Belgian politics

[woodface]

Our equivalent of the Supreme Court did its job and confirmed that the court of Ghent was correct in its ruling that "Vlaams Blok" is a racist party. The political party is going against our anti-racism law. Blok's claims that the former ruling is a violation of the freedom of speech have been proven to be unjustified. It is not the program points and opinions of the party that have been condemned, it is its targetting of a minority group. Of course, this means nothing. Vlaams Blok will cease to excist as the party has already been thinking of a new name. They have revised their program but the changes are nothing more than a new layer of paint.

I wish I could say that I was hopeful that this conviction will put a stop to the extreme right in our political landscape. I doubt it very much though. Fact remains that one million people voted for them, that is one tenth of our population. Its claims to be the "largest party" in Flanders however make me want to bitchslap them one a continious basis. They are not the largest, if they were they would have been able to form the coalition last year. CD&V (christian party) was the largest for which I am grateful. I wonder how long it will be before Blok will be the largest though. Their support grows with every election and it's damn right frightening. Maybe I should start making banners for the demonstrations when they are the largest party.

janegaudi, are you going to that reunion. And damn it, I still have your books and I would really like to give them back to you.

Comments

[surreallis.livejournal.com]

I guess people are the same all over. They find it easier to turn fear of the future into hate for anyone different. Then they feel like they're doing something I suppose.

[woodface]

No, the problem lies deeper. There are problems in our country involving immigrants. There is a need for politicians to finally start adressing the issue and doing something about it without stigmatising the whole community. However, they have not out of fear of hurting someone's feelings. VB has, they are approacing a topic that a lot of people think is serious and that other parties are afraid to touch. The only way to stop its movement is by intergrating the sensible points into their program and letting people know that something is being done about it.

[surreallis.livejournal.com]

Not acting for fear of offending is something we are very familiar with in the U.S. Your country is much smaller than ours of course, so your balance is much different.

It sounds like you have a hell of an issue. Sensible=politicians? It'd be cool if there's one country out there who can make that equation work.

[woodface]

OH, you don't even know the half of the issues here. *sighs*

It would be. *pokes them*