‘Kill yourself, have you also contributed to the nitrogen nonsense.’ Or: ‘Goats wool sock ma’am, a candle would be a good solution, because I can’t believe anyone will come near her sour genitals.’
These are just a few of the curses that Groningen GroenLinks Member of Parliament Nadja Siersema-Orsel hears almost on a daily basis as soon as she goes on Twitter or other social media. But the measure is full, and not only at Siersema. Her call for resistance against online hate received broad support from her colleagues in the Provincial Council on Wednesday.
“Do left-wing girls get horny with right-wing talk?”
,,Words matter”, Siersema explains her action. To underline this, the chairman of the GroenLinks-Staten faction gave a short but shocking anthology of the reactions she received to the ‘socials’. ‘Huppelkut’, ‘moemaker’ or ‘bitch, you have the mind of a cocktail nut’ are the friendliest.
Usually the ‘reacters’ on Siersema’s timeline go even further up a gear: ‘Is it true that left-wing girls get horny with right-wing talk?’ Or: ‘Maybe you have many more hidden talents girl, we have cozy rooms for that here in Amsterdam… I’d say put it on.’
“We shouldn’t think that’s normal with each other,” says the Stadskanaal member of Parliament. Shrugging shoulders and scrolling through to more cheerful messages is a dead end, she thinks. Because hatred keeps more and more people from participating in politics.
Women in particular are targets of hate on ‘socials’
The hate mainly affects women. Siersema points to recent research by the Ministry of the Interior: 55 percent of female directors are regularly confronted with aggression and violence, compared to 46 percent of their male colleagues.
To put a stop to this, the GroenLinks chairman presented her colleagues with a petition on Wednesday in which she takes a stand against ‘any form of threat, hate reactions, intimidation, verbal abuse’. It was signed en masse on Wednesday, not only by the members of Parliament but also by the deputy.
A motion to the same effect also received a large majority. In it, the members of Parliament declare that they will always oppose hatred or discrimination, even or in fact especially if it affects colleagues. Siersema herself felt supported by BBB colleague Eddie van Marum, who lectured a responder about a cannonade of abuse at her address.
PVV does not support the motion, but recognizes the hatred
The support was not unanimous: the Party for the North, Groninger Belang, ChristenUnie and PVV voted against. Sometimes because they do not consider a Parliamentary motion to be the appropriate means. sometimes because they see no point in such a position.
Although PVV captain Ton van Kesteren recognizes the phenomenon in itself. Hate can also spread to social life, he sees. After speeches in political debates, his party members are not only subjected to online hatred, but according to him they are sometimes refused a job or internship or are fired, “with terrible consequences for you and your family.”