Nazis run amok and short news
Searchlight - September 2006
It has been revealed that members of Aktion Front South Holland South (AFZHZ), a newly formed nazi group, went on a violent racist rampage in mid-May. Though the matter was only made public in July, the Dutch justice department is maintaining a silence about the affair. Facts have now emerged that indicate that an Antillean man was severely beaten up by six nazis in Papendrecht on the evening of the 19 May, sustaining a head wound, a shattered eye-socket, some broken ribs and losing several teeth. Three of the attackers are currently in custody.
The nazis have been frequent visitors to a youth centre in Papendrecht and three week before the attack the centre's management was summoned to the town hall to hear that police had launched an investigation into the AFZHZ, in particular 24-year old Robbie Groeneveld, who is now being held for the assault. Groeneveld's partner-in-crime in the assault on the Antillean was the convicted German nazi Michael Krick, a leading figure in Eite Homan's Racial Volunteer Force. Others involved in the attack were former Brigade M guitarist Stefan Verkooyen (also being held) and Margot van Trienen, Krick's girlfriend.
AFZHZ is a radical nazi group that uses a logo of the former Dutch Nazi Party (NSB), the Wolfsangel, with two swords crossed through it. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, this symbol denoted NSB members working in the "justice" department or the police. Seemingly, AFZHZ members also see themselves as nazi "bringers of justice". The AFZHZ claims to be politically totally independent and to have no leaders or members. Its declared aims are to fight against multiculturalism and to confront "left-wing gangs of anti-fascists" and others who "threaten our nation with anti-white terror". Not surprisingly, they also oppose "Bush and Sharon and their zionist (sic) friends all over the world" and lavish praise on Hitler's right hand men Rudolf Hess and SS chief Reinhard Heydrich. The AFZHZ website has also made Hitler's Mein Kampf and articles about the Eternal Jew available for download.
Until recently, the AFZHZ had mainly been seen in Germany at nazi rallies, for example in Mannheim on 8 April, for "Freedom for Zundel, Irving and Verbeke", three Holocaust deniers currently in jail in European countries. Now, it is seeking notoriety in the Netherlands as well.
Short news
The November ballot has come round too quickly for new right-wing challengers. Marco Pastors, who is widely seen as likely to grab ten seats in parliament, still has not got a party, let alone a party name or candidates, but will probably bring in Fortuynist parliamentarian Joost Eerdmans, and former Livable Rotterdam (LR) councillor Marianne van den Anker and LR boss Ronald Sorensen. Pastors and his allies need to register as a party by the end of August and file their candidatures in the country's nineteen electoral districts by 10 October. The List Pim Fortuyn (LPF), Fortuyn's former party, is pondering changing its name simply to "Fortuyn" in a bid to prevent its own disappearance.
Meanwhile, Hilbrand Nawijn, a former LPF minister and pal of fascist Vlaams Belang boss Philip Dewinter, who has refused to lead the LPF list has yet to come up with his own party. At the same time, Geert Wilder, a former right wing liberal VVD member who hopes to win 20 seats for the right flank of the political spectrum, is still building his party but has announced no candidate's names yet. The racist outfit Nieuw Rechts also says it will have a shot at winning a seat in parliament, no doubt in a bid to give its leader Michiel Smit a job, but cannot afford to stand in all constituencies. Finally, the nazi Dutch People's Union (NVU) might well use the elections to stage a demonstration but will fare miserably in the ballot itself.
By Jeroen Bosch of Alert! and Antifa-Net in Utrecht
