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BIJ1 (; ), formerly known as Article 1 (), is a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
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 ...
. It was founded in Amsterdam in 2016 by
Sylvana Simons Silvana Hildegard "Sylvana" Simons (Dutch pronunciation: Help:IPA/Dutch, ɪlˈvaːnaː ˈsimɔns born 31 January 1971) is a Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Surinamese-born Dutch politician and former television presenter. She served a ...
, a politician who was formerly briefly connected to another party, Denk.
Edson Olf E.M. (Edson) Olf (born 1986) is a Dutch politician for left-wing party BIJ1. He has been party leader of BIJ1 since 16 September 2023. Currently living in Rotterdam, Olf works as a consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professio ...
has led the party since September 2023.


History


Foundation

In 2016, Sylvana Simons joined Denk, a political movement founded by MPs Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk after leaving the Labour Party following an internal dispute over the party's position on
integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
. In December of the same year, Simons left the movement as she was disappointed by the lack of support she received from the party during a period of intense death threats. She also felt that Denk was becoming increasingly
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
and losing interest in progressive causes such as
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...
. Shortly after her departure from ''Denk'', Simons founded her own party, named Article 1. The name referred to the first article of the
Dutch constitution The Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands of 24 August 1815 () is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the Constitution, fundamental law of the Netherlands, Netherlands proper (the territo ...
, which prohibits
discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
based on race, religion, gender or any other reason.


2017 general election

On 15 March 2017, Article 1 contested the
general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
with Simons as
lead candidate In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the candidate placed first on a party list. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government, and the party chair or party leader. Usage by country Neth ...
. Other prominent candidates were anthropologist Gloria Wekker and former
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
senator Anja Meulenbelt. The party failed to get enough endorsements in the provinces of
Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...
and
Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...
to get on the ballot. Article 1 received 28,700 votes (0.27%), failing to reach the 0.67%
threshold Threshold may refer to: Science Biology * Threshold (reference value) * Absolute threshold * Absolute threshold of hearing * Action potential * Aerobic threshold * Anaerobic threshold * Dark adaptation threshold * Epidemic threshold * Flicke ...
to get a seat in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
. Most of the party's support came from municipalities with a large Afro-Dutch population, such as
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
(2.5%),
Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...
(1.9%),
Diemen Diemen () is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality with a population of in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Amsterdam's Amsterdam ...
(1.7%) and
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 ...
(1.3%). The party also achieved an above average result in the
Caribbean Netherlands The Caribbean Netherlands (, ) is a geographic region of the Netherlands located outside of Europe, in the Caribbean, consisting of three special municipalities. These are the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba (island), Saba,"Bonair ...
(1.6%). The party scored negligibly in the more rural municipalities and cities with little or no immigrant population.


Name change

The party was sued by anti-discrimination
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
Art.1 for
trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may occ ...
. The judge's verdict was in favor of Art.1, and therefore Simons was forced to change the name of the party. On 29 October 2017, the new name was announced: ''BIJ1''. It refers to the Dutch word '' bijeen'', which translates to "together".


2018 municipal elections

In March 2018, the party only contested in the
municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...
in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. Sylvana Simons was again elected as lead candidate. During the campaign, one of the party's candidates was accused of lying on her résumé, in which she wrongfully claimed to be a
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
. Her candidacy was eventually withdrawn. Despite this incident, the party won 6,571 votes (1.9%), just enough to win a seat in the municipal council. The best results for BIJ1 were in
Amsterdam-Zuidoost Amsterdam-Zuidoost (; "Amsterdam-Southeast") is a borough (''stadsdeel'') of Amsterdam, Netherlands. It consists of four residential neighborhoods— Bijlmermeer, Venserpolder, Gaasperdam and Driemond—as well as the Amstel III/ Bullew ...
, especially in the
Bijlmermeer The Bijlmermeer (), or colloquially the Bijlmer (), is a neighborhood in the Amsterdam-Zuidoost borough ( Dutch: ''stadsdeel'') in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The other neighborhoods in Amsterdam-Zuidoost are Gaasperdam, Bullewijk, Venserpolder and ...
, which is home to a large Surinamese migrant population.


2021 general election

In February 2020, the party announced that it would compete in the 2021 general election. The candidate list was approved by the general assembly in November 2020. Sylvana Simons was again selected as lead candidate, while
anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...
activist Quinsy Gario was placed on the second spot. The party was supported by prominent ''
lijstduwer (; 'list pusher') is a Dutch term for the last candidate on a party list. In Suriname, the Netherlands and Belgium, this position is often taken by well-known non-politicians such as artists, celebrities and sportspeople. They are official c ...
s'', such as academic Gloria Wekker and actresses Anousha Nzume and Romana Vrede. The party achieved 0.84% of the vote share, securing a seat in the House for the first time.


