EN 
NL "The Belarusian revolution is not over - we are still in the middle"
Organisers and members of the liquidated party BSDP-Hramada in The Hague, March 2025 Last Thursday and Friday, March 27 and 28, FMS had the pleasure of hosting the chairman and vice-chairman of the liquidated social democratic party BSDP-Hramada. The liquidated BSDP-Hramada (from here on 'Hramada') was founded in 1991 and has been operating from exile since 2023, when [...]
The reconstruction of Mosul through the eyes of Omar Mohammed
Source: Anadolu Agency, Getty Images In 2014, the northern Iraqi city of Mosul fell into the hands of terror group Islamic State (IS). What followed was a period of extreme repression, destruction and violence. IS destroyed religious and cultural heritage, murdered thousands of residents and drove entire communities to flee. Mosul was liberated in 2017, but the consequences of [...]
The social democratic perspective on the growing protest movement in Serbia
Photo: FMT The FMS, in collaboration with International Foundation GroenLinks, has started a series on the Serbian anti-corruption protests. During this series, we highlight different sides of the protests, and this time we cover the social democratic perspective. Last Saturday, 15 March, the largest (student) protests in Serbia to date took place, with more than 300,000 people in attendance. [...]
'EU must stop applying double standards' - Interview with Marit Maij on DRC crisis
Source: Daniel Buuma - Getty Images On 21 March, the Max van der Stoel Foundation is organising a political café on the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The situation in the DRC is rapidly deteriorating: violence is escalating in the east of the country, with widespread human rights violations and the systematic use of sexual violence as [...]
Between hope and fear: An uncertain future for minorities in Syria
Photo: Photos of President Bashar al-Assad on display during the civil war in pro-regime areas of Syria - Store Norske Leksikon With the fall of Assad's regime, a new era has dawned for Syria, but the joy of liberation is overshadowed by uncertainty and violence. Syria is currently facing the deadliest outbreak of violence since [...]
Ukraine and the redefinition of sovereignty
Source: FMT In the week of 14 March 2022, a few weeks after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Time Magazine published an issue entitled The Return of History. This was a clear reference to Francis Fukuyama's famous work The End of History and the Last Man, in which he argued that liberal democracy after the fall of the [...]
The student perspective on the growing protest movement in Serbia
Source: Tasnim The FMS, in collaboration with International Foundation GroenLinks, has started a series on the Serbian anti-corruption protests. During this series, we will highlight different sides of the protests, starting with the students' perspective. Marija, a 23-year-old Serbian student, usually studies at her university. But now she, like many [...]
A stifling reality: Thijs Reuten on his experiences in Israel and Palestine
Thijs Reuten visiting Fakhri's demolished house in Al Bustan, East Jerusalem MEP Thijs Reuten (GL-PvdA) visited Israel and Palestine and saw for himself the enormous impact of the conflict. From Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and from Bethlehem to Hebron in the West Bank, the situation on the ground left a deep [...]
Dutch letterbox firm facilitates Georgian propaganda channel
Headmen of ruling Georgian Dream party at a protest in favour of the 'foreign-agent law' (April 2024, Jelger Groeneveld, Wikimedia Commons) The role of the Netherlands as home to dubious, tax-dodging letterbox firms is well known. However, our country also appears to host propaganda channels that threaten democracy in other countries. Research by the Max van der Stoel Foundation [...]
Three years of war: six studies on Ukrainian reconstruction
Source: Getty Images Today marks the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine. In the context of the war that is still ongoing, Foundation Max van der Stoel has contributed to several studies in collaboration with Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and its partners on the reconstruction of Ukraine. These [...]
