Unethical investments

In late 1995, The Action Fund became aware of Heineken’s plans to build a brewery in Burma in collaboration with the military junta. Leaders of the largest opposition party had called on the international business community to halt investments in the country, stating that they have strengthened the military’ position. In response, The Action Fund and ASEED Europe (Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment, and Diversity) met with Heineken to announce the campaign and provide them with an opportunity to respond to the facts ahead of time. This conversation suggested that Heineken intended to continue investing, despite sharing The Action Fund’s analysis and not denying its involvement with the military dictatorship. The Action Fund then began its campaign on January 21, 1996. It staged multiple successful actions, including several in front of the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam. This campaign received widespread media coverage, both nationally and regionally.

The Burma Debates

It did not end there; on February 15, 1996,The Action Fund and the Burma Center Nederland hosted a Burma Debate in which politicians from the parties D66, GreenLeft and The Labour Party as well as Christian and liberal conservatives took part. They held discussions with the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV), Amnesty International, and the Netherlands Center for Trade Development. Heineken’s management was noticeably absent from the debate, having declined the invitation of The Action Fund. The debate ultimately led to the conclusion that most businesses do not comment on the social and political conditions in the countries in which they operate.

A second Burma debate was held six months later, in September 1996, after the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for additional trade measures. This time, The Action Fund and the Burma Center Nederland were successful in gaining additional support. Although Heineken believed they could continue to invest in Burma based on their own standards and values, public pressure forced them to reconsider. Eventually, Heineken folded its arms in June 1996, and The Action Fund saw a significant increase in new donors. The ‘Heineken out of Burma’ campaign was a success.

Solidarity

This case prompted The Action Fund to further investigate the role of international business in perpetuating dictatorial regimes. Following the Heineken appeal, it was critical to keep the Netherlands and Europe focused on Burma. At the end of 1996, The Action Fund and the Burma Center Nederland launched a campaign in support of Burma’s democratization movement, focusing on all European companies seeking to establish and/or maintain trade relations with the country.

This is a movement that we continue to stand in solidarity with. Back in  March 2021, The Action Fund supported protesters who took to the streets against the violent military coup that resulted in the arrest of those that led the opposition back in the 90s.

Do you want to join us in writing history? The Action Fund is still looking for new donors in 2025. All donations are welcome!

In the middle of a densely populated neighborhood lies the Donderberg forest, a shady hiding place, a link in the ecological corridor of Brussels, with some trees so old they are classified. It is precisely this piece of relief for humans, plants and animals that the Laeken city council wants to concrete. A school is to be built on the site of the forest. This plan dates back 10 years and has become a prestige issue for some politicians. They want to push ahead with the construction project despite the fact that there is no longer a demand for new school buildings and there are plenty of vacant buildings that could be renovated as alternatives. A group of local residents have been resisting the plan for years including through legal proceedings. But without success.

When in the summer of 2024, despite the discontent, all building permits were granted and the felling of Donderberg seemed inevitable, Donderberg Sauvage decided to take matters into their own hands. They started a long-term occupation of the forest, built tree houses and a tent camp. They plan to stay there until the Brussels city council calls off plans for the construction project.

The forest occupiers are getting a lot of media attention and support from the neighborhood and the rest of the country – every day someone brings soup! They celebrated the first month of the occupation with hundreds of visitors and more soup, activities and workshops.

The Action Fund is proud of the tree climbers, and will continue to support them until construction plans are off the table. For a livable city, for people, animals and plants!

As the most right-wing administration ever has taken office in the Netherlands, many progressives and radicals feel lonely, scared and displaced. On our phones, we see what is going wrong in the world, share messages and take action, but at the end of the day it often feels fleeting and insuffient.

Seventies

“We need to get to know each other – look each other in the eye, know that the people you work with can be trusted, understand what you can do for each other. And that doesn’t just happen on a Signal chat,” said the initiator of Leftist Soup. After all, getting together offline, in community centers and other public places, proved to be a very effective method in all kinds of protest movements in the 1970s. And now, this connection is crucial again.

We are not alone. And to realize that, small gestures can make all the difference. Hence the new initiative for a “leftist food club,” supported by Het Actiefonds. Every month, people of different ages, backgrounds and political leanings get together to eat soup while talking about the state of the country and what can be done about it.

Low-key

The gatherings are low-key and accessible: people with a lot of activist experience come together with those who have never been to an action in their life, just to be among people who are equally concerned and willing to do something. Each time, everyone brings one other person who might also need some community. The idea is that the soup dinners will eventually grow into a large decentralized network of activists who together will be able to face the government in the coming years.

At the very first meeting in september, 25 people attended and inspired each other. They, in turn, created groups to stay in touch with each other and slowly but surely build a solid progressive community.

Het Actiefonds is proud to support Leftist Soup. It is precisely these kinds of small initiatives that are essential to building a movement and gaining political power. This soup leaves us wanting more.

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!