206-549: Forum for Democracy ( Dutch : Forum voor Democratie [ˈfoːrʏɱ voːr ˌdeːmoːkraːˈ(t)si] ; FvD ) is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections in the 2017 general election , winning two seats in the House of Representatives . At the time of its conception, the FvD
412-742: A Flemish chapter in January 2024. It intended to participate in the June 2024 European Parliament election in Belgium's Dutch-speaking electoral college , but the party did not manage to collect the required amount of signatures. In the European parliament, the FvD sat with the European Conservatives and Reformists until a split in the party in 2020, when its former MEP's defected to JA21 party and joined European Conservatives and Reformists Party . FvD then left
618-491: A neoclassical style and for city planning that "fits within a historical view." FvD also supports the establishment of a commission to protect historic monuments from destruction, wants Frysk to be retained as a second state language, calls for schools to teach about "beautiful things that the West has produced" and supports free museum admission for all Dutch citizens. However, the party has also promoted plans to defund and privatize
824-461: A schwa . The Middle Dutch dialect areas were affected by political boundaries. The sphere of political influence of a certain ruler often also created a sphere of linguistic influence, with the language within the area becoming more homogenous. Following the contemporary political divisions they are in order of importance: A process of standardisation started in the Middle Ages , especially under
1030-405: A white paper for a new party, although observers tend to see the party's foundation as part of a complex decade-long series of events, with some even calling into question whether a meeting took place. Initially, the party did not have a single centralized leader and was instead fronted by two alternating spokespeople before Anders Klarström became the party's sole official chairman and head of
1236-485: A " Manchurian candidate " of Putin. Baudet has supported Dutch withdrawal from NATO. The FvD has shifted from an initial strongly pro-Israel attitude towards the Israeli–Palestinian conflict , towards criticism of Israel's role in the 2023 Israel-Hamas war , with Baudet praising the pro-Palestinian DENK 's stance on the conflict. Baudet has described Israeli actions as "ethnic cleansing" and suggested that Israel
1442-614: A "value-oriented" party and stating that "basic social justice with traditional conservative ideas," nationalism and desires for democratic and good governance form the party's main principles. Nevertheless, the party is often described as being right-wing to far-right . In policy, SD articulates its main focus to be the areas of immigration, law and order and the elderly. The party also attaches particular importance to its economic and family policy. The SD criticizes multiculturalism in Sweden and emphasizes preserving national heritage. It
1648-411: A "white Europe". FvD in the economic field supports economic liberalism . The party is a proponent of the introduction of a high tax-free bracket for everyone, the abolition of taxes on gifts and inheritance and a radical simplification of tax brackets. The party is a proponent of drastic changes in elementary and secondary education, focusing on performance evaluations for teachers. It wants to expand
1854-521: A Dutch court found Baudet guilty of "creating a breeding ground for antisemitism " with his statements and ordered him to delete social media posts comparing COVID policies to the Holocaust or face a fine. Baudet denied that his statements were intended to be offensive or antisemitic. In 2022, the FvD regained representation in the European Parliament when Marcel de Graaff defected to the party. As
2060-486: A Dutch exonym for the various German dialects used in neighboring German states. Use of Nederduytsch was popular in the 16th century but ultimately lost out over Nederlands during the close of the 18th century, with (Hoog)Duytsch establishing itself as the Dutch exonym for German during this same period. In the 19th century Germany saw the rise of the categorisation of dialects, with German dialectologists terming
2266-734: A Nazi uniform. Opposition to the party have mistakenly mixed these two events together and falsely claim that she was wearing the uniform at a rally of the Sweden Democrats and that it was because of this that the uniform ban came about. During the early 1990s, the party became more influenced by the French National Rally , as well as the Freedom Party of Austria , the Danish People's Party , German The Republicans and Italian National Alliance . SD received economic support for
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#17328524753622472-511: A comparison between the West Germanic languages, see the sections Phonology, Grammar, and Vocabulary. Dutch dialects are primarily the dialects that are both related with the Dutch language and are spoken in the same language area as the Dutch standard language . Although heavily under the influence of the standard language, some of them remain diverse and are found in the Netherlands and in
2678-605: A delegation of senior SD members visited Israel to hold meetings with Knesset politicians and discuss a cooperation pact with the Likud party. The party has also taken a strongly pro-Israel position following the outbreak of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war , supporting military action to remove Hamas and calling on the Swedish government to review all funding to Palestinian organizations which the SD accuse of spending aid money on terrorism. In 2011, SD
2884-624: A differentiation with the Central and High Franconian in Germany. The latter would as a consequence evolve (along with Alemannic , Bavarian and Lombardic ) into Old High German. At more or less the same time the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, moving over Western Europe from west to east, led to the development of Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Old Frisian and Old Saxon . Hardly influenced by either development, Old Dutch probably remained relatively close to
3090-485: A directly elected Prime Minister . The party is also in favor of the government consisting of apolitical experts in their respective fields (" technocracy "), and top civil servants having to reapply for their positions whenever a new cabinet is formed. FvD supports high culture . It argues for the protection of Dutch culture and "European classical music, art and knowledge." It is critical of modern architecture, calling for both new government buildings to be constructed in
3296-426: A drunken man. A woman can also be seen approaching Kent Ekeroth while filming; he calls her a whore and pushes her out of the way. A few minutes later they are seen picking up iron bars. Coming only a month after party leader Åkesson had instated a zero-tolerance policy towards racism in the party, the release of the video caused Almqvist to leave his position as the party's economic policy spokesperson and his place in
3502-619: A federal superstate. It also supports referendums and Dutch withdrawal from the Eurozone and the Schengen Agreement . FvD also wants a renegotiation of Dutch membership of the EU followed by a binding referendum on EU membership and an "intelligent exit" ( Nexit ) from the EU if it cannot be reformed and terms cannot be met. Prior to 2022, party membership numbers of FvD were not independently verified and have been disputed. Forum for Democracy founded
3708-573: A fifth of the Indonesian language can be traced to Dutch, including many loan words . Indonesia's Civil Code has not been officially translated, and the original Dutch language version dating from colonial times remains the authoritative version. Up to half a million native speakers reside in the United States, Canada and Australia combined, and historical linguistic minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France and Germany. Dutch
3914-471: A first language and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language. In Europe, Dutch is the native language of most of the population of the Netherlands and Flanders (which includes 60% of the population of Belgium ). Dutch was one of the official languages of South Africa until 1925, when it was replaced by Afrikaans , a separate but partially mutually intelligible daughter language of Dutch. Afrikaans, depending on
4120-493: A hypothesis by De Grauwe, In northern West Francia (i.e. modern-day Belgium) the term would take on a new meaning during the Early Middle Ages , when, within the context of a highly dichromatic linguistic landscape, it came to be the antonym of *walhisk (Romance-speakers, specifically Old French ). The word, now rendered as dietsc (Southwestern variant) or duutsc (Central and Northern Variant), could refer to
4326-462: A level where it does not "threaten national identity, the country's welfare or security." SD has also campaigned to restrict immigration from what it calls "culturally distant" countries and that temporary work visas should be limited only to skills that are impossible to find in Sweden. SD are against free movement of labour within the European Union, calling on Sweden to revise its membership of
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#17328524753624532-406: A living from street begging, changes in the law to enable the government to strip foreign-born Swedish nationals of their citizenship if found guilty of a serious crime or involvement in terrorism, penalties against employers who use foreign and undocumented labor to circumvent Swedish working conditions and stricter laws against family migration. In recent years, the SD has tried to approach
4738-516: A minority language in Germany and northern France's French Flanders . Though Belgium as a whole is multilingual, three of the four language areas into which the country is divided ( Flanders , francophone Wallonia , and the German-speaking Community ) are largely monolingual, with Brussels being bilingual. The Netherlands and Belgium produce the vast majority of music , films , books and other media written or spoken in Dutch. Dutch
4944-657: A minority) and the province of Walloon Brabant . Brabantian expands into small parts in the west of Limburg while its strong influence on the East Flemish of East Flanders and eastern Zeelandic Flanders weakens towards the west. In a small area in the northwest of North Brabant ( Willemstad ), Hollandic is spoken. Conventionally, the Kleverlandish dialects are distinguished from Brabantian, but there are no objective criteria apart from geography to do so. Over 5 million people live in an area with some form of Brabantian being
5150-549: A new EU strategy calling for Sweden to create a referendum lock in the Riksdag based on the UK European Union Act 2011 to prevent transfer of powers to Brussels without a referendum first and for Sweden's withdrawal from the EU to be possible by removing references to membership in the constitution. The Sweden Democrats are supportive of Israel and favors recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and proposes moving
5356-664: A new political party. GO had two seats in the Senate and one seat in the European Parliament which were taken up by former FvD members. On 30 April 2020, Forum for Democracy formed a coalition with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) in the North Brabant province, the first time the party had formally entered into the administration of a regional authority. In late 2020, former VVD MP Wybren van Haga defected to
