The new movement: the DWARSe perspective

Last week, Frans Timmermans published his vision paper for the new left-wing party on which we can cast our vote at the congress on 21 June. In the last paragraph, he appoints: ‘What we want to offer the Netherlands is a broad left-wing party, which wears its ideological feathers with pride; red and green and also those of the rainbow.’ An aptly worded dismissal against the intended course of the Red Forward promoters who would prefer the new party to identify with the centre à la Kok to attract right-wing voters. I see it as the task of the youth organisations to share our views on the new party's ideological feathers and initiate much-needed discussions on this.

Indeed, the red (social), green (sustainable) and purple (inclusive) feathers are inextricably linked. In a system where exploitation and oppression of people and the environment are the order of the day, we on the left cannot afford to stand up for just one of these forms of oppression. Social inequality, climate change and discrimination are all sides of the same coin: consequences of our capitalist, neoliberal system in which the very rich continue to profit from exploiting the working class, nature and marginalised groups.

Left-wing politics means fighting for an equal and just world. For this very reason, the left must unite into a strong movement that stands up for what is vulnerable and not fight separately for everyone's own hobbyhorse. Woven into this are socio-economic issues, sustainability and inclusion. You can only build more affordable houses if you also insulate them properly. You can only have a fair climate policy if it taxes the big polluters and the very rich and supports the working class, at national and international level. You can only tackle social inequality if you also structurally stand up for the rights of migrants, the LGBT community and people with disabilities.

Left-wing politics also means paying attention to the root causes of social problems. Timmermans mentions in his piece that ‘exploitation of people and the environment both result from a system in which private profits take precedence over collective welfare, a system that privatises profits and places risks on society.’ This is exactly where the focus of the new left movement should be. Of course, we should be mindful of the problems at play in society. Groceries are hugely expensive, inflation is skyrocketing and rents keep rising. But we also have a responsibility to look beyond that. Why are groceries so expensive these days? Because supermarkets' excess profits and sky-high dividend payments to shareholders are not addressed by the government.

Implementing leftist politics does not happen without forming a strong and broad-based movement. Historically, the left has had strong links with activist organisations, trade unions and civil society organisations, to promote the idea of the grassroot-movement at the centre. This is essential because these organisations are often ahead in putting important social issues on the agenda and know what is going on in the social field. It is important for the New Left movement to have strong ties with these organisations in order to stimulate political processes from citizens themselves.

In creating a strong and broad-based movement, grassroots representation is central. In the vision paper, Timmermans calls for extra attention to be paid to candidates with practical training when drawing up the list of candidates. This is fundamental because our understanding of popular representation is in urgent need of renewal. Practically educated people, as well as people with disabilities, young people with socio-economic disadvantages and other marginalised groups often feel unrepresented by Hague and local politics, and often enough, by the lists of GroenLinks en/- PvdA. This urgently needs to be changed by placing these people higher on candidate lists.

The new left movement has the great task of putting left politics back high on the political agenda in order to bring much-needed systemic change to society. In this, it is vital to have strong ties with activists, trade unions and civil society organisations and to actively seek broad popular representation from all strata of society. Whether the new party is characterised within socialism, social democracy, eco-socialism or the new left: GroenLinks may shed its elitist feathers and Labour Party its centrist feathers, in order to fight for a system of radical equality and justice with a new movement.