FarmerCitizenMovement
Boender (48) was born in the countryside of the Hoeksche Waard and now lives in the Krimpenerwaard, where he is director of a green company. The Conservative Café Gouda, of which he has been one of the driving forces for thirteen years, was virtually silent in the ‘corona years’ 2020 and 2021, but will soon be restarting.
Boender follows the advance of the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) in the polls with great interest. “Caroline van der Plas is doing really well. I hope she becomes the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands. She sees the social, ecological and economic importance of the agricultural sector. She is partly populist, but she remains neat.”
Benedictine option
In circles of the Conservative Café, it has sometimes been considered to set up a political party itself, Boender reveals. “Somewhere between the CDA and the PVV. Things always went wrong because of divisions about medical-ethical themes: abortion, euthanasia, embryo selection. As far as I’m concerned, the SGP is the most conservative party at the moment. But if you look deep into my heart… Actually, I would prefer the Benedictine option.”
Break with the political outside world as much as possible, Boender means, and concentrate on the local community. “Church, street, local residents, farmers, my company: I get a lot of energy from that. Of course, we make our statement if necessary. But when we return from the Malieveld, we are back in the Krimpenerwaard, at home in our own yard. Then we invite our friends over, then we smoke cigars, then we light a fire, then the kids walk over and then we tell each other stories. In our rural areas, there is a conservatism that suits me.”
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