Avanze

Avanze (Barzuna for Advance) is a fairly new political movement founded in 2015 in Niesburg. Avanze groups people that are against austerity and for "advancing people's welfare, security and rights". The group tends to lean to the left though has right-leaning members and incorporates some of those ideas.

Avanze was founded in June 2015 by a number of people protesting the lack of social support being afforded by the local government in Niesburg, including mayor Drake Schatzhoven. Some of the key founding members include Richard Bomgaars, a bus driver and Camila Almeida, a Portuguese-born Carmelite nun taking a sabbatical to further assist the poor and needy through Avanze, inspired by Spanish nun Teresa Forcades.