5562-420: A number of closely related, mutually intelligible dialects spoken in the former Old Dutch area. Where Old Dutch fragments are very hard to read for untrained Modern Dutch speakers, the various literary works of Middle Dutch are somewhat more accessible. The most notable difference between Old and Middle Dutch is in a feature of speech known as vowel reduction , whereby vowels in unstressed syllables are leveled to
5768-488: A perfect West Germanic dialect continuum remained present; the division reflects the contingent future contribution dialect groups would have to the later languages. The early form of Dutch was a set of Franconian dialects spoken by the Salian Franks in the 5th century. These happened to develop through Middle Dutch to Modern Dutch over the course of fifteen centuries. During that period, they forced Old Frisian back from
5974-516: A political border, because the traditional dialects are strongly influenced by the national standard varieties. While a somewhat heterogeneous group of Low Franconian dialects, Limburgish has received official status as a regional language in the Netherlands and Germany, but not in Belgium. Due to this official recognition, it receives protection by chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Afrikaans , although to
6180-585: A poster on Holocaust Memorial Day comparing lockdown measures with the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands . The analogy and timing of the poster was criticized by the Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands. During the pandemic, members of FvD were accused of circulating conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and using further Holocaust comparisons with vaccinations and social distancing. In December 2021,
6386-522: A result, the FvD became a member of the Identity and Democracy group instead of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). In 2022 FvD left the European Conservatives and Reformists Party . In March 2022, Senators Theo Hiddema and Paul Frentrop left the party over FvD's absence at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 's speech to the House of Representatives, leaving only Senator Johan Dessing . At
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6592-505: A result, when West Flemings try to talk Standard Dutch, they are often unable to pronounce the g-sound, and pronounce it similar to the h-sound. This leaves, for example, no difference between " held " (hero) and " geld " (money). Or in some cases, they are aware of the problem, and hyper-correct the "h" into a voiced velar fricative or g-sound, again leaving no difference. The West Flemish variety historically spoken in adjacent parts in France
6798-644: A revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. The development of the Dutch language is illustrated by the following sentence in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch: Among the Indo-European languages , Dutch is grouped within the Germanic languages , meaning it shares a common ancestor with languages such as English, German, and the Scandinavian languages . All Germanic languages are subject to
7004-516: A significant degree mutually intelligible with Dutch, is usually not considered a dialect but instead a separate standardised language . It is spoken in South Africa and Namibia. As a daughter language of 17th-century Dutch dialects, Afrikaans evolved in parallel with modern Dutch, but was influenced by various other languages in South Africa. West Frisian ( Westerlauwers Fries ), along with Saterland Frisian and North Frisian , evolved from
7210-419: A somewhat different development since the late Middle Ages. Two dialect groups have been given the official status of regional language (or streektaal ) in the Netherlands. Like several other dialect groups, both are part of a dialect continuum that continues across the national border. The Dutch Low Saxon dialect area comprises the provinces of Groningen , Drenthe and Overijssel , as well as parts of
7416-424: A source language, mainly for law and history students. In Indonesia this involves about 35,000 students. Unlike other European nations, the Dutch chose not to follow a policy of language expansion amongst the indigenous peoples of their colonies. In the last quarter of the 19th century, however, a local elite gained proficiency in Dutch so as to meet the needs of expanding bureaucracy and business. Nevertheless,
7622-458: A tougher stance on gang violence with longer prison sentences. Preliminary results indicated that the Sweden Democrats had seen their strongest result to date and had overtaken the Moderates to become the second largest party with 20.6% of the vote. The result was confirmed after the election. In October 2022, the SD was allocated chairmanship of four parliamentary committees for the first time in
7828-538: A unique prestige dialect and has a large dialectal continuum consisting of 28 main dialects, which can themselves be further divided into at least 600 distinguishable varieties. In the Netherlands, the Hollandic dialect dominates in national broadcast media while in Flanders Brabantian dialect dominates in that capacity, making them in turn unofficial prestige dialects in their respective countries. Outside
8034-453: A vetting procedure for its future parliamentary candidates to exclude those who had previously belonged to any extremist groups and issued updated guidelines on conduct and communication for party members. In 2011, the party also changed its self-description from "nationalist" to "social conservative". Sweden Democrat MP William Petzäll was persuaded to leave the party on 26 September 2011 while still retaining his parliamentary seat. This
8240-506: A victory in the provincial elections. Later that year, it also supported protests by Dutch farmers against enforcing legislation on nitrogen emissions. The FvD blames the NATO countries for the escalation of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and openly supports the Russian view of the conflict. The party's original co-founder Henk Otten has criticised the FvD's stance on Russia and called Baudet
8446-578: A vote of no confidence in the government in 2015, albeit without success. Ahead of the 2022 Swedish general election , the SD attempted to form a conservative grouping with the Moderates , Christian Democrats and the Liberals and requested ministerial posts in government should the right-wing bloc form a parliamentary majority. During the election, the SD campaigned to reduce asylum migration close to zero, stricter policies on work permits, lower energy bills and
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8652-501: A work that had begun during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Today, the SD officially rejects fascism on their platform and since 2012 has maintained a zero-tolerance policy against "extremists," "lawbreakers," and "racists." The Sweden Democrats oppose current Swedish immigration and integration policies, instead supporting stronger restrictions on immigration and measures for immigrants to assimilate into Swedish culture. The party supports closer cooperation with Nordic countries , but
8858-504: Is Nederlands (historically Nederlandsch before the Dutch orthographic reforms ). Sometimes Vlaams (" Flemish ") is used as well to describe Standard Dutch in Flanders , whereas Hollands (" Hollandic ") is occasionally used as a colloquial term for the standard language in the central and northwestern parts of the Netherlands. English uses the adjective Dutch as a noun for
9064-531: Is kantor , handdoek "towel" in Indonesian is handuk , or bushalte "bus stop" in Indonesian is halte bus . In addition, many Indonesian words are calques of Dutch; for example, rumah sakit "hospital" is calqued on the Dutch ziekenhuis (literally "sickhouse"), kebun binatang "zoo" on dierentuin (literally "animal garden"), undang-undang dasar "constitution" from grondwet (literally "ground law"). These account for some of
9270-461: Is Sranan Tongo , spoken natively by about a fifth of the population. Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( Swedish : Sverigedemokraterna [ˈsvæ̂rjɛdɛmʊˌkrɑːtɛɳa] , SD [ˈɛ̂sːdeː] ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing bloc and
9476-531: Is a monocentric language , at least what concerns its written form, with all speakers using the same standard form (authorised by the Dutch Language Union ) based on a Dutch orthography defined in the so-called " Green Booklet " authoritative dictionary and employing the Latin alphabet when writing; however, pronunciation varies between dialects. Indeed, in stark contrast to its written uniformity, Dutch lacks
9682-413: Is a meet in the middle approach and that Swedes should not have to bear the burden over what the party claims have been reckless immigration policies. In 2017, members of the Sweden Democrats' leadership defended comments made by then US President Donald Trump in response to Trump's assertion that Sweden's migration and asylum policies had led to a rise of terrorism and crime in Sweden. However, following
9888-779: Is a reference to the Low Countries' downriver location at the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta near the North Sea . From 1551, the designation Nederlands received strong competition from the name Nederduytsch (literally "Low Dutch", Dutch being used in its archaic sense covering all continental West Germanic languages). It is a calque of the aforementioned Roman province Germania Inferior and an attempt by early Dutch grammarians to give their language more prestige by linking it to Roman times. Likewise, Hoogduits ("High German") and Overlands ("Upper-landish") came into use as
10094-531: Is against further European integration and believes Sweden must have a strategy to exit the European Union if it assumes more power and that the Swedish people should be allowed to vote on future EU treaties. The Sweden Democrats are critical of multiculturalism and support having a common national and cultural identity, which they believe improves social cohesion. The party supports the Swedish welfare state but
10300-485: Is against providing welfare to people who are not Swedish citizens and permanent residents of Sweden, a policy known as welfare chauvinism . The Sweden Democrats support a mixed market economy combining ideas from the centre-left and centre-right. The party supports same-sex marriage , civil unions for gay couples, and gender-affirming surgery but prefers that children be raised in a traditional nuclear family and argues that churches or private institutions should have
10506-629: Is also against any further influence of Islamic culture on Dutch society, supports a crackdown on forced or child marriages and wants to ban Islamic face veils and other face coverings. The FvD also opposes foreign funding of Islamic schools and institutions, and argues that all schools in the Netherlands should subscribe to "Judeo-Christian values." FvD also states that immigrants who do not wish to integrate should be offered incentives to return to their native country and that whenever possible asylum seekers should be processed off Dutch soil. In 2024, Baudet advocated for mass remigration in order to maintain
