Dutch women's group 'Voorzij' have their bank account suspended by Bunq

[Cailleach1]

... for being a women's group that organises as a sex class and for not including males in their feminism.

To quote the article

Bank Account of Dutch Feminist Organization Cancelled for "Transphobia"
Only Dutch feminist group that doesn’t claim “transwomen are women” had its bank account closed.

And Bunq has the audacity to lecture women (as a sex class) it is because they (Bunq) do not tolerate discrimination - against transwomen.

So, it would appear to me that Bunq seems to regard women who organise themselves as a sex class as hateful. Misogyny was ever thus. I'm laughing at the Bunq page where it states that 'Bunq is the bank of the free'. Well, unless you're a woman. It seems to be a bloke at the helm.

voorzij are on twitter, with an @ before it.

4w.pub/bank-account-dutch-feminists/

This is outrageous.

I read their article about Steensma's U turn on puberty blockers. It was pretty groundbreaking.

I'm so enraged by this. How dare they.

Caroline Franssen (Voorzij's Chair) was banned from twitter for saying ... people can't really change sex.

Caroline expressed a deep sorrow for this state of things. “We have not had much time to write articles about surrogacy and prostitution and violence against women,” she says, because of the constant attacks and reports on their work by the trans activists. The Bunq Bank revealed themselves that this was the reason they have terminated their contractual agreement with Voorzij, saying that the account was closed “due to complaints we've received concerning your activities,” for example saying that “people can't really change sex.”

Netherlands certainly needs women discussion of the sex 'industry' and how women are being prostituted. I think it is 90+% of prostituted women are from elsewhere. With the new Covid regulations being introduced, hairdressers get the protection of masks. Prostituted and possibly also trafficked women don't.

Yes, it is outrageous. One of the comments I read is along the lines that Bunq is complicit in attempting to suppress women's rights. All the while having the cheek to self-id as the 'bank of the free'.

That's really scary - reminds me of the beginning of The Handmaid's Tale when women's bank accounts were frozen.

Surely this breaches EU law on sex discrimination, freedom of thought and expression and freedom of assembly?

I don't know what kind of bank this is, but how can it operate outside of the law?

Wasn't there also a UK group who were refused a co-operative bank account?

Fucking hell.
What times we are living in.

The whole debate is so skewed: either you drink the KoolAid, or you are out in the wilderness.

www.quotenet.nl/zakelijk/a38168386/digibank-bunq-van-quote-500-lid-ali-niknam-blokkeert-feministische-groep/

Tech nerds seem to be involved in the setting up of this bank. The article is in dutch, but google translate is your friend here.

Bunq on the knees for fuss? Well, not according to founder Ali Niknam (number 29 in the Quote 500 with a net worth of €1.5 billion). Blocking the account, he says, is simply a logical consequence of the user agreements, in which there is no room for political groups.

"It's a sum of things," Niknam told the newspaper. 'In our view, Voorzij has all the characteristics of an ideological group and they do not fit within our conditions. This, in combination with the complaints we received about Voorzij, has brought us to this point. You can think of anything, but we don't do anything with activist, ideological and political groups.'

It would be interesting to see who else has a bank account with their bank. Obviously, they don't seem to agree with women being able to organise in order to defend our rights, based on our sex. Biological sex is now an ideology according to these misogynistic wokie blokies. And they appear to be happy to suspend the account of a women's rights group because trans activists (or some misogynistic complainants) are attacking women's organisations.

We really need women's services. It would be a mercy to have some service providers that don't hate women.

Sorry for keeping on posting. It seems that Bunq are indeed happy to host bank accounts for political activist organisations. Just not Voorzij which defends women rights. Maybe because it defends women's rights. So it may be that BUNQ is being economical with the truth.

Stichting HudaTV appear to have an account with them. These are being described as a 'hardline' salafist group. That is only one. It does debunk BUNQ's little sermon though. I wouldn't be surprised with anything that turned up if they were investigated. Any sort of organisation could have an account with them.

