worked out for Dedaj, but her story is indicative of the lack of help and support for women who are victims of intimate violence. Hence why Young Volunteers, with support from The Action Fund, campaigned against intimate violence last spring. Campaigners held demonstrations against femicide and distributed information in both urban and rural areas about where women can actually go for support if they are experiencing intimate violence.

The Action Fund is proud to support Young Volunteers. Femicide is a large-scale problem that is far from limited to Albania. In the Netherlands, a woman is murdered every eight days, according to the NGO WOMEN Inc. More than half of the perpetrators are the presumed (ex-)partner. This has to change, and now!

Borders and racism

The militarization of Europe’s borders, the cooperation between Frontex and the Greek coast guard and the EU and Greece’s degrading asylum policies make the sinking of ships and detention of survivors no exception in Greece. Many victims are left unidentified in the sea. On top of this, released migrants trying to make ends meet in Greece face racist and fascist violence. In the months following the Pylos shipwreck, two people, including 1 Pakistani migrant, were murdered on the streets of Athens by supporters of neo-Nazi club and parties like the now forbidden Golden Dawn.

Mobilization and legal aid

After the shipwreck, KEERFA, together with other organizations and with the help of Het Actiefonds, organized mass demonstrations: 24 hours after the shipwreck, they rallied 30,000 people, and 3 months later again. They also held a vigil for the 650 victims, with delegations from more than 30 cities and refugee camps in Greece. In the months after the shipwreck, they offered practical and legal assistance to survivors, detainees and bereaved families. They are supporting some bereaved families in their lawsuit against the Greek state, which is actively covering up and denying push-back actions. KEERFA continues to mobilise massively against rising fascism in Greece, and all border violence and racism. Het Actiefonds is supporting their struggle against all forms of violence against refugees and migrants, and against all manifestations of fascism, in Greece and around the world.

Self-determination

After gaining formal independence, countries were frustrated by the lack of economic independence. Their “Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States,” the precursor to the “Declaration and Action Program on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order,” was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 with 115 votes in favor and 6 against. Only the US and its allies rejected the proposal. It included the right to self-governance without interference, self-determination over natural resources, and a fair exchange of technology. Today, however, control over the formerly colonized countries is maintained through a loan system and the conditions attached to it.

Trojan Horse

To illustrate this, the activists entered Apulia with a large wooden Trojan horse. At first glance, it carried development aid, loans, and other support measures from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, hidden inside the horse were neocolonial domination and exploitation. The horse was well received by the local population and media but faced some interference from the Italian police.

Milei

Back in Germany, the group protested against the visit of Javier Milei, the far-right president of Argentina. He was there to receive an award from the controversial Hayek Society for his radical restructuring of the economy. His government launched an attack on social achievements and leftist movements, leading to an increase in requests from Argentina to Het Actiefonds. With your support, we can continue to help to ensure that exploitation is not rewarded and that neocolonial policies are brought to an end once and for all.

In the middle of the ocean, nothing but a lone palm tree bark or an accumulation of plastic floats here and there. These are the landmarks for many migratory species like tuna, which cross entire oceans to mate. Fishermen exploit the need for landmarks by unleashing so-called FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) on the ocean: huge floating nets with wooden poles attached to them that attract tuna, sharks, turtles and other species. An irresponsible fishing method that not only causes a lot of bycatch, but also fails to distinguish between adult and juvenile tuna, thus contributing to overfishing. In addition, stray or broken FADs can float into the territorial waters of other countries, or even sink and damage entire swaths of coral reef.

Sustainable fishing?

Fortunately, these last years we can eat tuna with more and more peace of mind. The annual report from the well-known MSC sustainable fish label reveals that a whopping 86 percent of canned tuna in supermarkets now has their stamp of approval, compared to only 22 percent in 2019. The MSC label has acquired a reputiation of being the leading label when it comes to fish, and it’s working. Research shows that consumers prefer fish that carries their blue logo.