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#173285247536210712-465: Is also an official language of several international organisations, such as the European Union , Union of South American Nations and the Caribbean Community . At an academic level, Dutch is taught in about 175 universities in 40 countries. About 15,000 students worldwide study Dutch at university. In Europe, Dutch is the majority language in the Netherlands (96%) and Belgium (59%) as well as
10918-403: Is also opposed to what it sees as a constant shift of power from Stockholm to the European Union and campaigns to protect Swedish sovereignty and financial autonomy against the EU. Until the 2000s, the SD used ethnopluralist arguments in its defense of a Swedish homeland and culture with its 2005 handbook calling for a "high degree of ethnic and cultural similarity among the population" while
11124-456: Is doing enough to reduce their emissions. The Sweden Democrats support generally increasing minimum sentences for crimes, as well as increasing police resources and personnel. The party also supports increasing the number of Swedish Army brigades and supports raising Sweden's defense spending. Support for the Sweden Democrats has grown steadily since the 1990s and the party crossed the 4% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation for
11330-578: Is found in the Salic law . In this Frankish document written around 510 the oldest Dutch sentence has been identified: Maltho thi afrio lito ("I say to you, I free you, serf") used to free a serf. Another old fragment of Dutch is Visc flot aftar themo uuatare ("A fish was swimming in the water"). The oldest conserved larger Dutch text is the Utrecht baptismal vow (776–800) starting with Forsachistu diobolae ... ec forsacho diabolae (litt.: "Forsake you
11536-617: Is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and Old Dutch loanwords in French. Old Dutch is regarded as the primary stage in the development of a separate Dutch language. It was spoken by the descendants of the Salian Franks who occupied what is now the southern Netherlands , northern Belgium , part of northern France, and parts of the Lower Rhine regions of Germany. The High German consonant shift, moving over Western Europe from south to west, caused
11742-485: Is one of the closest relatives of both German and English, and is colloquially said to be "roughly in between" them. Dutch, like English, has not undergone the High German consonant shift , does not use Germanic umlaut as a grammatical marker, has largely abandoned the use of the subjunctive , and has levelled much of its morphology , including most of its case system . Features shared with German, however, include
11948-556: Is so distinct that it might be considered as a separate language variant, although the strong significance of language in Belgian politics would prevent the government from classifying them as such. An oddity of the dialect is that, the voiced velar fricative (written as "g" in Dutch) shifts to a voiced glottal fricative (written as "h" in Dutch), while the letter "h" becomes mute (like in French). As
12154-573: Is sometimes called French Flemish and is listed as a French minority language . However, only a very small and aging minority of the French-Flemish population still speaks and understands West Flemish. Hollandic is spoken in Holland and Utrecht , though the original forms of this dialect (which were heavily influenced by a West Frisian substratum and, from the 16th century on, by Brabantian dialects ) are now relatively rare. The urban dialects of
12360-614: Is spoken in Limburg (Belgium) as well as in the remaining part of Limburg (Netherlands) and extends across the German border. West Flemish ( Westvlaams ) is spoken in West Flanders , the western part of Zeelandic Flanders and also in French Flanders , where it virtually became extinct to make way for French. The West Flemish group of dialects, spoken in West Flanders and Zeeland ,
12566-575: Is taught in various educational centres in Indonesia, the most important of which is the Erasmus Language Centre (ETC) in Jakarta . Each year, some 1,500 to 2,000 students take Dutch courses there. In total, several thousand Indonesians study Dutch as a foreign language. Owing to centuries of Dutch rule in Indonesia, many old documents are written in Dutch. Many universities therefore include Dutch as
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#173285247536212772-404: Is the case with the ( standardised ) West Frisian language . It is spoken alongside Dutch in the province of Friesland . Dutch dialects and regional languages are not spoken as often as they used to be, especially in the Netherlands. Recent research by Geert Driessen shows that the use of dialects and regional languages among both Dutch adults and youth is in heavy decline. In 1995, 27 percent of
12978-525: Is the sole official language, and over 60 percent of the population speaks it as a mother tongue . Dutch is the obligatory medium of instruction in schools in Suriname, even for non-native speakers. A further twenty-four percent of the population speaks Dutch as a second language . Suriname gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1975 and has been an associate member of the Dutch Language Union since 2004. The lingua franca of Suriname, however,
13184-451: The 1998 election from the then called French National Front, and became active in Le Pen's Euronat from the same time. By the end of the decade, the party took further steps to moderate itself by softening its policies on immigration and capital punishment. In 1999, the SD left Euronat although the youth wing remained affiliated until 2002. In 2001 the most extreme faction was expelled from
13390-519: The 2006 New Zealand census , 26,982 people, or 0.70 percent of the total population, reported to speak Dutch to sufficient fluency that they could hold an everyday conversation. In contrast to the colonies in the East Indies , from the second half of the 19th century onwards, the Netherlands envisaged the expansion of Dutch in its colonies in the West Indies . Until 1863, when slavery was abolished in
13596-524: The 2018 Swedish general election , the SD increased its support to 17.5% of the vote, though it did not grow as much as most polls had predicted. According to Emily Schultheis of Foreign Policy , the SD won an ideological victory, as it "effectively set the terms for debate" and forced its rivals to adopt immigration policies similar to its own, and other reporters made similar observations. The SD performed particularly well in Skåne County , having
13802-546: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the SD supported accepting and accommodating Ukrainian refugees in Sweden. The SD wants European governments to construct a security wall along the European border with Turkey in response to illegal immigration, terrorism and incursions by the Grey Wolves into Greece. It also calls on Europe to commonly adopt a migration system based on the Australian model to prevent human trafficking across
14008-524: The 2022 Swedish general election , the party campaigned to tighten the rules in the Swedish Aliens Act ( Utlänningslagen [ sv ] ) to the strictest possible level within European law and encourage voluntary re-migration of asylum seekers and immigrants who are economically inactive or remain culturally unassimilated. Historically, SD sought to repatriate most immigrants and ban immigration entirely; however, these policies were moderated in
14214-400: The Brussels and Flemish regions of Belgium . The areas in which they are spoken often correspond with former medieval counties and duchies. The Netherlands (but not Belgium) distinguishes between a dialect and a streektaal (" regional language "). Those words are actually more political than linguistic because a regional language unites a large group of very different varieties. Such is
14420-466: The COVID-19 lockdowns were concocted by George Soros and lashing out at colleague Joost Eerdmans . Baudet denied the accusations. In December 2020, Baudet reversed his actions and announced the party would hold a leadership contest. The FvD's board announced an internal referendum on whether to expel Baudet from the party and replace him with a new leader. This took place on 3 December 2020, with 76% of FvD members voting in favour of Baudet remaining in
14626-429: The Centre Party and the Liberal Party left to support the Social Democratic led government. In October 2018, the Sweden Democrats went into a governing coalitions with the Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats for the first time in Staffanstorp Municipality , Sölvesborg Municipality , Herrljunga Municipality and Bromölla Municipality . In Bromölla, coalition felt apart in 2020, while new coalitions with
14832-473: The Dutch Language Union . The Dutch Caribbean municipalities ( St. Eustatius , Saba and Bonaire ) have Dutch as one of the official languages. In Asia, Dutch was used in the Dutch East Indies (now mostly Indonesia ) by a limited educated elite of around 2% of the total population, including over 1 million indigenous Indonesians, until it was banned in 1957, but the ban was lifted afterwards. About
15038-689: The European Conservatives and Reformists Party . The party was affiliated with the Identity and Democracy (ID) far-right political group of the European Parliament for a short period in 2022, leaving in October after accusing ID of being anti-Russian. In 2024, the FvD lost its European Parliament representation, after its MEP had sat as a Non-Inscrit , and it joined the newly established Europe of Sovereign Nations party that same year. The FvD has also been criticized for alleged financial and politics ties to Vladimir Putin with Dutch television show Zembla claiming to have unearthed WhatsApp communications between
15244-599: The European election of 2014 , SD received 9.67% of votes, winning two seats in the European Parliament and becoming the fifth largest party in the country. The party later joined the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe and the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group. In the 2014 election , the Sweden Democrats received 12.9% of the votes, doubling their support and becoming
15450-590: The Grimm's law and Verner's law sound shifts, which originated in the Proto-Germanic language and define the basic features differentiating them from other Indo-European languages. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age . The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: East (now extinct), West , and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout
15656-483: The Iron pipe scandal , although the same videos had already been released on YouTube by Erik Almqvist in 2010. The videos, recorded by MP Kent Ekeroth , featured him along with fellow Sweden Democrats MP Erik Almqvist and Christian Westling . The videos show Almqvist arguing with comedian Soran Ismail : Almqvist is referring to Sweden as "my country, not your country", as an insult to Ismail. They are also shown arguing with
15862-682: The Liberals , and came second overall with 20.5% of the vote. Following the election and the Tidö Agreement , it was negotiated that SD agreed to support a Moderate Party-led government together with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. It is the first time that SD holds direct influence over the government. The Sweden Democrats party was founded in 1988 as a direct successor to the Sweden Party , which in turn had been formed in 1986 by
