Half a century ago, there were well worked out plans to establish fair and equal international relations between countries after decolonization. However, the major industrial powers wanted to prevent such a “New International Economic Order” and united in the G7. The Actiefonds supported a delegation from Germany that traveled to Italy to revive this ideal during the 50th G7 summit.
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.
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.
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.
The European Union’s fishing fleet uses drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs). The art collective Ocean Rebellion is taking action to put an end to industrial overfishing, which threatens the food security of small fishing communities in the Global South and the ocean’s biodiversity.
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.
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.
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!
The local authorities want to sell the public swimming pool of Prokuplje, a small Serbian town of around 30 thousand inhabitants, to a private individual. This is not an isolated incident. For years now, The city administration of Prokuplja has been making bad decisions without consulting the citizens, selling lots of public property in obscure and illegal arrangements. Take for example the sudden closing of a sports and tourism company two years ago, which left many out of jobs and unable to sustain their livelihoods. Not to mention the fact that all organized sports activities had to be shut down, severely limiting physical activities for the youth and other inhabitants. Children in Prokuplje haven’t been able to swim for three years in a row. Selling the public swimming pool is yet another slap in the face of the citizens of Prokuplje.
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!
On March 12, the Casa Caracol for LGBTQIA+ seniors carried out a day of sensitization in Tucumán, a small province in the interior of Argentina. LGBTQIA+ seniors, together with activists and human rights organizations handed out fresh water in disposable cups with drawings and messages made by LGBTQIA+ seniors. The messages informed passers-by about the difficulties to access food, medicines and the abrupt absence of the State, as a result of the socio-economic policies implemented by the new far-right government. Het Actiefonds contributed for the purchase of the necessary supplies.
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. Relatives held a memorial demanding justice.
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.
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?”
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.
On Aug. 7, 2023, an oil spill occurred in the residential areas of Indigenous communities in Ecuador. The Indigenous women’s organization Fundación de Mujeres Indígenas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana (FMAIE) successfully fought against the multinational Pluspetrol for remediation.
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.
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.
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.
On June 9, 2023, 32-year-old Dutch-Polish Mateusz was killed by disproportionate police violence. 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 police brutality in the Netherlands. 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 confusing 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.
Police brutality is a structural issue with obvious racial aspects. Het Actiefonds wants not only justice for the loved ones of Mateusz, but also a world in which police violence is no longer tolerated.
The Mekong River flows from China and is the lifeline for villages and towns in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. About 60 million people depend on the river for food and income. With China building a dam and Thai multinationals redirecting the water flow to grow sugar for the global market, the livelihoods of millions and people, animals and plants are under pressure.
Large dams have been disrupting local ecosystems ever since the first one was constructed on the Nile in 1902. These dams control or even end the flood and dry seasons of big rivers, manipulating water flow in such a way that arable land increases and valuable cash crops can be grown on the river banks. It is no surprise then, that nations that control dams control the lifeline of all living beings upstream.
China has been building 11 dams in the Mekong since 2012. These barrages, in turn, have major consequences on South Asian economies and ecosystems.
Since the construction of the dams, the water level of the Mekong has plummeted. In 2019, the water level upstream was lower than in the past 50 years. Add to this the effects of the climate crisis and you get a serious situation of persistent drought, flash floods and increasing poverty in the Mekong Delta. According to the Mekong River Commission, there are already 40 percent fewer fish in the river than a decade ago.
Thai sugar companies are taking the opportunity to buy up tracts of land in Thailand and Cambodia and grow large quantities of sugar on it. Backed up by foreign investors, these companies redirect large quantities of water in their irrigation system, thus turning the river banks in a monocultural wasteland for the global market.
Many villages and communities can no longer stand the drying up of the Mekong. Representatives from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand united in SEVANA to fight Dam construction and sugar multinationals. Het Actiefonds has supported numerous of their actions over the years.
This time, SEVANA organized a four day festival in honor of the 14th of march, the International Day of Actions against Dams. About 40-60 people from the Hug Nam Khong Community Network (Love Mekong Community Network), alliances, and friends. held panel discussions on the current situation of the Mekong, including the energy trade and hydropower dams. The lively conversations also touched on transnational investments, land grabs, and state oppression. There were ceremonies too to call for the spirits of the Mekong, such as a boat action where people travelled to an island in the river to ask the spirits for protection and blessings for the Mekong River and for all life that depends on her.
Het Actiefonds is proud to support SEVADA. We need to fight Dams in order to defend our millions of human and non-human lives, and to preserve the ways of live of myriad smaller communities along the river.
In her first speech as Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni introduced a motto: Non disturbare chi vuole fare. Don’t disturb those who want to act. She meant it in the most neoliberal sense; do not tax corporations. But don’t get it twisted: Meloni is first and foremost a fascist politician. Since her election in 2022, fascism has become a legitimate form of governing in Italy since the election of Giorgia Meloni in 2022.
That is why we need a strong and united voice against the dangerous racist, sexist, and oppressive Italian government. Associazione Culturale Contrario is strongly convinced that most people in Italy, with or without citizenship, are not fascist. They want to encourage people who feel isolated, confused, afraid or disempowered, to rise up and fight for solidarity, social justice and to protect and build on Italy’s rich history of anti-fascism.
Contrario has organized a political campaign spanning the first 4 months of 2024 to mobilize and radicalize their neighborhood Centocelle in Rome. It was not an easy task, considering the continued crackdown on left-wing activism by Meloni’s government. The most famous example is, the anti-rave decree, which got a lot of attention from ravers, leftists and other movements. It is a blatant attempt to repress countercultural movements. Contrario campaigned against this decree as well as against other repressive laws, such as a new law that criminalizes radical left archives with the excuse of ‘ending the promotion of terrorism’. This is a blatant attempt to change history, and a direct threat to Contrario’s own archive.
Contrario campaigned for months with an antifascist ‘minifestival’, workshops in poster and sticker making in schools and in their own place in Centocelle, reusing and reinterpreting Meloni’s ‘don’t disturb those who want to act’ in a satirical and situationist way. They want to promote freedom of expression and assembly, freedom of movement for all, neighborhood activism, acts of solidarity, and non-violent direct actions. In short, a wide antifascist movement, full of humor and creativity. They used the stickers and posters together with banners and graffiti in actions across the country.
Throughout their campaign, they have met a lot of unknown residents of the neighborhood, inspiring confidence in future collaborations and solidarities to fight the fascist government. Het Actiefonds is proud to support Contrario. No pasarán!
Air pollution poses a serious threat to the environment and public health in Georgia. Despite this, environmental protection and air pollution are still not a priority. The civic movement Green Pole organizes protests and demonstrations to draw attention to the issue.
In 2019, Georgia ranked second in Europe in the number of victims of air pollution per 100,000 residents. Deaths from respiratory diseases, directly associated with air pollution, increased 589% in 2020. Research shows that the health effects also affect many young children.
Thanks support of Het Actiefonds, a protest took place in front of the city hall of Tbilisi, Georgia’s second most polluted city. Prior to this protest, people took to the streets of Tbilisi to hand out leaflets stating the right of every Georgian to live in a healthy environment – defined in Article 29 of the Constitution – and inviting people to join the protest. During an additional night action, images of the polluted city were projected onto the parliament building. Through an online campaign, as many people as possible were involved in the issue, including local “influencers” and journalists.
The group also started legal proceedings against a polluting factory in the municipality of Jighaura. The factory is expected to be closed as a result of the resistance, a process that is being closely monitored by the activists. After all, clean air is everyone’s right!
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