After 14 long years of neoliberal rule, the Netherlands has been grappling with a housing crisis, parents robbed during the childcare benefits scandal, ruthless healthcare privatisation, and skyrocketing grocery prices that leave thousands of children going to school hungry each morning. The list of problems is seemingly endless.

The Netherlands has been crying out for change – for something new. Yet, for decades, Dutch politics has lacked the serious will to solve the problems affecting ordinary people. That’s why many turned to a so-called saviour: Geert Wilders.

He promised solutions to everything. But less than a year after the launch of ‘Wilders I Cabinet’, with technocrat Dick Schoof as his puppet, the Netherlands hasn’t moved forward an inch.

In fact, our problems have only worsened since Wilders took power.

The parents impacted by the childcare scandal still haven’t been properly compensated. The healthcare deductible remains in place. The long-hoped-for rent freeze is indefinitely postponed. And Wilders is abandoning his voters.

Confusion

Dilan Yeşilgöz and her liberals are now trying to capitalise on the fall of the government. She calls it “irresponsible” – and she’s right. But the VVD pulled the exact same stunt just two years ago.

The same political confusion is now looming once again, because on the ‘left’ there are no real alternatives. The Labour-Green alliance proudly supports increased military spending and arms production, while the Socialist Party continues to fall for the PVV’s xenophobic migration rhetoric.

After the second-least successful cabinet of this century (let’s not forget Balkenende I), now is not the time to stand still, move backward, or push forward with more failed policies. No time for purple, blue-green, or green-red coalitions. No – it’s time for a real alternative.

MERA25 offers that alternative. No empty promises – just a clear vision: bottom-up democracy, social justice, and a hopeful future for people and the planet.

We believe the problems of our time demand a vision that goes beyond borders: a democracy that transcends nations while bringing political power closer to the people. As the Dutch branch of the pan-European DiEM25 movement, we believe in uniting Europe – but only by replacing its undemocratic technostructure with a democratic one.

And for that to happen in the Netherlands, we must break with the aristocratic politics of the traditional parties.

Our vision

That’s why we demand:

• Democracy at the workplace, where workers are co-owners (One Worker, One Share);
• A radically just climate plan, which puts the continued existence of humanity first, not the greedy hand of capital. We need to go from thinking green to doing green!;
• A serious migration policy, organised on a European scale to control migratory flows, with an asylum policy worthy of humanity being a top priority;
• A bold housing policy, which bids parasitic real-estate magnates and greedy housing corporations stop their practices. We need to address the true cause of the housing crisis, not migration, but capitalism;
• Focus on integration in the Netherlands, which has been horribly organised for the longest time, causing several groups to be isolated from society. We will break this circle by boldly facing it and investing in education and a local neighbourhood approach;
• Demilitarisation and resistance against the 5% NATO norm. The lie that more weapons will bring world peace closer will be combated fiercely. The more there is spoken about rearmament, the closer the danger of war gets.
  

All of these issues cannot remain unanswered. The Netherlands is bursting. That’s why now is the time for mobilisation. MERA25 grows every day, but we’re not quite there yet. To strengthen and spread our platform we need your help.

Because you are done with it, when you look at your neighbours standing beside you, you will see that so are they. Together we will build a social movement, one that resists the regents that dominate our political landscape. You too can take action by joining us and becoming a member.

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