In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Dutch, far-right political party Forum voor Democratie (FvD for short; @fvdemocratie). They're best-known for their anti-Ukraine and pro-Kremlin politics, and for their tendency to support the craziest conspiracy theories out there.
1/19
FvD was initially founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2015. Their main goal was to oppose the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine and the Dutch membership in the EU, calling for a referendum act on the issue.
2/19
Otten was kicked out of FvD after he allegedly led the party apparatus in a dictatorial way and transferred some money from party donors to his own consultancy company, without permission. Baudet has been introduced on #vatniksoup previously:
3/19
In Sep 2016, FvD was converted into a political party and announced its intention to take part in the 2017 general election, in which they won two seats in the House of Representatives. After that, the party grew fast, and in 2019 they had nearly 31 000 members.
4/19
FvD really took off in the 2019 provincial elections, when they won 86 seats. They were the largest party in three provinces, and 2nd or 3rd in many others. Most of their candidates had no prior experience in politics or in political parties.
5/19
FvD suffered from internal issues due to their rapid growth, and in 2018 many prominent members left the party because they felt it lacked democracy in its decision-making. In 2020, the party was again a target of controversy, when its youth wing made racist...
6/19
... and homophobic comments. The party leader, Baudet, was also accused of promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories. Baudet temporarily stepped down as party leader, only to return for the 2021 general election. The party campaigned against COVID-19 lockdowns,...
7/19
... and managed to win 8 seats. Due to controversies such as comparing the COVID-19 lockdowns to Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and protesting against Zelenskyy's speech to the House of Representatives, many of the party's representatives abandoned the party.
8/19
From the beginning, FvD along with its leader has called for better relations between the Netherlands & Russia. Baudet strongly opposed the sanctions against Russia after the occupation of Crimea & co-signed a letter calling for new investigation on the shoot down of MH17.
9/19
In 2020 Dutch TV program Zembla published Whatsapp group messages with interaction between Baudet and Russian Vladimir Kornilov. Based on NYT, Kornilov has ties to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin, and in his messages Baudet described him as "a Russian who works for Putin."
10/19
In one of the messages, Baudet told Otten that he wanted to stop working as a commentator on the the TV network Powned, and suggested that "Maybe Kornilov wants to pay some extra". After the messages were published, Thierry switched immediately to damage control mode...
11/19
...declaring that the conversations about Kornilov were a "running gag" and "playful exaggeration". The messages also revealed that he wanted Netherlands to leave NATO, despite the party's election program declaring that Dutch collaboration with NATO should be increased.
12/19
In addition, Baudet has promoted conspiracy theories about "evil reptilians" and the "globalists" ruling over the world, the EU being a "a cultural Marxist project destroying European civilization," and that George Soros introduced the COVID-19 virus.
13/19
Thierry is a big fan of Putin, and he's called him the "hero that we need". He's also claimed that "he must win the war" in Ukraine and "we must do everything we can to support him". His former buddy Otten called him a "Manchurian candidate" over his support for Putin.
14/19
FvD has received a lot of help from anti-EU political strategist John Laughland, who has allegedly designed the political blueprint for the party. Laughland is part of an international conservative network with direct ties to the Kremlin:
15/19
In Jul 2023, Baudet and Laughland organized a Twitter Space called "The Decline of Western Civilization", to which they invited Russia's fascist #1 Alexander Dugin:
16/19
FvD, like so many other pro-Kremlin parties around Europe, has been described as ideologically national conservative, eurosceptic & right-wing populist. With the likes of Le Pen & Wilders, the rise in their popularity was already evident in the 2014 EU Parliament election.
17/19
Today, FvD is an unremarkable party and its leader Baudet is mostly being ridiculed, but a similar blueprint, with emphasis on anti-immigration, anti-EU/anti-NATO policies and populism, will be used to gain popularity in the future, too.
18/19
Similar policies brought success to Geert Wilders' PVV in the 2023 Dutch general election, when it became the largest party in the Parliament. Some political commentators have said that Wilders gained votes from former fans of newer parties like FvD:
19/19
I have paused personal donations for now, please support @U24_gov_ua by donating to the #HopakChallenge and sending me the receipt:
CORRECTION: @hendrikotten3 sent me the following messages in order to correct some inaccuracies in the soup.
Also, here's a link to previous post made by him on the topic:
To conclude, Mr. Otten is very much in support of Ukraine.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.