2023-06-08 18:44:09
The BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) is not the first successful party to stand up for the countryside. As early as 1963, the Farmers’ Party entered the House of Representatives. The last living former Member of Parliament from that time, Nico Verlaan (90), applauds the arrival of BBB. “We were despised.”
When Nico Verlaan went to a meeting of the Boerenfeest for the first time in 1965, he did not expect to be on the party board at the end of the evening. He was especially curious regarding the party program. A new board was elected that evening, but those present found out that only farmers were on the board. And that while the Boerenfeest also wanted to be for the citizens. “Then someone shouted a few rows in front of me: ‘But here’s a civilian!’ And he pointed at me,” says the now 90-year-old Verlaan.
Verlaan was the representative of a coffee filter company and was the only one present in a suit “between 150 and 200 farmers in clogs”. Without saying a word, he was elected to the board of the Boer Party. Two years later he became a Member of Parliament for the party, which he would remain until March 1971.
Farmer Cuckoo
The BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) is therefore not the first political party to try to represent the interests of farmers and the countryside. From 1918 to 1933 there was already the Plattelandersbond, and from 1963 to 1981 the Farmers’ Party was in the Chamber. Thanks to the performances of its charismatic leader Hendrik ‘Boer’ Koekoek, the Boer Party gained a lot of fame.
Verlaan, the last surviving member of the Boer Party of Parliament from that time, still follows politics. Together with his wife he lives on an industrial estate in Amerongen, where he awaits his visitors armed with coffee, folders and documents. He sees both similarities and differences between the Farmers’ Party and BBB.
Verlaan sees a clear similarity in the appeal of the leaders of both parties. “Cuckoo was the only one with us who might carry the batch.” According to him, BBB leader Caroline van der Plas also has the same kind of charisma.
Populist style
Professor Gerrit Voerman, who has done research on the Boerenfeest and BBB, fully endorses the agreement: “Van der Plas is the pivot of BBB’s success, just as Koekoek was with the Boerenfeest.” Voerman sees characteristics of a populist style in both party leaders, because both Koekoek and Van der Plas contrast the ‘elitist The Hague’ with the ‘people of the countryside’. Voerman also thinks BBB is ideologically populist, which he believes the Farmers’ Party was not: “BBB wants to give the people more influence through an elected mayor and through referenda. The Boer Party has never taken such positions.”
Voerman also sees similarities between the Farmers’ Party and BBB in the way in which both parties stood up in Dutch politics: “BBB stands up for the farmer by opposing government policy, in this case the nitrogen rules.” The Farmers’ Party entered the House of Representatives in 1963 because of the attention it received from the ‘Revolt of the Brave’ in Hollandscheveld.
This ‘uprising’ resulted in a clash between farmers and police. The farmers present protested in the Drenthe village of Hollandscheveld once morest the eviction of farmers who refused to pay a levy to the Landbouwschap, an umbrella organization for agricultural organizations whose membership was compulsory. The protesting farmers were led by Boer Koekoek. They, like BBB, were also once morest government interference in the agricultural sector, according to Voerman.
Dissatisfied with government
This dissatisfaction with the government also explains why both the Farmers’ Party and the BoerBurgerBeweging received votes not only from the countryside, but also from the cities. According to Verlaan, in the case of the Boer Party, this was due to ‘general dissatisfaction with all kinds of things’. In addition to the protests once morest the Agricultural Board, Professor Voerman mentions another striking reason: “Until 1970, the Netherlands had compulsory voting in elections. Many people did not agree with this and in 1967 voted in protest for the Boer Party.”
According to the professor, the Farmers’ Party and BBB do differ in their position on the political spectrum: “BBB calls itself a middle party.” Voerman sees this reflected in the party’s positions: “BBB is for completed life, which is a progressive position. At the same time, she is also once morest abolishing the reflection period for abortion.” Voerman therefore concluded in an investigation into the positions of the BoerBurgerBeweging that the party adopts a ‘cocktail of positions’.
According to Voerman, the Boerenfeest was ‘an unadulterated right-wing conservative party’. In the economic sphere, the party was liberal, once morest too much government interference and for the free market. This is also what appealed to Verlaan in Boer Koekoek’s party: “I was looking for a party that was for complete freedom.” He initially sought this out at the VVD, but there he was expelled from the party because, in his own words, he was ‘a critical member’.
illiterates in the group
The way in which Verlaan ended up on the board of the Boerenfeest was indicative of the approach of the party. When he came to the House of Representatives in 1967 as one of the seven members of parliament, the aim, according to him, was mainly to protest. In practice, this meant that MPs were not occupied with reading official documents, holding party meetings or preparing committee meetings.
“We didn’t take it seriously at all,” Verlaan chuckles. “There were also illiterates in the group.” Verlaan himself had attended mulo (a predecessor of secondary school), and was therefore, in his own words, “bombed out to be the intellectual of the faction”. Verlaan therefore had to go to almost every committee meeting for the Boer Party, without knowing exactly what it was regarding: “We read in the newspaper what we had to think regarding certain matters.”
According to Verlaan, this is also the biggest difference between the Boerenfeest and BBB. Caroline van der Plas’ party is indeed serious and, following the results of the Provincial Council elections – in which the party became the largest – is a power factor that the coalition parties take into account and may cooperate with.
Internal conflicts
The Boer Party never had this position in Dutch politics and so other parties had to take less account of Boer Koekoek’s party. The attitude taken once morest the Boer Party was much more negative, according to Verlaan: “We were despised.” In that area, he sees mainly similarities between the Boerenfeest and Geert Wilders’ PVV. Only: “Wilders can counter that better than we might.”
The Farmers’ Party did not last long in the House of Representatives. Due to the war history of some members and internal conflicts, the party fell apart and in 1981 Boer Koekoek, the last remaining Member of Parliament, permanently disappeared from the House. Nico Verlaan himself was a Member of Parliament for the Farmers’ Party until March 1971. He does not see such a fate for BBB: “Van der Plas has everything well organized.” Professor Voerman does not see the party imploding any time soon either: “BBB has risen quickly, just like the Farmers’ Party, but also LPF and FvD, but Van der Plas is a less erratic leader. I don’t see that going wrong anytime soon.” When asked regarding a tip for Caroline van der Plas, Verlaan is short: “Keep it up.”
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