Netherlands: Press campaign against Greens "intelligence-inspired"
01 November 1996
A campaign, led by the Netherlands' highest circulation newspaper, against environmentalists has been linked to a right-wing security firm specialising in spying on activist groups. The Dutch secret service, the Binnenlands Veiligheids Dienst (BVD), is also suspected of participating in a systematic campaign to smear one of the Netherlands' leading Green groups.
During the weeks leading up to a demonstration outside Schipol airport the Telegraaf newspaper fed its readers a series of "exclusive" stories claiming that Wijnand Duyvendak, the campaigns organiser of the environmental group "Milieudefensie", was an ex-member of RaRa (Revolutionaire Anti-Rascistische Actie), an organisation best known for carrying out a militant campaign against companies investing in apartheid South Africa (see Statewatch, vol 3 no 4).
Duyvendak is, in fact, well-known in Dutch activist circles for his belief in non-violent action, a fact he pointed out to the Telegraaf while they were interviewing him. In response the journalist produced a file containing a series of internal memos from organisations Duyvendak had worked for as well as other documents. He originally believed that the only possible explanation for the Telegraaf possessing these documents was that they had a source within the BVD.
However the alternative information centre Jansen & Janssens, who specialise in intelligence activities, suggested the private security firm ABC as more likely to be involved. They have, in the past, have been accused of rummaging through community and activist groups' rubbish bins in search of information, and worked with the Telegraaf in concocting a story linking RaRa with the German Rote Armee Fraktion.
The possibility that ABC are providing information supporting the campaign against Wijnand Duyvendak is backed up by the fact that the director of ABC, Piet Siebert, has been quoted in the Telegraaf as an "international expert in the field of activist groups". Duyvendak now believes the theory put forward by Jansen & Janssens to be "extremely plausible". He goes on to say that "this would explain the arbitrary nature of the documents presented to me".
However he still suspects some state involvement in the campaign against him. The Telegraaf had also quoted an anonymous source from the Politieke Inlichtingen Dienst (LPID, Political Intelligence Service). There is also a history of state sources attempting to smear critical voices with the RaRa tag (the Opstand case in particular, where journalists working for the leftwing Opstand collective were accused of being RaRa supporters. No charges were ever pursued against them. (See Statewatch, vol 4 no 5 & 6). Duyvendak is now contemplating legal action in order to discover if the mysterious PID source actually exists.
Ravage 1.11.96