16068-579: The Low Franconian languages, paired with its sister language Limburgish or East Low Franconian. Its closest relative is the mutually intelligible daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are German , English and the un-standardised languages Low German and Yiddish . Dutch stands out in combining some Ingvaeonic characteristics (occurring consistently in English and Frisian and reduced in intensity from west to east over
16274-591: The Migration Period . Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots , Frisian , Low German (Old Saxon) and High German . It is characterised by a number of phonological and morphological innovations not found in North or East Germanic. The West Germanic varieties of the time are generally split into three dialect groups: Ingvaeonic (North Sea Germanic), Istvaeonic (Weser–Rhine Germanic) and Irminonic (Elbe Germanic). It appears that
16480-833: The National Democratic Party of Germany , the American National Association for the Advancement of White People (founded by David Duke ) and publications like the Nazi Nation Europa and Nouvelle École , a newspaper that advocates racial biology and the British neo-Nazi Combat 18 movement. The SD won municipal representation for the first time during the 1991 Swedish local elections in Dals-Ed Municipality and Höör . In 1995, Klarström
16686-575: The Nederlandse Publieke Omroep , a Dutch public broadcasting organization. Although the party has argued for equal treatment of people of different sexual orientations, it calls for the protection of children against what it describes as " woke and LGBT propaganda " and supports prohibiting minors from being in Pride parades and taking hormone therapy. FvD has spoken out against feminism and has promoted traditional gender roles such as that of
16892-471: The New Swedish Movement and the neo-Nazi Nordiska rikspartiet ( Nordic Realm Party ," abbr. NRP ) and estimated that around sixty percent of party's national board members between 1989 and 1995 were connected to neo-Nazi movements in various ways both before and during their time in the party. However, the study also concluded that a majority of these members were no longer active within
17098-568: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , Björn Söder for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Adam Marttinen the chairman of the joint-parliamentary group for Europol . The party also formed a deal with Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson to provide for the first time in their history parliamentary support to a Moderate Party-led government as part of
17304-526: The Randstad , which are Hollandic dialects, do not diverge from standard Dutch very much, but there is a clear difference between the city dialects of Rotterdam , The Hague , Amsterdam and Utrecht . In some rural Hollandic areas more authentic Hollandic dialects are still being used, especially north of Amsterdam. Another group of dialects based on Hollandic is that spoken in the cities and larger towns of Friesland , where it partially displaced West Frisian in
17510-565: The Schengen agreement , but support free movement between Nordic nations . As more state funds are made free from funding immigration, SD believes that Sweden will be better able to help refugees and economic migrants in their home areas. Torbjörn Kastell (former party secretary from 2003 to 2004) said in 2002 that the party wanted "a multicultural world, not a multicultural society". SD also favours assimilation over integration of immigrants from non-European backgrounds, arguing that integration
17716-526: The Southern Netherlands (now Belgium and Luxembourg), developments were different. Under subsequent Spanish , Austrian and French rule , the standardisation of Dutch language came to a standstill. The state, law, and increasingly education used French, yet more than half the Belgian population were speaking a variety of Dutch. In the course of the 19th century, the Flemish Movement stood up for
17922-478: The Swedish Riksdag for the first time, with 5.7% of the vote and 20 MPs. In 2010, the SD leadership introduced a charter against racism on the party platform and later expanded this into a zero-tolerance policy regarding political extremism and law breaking. After some of the SD's elected members caused controversies during the party's first term in the Riksdag, the SD also stated it would introduce
18128-649: The Swedish embassy there. A study by the European Coalition for Israel documented that SD had the most pro-Israel voting record of the Swedish parties in the European Parliament. In 2021, the Israeli government stated that they did not maintain relations with the SD due to "its roots in Nazism" but by 2023 had dropped its non-cooperation stance after SD representatives signed a document of principle with Israeli ministers pledging to combat antisemitism. Between 2023 and 2024,
18334-430: The Tidö Agreement . Defunct Former The Sweden Democrats' current party programme is based on "democratic nationalism " and social conservatism . The SD says that its core philosophy is inspired by Swedish national conservatism and "parts of the social democratic folkhemmet (people's home) idea." SD rejects any positioning of the party within the classic left-right scale, instead referring to itself as
18540-672: The UNHCR resettlement programme in accordance with a quota based on each municipality 's capacity. SD has also referred to the recommendations from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which state that the return of refugees should be the solution to refugee problems. The party also supports giving priority to cases of persecuted Christian, former Muslim and other religious or sexual minorities fleeing war or death for apostasy believing that such individuals are less likely to be offered refuge elsewhere. Ahead of
18746-485: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be a cornerstone of its policies. In 2005, Åkesson defeated Jansson in a leadership contest. Shortly after, the party changed its logo from the flaming torch to one featuring an Anemone hepatica , reminiscent of the party's very first, but short-lived, logo (a stylised Myosotis scorpioides ). In the 2010 Swedish general election , SD won representation in
18952-471: The continental West Germanic plane) with dominant Istvaeonic characteristics, some of which are also incorporated in German. Unlike German, Dutch (apart from Limburgish) has not been influenced at all by the south to north movement of the High German consonant shift and had some changes of its own. The cumulation of these changes resulted over time in separate, but related standard languages with various degrees of similarities and differences between them. For
19158-434: The differences in vocabulary between Indonesian and Malay. Some regional languages in Indonesia have some Dutch loanwords as well; for example, Sundanese word Katel or "frying pan" origin in Dutch is " ketel ". The Javanese word for "bike/ bicycle " " pit " can be traced back to its origin in Dutch " fiets ". The Malacca state of Malaysia was also colonized by the Dutch in its longest period that Malacca
19364-474: The far-right of the spectrum. It was also accused of drawing links with the alt-right movement. The FvD has been described as ideologically national conservative , Hard Eurosceptic , and right-wing populist . On its official platform, the FvD declares itself to be a movement rather than a party with a focus on protecting Dutch sovereignty, identity, and cultural and intellectual property. The party wants stricter immigration and integration policies, calling for
19570-532: The remigration allowance given to foreign-born residents who seek to voluntarily leave the country. The Sweden Democrats support close political co-operation within the Nordic sphere, but are eurosceptic and against further EU integration and cession of Swedish sovereignty to the European Union . The party opposes EU regulation over Swedish tax and domestic affairs and calls for the national sovereignty and cultural identity of European nations to be prioritized over
19776-426: The "masculine man that supports his family". The party calls for a reform of the Dutch justice system, increased funding for the Dutch police force, tougher penalties against those convicted of violent crimes and where possible for non-naturalized immigrants found guilty of serious crimes to be deported and tried in their country of origin. FvD calls for a gradual legalization of soft drugs but also supports reducing
19982-512: The 14th to 15th century onward, its urban centers ( Deventer , Zwolle , Kampen , Zutphen and Doesburg ) have been increasingly influenced by the western written Dutch and became a linguistically mixed area. From the 17th century onward, it was gradually integrated into the Dutch language area. Dutch Low Saxon used to be at one end of the Low German dialect continuum . However, the national border has given way to dialect boundaries coinciding with
20188-531: The 16th century and is known as Stadsfries ("Urban Frisian"). Hollandic together with inter alia Kleverlandish and North Brabantian , but without Stadsfries, are the Central Dutch dialects . Brabantian is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant , which corresponded mainly to the provinces of North Brabant and southern Gelderland , the Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant , as well as Brussels (where its native speakers have become
20394-491: The 1990s before being scrapped altogether. Presently, SD wishes to strongly restrict and place more controls on immigration, and instead give generous support to immigrants who do not want to assimilate into Swedish society to emigrate back to their country of origin and change laws to revoke residency or citizenship of those who engage in illegal activity. The party argues that its migration policies are not based on xenophobia towards immigrants, but believe immigration must stay at
20600-417: The Dutch adult population spoke a dialect or regional language on a regular basis, but in 2011, that was no more than 11 percent. In 1995, 12 percent of children of primary school age spoke a dialect or regional language, but in 2011, that had declined to four percent. Of the officially recognised regional languages Limburgish is spoken the most (in 2011 among adults 54%, among children 31%) and Dutch Low Saxon
20806-479: The Dutch government remained reluctant to teach Dutch on a large scale for fear of destabilising the colony. Dutch, the language of power, was supposed to remain in the hands of the leading elite. After independence, Dutch was dropped as an official language and replaced by Indonesian , but this does not mean that Dutch has completely disappeared in Indonesia: Indonesian Dutch , a regional variety of
21012-533: The Dutch language itself, as well as a broader Germanic category depending on context. During the High Middle Ages " Dietsc / Duutsc " was increasingly used as an umbrella term for the specific Germanic dialects spoken in the Low Countries , its meaning being largely implicitly provided by the regional orientation of medieval Dutch society: apart from the higher echelons of the clergy and nobility, mobility
21218-415: The Dutch standard language is largely absent, and speakers of these Dutch dialects will use German or French in everyday speech. Dutch is not afforded legal status in France or Germany, either by the central or regional public authorities, and knowledge of the language is declining among younger generations. As a foreign language , Dutch is mainly taught in primary and secondary schools in areas adjacent to
