View source for Tofik Dibi

{{Short description|Dutch politician (born 1980)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name        = Tofik Dibi
| image       = Tofik Dibi2.jpg
| width       = 200px
| caption     =
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1980|11|19|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Vlissingen]], [[Netherlands]]
| birth_name  = Tovek Dibi
| residence   = [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
| death_date  =
| death_place =
| office      = [[House of Representatives of the Netherlands|Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands]]
| term_start  = 30 November 2006
| term_end    = 19 September 2012
| predecessor =
| successor   = 
| party       = [[GreenLeft]] (GroenLinks - GL)
| constituency = 
| majority    = 
| spouse      = 
| children    = 
| website     = {{in lang|nl}} [http://www.tofikdibi.nl/ Personal website]
| footnotes   = 
}}

'''Tovek "Tofik" Dibi''' (born 19 November 1980 in [[Vlissingen]]) is a former [[politics of the Netherlands|Dutch politician]] for [[GreenLeft]] (''GroenLinks''). He was a Member of Parliament from 30 November 2006 till 19 September 2012. He focused on matters of [[criminal law]], [[safety]], [[youth]], [[family]], and [[racial integration|integration]].

== Biography ==
Dibi is of [[Moroccans in the Netherlands|Moroccan]] descent. He has studied Media and Culture at the [[University of Amsterdam]], specializing in cinema. He combined his study with activities in the [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[Turkish Workers' Union in the Netherlands]] ({{langx|tr|Hollanda Türkiyeli Isçiler Birligi}} (HTIB), {{langx|nl|Turkse Arbeidersvereniging in Nederland}}), and in his own neighborhood [[Bos en Lommer]] in Amsterdam. Together with the [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] ''International Socialists'', he initiated the national demonstration ''Stop Bush!'' organizing protests when [[George W. Bush]] visited the Netherlands in 2005, and the national action committee ''Enough is Enough'', which focused on discrimination against [[Islam in the Netherlands|Muslim]]s.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

In September 2006 Dibi unexpectedly came in seventh on the list of GreenLeft for the [[2006 Dutch general election|2006 general elections]] and was chosen in the [[House of Representatives of the Netherlands|House of Representatives]] in November 2006. The GreenLeft screening commission called him "a political talent", to Dibi's own amazement, for he had not considered his candidacy all that seriously.<ref>[http://www.spunk.nl/article/article.php?id=1162505057890 Interview with Tofik Dibi at Spunk.nl] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927142830/http://www.spunk.nl/article/article.php?id=1162505057890 |date=2007-09-27 }}</ref> 

On 13 January 2007 Dibi was arrested and later released while pamphleteering against Dutch politician [[Geert Wilders]] with members of the International Socialists.<ref>[http://www.minbzk.nl/aspx/download.aspx?file=/contents/pages/103803/verkenningpr.pdf Polarisatie en radicalisering in Nederland - Een verkenning van de stand van zaken in 2009], p. 106 [a government report on radical organisations]</ref> Their posters called Wilders "an extremist" and "harmful to society".<ref>{{cite news | title = Weer anti-Wildersbetogers opgepakt | url = http://www.nos.nl/nos/artikelen/2008/01/art000001C855F41169C0AB.html | publisher = NOS Nieuws | date = 2008-01-13 | access-date = 2008-01-13 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080116135255/http://www.nos.nl/nos/artikelen/2008/01/art000001C855F41169C0AB.html | archive-date = 2008-01-16 }}</ref>

In May 2012 he made public his internal candidacy for heading the GroenLinks list for the September 2012 elections. He lost the internal elections to [[Jolande Sap]], netting 12% of the vote versus Saps 84%. Dibi wasn't re-elected to parliament. After his departure from parliament, he returned to university where he studied until 2014, leaving without a qualification.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trouw.nl/home/tofik-dibi-een-botsing-van-beschavingen-onzin-~a1989b0b/|title=Tofik Dibi: 'Een botsing van beschavingen? Onzin!'|last=Smid|first=Ally|date=2015-02-03|website=Trouw|language=nl-NL|access-date=2018-05-21}}</ref>

Dibi publicly disclosed his homosexuality on October 23, 2015, in an interview with the newspaper ''[[De Volkskrant]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Mijn geaardheid is niet langer meer een issue' |trans-title='My orientation is no longer an issue' |url=https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/mijn-geaardheid-is-niet-langer-meer-een-issue~b9a06d37/?referrer=https://nl.wikipedia.org/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |language=nl}}</ref> On the same day, he released a memoir, ''Djinn.'' The book deals with his struggles with his [[homosexuality]], which he had kept secret during his time as a member of parliament, his [[Muslim]] background, and his political career. ''Djinn'' was translated into English in 2021.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dibi |first=Tofik |url=https://sunypress.edu/Books/D/Djinn |title=Djinn |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781438481302 |location=Albany, NY |translator-last=Barr |translator-first=Nicolaas P.}}</ref>

== Works ==

* Dibi, Tofik (2021). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EZFTzQEACAAJ Djinn]''. State University of New York Press. {{ISBN|978-1-4384-8130-2}}
* Dibi, Tofik (2020-09-10). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Czn8DwAAQBAJ Het Monster van Wokeness]'' (in Dutch). Prometheus, Uitgeverij. {{ISBN|978-90-446-3759-5}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web | title=T. (Tofik) Dibi | website=Parlement | date=2023-06-23 | url=https://www.parlement.com/id/vher1d4goau4/t_tofik_dibi | language=nl }}

{{Commons category}}
{{Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2010–2012}}
{{MPs of House of Representatives of the Netherlands 2006-2010}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibi, Tofik}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Dutch Muslims]]
[[Category:Dutch people of Moroccan descent]]
[[Category:Dutch relationships and sexuality writers]]
[[Category:GroenLinks politicians]]
[[Category:Dutch gay politicians]]
[[Category:Dutch gay writers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Dutch MPs 2010–2012]]
[[Category:Dutch MPs 2006–2010]]
[[Category:People from Vlissingen]]
[[Category:Gay Muslims]]