The Rotterdam woman recently wrote in a reader’s column in the online newspaper Metro that a board member had made racist remarks during her period at GroenLinks Rotterdam. After she had complained about this, the board and the faction would have tried to kick her out of the party.
Complaint picked up
The Complaints Committee has taken up this complaint. “It is very bad that she has experienced this in such a way that someone feels discriminated against. The complaint has been declared well-founded. This cannot be justified,” says GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver. He never actually saw an email Fernald sent to him because it was forwarded to the party office, as shown in this video:
The party board has adopted the decision of the complaints committee and has started working with the recommendations, says a spokesperson. For example, in response to Fernald’s complaint, ‘more has been invested in identifying the confidential advisers within the association and training our volunteers in preventing and responding to undesirable behaviour’.
Breach of trust
Fernald was elected with preferential votes in the South Holland party of GroenLinks in the provincial elections of 15 March. She did not vote for her own party in the elections to the Senate yesterday, but for Volt. That cost GroenLinks a seat in the senate. Group chairman Sinan Özkaya immediately expelled Fernald from his group, which now consists of five people, because of a ‘breach of trust’:
2023-05-31 12:55:47
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