The Hague votes against “Antifa”: Dutch parliament declares antifascism to be terrorist

Dutch fascist hooligans rampage in The Hague, September 20, 2025 -- image via X video screenshot

By Gerrit Hoekman. Junge Welt, 22 September 2025. Translated by Helmut-Harry Loewen.

Donald Trump is leading the way in the US, and the Dutch parliament tags along behind him like a puppy following its master. On Friday, members of the far-right Forum for Democracy, Geert Wilders' slightly less extremist PVV, and the farmers' party BoerBurgerBeweging submitted a motion to declare Antifa a terrorist organization in the Netherlands. Votes from the right-wing liberal VVD, the conservative JA21, and the arch-Calvinist SGP resulted in a majority. Currently, the parliament's decision is only symbolic, as it is uncertain whether the right-wing majority will still be in office after the October 29th parliamentary elections.

On Friday the public broadcaster NOS interviewed Berrie Hanselman, who held a senior position for many years at the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD): “Perhaps they want to use the term Antifa to lump everything left-wing together, as is currently the case in America. But we are not America.” The AIVD's latest annual report states: “Within the radical left-wing movement as a whole, the AIVD has not observed an increased propensity for violence. However, some actions (on various issues) have become more aggressive.”

The extra-parliamentary Revolutionair Socialistische Partij (RSP) announced that it will take to the streets in the coming weeks to protest against the parliament's decision. The party has close ties to antifascist groups. According to its federal chair Maite van Lith: "We fear that our right to demonstrate will be restricted and view this as an attempt to normalize violence against leftists. I think this is dangerous; it normalizes state regulation of what can and cannot be said.”

The importance of antifascist work in general, but especially in these times, was demonstrated on Saturday in The Hague at a rally of Dutch far-right supporters who venerate Trump. Around 1,200 football hooligans, who had allegedly come to “protect” the event, engaged in street battles with the police. Stones were thrown, a police car was set on fire, and a highway was blocked. The police deployed water cannons and tear gas. Thirty people were arrested.

Photo: 1,200 ultra-right football hooligans demand an even more draconian asylum policy at a rally in The Hague on 20 September 2025.

Link to the original German article: Gerrit Hoekman, “Den Haag stimmt gegen >>Antifa<<. Niederländisches Parlament deklariert Antifaschismus als terroristisch.” junge Welt, 22.09.2025: https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/508792.niederlande-den-haag-stimmt-gegen-antifa.html