Yet the absurdly rapid increase in sustainable tuna raised eyebrows among some experts. That is why, Bloom Association, an NGO dedicated to healthier oceans, set out to investigate this dazzling progress in sustainably caught tuna. Bloom discovered that more than half of the tuna with an MSC label was caught by fisheries using FADs. MSC simply changed the definitions of what is sustainable to include these harmful devices. MSC receives tremendous royalties from the lucrative tuna industry, but in return has abandoned its credibility.

Ocean Rebellion

To address the hypocrisy of MSC, supermarkets and the fishing industry, the British branch of Ocean Rebellion made an artistic intervention at the Blue Innovation Summit: a conference attended by the British DeFRa minister, and many key tuna industry players such as Thai Food Union, owner of John West tuna. Dressed as fish and canned tuna entangled in a FAD, the activists disrupted the conference and made the local and national press. 

The action was a huge success, in part because insurers decided that Thai Food Union poses a higher investment risk now that people know the company is not living up to its sustainability goals. They raised Thai Food Union’s premiums as a result. Great news that has motivated activists to continue their campaign until FADs completely disappear from the surface of all oceans. 

Het Actiefonds is proud to support Ocean Rebellion!

Mismanagement by local authorities has been a disaster in the Serbian town. The municipality argues that it costs too much to renovate the pool, preferring to sell it instead. Their argument is hardly convincing, since only one company seems to take interest in buying the pool, raising suspicions that something shady is going on behind the scenes. Also, the majority of the public funds allocated to the public pool at the moment disappears in the pockets of consultancy firms that advise the municipality to sell it. If they would just renovate the pool, it wouldn’t cost so much.

Urbana Gerila (Urban Guerilla) is fed up. They are a group of anonymous activists pointing out the mismanagement of the city council through sticker actions, social media campaigns and sending letters to the local authorities. They want to let the municipality know that the inhabitants are well aware of what is going on and that they won’t stand for the degradation of their town. In the past, their actions have been successful in bringing attention to local issues. Now, they have set their sites on the swimming pool, which has been deserted for several years now. Grasses and weeds are growing through the cracks of the empty outside pool.

Their campaign already bore some fruit. The decision to sell the pool to the only bidder has been postponed indefinitely. Urbana Gerila plans to do more actions to persuade the municipality to renovate the swimming pool from public resources. That way, everyone can enjoy the swimming pool.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support Urbana Gerila!

In 2019 Argentina began an interesting process of protecting minority rights with the creation of the Ministry of Women Gender and Diversity, and the recognition of non-binary identities. however LGBTQIA+ seniors were not part of the new public policies. In 2023, a front of anti-rights political parties won the elections for president. One of their first acts was to abolish 10 of the 18 existing ministries, including the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. 

The provinces soon followed suit, including Tucumán, ceasing all aid, assistance and support to LGBTQIA+ elderly people. President Milei has promised to restore the Argentinian economy, but it is mainly the elderly, the poor and minorities that must pay the price of his austerity measures. Before, LGBTQIA+ elderly could count on government support for food and medicine.

“In January I was able to buy my monthly prescription medicines with a lot of effort and the help of friends, but this month I have to choose what to buy. This situation makes me sick and I don’t know what to do.” says Noelia (79). The withdrawal of state support has put a lot of vulnerable people in a dire financial situation.  According to A. (83): “Going to an office and knowing that we no longer have a place to report when we suffer institutional violence is very painful. The state isn’t paying attention anymore. Officials used to treat you with respect.”

New policies act as if LGBTQIA+ people do not exist, let alone the elderly. That is why Casa Caracol chose to hand out water to passers-by. “We thought about making posters, putting up banners, but the reality is that being here and talking to passers-by is the best strategy, to make ourselves visible” shares Yohana, member of the Commission that organized the action.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support Casa Caracol!

On June 9, 2023, 32-year-old Dutch-Polish Mateusz was killed by police brutality. He was a
psychiatric patient who keyed a car. Police came after him in as many as ten cars – he was on a
bicycle. They tasered him, only to beat, kick and strangle him as he lay on the ground. Video
footage showed the police officers getting up after a long time, while Mateusz remained
motionless on the ground.