21424-524: The Dutch standard language, it is not mutually intelligible with Dutch and considered a sister language of Dutch, like English and German. Approximate distribution of native Dutch speakers worldwide: Dutch is an official language of the Netherlands proper (not enshrined in the constitution but in administrative law ), Belgium, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean municipalities (St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire), Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . Dutch
21630-408: The Dutch, was still spoken by about 500,000 half-blood in Indonesia in 1985. Yet the Indonesian language inherited many words from Dutch: words for everyday life as well as scientific and technological terms. One scholar argues that 20% of Indonesian words can be traced back to Dutch words, many of which are transliterated to reflect phonetic pronunciation e.g. kantoor "office" in Indonesian
21836-468: The EU in general. The think-tank argued for the introduction of a referendum act and campaigned with GeenPeil to have an inquiry into Dutch membership of the eurozone. In September 2016, it converted itself into a political party and announced its intention to take part in the 2017 general election , where the FvD ended up with 1.8% of the vote and two seats, entering parliament for the first time. In February 2018, in part due to its rapidly growing pace,
22042-506: The EU's political ambitions. SD rejects joining the Economic and Monetary Union by opposing the Euro currency and favors keeping the krona . They also seek to reduce Swedish financial contributions to Brussels, renegotiate Swedish membership of the Schengen Agreement , protect freedom of speech and the free access to the internet from EU copyright bills, and are against the accession of Turkey to
22248-409: The European Union . The SD states that it supports European political cooperation to combat cross-border organized crime, illegal immigration, Islamism , terrorism and environmental challenges but opposes creating an EU army or policies that could lead to the creation of a Federal European Superstate . The party also calls for Sweden to renegotiate its EU membership terms and seeks an amendment to
22454-736: The Frankish tribes fit primarily into the Istvaeonic dialect group with certain Ingvaeonic influences towards the northwest, which are still seen in modern Dutch. The Frankish language itself is not directly attested, the only possible exception being the Bergakker inscription , found near the Dutch city of Tiel , which may represent a primary record of 5th-century Frankish. Although some place names recorded in Roman texts such as vadam (modern Dutch: wad , English: "mudflat"), could arguably be considered as
22660-481: The FvD as growing further to the right of the PVV by adopting more radical stances. One of the major issues, FvD campaigns against is the perceived existence of a " party cartel " in which the main ruling parties of the country divide power among themselves and work towards the same goals despite claiming to be competitors. The party promises direct democracy through binding referendums as well as directly elected mayors and
22866-407: The German dialects spoken in the mountainous south of Germany as Hochdeutsch ("High German"). Subsequently, German dialects spoken in the north were designated as Niederdeutsch ("Low German"). The names for these dialects were calqued by Dutch linguists as Nederduits and Hoogduits . As a result, Nederduits no longer serves as a synonym for the Dutch language. In the 19th century,
23072-456: The Low Countries. In fact, Old Frankish could be reconstructed from Old Dutch and Frankish loanwords in Old French. The term Old Dutch or Old Low Franconian refers to the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. West Germanic varieties that are assumed to have evolved from Frankish ) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages , from around the 5th to the 12th century. Old Dutch
23278-593: The Mediterranean which the party states enables illegal immigrants and would-be terrorists to reach Sweden. SD calls for compulsory measures for immigrants to be employed, learn the Swedish language , be put through an assimilation program, and be subject to a language and social skills test before becoming eligible for citizenship. The party also supports increased spending on border patrol forces, expulsion of illegal immigrants and foreign-born criminals, repatriations of Schengen Area migrants who move to Sweden to make
23484-476: The Netherlands imposed by the Dutch government and managed to win eight MPs. However, the issue of racist comments from youth members was brought up again during the campaign. One of the accused youth members, Gideon van Meijeren , was elected into parliament, as was youth wing chairman Freek Jansen . During the COVID-19 pandemic , the party caused controversy and saw another three of its MPs leave after it released
23690-568: The Netherlands and Flanders . In French-speaking Belgium , over 300,000 pupils are enrolled in Dutch courses, followed by over 23,000 in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia , and about 7,000 in the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais (of which 4,550 are in primary school). At an academic level, the largest number of faculties of neerlandistiek can be found in Germany (30 universities), followed by France (20 universities) and
23896-412: The Netherlands and Belgium, the dialect spoken in and around the German town of Kleve ( Kleverlandish ) is historically and genetically a Low Franconian variety. In North-Western France, the area around Calais was historically Dutch-speaking (West Flemish), of which an estimated 20,000 are daily speakers. The cities of Dunkirk , Gravelines and Bourbourg only became predominantly French-speaking by
24102-530: The Netherlands, although there are recognisable differences in pronunciation, comparable to the pronunciation differences between standard British and standard American English. In 1980 the Netherlands and Belgium concluded the Language Union Treaty . This treaty lays down the principle that the two countries must gear their language policy to each other, among other things, for a common system of spelling. Dutch belongs to its own West Germanic sub-group,
24308-596: The Nordic Realm Party. Klarström later elaborated he had briefly been part of the NRP as a teenager before distancing himself from it by the time he became SD leader. The SD's logo from the 1990s until 2006 was a version of the torch used by the British National Front . Political historian Duncan McDonnell has argued that it is disputed as to whether the SD was explicitly founded to be a neo-fascist movement, but it
24514-506: The Riksdag until the late 2010s, with other parties maintaining a policy of refusing cooperation with them . In 2019, the leader of the Christian Democrats , Ebba Busch announced that her party was ready to start negotiations with the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag, as did Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson . In the 2022 Swedish general election , the party ran as part of a broad right-wing alliance with those two parties and
24720-588: The Riksdag with party secretary Richard Jomshof appointed to head the Justice Committee , Aron Emilsson the Committee on Foreign Affairs , Tobias Andersson the Committee on Industry and Trade , and Magnus Persson the Committee on the Labour Market . SD parliamentarians were appointed as international delegation leaders for the first time, with Markus Wiechel becoming chairman of the Swedish delegation to
24926-427: The SD as having transformed itself from an extreme past to becoming part of a broader European family of national-populist parties which combine social and cultural conservative nationalism and populism but are opposed to fascist, anti-democratic and revolutionary ideas. Within the party, the SD's leadership have rejected the extreme and "far-right" label and argued it no longer represents the party. Oscar Sjöstedt ,
25132-450: The SD does not match the description of a radical far-right party but is mistakenly labelled as such by media or opponents who focus on the party's early rather than current beliefs. She stated that the SD is now a national conservative party with populist elements but does not contradict democratic or Swedish constitutional principles. Similar observations were made in 2021 by Swedish political scientist Sören Holmberg that "extreme right"
25338-460: The SD emerged in Svalöv Municipality (2019), Bjuv Municipality (2020) and Surahammar Municipality (2021). In 2020, Mattias Karlsson , the former group leader of the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag founded Oikos , a conservative think-tank which has been alleged to be an "extension of the Sweden Democrats' political project", supposedly also receiving funding from the party. In 2021,
25544-466: The SD was invited to participate in alternative budget agreement talks with the Christian Democrats and the Moderates for the first time. That same year the SD also issued a vote of no confidence against the Löfven II cabinet citing the government's handling on immigration, the economy and housing which was carried by the other opposition parties and led to Löfven's impeachment. The SD had previously issued
25750-577: The SD's financial spokesperson, places the party around the centre on the left–right political spectrum , while leader Jimmie Åkesson has stated that they are parallel with the Moderate Party . In addition, the party has in recent years increasingly distanced itself from other European ultra-nationalist or far-right parties. In spite of this, a 2022 report by Swedish researchers Acta Publica claimed to have found 289 Swedish politicians who expressed racist or neo-Nazi views, with 214 of them being members of
25956-691: The SD. The SD itself has argued that some of these controversies with members have been as a result of the party's rapid growth since the late 2000s rather than the party being extreme. The Sweden Democrats believe that current Swedish immigration and integration policies have been a national failure. In a statement filed before the Riksdag Committee on Migration in August 2020, SD claims that Sweden's "irresponsible" immigration and asylum policies have subjected Sweden to an on-going "long-term, albeit low-intensity crisis". Their official policy brief states that
26162-472: The Sweden Democrats' national board in 1989. According to Expo , it is generally agreed that the Sweden Democrats have never been a neo-Nazi party, although some of the SD's early members and founders had previously been connected with Swedish fascist and white nationalist groups. Studies by Expo documented that around nine of the original 30 people who played a role in founding the SD had direct associations to known Nordic fascist organisations such as
26368-522: The Swedish constitution to make it mandatory that proposed EU treaties be first put to a public vote. The SD believes that if the EU cannot be reformed and tries to transform itself into a Superstate, Sweden should immediately reconsider its membership via a referendum and prepare to leave the EU. The SD's youth-wing, the Ungsvenskarna support a Swedish exit from the EU. In 2023, party leader Akesson and SD European Union spokesman Charlie Weimers unveiled