Hypocritical f*ckers who are have no problem having one policy when it comes to joining in with the suppression of women's rights while piously spouting disingenuous bollocks reasons that don't seem to apply to other organisations they quite happily host (the bank that is, and in my personal opinion that is).

I assume they have an active internal LGBTQQIA+ network.

Well, the management board comprises three men. They say in their report that they value diversity very much and just don't have the 30% women yet. Of course they talk about 'gender' and not sex. I imagine it suits them very well to have a broader definition of women; one that includes men. Maybe one of the chappies could just do a twirl, and voila. I imagine blokes in many exclusively male run businesses are laughing all the way with this 'progressive' ideology.

While bunq values diversity very much, the Managing Board does not meet the ‘balanced composition’ requirement which stipulates that at least 30% of the seats are filled by women and at least 30% by men. This requirement is applicable to large enterprises, but bunq does not meet the criteria of a large enterprise yet. More importantly, next to gender, we believe that diversity in culture and many other metrics are equally valuable. We truly appreciate people as they are, no matter what, and only distinguish them for their results. The Supervisory Board does meet the ‘balanced composition’ requirement.

Well, they had an oppurtunity to appoint a woman to their 3 person Board in 2020 when a 'Mr Timessen' resigned to move to Spain. But (sad face) they couldn't seem to find one to fulfil their fine words, and appointed another man called Mr B Wesselink. I wonder if it also fits with their terms and conditions that one could also just identify as someone from the other diversity in culture and many other metrics which they state they believe are equally valuable as the 'gender' (not sex) metric?

The three chappies sign off the report with "Together we build the bank of the free". Well! it appears they need to add small print to state this doesn't apply if you are a women's rights group.

apps.bunq.com/assets/media/legal/en/20200630-Annual-report-2019-bunq-B.V.pdf

It seems that Bunq are indeed happy to host bank accounts for political activist organisations. Just not Voorzij which defends women rights. Maybe because it defends women's rights. So it may be that BUNQ is being economical with the truth.

So what's the potential recourse in Dutch law? Seems like it would be fairly clear-cut sex discrimination in the UK - specifically barring women's campaign groups.

How the F is that even legal

I don't know. I see that Voorzij are creating an allotment to harvest veg. In order to challenge the decision by this bank.

I don't know what regressive laws for women have been implemented in the Netherlands at the behest of this male entitlement movement. It would be good for someone like Posie or Glinner (or anyone) to have someone on from Voorzij to discuss it.

Thank you for posting about this - I’d never heard of it before.

Sunlight is always good.

IMO (I’m Dutch) The Netherlands is a rather feminist country so I’m very surprised that this is happening. Although I haven’t lived there in 3 years so everybody might just try and be super ‘woke’ now.

Most Dutch laws, from what I remember, regarding social media and freedom of speech seem to be very outdated so they would probably not support Bunq’s viewpoint.

Self id legislation for anyone over 16, without any medical intervention or control, seems to be on the agenda in the Netherlands. With all that means for single sex spaces, and safeguarding. Women being locked up with male prisoners, sports etc. There would be no spousal right to pause things until they are out of the marriage with someone who wants to change their 'legal' sex. I don't know what date this article on Voorzij's website is from.

www.voorzij.nl/protesteer-ook-tegen-de-wet-op-de-zelfidentificatie/

They wish to harvest five thousand carrots. They have one and a half thousand carrots.

A propos of nothing, I used to prepare a dish that involved squeezing orange juice over roasted carrots. Now I might chuck a few carrots to this team oranje.

Oh, seems you can just get your birth certificate doctored changed to your preferred sex. No fee, it appears. Children under 16 will be able to apply to have this done also.

Well, now the principle is ceded, shouldn't people be able to change their age and place of birth too.

nltimes.nl/2021/05/08/dutch-cabinet-ready-allow-children-change-gender-registration

This is interesting. The Dutch gov't are compensating people who were obliged to undergo sterilisation procedures in order to register as the other sex.

