Vlaams Belang & Belgian Municipal Elections

[August1991]

This may receive some notice in Canada's MSM.

Vlaams Belang means "Flemish Interest" (replacing the old name, "Bloc flamand"). It has just (relatively) done well in Belgian municipal elections.

It is typically described as "extreme right wing":

The extreme-right Flemish Interest party thrived as never before in local elections, despite being scorned and ostracized by Belgium's political class.

Based on partial results of the provincial councils, the anti-immigrant party picked up 7.6 percentage points to reach 20.8 percent across northern Dutch-speaking Flanders and surged well beyond its traditional stronghold of Antwerp.

"There is no way to disregard this victory," party Chairman Frank Vanhecke said after Sunday's voting. "This is a landslide victory."

IHT

The party was forced to change its name after other political parties took it to court under hate speech legislation. The other parties have also sought ways to stop Vlaams Belang from receiving per-vote, taxpayer subsidies.

Wikipedia describes the party platform:

• Return of all economic immigrants who fail to "assimilate".
  
• Opposition to the "islamisation of Europe", which Vlaams Belang views as a "frightening historical process".
  
• After the Dutch and German model, extend the law of self-defense to the defense of home, shop and property.
  
• Increased child benefits, including provisions which allow one parent, if both employed, to remain at home for the benefit of education for their child or children.
  
• Opposition to the law enabling homosexual marriage, and opposition to the law proposal enabling adoption by homosexual couples.
  

Such parties have seen success in Holland and Austria too. They are often characterized as extreme right or even Nazi-like. IMV, such terms and comparisons are not correct nor helpful.

Europeans have barely gotten over their own national divisions and now they are being asked to assimilate many non-Europeans. North Americans handle these questions with more civilized aplomb.

Lastly, the Mark Steyns of this world will view this as a last gasp, having already written Europe off. Well, Mark Steyn is a high school dropout and while his political analysis is thought-provoking, he should realize that demographic conclusions have a history of being wildly wrong. Quebecers are obsessed by demography and over time, their fears have proven groundless. The British thought too that New France would disappear and Malthus thought the future would be impoverished. Many people believe the Chinese will eventually take over. Demography is a seductive but weak basis of an argument.