26574-467: The Swedish government conceded to some of the SD's immigration policy demands on requirements for obtaining Swedish citizenship and expanding the deportation criteria for foreign-born residents and asylum seekers. Following scenes of people in Swedish cities celebrating the Palestinian attack on Israel , the SD leadership stated that those who praised the attack should be expelled from the country and that
26780-506: The Tidö Agreement clause on deporting non-citizens on grounds of poor character and not just criminal convictions should be used against those who support Hamas . The Sweden Democrats have also called for an expansion of circumstances in which citizenship can be revoked from naturalized citizens, with Åkesson mentioning individuals who commit crimes, abuse state welfare or are unintegrated into society. The Sweden Democrats support raising
26986-506: The Tweede Kamer for "personal reasons," although some media outlets opined that it was due to controversies within the party. The following day, Senator Paul Cliteur also resigned from his position as Senate leader while remaining a member of the party. On 26 November 2020, FvD Senator Nicki Pouw-Verweij released a letter alleging multiple incidents during a dinner on 20 November, including Baudet making antisemitic statements claiming that
27192-596: The United Kingdom (5 universities). Despite the Dutch presence in Indonesia for almost 350 years, as the Asian bulk of the Dutch East Indies , the Dutch language has no official status there and the small minority that can speak the language fluently are either educated members of the oldest generation, or employed in the legal profession such as historians, diplomats, lawyers, jurists and linguists/polyglots, as certain law codes are still only available in Dutch. Dutch
27398-603: The West Indies, slaves were forbidden to speak Dutch, with the effect that local creoles such as Papiamento and Sranan Tongo which were based not on Dutch but rather other European languages, became common in the Dutch West Indies. However, as most of the people in the Colony of Surinam (now Suriname ) worked on Dutch plantations, this reinforced the use of Dutch as a means for direct communication. In Suriname today, Dutch
27604-492: The armed forces, expanding the National Reserve Corps and reverting defense budget cuts. The party calls for a reduction in the use of plastic, more support for the agricultural economy , sustainable farming and tougher laws against animal cruelty . In the spring of 2019, the party, endorsing a climate change denialist platform, intensively campaigned against large state investments in renewable energy , leading to
27810-614: The borders of other standard language areas. In most cases, the heavy influence of the standard language has broken the dialect continuum . Examples are the Gronings dialect spoken in Groningen as well as the closely related varieties in adjacent East Frisia (Germany). Kleverlandish is a dialect spoken in southern Gelderland , the northern tip of Limburg , and northeast of North Brabant (Netherlands), but also in adjacent parts of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Limburgish ( Limburgs )
28016-472: The case with the Gronings dialect , which is considered a variety of the Dutch Low Saxon regional language, but it is relatively distinct from other Dutch Low Saxon varieties. Also, some Dutch dialects are more remote from the Dutch standard language than some varieties of a regional language are. Within the Netherlands, a further distinction is made between a regional language and a separate language, which
28222-404: The characterization of the SD as radical or extreme far-right has come under dispute in recent years by scholars and political observers. Commentator on political extremism and national security Kateřina Lišaníková observed that the SD had hardline origins through its founders and initial support network, and notes the SD's leadership openly acknowledges its history, but argues the present version of
28428-611: The common people". The term was used as opposed to Latin , the non -native language of writing and the Catholic Church . It was first recorded in 786, when the Bishop of Ostia writes to Pope Adrian I about a synod taking place in Corbridge , England , where the decisions are being written down " tam Latine quam theodisce " meaning "in Latin as well as common vernacular". According to
28634-409: The death penalty. The party promoted concerts by the Swedish offshoot of Rock Against Communism and sponsored music of the nationalist Viking rock band Ultima Thule . Various party officials today acknowledge that being fans of Ultima Thule's music factored prominently in their decision to become politically engaged. Early on, the party recommended international connections to its members such as
28840-459: The decision to remove Almqvist and Ekeroth in an op-ed in Dagens Nyheter , arguing that the party should not give in to media pressure. Only two weeks after Almqvist and Ekeroth were forced to step down, fellow MP Lars Isovaara reported being robbed of his backpack and pushed out of his wheelchair by "two unknown men of an immigrant background". When trying to get into the Riksdag, Isovaara
29046-535: The declaration of independence of Indonesia, Western New Guinea , the "wild east" of the Dutch East Indies , remained a Dutch colony until 1962, known as Netherlands New Guinea . Despite prolonged Dutch presence, the Dutch language is not spoken by many Papuans, the colony having been ceded to Indonesia in 1963. Dutch-speaking immigrant communities can also be found in Australia and New Zealand. The 2011 Australian census showed 37,248 people speaking Dutch at home. At
29252-596: The definition used, may be considered a sister language , spoken, to some degree, by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia , and evolving from Cape Dutch dialects. In South America, it is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname , and spoken as a second or third language in the polyglot Caribbean island countries of Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten . All these countries have recognised Dutch as one of their official languages, and are involved in one way or another in
29458-469: The devil? ... I forsake the devil"). If only for its poetic content, the most famous Old Dutch sentence is probably Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan, hinase hic enda tu, wat unbidan we nu ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"), is dated to around the year 1100, written by a Flemish monk in a convent in Rochester , England . Since the sentence speaks to
29664-482: The end of the 19th century. In the countryside, until World War I , many elementary schools continued to teach in Dutch, and the Catholic Church continued to preach and teach the catechism in Dutch in many parishes. During the second half of the 19th century, Dutch was banned from all levels of education by both Prussia and France and lost most of its functions as a cultural language. In both Germany and France,
29870-523: The executive committee on 14 November. He excused himself as having been under a lot of pressure and threats of violence at the time. As more segments of the video were released, revealing the other two men's involvement, the party announced on 15 November that Ekeroth would take a break from his position as the party's justice policy spokesman. Almqvist and Ekeroth both took time off from their parliament seats. Sweden Democratic Youth president Gustav Kasselstrand and vice president William Hahne criticised
30076-418: The far-right label, saying that it no longer represents its political beliefs. Among the party's founders and early members were several people that had previously been active in white nationalist and neo-Nazi political parties and organizations. Under the leadership of Jimmie Åkesson since 2005, the SD underwent a process of reform by expelling hardline members and moderating its platform, building on
30282-410: The final say on performing a wedding over the state. The SD also calls for a ban on forced, polygamous or child marriages and stricter enforcement of laws against honour violence. The Sweden Democrats support keeping Sweden's nuclear power plants in order to mitigate climate change but argues that other countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions instead of Sweden, which the party believes
30488-407: The first safe country that they arrive in. Until such legislation is realized, SD supports setting limits on the right to welfare and making cultural integration mandatory. The party opposes offering permanent residency to asylum seekers, believing that temporary residency should be the standard for those who claim asylum in Sweden. SD supports Sweden eventually accepting refugees exclusively through
30694-513: The first time during the 2010 Swedish general election , polling 5.7% and gaining 20 seats in the Riksdag . This increase in popularity has been compared by international media to other similar anti-immigration movements in Europe. The party received increased support in the 2018 Swedish general election , when it polled 17.5% and secured 62 seats in parliament, becoming the third largest party in Sweden. The Sweden Democrats were formerly isolated in
30900-398: The high immigration figures and the European migrant crisis , the Sweden Democrats soared in all opinion polls during the summer of 2015, even topping web-based polls from YouGov and Sentio in late summer, with a little over a quarter of the vote. The party also saw rising support in phone-based polls, although the swing was lower. In early 2018, the far-right Alternative for Sweden
31106-469: The highest number of voters in 21 out of the county's 33 municipalities. An SVT analysis of the results found that at least 22 seats in 17 city councils would be empty as the Sweden Democrats won more seats than the number of candidates it had. The party also received its first mayor, in Hörby Municipality . Following the election, Christian Democratic leader Ebba Busch announced that her party
31312-449: The ideas of Ayn Rand and Michel Houellebecq . The FvD has also been described as one of several contemporary conservative-populist parties in the Netherlands that have been inspired by or inherited the mantle of the defunct Pim Fortuyn List . The party initially focused on drawing support from former People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) voters who felt the VVD had grown too soft on
31518-415: The imagination, it is often erroneously stated as the oldest Dutch sentence. Old Dutch naturally evolved into Middle Dutch . The year 1150 is often cited as the time of the discontinuity, but it actually marks a time of profuse Dutch writing; during this period a rich Medieval Dutch literature developed. There was at that time no overarching standard language ; Middle Dutch is rather a collective name for
31724-516: The immigration policies of the Danish People's Party , which from 2001 to 2011 provided parliamentary support for the former Danish liberal / conservative governments in return for a tightening of Danish immigration policies and stricter naturalisation laws. Following the 2022 Swedish general election , the Sweden Democrats achieved this objective under the Tidö Agreement with the centre-right Moderate, Christian Democrat and Liberal Party coalition government. In exchange for SD parliamentary support,
