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NL Essay winner from Greece visiting!
We are proud to share the winning essay by Konstantinos Chelios, written for an essay competition we organised together with the Dutch embassy in Greece. We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Konstantinos to our office. In his essay, he reflects on the legacy of Max van der Stoel and the importance of moral courage: the guts to [...]
Press freedom and resilience: how do we keep democracy strong in the digital age?
This article is a collaboration between Foundation Max van der Stoel (Martha Elias) and International Foundation Groenlinks (Yesmin Ayadhi). According to the latest RSF index, global press freedom is at a low point in the past 25 years. Even in countries that score relatively high, such as the Netherlands which ranks second, the question is how much [...]
Why Dutch municipalities need to reinvent themselves internationally: in conversation with Dion van den Berg
Alderman Nieuwenhuizen unveils a “Nuclear-weapon-free municipality” sign in the municipality of Zaanstad in 1982, the first municipality to do so. On the right Nico Schouten of the action committee Stop the Neutron Bomb. Source: National Archives. In view of the upcoming municipal elections on 18 March, FMS recently organised a political café on the impact of local politics on foreign countries: [...]
Retrospective Political Café: Local goes International
How does your vote in local elections affect foreign countries? According to the speakers at our political café ‘Local goes international’, local politics plays a very big role. Because international solidarity does not only arise in The Hague, Brussels or at the UN, but precisely also locally - in the city, on the streets and in the municipal council. Activism and local democracy [...]
EU Africa Youth Think Tank 2025: young people in action for future-proof EU-Africa relations
2025 marked the second edition of the Africa Youth Think Tank at the Max van der Stoel Foundation. Thirty enthusiastic young people dived deep into the question: how can Europe and Africa build a sustainable, future-proof cooperation in autumn 2025? Getting to work on real policy dilemmas The project started in August with [...]
Africa Day 2025: A New Global Order - Tickets now available!
Afrikadag, the largest event in the Netherlands on Africa and international cooperation, returns on Saturday 15 November 2025 at Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam. This year, Afrikadag celebrates a special milestone: the 30th edition! The theme of 2025 is "Africa in a New World Order". As global powers vie for influence, African countries claim their place on [...]
Stop leaving the Congolese to their fate: The Netherlands can no longer look away
On 21 March, we gathered at Pakhuis de Zwijger for an evening focusing on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was an evening characterised by engagement and the need to collectively reflect on a conflict that has remained under the radar for too long. While the world outside [...]
Taking strategic town of Wad Madani: a tipping point in Sudan's war?
Photo: Residents walk through a devastated street in Omdurman, Sudan - Free Malaysia Today Last week, the Sudanese army (SAF) announced that it had taken the town of Wad Madani. This town, located in Gezira province, is a strategic hub and an important agricultural hub some two hundred kilometres south of the capital [...]
Cut back on democratisation? Don't do it!
Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp in debate, Lower House (Source) The Schoof cabinet has big intentions in the field of defence and aid to Ukraine - billions in investments should bring the Netherlands up to the level of the NATO two per cent standard. This was voted on at the Foreign Ministry's budget hearing last week. On [...]
Weekend of International Solidarity: on to edition 2!
The degradation of Dutch foreign policy is proceeding apace. Our country is anything but standing up for international law in the war in Gaza, cuts in development cooperation have major consequences for the world's poorest people and in Europe we are reducing our commitment to "opt-out notes". Can we do things differently? Sure. Last weekend, we jointly organised [...]