{"id":21186,"date":"2026-05-28T17:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/?p=21186"},"modified":"2026-05-28T17:12:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:12:42","slug":"toespraak-ter-gelegenheid-van-125-jarig-jubileum-foundation-max-van-der-stoel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/toespraak-ter-gelegenheid-van-125-jarig-jubileum-foundation-max-van-der-stoel\/","title":{"rendered":"Speech on the occasion of 12.5-year anniversary of Foundation Max van der Stoel"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 15 May 2026, the Max van der Stoel Foundation celebrated its 12.5-year anniversary in the presence of former colleagues, partners and friends of the foundation. On the occasion of this milestone, FMS director Kido Koenig gave the following speech:<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are celebrating 12.5 years today and I am proud, but above all I thank my predecessor Arjen Berkvens and all my colleagues then and now, all the volunteers, partners and donors who ultimately made 99% of work possible. Today we have heard about FMS, about Max van der Stoel, about ideals of solidarity, democracy, human rights and progressive politics, but also about the unruly reality. We are celebrating 12.5 years and we should be happy and I love making it cosy, but today I don't want to pretend that nothing is going on in the world.<\/div>\n

Democracy is declining worldwide. Press freedom is declining globally. Inequality is on the rise. Transformational politics, with chances of a better world through cooperation, but giving way to bleak, transactional politics, with chances of war. Global freedom has been making red numbers for 20 consecutive years. That is exactly not the kind of red we stand for. Partners we have worked with for years are being criminalised in Georgia and Tunisia, or physically attacked in Lebanon and Ukraine. So as we look back and forward today, I don't want to stand here alone with a happy story. I do not just want to name fine achievements. We can even say that on our themes, democracy, human rights, solidarity and development, the results are overall<\/em> are actually bad. Of course we have worked a lot, and achieved a lot. It is difficult to say exactly what the results of training, networking and lobbying are in such a diffuse field as international politics. So I want to talk to you about our work, and not just then from FMS, but all of us here, the way science talks about basic research. Applied science is great and easily makes it to the media. Fundamental research, however, is where science is decades ahead of the newspaper and often society. The philosophy, not the management book. The ideology, not the election flyer. What is the foundation of our work?<\/div>\n

We begin at the Stedelijk Museum, from 7 March to 9 June 2025. Anselm Kiefer's exhibition: Sag mir wo die Blumen sind<\/strong> was to be seen. They are beautiful, fragile, and strong at the same time. The flower, has always been so important to our movement. The rose even made it into PRO's new logo. You have probably seen a flower or a plant raised by a break in the road. I saw part of the answer to Anselm Kiefer's question not long ago, by Anselm Kiefer himself. In the Pantheon, in Paris. Where Jean Jacques Rousseau is buried, with a hand with a torch protruding from his coffin. The torch of enlightenment that burns on; even if the owner of the thought dies, the thought will live on. And where Jean Jaur\u00e8s is buried, with a rose on his grave. Jean Jaur\u00e8s, the champion of socialism in early 20th century France. He was shot dead three days before the start of World War I because of his anti-militarist campaign. There, in that Pantheon, Kiefer shows in an exhibition that the power of nature is constant. Grim images, as seen here behind me, of reinforced concrete, barbed wire and asphalt, through which yet tall grass and poppies also find a way up.<\/div>\n

There, in that power of nature, lies the inspiration for our mission. However bleak the authoritarian wind blows, there will be resistance. However limited freedom may be, there will always be creatives, idealists, courageous people who will raise their heads above the surface. They will shoot their ideas into the air like a signal arrow from a boat, visible from afar, right through internet blockades and border guards. A signal arrow that gives light in the dark, like the enlightenment also made an attempt to make us find the truth.<\/p>\n

\n

We must seek and find those signals. We must support them, even when it sometimes seems hopeless. We need to commit our destiny to them, because we are human beings. And sometimes you don't need much more than a start. Because flowers spread too. If you find a poppy crawling up from the concrete, within 10 metres you will find another flower. And further on again. And a lot more next year. Eventually the plants break the suffocating blanket. And nature returns in its diversity. There is so much injustice. And there are still so many beams of light we are missing. That is why today I am announcing a series of webinars called \u2018Injustice Anywhere\u2019. You may know the quote \u201cInjustice an<\/b>ywhere is a threat to justice everywhere<\/strong>\u201c, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. It comes from his \u201cLetter from Birmingham Jail\u201d on April 16, 1963. He talks about the value of non-violent resistance and gives us four steps: \u201ccollection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action<\/em>\u201d The purpose of direct action<\/em> was to create pressure (or a crisis), from which the \u2018negotiation\u2019 step would emerge.
Our mission remains to find injustice to fight and use direct action to push the world to cleanse itself.<\/p>\n

Roads appear from radical, ultranational breakdown asphalt
Scorched bridges, life fire falling to ashes
Covered by the autocrat's blanket of promises
Spun from surveillance camera cables and iron wire
Who is on standby?
Who goes out with a pinch cat in their knapsack
Light shining on blackout leadership
Everyone's role
Everyone's hands full
Of the force in a chalk suit
Until free-spirited activist grabs flag at march to square
We see a flower blooming from the crack in the concrete.
We see behind the border a flare over the country
Who are you?
Step forward.
Take our hand<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Op 15 mei 2026 heeft de Foundation Max van der Stoel haar 12,5-jarig jubileum gevierd in de aanwezigheid van oud-collega’s, partners en vrienden van de stichting. Ter gelegenheid van deze mijlpijl gaf FMS-directeur Kido Koenig de volgende toespraak:   We vieren vandaag 12,5 jaar en ik ben trots, maar dank bovenal mijn voorganger Arjen Berkvens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21190,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21186\/revisions\/21190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}