EN 
NL Our Statement on Serbia during 'Friends of the Western Balkans'
Amid growing concerns about the deterioration of democracy in Serbia, the Friends of the Western Balkans (FoWB) gathered in Ljubljana for their seventh meeting. This network of progressive politicians, civil society leaders and social democrats from across Europe had one clear goal: to express their support for the region's European future. This [...]
Myanmar in the shadows: the democratic struggle behind the humanitarian disaster
Photo: Protests in Myanmar against Military Coup in February 2021 - Wikimedia Commons Myanmar was briefly in the news after a massive earthquake on 28 March 2025. Since then, media coverage of the situation has largely disappeared. Although the devastation is similar to the earthquake in Morocco in 2023, Myanmar gets three times [...]
"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 [...]