31930-685: The influence of the Burgundian Ducal Court in Dijon ( Brussels after 1477). The dialects of Flanders and Brabant were the most influential around this time. The process of standardisation became much stronger at the start of the 16th century, mainly based on the urban dialect of Antwerp . The 1585 fall of Antwerp to the Spanish army led to a flight to the northern Netherlands, where the Dutch Republic declared its independence from Spain. This influenced
32136-461: The language of the Netherlands and Flanders. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz . The stem of this word, *þeudō , meant "people" in Proto-Germanic, and *-iskaz was an adjective-forming suffix, of which -ish is the Modern English form. Theodiscus was its Latinised form and used as an adjective referring to the Germanic vernaculars of the Early Middle Ages . In this sense, it meant "the language of
32342-512: The least (adults 15%, children 1%). The decline of the West Frisian language in Friesland occupies a middle position (adults 44%, children 22%). Dialects are most often spoken in rural areas, but many cities have a distinct city dialect. For example, the city of Ghent has very distinct "g", "e" and "r" sounds that greatly differ from its surrounding villages. The Brussels dialect combines Brabantian with words adopted from Walloon and French . Some dialects had, until recently, extensions across
32548-412: The merger of Bevara Sverige Svenskt (BSS; in English: "Keep Sweden Swedish") and a faction of the Swedish Progress Party . The SD continued to use Keep Sweden Swedish as its slogan until the late 1990s. The SD claims 6 February 1988 as the date of its foundation and that the party was formally registered after a meeting in Stockholm designed to bring together various nationalist movements who issued
32754-417: The moderation policy, which included ousting openly extremist members, banning neo-Nazi activists from attending party events or obtaining membership, and further revising the SD's policy platform. Before the 2002 election, former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Moderate Party , Sten Andersson defected to SD, citing that the party had gotten rid of its extreme-right elements. In 2003, the party declared
32960-513: The number of cannabis coffee shops within the vicinity of schools. The FvD also adopts a nationalist viewpoint in which the Dutch culture should be protected. The party is in favor of reinstating border controls and ending what it perceives as mass immigration . It also campaigns against unchecked immigration, says it would introduce a Dutch Values Protection Act. The party supports freedom of religion and calls for equal treatment of all citizens regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation, but
33166-502: The oldest single "Dutch" words, the Bergakker inscription yields the oldest evidence of Dutch morphology. However, interpretations of the rest of the text lack any consensus. The Franks emerged in the southern Netherlands ( Salian Franks ) and central Germany ( Ripuarian Franks ), and later descended into Gaul . The name of their kingdom survives in that of France. Although they ruled the Gallo-Romans for nearly 300 years, their language, Frankish , became extinct in most of France and
33372-513: The original language of the Franks. However, the language did experience developments of its own, such as very early final-obstruent devoicing . In fact, the find at Bergakker indicates that the language may already have experienced this shift during the Old Frankish period. Attestations of Old Dutch sentences are extremely rare. The language is mostly recorded on fragmentary relics, and words have been reconstructed from Middle Dutch and loan words from Old Dutch in other languages. The oldest recorded
33578-513: The party "welcomes those who contribute to our [Sweden's] society, who follow our laws and respect our customs. On the other hand, anyone who comes here and exploits our systems, commits crimes or exposes our citizens to danger is not welcome." When handling asylum seekers, the party supports protecting national sovereignty in regards to Sweden's decisions on migration and border control, as well as "the principle of first safe country", meaning that asylum seekers should only be able to seek asylum in
33784-439: The party and he subsequently resumed his role as leader. In protest at the outcome, the FvD's three MEPs, seven of its senators and some of its parliamentary candidates for the upcoming general election resigned to sit as independents before joining the JA21 party founded by former FvD members who had left due to the youth wing controversies. At the 2021 general election, the party campaigned against COVID-19 lockdown measures in
33990-406: The party and someone Baudet describes as a Kremlin official. Baudet claimed the messages were a "playful exaggeration." Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine , the FvD's leadership have been condemned by both former party members and other Dutch political parties for supporting the invasion, taking an overtly pro-Putin stance and blaming the West for the war. In October 2022, the party's remaining MEP
34196-400: The party by the mid-to-late-1990s. The party's first auditor, Gustaf Ekström , was a Waffen-SS veteran and had been a member of the national socialist party Svensk Socialistisk Samling in the 1940s. The SD's first chairman Anders Klarström and deputy board members and party co-founders Fritz Håkansson and Sven Davidson (politician) [ sv ] had all been active in
34402-467: The party has since evolved to the "softer side" of European populist parties. The party has been described by sociologist Jens Rydgren and political scientist Cas Mudde variously as xenophobic, far-right, racist or right-wing populist. In 2013, a Sveriges Radio journalist called the SD "xenophobic," which resulted in a complaint lodged to the broadcasting regulator by the party. The Swedish Broadcasting Commission determined that this description
34608-421: The party platform described the need to preserve the "inhereted essence" of ethnic Swedes. However, since 2018 SD has stressed a more moderate cultural conservative position by promoting a shared national identity in which foreign-born people can become culturally Swedish through strong assimilation policies. Nordic Studies scholar Benjamin R. Teitelbaum has called the SD radical nationalist and in 2018 said
34814-437: The party suffered from internal issues with a number of prominent members leaving the party because they felt the party had a lack of internal democracy. In the 2018 municipal elections , the FvD won three seats on the Amsterdam city council. The party only stood in Amsterdam. In Rotterdam however it endorsed the Livable Rotterdam party. During the 2019 provincial elections , Forum for Democracy won 86 seats, spread across
35020-473: The party was the second largest in "Scania North & East" while being the third largest party in 25. Although relying heavily on rural areas and the deep south, the party also made strong inroads and results above 15% in some medium-sized central Sweden cities such as Norrköping , Eskilstuna and Gävle , indicating a widening of its voter base in all areas. Some time after that, Åkesson announced he would go on sick leave due to burnout . Mattias Karlsson
35226-436: The party's policies are fascist or anti-democratic. Sweden-based British journalist Richard Orange noted in 2018 that the SD stands out due to its neo-Nazi roots but in the present is comparably less extreme than other European populist forces and now endorses more inclusive "cultural nationalism" over ethnic homogeny while calling for stricter immigration policies. In 2022, British political scientist Matthew Goodwin described
35432-476: The party's youth organization. In response, a committee of inquiry was set up with some FvD politicians such as Theo Hiddema arguing that the youth wing should be disbanded and others stating the FvD should follow the example of the Sweden Democrats by disassociating the youth-wing. Baudet also resigned as lead candidate and was temporarily replaced by Lennart van der Linden . The day after Baudet resigned as leader, vice-leader Theo Hiddema vacated his seat in
35638-434: The party, leading to the formation of the more radical National Democrats which in turn resulted in many of the SD's remaining hardline members leaving for the new party. During the early 2000s, the so-called "Scania gang", also known as the "Gang of Four" or "Fantastic Four," which consisted of the youth wing chairman Jimmie Åkesson , as well as Björn Söder , Mattias Karlsson and Richard Jomshof continued and expanded
35844-499: The party. In April 2020, HP/De Tijd revealed instances of antisemitism , homophobia and glorification of Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant in online WhatsApp groups associated with FvD's youth wing. FvD later investigated these instances and discharged three members from the political party. Three additional members were also suspended. More similar messages were revealed in November by newspaper Het Parool which published an article about extremist comments made by members
36050-420: The policy areas of European Union and immigration, but saw Geert Wilders ' Party for Freedom (PVV) as too hardline, and tried recruiting candidates who came from professional rather than political backgrounds. The FvD has been accused of cultivating popularity among the alt-right movement, although the party does not identify itself as such. From 2019 onwards, political commentators and authors have described
36256-415: The predominant colloquial language out of the area's 22 million Dutch-speakers. Limburgish , spoken in both Belgian Limburg and Netherlands Limburg and in adjacent parts in Germany, is considered a dialect in Belgium, while having obtained the official status of regional language in the Netherlands. Limburgish has been influenced by the Ripuarian varieties like the Colognian dialect , and has had
36462-419: The protection of high culture and " Judeo-Christian values ". The FvD is also opposed to the integration of the European Union which it claims will lead to eventual Eurofederalism and supports a referendum on Dutch membership of EU. In the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad , historian and philosopher Jozef Waanders has described the FvD as containing various factions, including members sympathetic to
36668-411: The provinces of Gelderland , Flevoland , Friesland and Utrecht . This group, which is not Low Franconian but instead Low Saxon and close to neighbouring Low German, has been elevated by the Netherlands (and by Germany) to the legal status of streektaal ( regional language ) according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . It is regarded as Dutch for a number of reasons. From
36874-423: The rights of Dutch speakers, mostly referred to as "Flemish". However, the dialect variation was a serious disadvantage in the face of the standardised francophony . Since standardisation is a lengthy process, Dutch-speaking Belgium associated itself with the standard language that had already developed in the Netherlands over the centuries. Therefore, the situation in Belgium is essentially no different from that in
37080-462: The same branch of the West Germanic languages as Old English (i.e. Anglo-Frisian ) and are therefore genetically more closely related to English and Scots than to Dutch. The different influences on the respective languages, however, particularly that of Norman French on English and Dutch on West Frisian, have rendered English quite distinct from West Frisian, and West Frisian less distinct from Dutch than from English. Although under heavy influence of