Mateusz was not the first to die from disproportionate police brutality. Remon Kalloe, Mitch
Henriquez, Sammy Baker and many others preceded him. Yazan al Madani, for example, shot
eight times at the age of 27 while in psychosis. Or Mitchel Winters, also in a confused state, and
shot seven times at the age of 21 by three police officers. Akef Ibrahimi mentions all of them in
his speech at Mateusz’s memorial service and comes to a conclusion: men from migrant
backgrounds who exhibit confused behavior are overrepresented in murder statistics from police
brutality.

Commemoration

It was an emotional and powerful memorial on Rotterdam’s Coolsingel, with support from Het
Actiefonds. In speeches by the father, a friend, the family’s lawyer, and the organizer Ibrahimi. It
concluded with the laying of flowers and two minutes of silence.

The speeches called for justice and prosecution of the executioners who had killed Mateusz. On
GoFundMe, people could donate money to the family to cover legal costs. Sadness, grief and
dismay prevailed. As friend Claudia put it:

“Why did the police hit Mateusz so hard, why was a taser deployed on someone who had no
weapons and above all was in a mentally unstable state, why couldn’t the police recognize a
person with mental problems, after all they should have been trained for that?”

Prosecution

The officers involved in Mateusz’s death were already able to return to work as soon as last
October, some even in the same position. Fortunately, it was announced last month that their
eight officers will be prosecuted for Mateusz’s death. It is already something, although we will
await the verdict to know if justice prevailed.

After all, incidents like these do not play out in a vacuum. In recent years, police have been
given more and more space and means to use force to maintain order, such as the 2022 law
authorizing the use of tasers. This expanding monopoly on violence goes hand in hand with
legal irresponsibility when police action leads to deadly consequences.

The prosecution of Mateusz’s perpetrators is an exception: according to research by Control Alt
Delete, the prosecution proceeds to prosecute in only one percent of reports. Between 2016
and 2019, only four officers were fined for excessive police brutality, and none were prosecuted
for discrimination. For context, in 2019 alone, police reported 24 thousand cases of use of force,
a number that has steadily risen to nearly 35 thousand in the following years.

A leak in an oil pipeline from Pluspetrol, a letterbox firm registered in Amsterdam, contaminated acres of land and several water sources. Many plants and animals died from the pollution, and some of the 71 thousand residents of Triunfo, Canelos and Colonia Bolivar, both Quechua and settlers, fell ill.

Pluspetrol

It is not the first time this has happened. Pluspetrol is notorious in the Amazon as the largest and most irresponsible polluter, with as many as 344 oil spills to its name between 2000 and 2019. For context, that’s 95 percent of all oil spills in Ecuador in the time period. The company is notoriously negligent, not only for refusing to fix their obviously substandard pipelines, but also for invariably refusing to pay fines or fix the damage caused. Even the National Contact Point of OECD Guidelines in the Netherlands has investigated environmental damage in Peru and found that there is a plausible chance that Pluspetrol is not complying with the guidelines. The NCP offered to mediate between the Quechua and the oil company, which of course the company refused without sanctions.

The Indigenous women’s organization Fundación de Mujeres Indígenas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana (FMAIE) continues its fight against the multinational for a livable housing area. Through protests and sit-ins, among other things, they are demanding that Pluspetrol refurbish affected areas, clean up water sources, and sponsor reforestation programs that the Quechua devise and implement in order to restore biodiversity.

Success

Their efforts have led to great results. After persistent protests and meetings with Pluspetrol, the company agreed to immediately carry out remediation works in the affected communities. FMAIE sees it as a successful struggle: “Right now, the oil company is implementing proper remediation procedures and clean-up activities for the spill in these communities.”

Het Actiefonds is proud of our support for FMAIE. Indigenous communities have been resisting multinational corporations and settlers for centuries, who do everything they can to drive them from their home so they can extract everything of value from the area. This has disastrous consequences for Indigenous culture and knowledge, as well as for the biodiversity of the Amazon and for the heating of the planet as a whole. Decolonization is the only sustainable solution to the climate crisis.