[The man is a hero. He was clearly one of the few Dutch of that time who was on our side. Now the Liberal scum are firing him. Jan]

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION: NOS NETHERLANDS NEWS ARTICLE
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Source: NOS News (nos.nl)
Date/Time: Today, 12:11 | Updated Today, 14:30
Subject: Dismissal of Donald Pols at Tata Steel
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HEADLINE:
Pols Fired After One Day at Tata Steel, Concealed Far-Right Past

IJmuiden steel company Tata Steel has terminated its contract with its newly
appointed Director of Sustainability and Communications, Donald Pols. The
former figurehead of the environmental activist group Milieudefensie (Friends
of the Earth Netherlands) had been employed for only a single day.

The Dutch newspaper NRC reports that during his student days in South Africa,
Pols served as a leader of the far-right student movement known as the
Afrikaner Studente Front (ASF). This radical group actively fought against
Nelson Mandela's anti-apartheid organization, the ANC, and vehemently opposed
the abolition of the apartheid system.

"In recent days, additional information regarding his background has come to
light—information that has deeply affected us and was not shared with our
company," Tata Steel stated in an official announcement. "Therefore, it was
decided this morning to terminate the contract with Donald Pols with
immediate effect."


POLS' STATEMENT
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In an interview with NRC, Pols acknowledged his past membership in the racist
student movement.

"It is reprehensible behavior; they were wrong stances, very wrong stances,"
Pols stated. However, he characterizes the period as a youthful mistake.
"There is nothing to justify, nor do I want to. I am responsible. But in no
way am I the person I was back then."

Pols further explained that he allowed himself to be swept away during a
"highly turbulent time" in the country.

"Everything was in flux. All social institutions, all forms of identity, all
relationships. Nothing was fixed, everything was open. I was at a stage in
my life where I needed stability, identity, a sense of community, connection.
I may have been nineteen years old, but I basically had the brain of an
adolescent. And I chose a path that I now look back on with disgust."

Pols' history was uncovered during an archival investigation by historical
researcher Anne-Lot Hoek. NRC writes that Hoek is currently working on an
upcoming book focusing on the apartheid history of South Africa and Namibia,
alongside their broader colonial history.

Through this archival work, she discovered that a 19-year-old Pols served as
the chairman of the ASF. In the early 1990s, the group organized resistance
against dismantling apartheid—the political system that legally oppressed the
large Black majority population in South Africa.


THE PRETORIA INCIDENT & NELSON MANDELA
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The ASF viewed the formerly banned resistance movement, the ANC, as a massive
political threat. The student group actively attempted to block ANC figures
from speaking publicly on campuses—including the recently released ANC leader,
Nelson Mandela.

An archival report from the Chicago Tribune dated April 30, 1991, describes
one such disruption:

"Hundreds of right-wing, white students chased ANC leader Nelson Mandela
off a stage at the University of Pretoria where he was scheduled to give
a speech. They fought with Mandela's bodyguards, burned an ANC flag,
and sang Afrikaner freedom songs."
*(Note: Afrikaners are white South Africans, predominantly with Dutch roots).*

The original news reports from that event quote Donald Pols directly regarding
the demonstration.

"We did this to boost the feelings of right-thinking whites," Pols said at
the time. Mandela had been visiting the campus at the specific invitation of
left-wing students. "We warned left-wing students on campus that the meeting
could stir up emotions that might get out of hand. The meeting went ahead
despite our warnings," Pols stated back in 1991.


VIDEO FOOTAGE EVALUATION
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The NRC website has published a video report covering the 1991 Pretoria campus
incident. Three separate individuals interviewed by NRC stated that they
positively recognize Donald Pols as the specific individual holding the
burning ANC flag in the footage.

According to the article, Pols initially indicated during interviews that he
recognized himself within the historical video frames. However, he later
denied being the specific individual captured setting the flag on fire.

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[END OF ARTICLE TRANSLATION]
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Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2616817-pols-na-een-dag-ontslagen-bij-tata-steel-verzweeg-extreemrechts-verleden