2023 general election and internal problems

In 2021, Quinsy Gario was suspended from the party following behaviour allegations. He later cancelled his party membership which prompted the BIJ1's entire executive board in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
to resign in protest. In June 2022, the party's national chairwoman Jursica Mills left after claiming in a letter that BIJ1 had become a party of "toxicity, cronyism and contradictions." In September 2022, the board of the Amsterdam branch quit after accusing B1J1's leadership of interfering in the selection of the a new faction leader following Jazie Veldhuyzen's resignation and raised accusations of fraud within the party. At the same time, Gloria Wekker also accused the party of containing racism, misogyny and
cancel culture Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professio ...
within its ranks. After the November 2023 snap election was triggered following the collapse of the
fourth Rutte cabinet The fourth Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 10 January 2022 until 2 July 2024. The cabinet was a continuation of the third Rutte cabinet and was formed by the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( ...
, Simons announced on 24 July that she would not run for re-election and would stand down as lead candidate for the party citing health reasons. Around the same time, several reports emerged of growing instability within BIJ1 which had built up over previous years. Two BIJ1 Amsterdam councilors also quit the party before Simons' announcement, citing a "toxic climate" in the party and stated Simons had also insufficiently supported them which Simons denied. It was subsequently announced
Edson Olf E.M. (Edson) Olf (born 1986) is a Dutch politician for left-wing party BIJ1. He has been party leader of BIJ1 since 16 September 2023. Currently living in Rotterdam, Olf works as a consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professio ...
would lead BIJ1 into the election. The party lost its seat in the House of Representatives. In December 2023, the party was forced to repay 127,000 euros in parliamentary subsidy payments after failing to provide necessary documents to the House finance committee to show the subsidies had been spent correctly. In November 2024, the party's two former Amsterdam councillors, Veldhuyzen and Nilab Ahmadi, announced the launch of a new left-wing political group, De Vonk ( Dutch: ''The Spark'').


Ideology

According to the party, its two pillars are radical equality and economic justice. The party supports the
LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...
, an end to
ethnic profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the offender profiling, selective enforcement or selective prosecution based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity, rather than individual suspicion or evidence. This practice involves discrimina ...
, and
intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...
. Because of the party's left-wing radicalism, it is often cited along with
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
parties and movements. Rebekka Timmer, member of the commission for the party program and number three on the list for the 2021 elections, however, shows an indifferent view in regards to the term communism, but admits to drawing inspiration from
anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...
thinkers, such as
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
. Founder, Sylvana Simons opposes communism as it is envisioned by
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, calling it
state capitalism State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital accumulation, ...
. The party advocates the independence and recognition of the
State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
and the
Republic of South Maluku South Maluku, also South Moluccas and officially the Republic of South Maluku, was an unrecognised secessionist state that claimed the islands of Ambon, Buru, and Seram, which currently make up most of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The ...
. It also supports paying reparations to former Dutch colonies such as the
Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the New World territories, colonies, and countries (former and current) of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the norther ...
,
Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
and
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. According to Simons, the party wants a fairer representation of female, immigrant and LGBTQ people in the government and the workplace. Economically, the party calls for a
single-payer healthcare Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...
system, the closing of the
gender wage gap The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are employed. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct measurements of the pay gap: non-adjusted v ...
and replacing
gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...
with the concept of
gross national happiness Gross National Happiness, (GNH; ) sometimes called Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH), is a philosophy that guides the government of Bhutan. It includes an index used to measure a population's collective happiness and well-being. The Gross National Ha ...
as the dominant economic indicator.


Controversies

In November 2021, the Amsterdam branch of BIJ1 sparked controversy after releasing a preliminary copy of the party's election program which referred to the
Remembrance of the Dead Remembrance of the Dead () is held annually on 4 May in the Netherlands. It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the beginning of the ...
commemoration for Jewish and Dutch resistance victims as "basically racist" and argued that the commemoration should include memorials to victims of Dutch violence from South America and Asia and to "resistance heroes" from former Dutch colonies. The program stated "as long as this remains the case, Amsterdam will not accommodate this commemoration." The program statement was met with condemnation from other political parties and the Central Jewish Consultation who called it "a direct insult to the relatives of the more than 100,000 murdered Jews in the Netherlands, most of them from Amsterdam."


Electoral results


House of Representatives


Municipal


See also

* List of left-wing political parties *
List of political parties in the Netherlands This article lists political parties in the Netherlands. The country has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, and any one party has little chance of gaining power alone; parties work with each other to form coalition government ...
* List of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation


Notes and references


Notes


References


External links

* {{Political parties in the Netherlands BIJ1 2016 establishments in the Netherlands Anti-capitalist political parties Anti-racism in the Netherlands Feminist parties in Europe Identity politics Multiculturalism in Europe Political parties established in 2016 Political parties in the Netherlands Organisations based in Amsterdam Socialist parties in the Netherlands