I wonder if those who were given puberty blockers or 'affirmation' surgery will be in line for compo, too. It could be said that being sterile is a logical consequence of some of these interventions. Or losing sexual function? There may be many detransitioners down the line who may have felt in retrospect they were not in a position to give consent due to youth or state of mind.

Since physical integrity is explicitly mentioned, what about women who are physically put in harm's way by the state or organisations e.g. being locked up with male rapists; or having to play with/against male bodies in supposedly women's teams. What about if women are sexually assaulted because they put (self selecting) males on hospital wards or where women are especially vulnerable to male violence/assault etc.

www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-lgbt-sterilisation-idUSKBN28B5UX

This is a new level of scary. So, a fine toothed comb needed to check none of their other account holders meet the political criteria then.

Looks like the Netherlands is more supportive of LGBT rights. They cancel the bank accounts of hate groups whilst Britain gives them charity status.

And yes I know I haven't researched this group, but I'm presuming it's something similar to the LGB Alliance (ie something that pretends to be gay-rights but is anti-trans and transphobia in practice).

Voorzij, For her. An unapologetic women's rights group. To defend women's rights against erosion by male entitlement - even if the emperor is posing in new 'clothes'.

I think we're way past being manipulated by people saying women's rights are hateful if it means men cannot do whatever they want.

Oh dear. Does someone think same sex attraction is wrong? Or women shouldn't have a voice? That is so .. retrogressive. That could be the new mantra 'Backwards is progress'.

It will be interesting to see if the Dutch gov't will be on the hook for compensation down the line, if women and girls are harmed by the deliberate removal of safeguarding and protections. Also those who may be physically harmed by the foreseeable consequences of being medicalised or having surgery when they may not have been in a position to properly consent. As they allude to bodily integrity in this compo scheme.

@MargaritaPie

Looks like the Netherlands is more supportive of LGBT rights. They cancel the bank accounts of hate groups whilst Britain gives them charity status.

And yes I know I haven't researched this group, but I'm presuming it's something similar to the LGB Alliance (ie something that pretends to be gay-rights but is anti-trans and transphobia in practice).

Nothing like a little DARVO in the morning, eh?

The situation being discussed here has nothing to do with LGBTQ2IA+ rights; it has to do with a political disagreement. Very likely the action that has been taken violates Netherlands law and also the ECHR. We'll see.

Interesting reaction, though - immediately assuming something pro-woman must be "hateful" without bothering to learn anything about the specific situation. Attempting to smear a completely unrelated UK charity in the process, with (again) no evidence or even any argument.

Just a friendly reminder: misogyny and homophobia are also bigotry, and accusing others of hate whilst emenating viscreal, unfounded, knee-jerk hate oneself could possibly be considered a bit hypocritical (and possibly slanderous). And of course, self-professed gnorance isn't a defense; there's no requirement to comment on a thread if you know nothing about the topic.

@Poppydoppy18

IMO (I’m Dutch) The Netherlands is a rather feminist country so I’m very surprised that this is happening. Although I haven’t lived there in 3 years so everybody might just try and be super ‘woke’ now.

Most Dutch laws, from what I remember, regarding social media and freedom of speech seem to be very outdated so they would probably not support Bunq’s viewpoint.

Bunq are a bit weird though. They did a big advertising campaign which was all based on weird stuff like "open a Bunq account with all your sexual partners" with a sexually suggestive photo. Which is fair enough, I mean if they want to appeal to the polygamous demographic then that's fine. It was the sort of thing that would get them publicity in other countries but Dutch people are like "meh". But I guess they have gone for the "sex-positive" business approach. If I was being cynical I would suspect that this is an attempt by a regular newcomer to get a lot of media attention by doing something controversial and then some people would vow never to use them but others who agree with their stance would support them. And for a small bank that's a win - and probably cheaper than an advertising campaign even if they lost a court case. So I SUSPECT that this is a cynical ploy on their part rather than ideology.