History

Our section has grown considerably in recent years. Election coverage and youth protests on climate have motivated many young people to become politically active. On this page you will find a description of what previous boards have been up to. Former board members are also briefly highlighted at the bottom.

Previous administrations

Board Goos I (2022-2023)

Board members: Luc Goos (chairman), Sedef Koç (secretary), Khan van Tol (treasurer) and Farah Bijl (general board member).

Board Goos I was at the helm in an inspired year, both politically and for the department. Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable year in which we learned a lot and made our voices heard.

We organised many different events: the PJO pub quiz, an OV Theme Night, an evening on special education, playful actions around the celebration of the most expensive King's Day ever and even an evening on rights for the River Meuse. In addition, of course, we had the Provincial Council elections, in which GroenLinks did fantastically well in our city. Unfortunately, a DWARSer did disappear from the group in South Holland.

At the political level, ties with GroenLinks Rotterdam were rekindled. For instance, we worked with councillors on statements and theme meetings. We also gave input on proposals for the city council. In addition, it was shifting gears to engage in real opposition politics again, but this did give us more reason to be tough with the council from time to time.

We worked a lot with other DWARS branches, such as Brabant-Zeeland, Leiden-Haaglanden, Amsterdam, Gelderland and Limburg. We were also active at DWARS Nationwide: including the first Rotterdammer in the National Board for several years and a large number of presidium members from Rotterdam. Furthermore, we strengthened ties with GroenLinks in South Holland and Drechtsteden.

We look back on an inspired and instructive year, in which we pride ourselves on keeping the department active.

Board Justine II (2018-2019)

Board members: Justine van der Biessen (chairman), Huub van der Meulen (secretary), Marijn Prins (treasurer), Larissa Vlieger (general board member) and Joppe Hoekstra (general board member).

Since the Justine II board, we have two general board members instead of one, and that came in handy to share the workload.

We organised numerous events: a clothes swap, get-togethers, pub crawls and a city council simulation. We also had theme nights on the Paris Agreement, the energy transition of the port of Rotterdam, validism and women in politics. Furthermore, our committees organised several film evenings, debates and walks. This year's Winter Congress was in Rotterdam. We attended the Pride Walk and several climate protests. We also conducted two campaigns for three elections: the Provincial Council, Water Boards and the European Parliament.

We started a newsletter and professionalised our online communication. By publishing our messages also in English, we were able to welcome our first internationals. We strengthened our ties with GroenLinks Rotterdam and GroenLinks Zuid-Holland and we collaborated more often with other PJOs.

Board Justine I (2018)

Board members: Justine van der Biessen, Marijn Prins, Huub van der Meulen, and Lex van Woerkom

This board was in office for six months due to changed board change terms. Elections were brought forward six months in 2018 to coincide with national elections.

This year saw municipal elections.

Board Sonja (2017)

Board members: Sigrid Oosterwegel, Sonja Groenwold, Sjaak Tromp Meesters and Matthijs van Niekerk

 

Former board members

Justine van der Biessen

Justine (1994) has been active in GroenLinks and DWARS since February 2017. She was a general board member for a while, and then served as president from November 2017 to June 2019. 

Huub van der Meulen

Huub (born 1996) has been a member of DWARS since November 2016. From November 2017 to June 2019, he served as secretary of the DWARS Rotterdam-Rijnmond section.

Marijn Prins

Marijn (1999) has been active with the DWARS Rotterdam-Rijnmond chapter since September 2017. From November 2017 to June 2019, he served as treasurer. During these one-and-a-half years on the board, he worked with nationwide to modernise the management of finances, which included the commissioning of a dedicated bank account for the branch.

He also organised several events, including the winter conference 2018, a theme evening on the energy transition of the Port of Rotterdam, and a city council simulation in cooperation with GroenLinks Rotterdam. He was contact person from the board for the walking committee. He was also active in the campaign committee during the municipal, provincial, water board and European Parliament elections. During the Provincial Council elections, he cooperated with the Leiden-Haaglanden department.

Topics he personally finds most interesting in politics are sustainability, animal rights and the LGBTQ+ community. Other hobbies include cooking, hitchhiking and reading.

Old logos

The logo below is still used to keep nationwide happy, but internally we use the new corporate identity 'Boldstyle' designed by the rebellious Rotterdam-Rijnmond department.

Our first logo featured the recognisable Erasmus Bridge and Erasmus himself.