The Colombian visual artist Francisco Camacho is campaigning in the Netherlands for the legalisation of group marriages - i.e. the marital union of three or more persons. He insists that it is not the same as the polygamy practised in some Muslim countries.

"A free citizen should be able to choose with how many persons he or she wants to live together", declares the 30-year old militantly. Dressed in a white t-shirt with the text "Yes we want!", he collects signatures on the streets of Amsterdam for a petition that he will hand to the Dutch parliament in September.

In Mr Camacho's view, monogamous marriage is a legacy from the time that religion was a determining force in society. But times have changed. "People of my generation have more open relationships that cannot be contained in the straight-jacket of a monogamous marriage. And present-day society is more diverse, with various groups such as hippies, Muslims and homosexuals all wanting to give shape to their lives in their own way."

Legislation should cater for these needs instead of suppressing them, Mr Camacho believes. "This project is all about how the state guarantees the freedom of its citizens."

Art project
The group-marriage initiative is part of a big art project in Amsterdam titled 'My name is Spinoza' [See below]. "The philosopher Spinoza," Mr Camacho explains, "was one of the first advocates of a state that does not impose religious norms on its citizens."

Some react with scepticism to the campaign. "Impossible", says someone, "They will all get jealous of each other!" But Mr Camacho has already met many people who are actually living together with others in so-called polyamorous relationships. "Some people do it because they are tired of hiding their extramarital adventures from each other, others because they want to raise a child with more than two persons." Such people, says Mr Camacho, often go through a lot of trouble to get their choice accepted by society and recognised by Dutch bureaucracy.

Muslims
Dutch Muslims have also shown some interest in the project. In a recent TV programme, the Moroccan Dutch journalist Samira El-Kandoussi discussed the advantages of polygamy. Dutch people, she argued, are a bit hypocritical. Officially they are monogamous, but according to recent research forty percent of them are cheating on their partners. With the Islamic institution of polygamy, men at least can give in to their polygamous nature without having to resort to secrecy.

Ms Kandoussi views Mr Camacho as an ally, but Mr Camacho explains that his project is about something different: "In an Islamic polygamous marriage, one man is married to several women who do not have the same rights as himself, whereas in the polyamorous marriage we propose, each person is married to all the others, and all participants have the same rights."

Legal case
Recently, Mr Camacho himself entered a symbolic marriage with two partners: a man and a woman. They found a notary who made a contract for them in which they are married in total equality. With this contract they now will start a legal case against the Dutch state. Mr Camacho: "I want to see what the judge will say when we demand, with this contract, the same rights as other married people."

But what moves a Colombian artist to campaign for a law change in the Netherlands? Actually, he says, this project is about free love. "Love is free, by its very nature. You can't force it into any form. If you want to manage love and contain it in legal rules, those rules must be free and open, just like love itself."