Biography of Boris van der Ham

Who is Boris van der Ham?

Boris van der Ham (Amsterdam, August 29, 1973) is a Dutch politician. He studied history and also studied at the actor’s academy in Maastricht. Between 1998 and 2000 he was president of the Young Democrats. He worked as an actor, but also as an assistant in both the European and the Dutch Parliament. In 2002, he became a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for Democrats 66 (D66), the Dutch Liberal-Democrats. He was second on the list at the last Dutch elections in 2010; en was elected with preferential votes. He is currently spokesman on education and chairman of the Economical affairs commission in the Parliament. Presently he drafted several other bills: a bill to get rid of the ban on blasphemy, to liberalize the opening times for shops, to call for equal treatment for handicapped and gays and lesbians, and a proposal to reduce the traditional role of the Queen in the formation of new governments.

In 2005 he drafted a bill that led to the Dutch referendum in 2005 about the European Constitution (together with the Greens and Labour). In 2007 he wrote a book 'Voortrekkers en Baanbrekers' ('In the front row') about the role of the Netherlands in the European Union after the referendum of 2005.

Since 2010 Mr. Van der Ham delivers every week a ‘Freethought video blog’ on Youtube. Once a month he does one in English. In this ‘vlog’ he addresses al kinds of liberal values. Van der Ham: “Freedom is under siege. Ignorance, obstinacy, but also by misunderstandings put pressure on our civil liberties. I try to sketch the rich history of freethinking. What can we learn from these texts about the personal and political issues of our time?” Watch the English-vlogs on www.freethoughtvlog.com