/s3/static.nrc.nl/images/gn4/stripped/data103319594-0fb205.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Critical Voices Depart from the House of Representatives: Azarkan and Simons Resign After Rutte")
In the House of Representatives debate on the fall of the cabinet, most party chairmen preferred leniency. They praised Mark Rutte, who had announced just before that he was renouncing a new list leader for the VVD. A small group did opt for the attack on the cabinet, on Rutte and on the VVD. Among them: Sylvana Simons and Farid Azarkan.
“They spread doomsday images and lies about refugees for political gain,” said Azarkan, party leader of Denk. “It is xenophobic panic-mongering in the power-political strategy of the VVD.”
“With this, an entire country has been sacrificed for the false promise of one man to his party,” said Simons, party chairman of Bij1. “It is characteristic and appropriate within the administrative culture of the past cabinets: look away, slow down, do not take responsibility.”
The new House of Representatives will have to do without their critical voice. On Monday evening, Azarkan and Simons both announced their departure from the Chamber after the elections in November, exactly two weeks after Rutte did the same.
Almost all politicians who announced their departure in Rutte’s wake had worked with him at some point: in a cabinet, in a coalition, or simply for a deal. That suited Rutte, who could govern with numerous parties and make deals with many more parties.
It is different for Azarkan and Simons. Where others dealt, they invariably opted for the opposition. And those who do not count on a possible agreement with Rutte need not shy away from confrontation or reluctantly make friends. “That’s just a lie,” said Azarkan in the debate at the beginning of this month against VVD party chairman Sophie Hermans – other MPs rarely say it that outspoken.
Outsiders
Both were relative outsiders when they arrived in politics. Azarkan, born in the Moroccan Rif Mountains and raised in Schoonhoven, had worked before his political career as a real estate agent and as a senior civil servant at the Government Buildings Agency. Born in Paramaribo, Simons turned records and presented TV programs for TMF, SBS and RTL.
Both of them nevertheless succeeded, even if they did so from the opposition, in shifting the system slightly. Azarkan became a respected voice in debates over the Benefits scandal. And when the cabinet apologized last year for the Dutch slavery past, Prime Minister Rutte thanked Simons.
When Rutte noted in a parliamentary debate that that past was a long time ago, Simons had started talking about her mother’s grandmother. She was also enslaved: “That was not long ago at all, we are still talking about her.” Rutte had learned from that.
And sometimes, Simons noticed, her presence was enough to disrupt. She was accused of being “irritated” in debates by Rutte and also by Sophie Hermans when they disagreed. In an exasperated monologue, VVD MP Ockje Tellegen compared her to a child.
Annoying? Also effective. “I am the punching bag that exposes patterns that are invisible to many people. That’s my job,” she said. That is why she called Rutte’s annoyance “a present”. His annoyance had made more visible than she could have put into words.
Reputation
There was more that connected the two. To begin with: their political baptism of fire. Both Azarkan and Simons were presented in 2016 as the new addition of Denk, the brainchild of Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk. The two had separated from the PvdA and wanted to show that they were more than a party for Turkish Dutch people, ‘the long arm of Erdogan’ in The Hague.
Initially, Azarkan and Simons did not seem to want to change course: Denk continued to provoke. In a famous video, the four from folding stools warned their supporters with piercing fingers against the techniques of the ‘mainstream media’: “Don’t fall for it”.
Nevertheless, Azarkan and Simons managed to shake off that reputation and also reap appreciation from outside their supporters. One as party leader of Denk, the other by splitting off and founding his own party – first Article 1, later Bij1.
Azarkan could also provoke. With him as campaign manager, Denk made plans in 2017 for a fake advertisement for the PVV stating that the party wanted to “purify” the Netherlands. He was at odds with NRC, about the use of Think-trolls, and with News hour, which reported that Azarkan had gone to the Chamber despite a positive corona test. Journalists who tweeted about this were blocked by Azarkan.
Read alsoThis interview with Sylvana Simons from 2021
Yet Azarkan took a different approach than Kuzu and Öztürk. While Denk had focused on the integration issue under their leadership, Azarkan combined that focus with attention to social and economic issues. And when he faced PVV leader Geert Wilders, he received applause from the rest of the Chamber. In this way he turned Denk into a party that gained wide respect. “It’s a shame,” wrote the right-wing weblog GeenStijl on Monday about his farewell.
Moreover, Azarkan, who according to acquaintances has always loved to lead and organize, managed to transform the secessionist movement Denk into a future-proof party. The result is that although Denk sees a figurehead leave, he already has a logical successor in the parliamentary party. That is Stephan van Baarle – Turkish father, Dutch mother, not Muslim but agnostic.
Torn by discord
Whether such a peaceful transition is also possible for Simons and Bij1 is the question. Under her leadership, Bij1 tried to address inequalities in society and to increase the power of minorities. Meanwhile, the party was torn apart by disagreements over its own distribution of power. Members accused each other of mutual racism, prejudice and abuse of power.
Simons almost always remained unaffected, but never got the hassle in the game under control. She has also been struggling with health problems for some time. An interview from last week, in NRCwith two Amsterdam Bij1 council members splitting off and criticizing Simons, became the last straw.
She cannot campaign “on a bed of false frames,” she said de Volkskrant. “I cannot be the general who leads her troops to victory.”
2023-07-25 17:14:28
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