37286-538: The second-largest party in the Riksdag . It provides confidence and supply to the centre-right ruling coalition. Within the European Union , the party is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party . The party describes itself as social conservative with a nationalist foundation. The party has also been variously characterised by academics, political commentators, and media as national-conservative , anti-immigration , anti-Islam , Eurosceptic , and far-right . The Sweden Democrats reject
37492-410: The survival of two to three grammatical genders – albeit with few grammatical consequences – as well as the use of modal particles , final-obstruent devoicing , and (similar) word order . Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic; it incorporates slightly more Romance loans than German, but far fewer than English. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Suriname, the native official name for Dutch
37698-404: The term " Diets " was revived by Dutch linguists and historians as well, as a poetic name for Middle Dutch and its literature . Old Dutch can be discerned more or less around the same time as Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Old High German , Old Frisian , and Old Saxon . These names are derived from the modern standard languages . In this age no standard languages had yet developed, while
37904-414: The third-largest party. The party remained big in Scania and Blekinge ; for example in Malmö the party received 14% of the votes, in Landskrona it received 19% of the votes and in Sjöbo a total of 30% rendering the party the largest in that municipality. Other parties, however, remained firm in their decision to isolate them from exerting influence. Out of 29 constituencies electing parliamentarians,
38110-427: The time of its foundation in 2016, the FvD was initially described as a national conservative and a conservative liberal political party. The party self-identified as liberal conservative and sat on the right-wing of the political spectrum. After establishing itself, the party and its platform started to be perceived by political commentators as a standard Eurosceptic national populist political party, and on
38316-523: The twelve provinces of the Netherlands . In South Holland , North Holland , and Flevoland , FvD became the largest party, winning 11, nine, and eight seats respectively. In all other provinces, the party came either second or third in terms of numbers of votes. As populists, the bulk of the Forum's nominated parliamentary candidates did not have prior active experience in other political parties. In August 2019, former FvD senator and founding member Henk Otten announced he had registered Group Otten (GO) as
38522-420: The urban dialects of the province of Holland . In 1637, a further important step was made towards a unified language, when the Statenvertaling , the first major Bible translation into Dutch, was created that people from all over the new republic could understand. It used elements from various, even Dutch Low Saxon , dialects but was predominantly based on the urban dialects of Holland of post 16th century. In
38728-435: The western coast to the north of the Low Countries, and influenced or even replaced Old Saxon spoken in the east (contiguous with the Low German area). On the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in present-day France and Germany. The division into Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, since the transition between them was very gradual. One of the few moments when linguists can detect something of
38934-402: Was a better term for the SD. Swedish sociologist Göran Adamson has also argued some political opposition conflate the SD's national conservative image as being right-wing extremist, and argued the SD today is not comparable to European extreme-right or neo-fascist parties since the SD has a more liberal direction in several areas, and there is no evidence to suggest that the current incarnation of
39140-437: Was acceptable to use. According to Sveriges Radio in 2017, a European research agency classed the party as "extreme" using the Swedish GAL-TAN [ sv ] political scale, arguing that the SD is more traditionalist, socially authoritarian and nationalist and less progressive compared to other Swedish parliamentary parties and described the SD as similar to the French National Rally in some of its policies. However,
39346-401: Was appointed to temporarily take over Åkesson's duties as party leader. On 23 March 2015, it was announced that Åkesson would return from his leave of absence to resume his duties as party leader following an interview to be broadcast on the Friday, 27 March instalment of the Skavlan program on SVT , and a subsequent press conference with the Swedish media. Amid media coverage regarding
39552-475: Was considered a conservative liberal and a Eurosceptic movement positioned on the right-wing of the political spectrum; however, after several founding members split from the party, it has been described as adopting more radical policies and messages. The FvD was established by Baudet and Otten as a citizens initiative and then a think tank whose main feat was campaigning in the 2016 Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum and against
39758-462: Was done because of Petzäll's substance abuse and the problems this might cause for SD's public image. Petzäll later died of an overdose and his seat was turned over to Stellan Bojerud in September 2012. In November 2012, videos from August 2010 were released, in segments, over the course of three days by Swedish newspaper Expressen (a year earlier, Expressen had released the same videos without making much noise). This came to be known as
39964-408: Was founded by members of the Sweden Democratic Youth , who were collectively expelled from the Sweden Democrats in 2015. Three Sweden Democrat members of the Riksdag , Olle Felten , Jeff Ahl and former leader Mikael Jansson subsequently defected to the party. On 2 July 2018, the two Sweden Democrats MEPs left the EFDD group and moved to the European Conservatives and Reformists Group . In
40170-416: Was gradually replaced by the Dutch endonym Nederlands . This designation (first attested in 1482) started at the Burgundian court in the 15th century, although the use of neder , laag , bas , and inferior ("nether" or "low") to refer to the area known as the Low Countries goes back further in time, with the Romans referring to the region as Germania Inferior ("Lower" Germania). It
40376-399: Was himself reported by the police for racial abuse against safety guards. The Sweden Democrats initially defended Isovaara, but backed down when Expressen revealed that Isovaara had actually forgotten his backpack at a restaurant, and that the two men had helped him when he fell out of his wheelchair. He left his seat in the Riksdag on 29 November, and was replaced by Markus Wiechel . In
40582-413: Was largely static and hence while "Dutch" could by extension also be used in its earlier sense, referring to what today would be called Germanic dialects as opposed to Romance dialects , in many cases it was understood or meant to refer to the language now known as Dutch. In the Low Countries Dietsch or its Early Modern Dutch form Duytsch as an endonym for Dutch gradually went out of common use and
40788-471: Was not a good description for the SD when placed within the traditional left-right scale, since the party contains centre-left and centrist policies on some issues compared to the other centre-right parties in Sweden. Holmberg furthermore argued that while SD can be considered a right-wing populist party, the label "populist" has become unstable due to some of the other parties in the Riksdag adopting populist ideas of their own. He concluded national-conservative
40994-416: Was planning to make money by selling new housing developments in the Gaza Strip . The party states that it supports protecting European civilization and wants free trade between European nations and the world but is opposed to the European Union (EU) and the Eurozone . The party calls for an immediate end to EU enlargement and for the Netherlands to use every veto possible to prevent the EU from becoming
41200-408: Was replaced as party chairman by Mikael Jansson , a former member of the Centre Party . Jansson strove to make the party more respectable and, after skinheads started to impose on party meetings, the wearing of any kind of political uniform was formally banned in 1996. Also in 1996, it was revealed that a party member, Tina Hallgren , had been to a party meeting of National Socialist Front posing in
41406-413: Was replaced by later forms of the language throughout Luxembourg and Germany in around the 7th century. It was replaced in France by Old French (a Romance language with a considerable Old Frankish influence). However, the Old Franconian language did not die out at large, as it continued to be spoken in the Low Countries, and subsequently evolved into what is now called Old Low Franconian or Old Dutch in
41612-407: Was suspended (and subsequently resigned) from the Identity and Democracy European Parliamentary group after posting messages on Twitter praising Putin and expressing support for Russia in the war. Dutch language Dutch ( endonym : Nederlands [ˈneːdərlɑnts] ) is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family , spoken by about 25 million people as
41818-616: Was the only Swedish political party to vote against Swedish involvement in the 2011 military intervention in Libya . SD has advocated a "neutral" position on the Syrian civil war and sent a delegation to meet with Syrian officials in 2017. SD also supports the creation of an independent Kurdish state and for the Armenian genocide to be formally recognised by the international community. The party supports closer military cooperation with neighboring Nordic countries and previously opposed Swedish membership of NATO , instead calling for an alignment without full membership. However, following
42024-417: Was under foreign control. In the 19th century, the East Indies trade started to dwindle, and with it the importance of Malacca as a trading post. The Dutch state officially ceded Malacca to the British in 1825. It took until 1957 for Malaya to gain its independence. Despite this, the Dutch language is rarely spoken in Malacca or Malaysia and only limited to foreign nationals able to speak the language. After
42230-407: Was widely known to publicly align itself with extreme fringe politics and faced criticism in the late 1980s and early 1990s for attracting skinhead gangs to its public events. The SD also encountered controversy for some of its early policy ideas before 1999, which included a proposal to repatriate most immigrants who came to Sweden from 1970, banning adoption of foreign born children and reinstating
42436-418: Was willing to enter negotiations with the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag. In December 2019, Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson held an official meeting with the Sweden Democrat leadership for the first time, despite having previously ruled out negotiating with the party. This led to speculation that the SD could be included in a new centre-right grouping to replace the Alliance which had collapsed after
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