Anti-fascist research group Kafka, commonly abbreviated to Kafka, is a Dutch

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

and

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

research group. Its name was said to be an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for () before 1994, but the research group has since indicated that they had named themselves after the writer

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

History

Kafka finds its origins in the squatters' movement. It conducts research into groups and individuals in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

whom it considers to be

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

, and the developments related to them. The results are published on the website of the research group. Kafka is funded by gifts and donations, rather than

subsidies A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

. Jaap van Beek has been the group's spokesperson since at least 2010. In the run-up to the provincial elections of 2011, Kafka published a report which showed that various

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( , PVV) is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-ma ...

(, PVV) candidate members and party supporters (who had signed its "Declaration of support for a list of candidates" document) had ties to the far-right. Among them were former Centre Democrats and members or candidate members of the Dutch People's Union. In December 2017, the research group published a report on , who had been presented as PVV's lead candidate in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

for the 2018 municipal elections. Kafka revealed that Hegedüs was a member of the

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

and had shared, among other things,

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and antiziganist opinions and his belief in a coming civil war in Western Europe on that group's podcast. In 2023, two White Lives Matter (WLM) activists were arrested on suspicion of projecting

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...

slogans on the Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam and other structures in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

and

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

. Dutch media cited Kafka's report on WLM in their coverage, and the group's spokesperson voiced his concerns about right-wing extremists' attempts to normalize racism and the increased use of ethnonationalist rhetoric in mainstream political discourse.

AIVD scrutiny

In the 2008 annual threat report of the

General Intelligence and Security Service The General Intelligence and Security Service ( ; AIVD) is the intelligence and security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with domestic, foreign and signals intelligence and protecting national security as well as assisting the Five Eyes in i ...

(, AIVD), under the heading 'left-wing extremism', Kafka was mentioned as the information supplier of the left-wing activist group (AFA). In 2010, the AIVD wrote in its report () that Kafka and AFA strove to "keep everything that is considered

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

out of the public space." Kafka and AFA would allegedly pursue this anti-democratic goal through undemocratic means, such as (inciting)

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

and intimidation.

Selected dossiers

* Blood & Honour * Centre Democrats * Centre Party '86 *

Dutch Block The Dutch Block (, NB) was a Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch nationalism, nationalist political party espousing an Opposition to immigration, anti-immigrant program. It was founded by Alfred Vierling, Ton Steemers en Hans Lindenburg, modeled on ...

* Dutch People's Union *

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( ; FvD) is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, originally founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2015 before registering itself as a party the following year. The FvD first participated i ...

* Linguistic purists * Lonsdale youth * National Alliance * Nationalist People's Movement * New National Party and * New Right * *

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List (, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands that existed from 2002 to 2008 at a national level and was named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was ...

and Livable Netherlands * Stormfront *

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Anti-capitalism Anti-fascism in the Netherlands Dutch activists Far-left politics Political extremism in the Netherlands

History

AIVD scrutiny

Selected dossiers

See also

References

External links