r/EuropeanFederalists • u/1337dragon_slayer420 • 1h ago
Far right infiltration in Astra Europa?
I thought Astra Europa was founded to OPPOSE fascism, not to embrace it... Seems like the same right-wing extremist forces have successfully infiltrated Astra Europa. We need to take a strong stance against the extremist subversion of European federalism. This is a board member of Astra Europa Netherlands spewing ISLAMOPHOBIC and XENOPHOBIC statements. This looks like it is straight from Varg Vikernes!
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u/gorilskij 1h ago
Hi everyone, as a member of the Interim Steering Committee of Astra Europa, and on behalf of all members, I would like to state publicly that we firmly and completely disavow the opinions stated by Daniel in this and other posts. Daniel has resigned Astra Europa today due to incompatible ideological positions.
Astra Europa has never and will never support discrimination.
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u/nikodem_skrobisz 1h ago
Astra Europa is a liberal democratic, centrist party, and commited to fighting against authoritarian movements like fascism. (I myself have written and spoken publicly on the dangers of fascism and far right populism extensively over a decade now, though mostly in German, but also in English, you can look it up). That also why we split of from Ave Europa, when it drifted from big-tent right to Volt towards identitariansim and more radical right wing positions. The split wasn't as clean as we thought; and Daan is one person, who was already on the board during Ave times and, who has recently dropped the mask and shown his true colours. We moved swiftly and he is no longer part of Astra Europa, while we continue to clean up and ensure alignment. Thankfully, we have build in meachnisms and structures to react to this kind of threats to Astra Europa quickly.
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u/nikodem_skrobisz 1h ago edited 1h ago
Daan is no longer part of Astra Europa. He stepped down and left the organisation recently. The website hasn't been updated yet to reflect that. I wouldn't describe this as a an infiltration, but as a hangover from the split from Ave Europa. The dutch chapter of Astra Europa is currently in the process of reorganising itself to make sure its is now aligned with Astra Europa values.
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u/1337dragon_slayer420 1h ago
There is fascism in all of us, we need to fight it. I hope you and the individuals in Astra can keep yourselves in line!
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u/nikodem_skrobisz 1h ago
Astra Europa is a liberal democratic, centrist party, and commited to fighting against authoritarian movements like fascism. (I myself have written and spoken publicly on the dangers of fascism and far right populism extensively over a decade now, though mostly in German, but also in English, you can look it up). That also why we split of from Ave Europa, when it drifted from big-tent right to Volt towards identitariansim and more radical right wing positions. The split wasn't as clean as we thought; and Daan is one person, who was already on the board during Ave times and, who has recently dropped the mask and shown his true colours. We moved swiftly and he is no longer part of Astra Europa, while we continue to clean up and ensure alignment. Thankfully, we have build in meachnisms and structures to react to this kind of threats to Astra Europa quickly.
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u/1337dragon_slayer420 1h ago
Have you shown your true colors yet?
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u/nikodem_skrobisz 1h ago
I do it every day, speaking and writing publicly with my own name about what i truly believe in - which is a rule of law, liberal democracy and an united Europe. I have been doing this for over ten years now almost daily, being active for 5 years in german liberal democratic party and having written for 10 years on my private blog about democracy and fighting for freedome, solidarity and unity, and against authoritarianism. I do not hide behind anonymous usernames and dishonest rethorical questions.
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u/TLMoravian Czechia 1h ago
I was always under the impression that Astra Europa are far right nutjobs
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u/rolfst 1h ago
You really try to insult us. We abhore fascism. We are a liberal democratic party. Extremism in what form whatsoever does not go well with our party.
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u/EorlundGraumaehne 1h ago
And the post above?
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u/1337dragon_slayer420 1h ago
There is fascism in all of us. They did the right thing to leave the open fascists, but they need to work themselves. I will always speak truth to power and fight fascism when I see it.
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u/rolfst 1h ago
I cannot forbid someone to think how he does. I assure you it is not a believe we share. I have no influence over his personal account.
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u/Competitive_Equal608 1h ago
This is the tolerance of the intolerance fallacy you are committing here.
Do better.
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u/gorilskij 1h ago
We do not tolerate it. He has left the party. There is no place for this in Astra.
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u/rolfst 1h ago
You try it. You cannot change someone's brainwaves. You are describing the impossible. And then blaming for failure. Do better
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u/Saotik 42m ago
You don't have to change someone's thinking, but you can choose not to align yourselves with people whose thoughts are abhorrent. When people post things like this, it doesn't come out of the blue.
