Marianne Louise Thieme (, born 6 March 1972) is a Dutch politician, author and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the s ...

activist. A jurist by education, she served as the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. Since 2019, the PvdD's political leader is Esther Ouwehand. With 3.8% of the votes ...

' political leader from 2002 to 2019 and a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 2006 to 2019.

Life before politics

Thieme studied at Duno College in

Doorwerth Doorwerth is a village in the eastern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Renkum, Gelderland, about 8 km west of Arnhem and about 100 km southeast of Amsterdam. History The valley of the Seelbeek has been in residential u ...

. After that she studied from 1991 to 1992 at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris, France. From 1992 she studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...

with a specialization in

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as " regulations"), ...

. During this time she became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

. Her interest in animal rights motivated her to start studying law. Thieme graduated in 1997. From 1998 to 2001 Thieme worked at research agency B&A Group in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. Between 2001 and 2004 she was policy official at Bont voor Dieren (English: Fur for Animals), a Dutch

anti-fur Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing, and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific i ...

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevit ...

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

. Until November 2006 she was the general manager of Stichting

Wakker Dier Wakker Dier is a Dutch animal welfare organisation. ''Wakker Dier'' is Dutch for "awoken animal". Its main purpose is putting an end to factory farming. Wakker Dier was founded in 1997 and fused with the organisation ''Lekker Dier'' in 2001, but the ...

, a Dutch animal welfare foundation against

industrial agriculture Industrial agriculture is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of crops and animals and animal products like eggs or milk. The methods of industrial agriculture include innovation in agricultural machinery and fa ...

Political life

In October 2002 Thieme and other animal protectionists founded the

(''Partij voor de Dieren'', PvdD). During the general election of 2003 the party gained 47,754 votes (0.5%), but not a seat in the

which is obtained by 0.67% of the vote. In February 2004 she was nominated to become the party's

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

for the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

. This time the party gained 153,432 votes (3.2%), three times as much as in the 2003 Dutch general election, but the number of votes was not enough to obtain a seat in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

. In May 2014 the party got 200,254 votes (4.21%) for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, enough to obtain a seat in the

. However, it was not with Marianne Thieme as

, but

Anja Hazekamp Anja Hazekamp (born 21 January 1968) is a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Netherlands. She is a member of the Party for the Animals, part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left. Previously she was mem ...

. Marianne Thieme was already elected to the House of the Representatives. During the general election of 2006 the Party for Animals gained 179,988 votes (1.8%), enough for two seats in the lower house of the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The State ...

. The party became the world's first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights. Marianne Thieme became an MP alongside Esther Ouwehand. At the general election of 2010 the party received 122,317 votes (1.3%) and its two MPs were reelected; two years later, with 182,162 votes (1.9%), the PvdD won two seats again. The party ran at the general election of 2017 with Thieme as lijsttrekker for the fifth time. With 335,214 votes (3.2%), it gained five seats. Thieme always concludes her speeches in Parliament with the phrase "''Voorts zijn wij van mening dat er een einde moet komen aan de bio-industrie.''" ("Furthermore we are of the opinion that

factory farming Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

has to be ended."), referring to

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write hi ...

's famous conclusion of his speeches with

Carthago delenda est ("Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed"), often abbreviated to ("Carthage must be destroyed"), is a Latin oratorical phrase pronounced by Cato the Censor, a politician of the Roman Republic. The phrase originates from deb ...

. On 8 October 2019, Thieme resigned from Parliament and her leadership of the PvdD. Esther Ouwehand replaced Thieme as party leader in the House of Representatives and

Eva van Esch Eva Maria van Esch (born 12 May 1986 in Rossum) is a Dutch politician, currently serving as a Member of Parliament for the Party for the Animals (''Partij voor de Dieren'', ''PvdD''). She was appointed on 9 October 2019, taking the seat of outg ...

took her former seat in Parliament.

Personal life

Thieme became a member of the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

in 2006 "because

t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...

a church with compassion and care for our planet." It caused some controversy about its stance that "Adam and Eve were vegetarians" She has a daughter (Annika, born 2002) and lives in

Maarssen Maarssen () is a town in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal. The west of Maarssen is called Maarssen-BroekStatistics are taken from thSDU Staatscourant whereas the east ...

. On 6 November 2008, she married Jaap Korteweg, an organic farmer from Langeweg, with whom she had a second daughter (Amélie, born 2012). They divorced in 2017. In 2021 she married Ewald Engelen, with whom she has been in a relationship since 2018.

Bibliography

In May 2004, Thieme's book ''De eeuw van het dier'' (''The century of the animal'') was published. Animal rights are the centre point of the text, which draws a line from the end of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

through women's liberation to

References

*
Parlement.com biography

External links