That you willingly had this person on your board shows, at best, terrible judgement from the rest of the board. At worst, it exposes a fundamental rot at its very core.
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u/Connect_Tear402 20m ago
As somebody who is part of Astra Daniel hid his ideas from us as well.
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u/Saotik 9m ago
If you don't know someone's views well enough to not see something like this coming and sit on a board with them, I simply don't trust your judgement.
It's also extremely telling that rather than condemning Daniel, Rolf seems to be just saying "you can't change his mind".
Nikodem has stated that Astra Europa is:
Europa is a liberal democratic, centrist party, and commited to fighting against authoritarian movements like fascism.
...and yet you have now had one board member who has openly come out with extreme fascist views. How many of the rest of you harbour these views, but don't state them?
At this point, I assume all ten of you are in this thread.
As they say:
"If there's a Nazi at the table and ten other people sitting there talking to him, you've got a table with eleven Nazis."
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u/rolfst 36m ago
You can't judge the process when you don't know what went on. Please refrain from assumptions.
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u/Competitive_Equal608 31m ago
So why not explain it since you are obviously apart of Astra? You fail to disavow these statements and instead try to downplay it. Why are u helping in the normalisation of right-wing extremism in Europe?
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u/Saotik 32m ago
What assumptions were made in my response?
I assume you're Rolf Strijdhorst from the image, and also a board member.
If this is the level of discourse we can expect from your board members, it's clear that you are not a group to take seriously.
People like you actively harm the federalisation movement. We neither need nor want you.
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u/1337dragon_slayer420 27m ago
Amen! As a disabled person, I am unable to actively participate in political movements except by being active online. I had such hopes for Astra, but it seems like it has gone off course. Far right extremism and leadership acting like children (no offense to anyone under 18).
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u/rolfst 18m ago
You don't know how he was in January so you assume to know that he was far right. That's the first mistake. Then you don't know anything about the internal process that's the second. So yes you made assumptions. And you are free not to take us seriously. That's on you. But to try and paint us black is borderline slander. Educate yourself before you blow the horn.
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u/Few_Zookeepergame_83 10m ago
I am a co-founder of Astra Europa, and our European coordination handled this situation with textbook speed and clarity.
The mother of my third child, who is 15 months old, is African. My Lucas is a beautiful mixed-race child. It is also directly because of him and the future of his generation that I am here co-creating Astra.
Astra Europa was built from day one on liberal, democratic, and pan-European principles, where human dignity and equal rights are non-negotiable. As soon as this individual’s unacceptable statements were brought to light, he was removed from our platforms and his resignation was formalized within minutes.
There is zero tolerance for racism, xenophobia, or extremist infiltration in our movement. Having said that, what needed to be done has been done decisively. We remain fully focused on building a serious, sovereign, and forward-looking European federation.
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u/MrGonzo11 Hungary 1h ago
I get that many of us want nothing to do with the far right, but pragmatically if we want politics to surpass national levels eventually there has to be a federalist far right too. The more vote they can siphon off from the nationalists I think it's the better, even though I would personally never vote for them.
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u/rolfst 1h ago
I understand what you are saying but I don't approve of it. A goal doesn't always justify the means and this is one such an example
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u/MrGonzo11 Hungary 1h ago
It's not about me or you it's about the electorate. I think there are always will be a solid 5-10% of people who are far right. A representative democracy should represent them too. Right now they are all cornered by extremely nationalistic parties who fight tooth and nail to stop the federalization. Would be a lot nicer if that 5-10% of people would stop fighting against progress for once.
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u/MrGonzo11 Hungary 58m ago
We aren't Americans who have two umbrella partie, most European democracies have many parties. And some are very extreme, but the point is that everyone's opinion should be represented in the legislation even those which we personally disagree with.
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u/Zzokker 38m ago
right yes, far right no
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u/MrGonzo11 Hungary 33m ago
I don't think you or me or anyone for that matter should decide what people can vote for. There are other means to keep the far right in it's box. One don't cooperate with them, second which is a lot more effective in my opinion. Fix the underlying issues on which their half-truth snake oils depend on. Rising far right groups are a symptom that the establishment is failing to fix issues that are bothering the electorate. So they start listening to groups that are advertising their "easy fixes".
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u/Competitive_Equal608 1h ago
Not surprising considering the same actors were involved in a similar far-right project previously
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