Well said, what is more, from what I understand if you print that article in Belgium you are immediately acting in an illegal way due to the fact that you are now a "conspirator with an illeagl organistaion, shame on you Mr Pollard.

This is a despicable article. You use the same tactics the Vlaams Blok uses: distort the truth. If you lie long enough, people will ultimately start to believe there is some truth in what you say. The court's ruling does not forbid the VB. The only thing the VB have to do is stop putting the blame for everything on immigrants, whether or not illegal. Imagine a British party that wants to deport all blacks to Africa, all Indians back to India. That is exactly what the VB wants, or at least wanted. They polished their retoric up a bit over the past few years, but that is only window dressing.

Imagine a British party that wants to deport all blacks to Africa, all Indians back to India.

Yes! Let's imagine that. I think that would be a good start and idea. Non assimilating immigrants are a serious problem, everywhere. They are in fact, parasites.

When the Islamists are butchering you in your own country, and your women are being raped and/or are forced to stay home and wear burkas (sp) maybe you will wake up. Of course, by then it will be too late.

-AR

Hmmm. As a libertarian of the American variety, I'd be delighted to have a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that "does not forbid the Green/Socialist/Communist (take your pick) Party," but only makes them "stop putting the blame for everything on capitalists."

I'D be delighted, of course, but other American citizens who disagree with me wouldn't, and since I respect their right to be (in my view) dead wrong, I don't favor censorship. (I respect that right because, no matter how certain I may be viscerally that I'm right, I recognize intellectually that it may in fact be me who turns out to be wrong.)

I guess over your way, all one needs to do is cite someone's proposition that seems self-evidently wrong (to you, at least) and the solution is self-evident -- shut 'em up, and if they keep talking, it's jail for 'em.

I concur with Salaryman,

When courts can decide to ban non-violent organizations from political activities based on strictly arbitary factors, you create the underpinnings that could lead the way to a totalistic society. Who will decide what is "hate?"

Perhaps this organization is hateful, I don't know. But then again, maybe you think I am hateful. I believe homosexuality to be amoral and wrong. You may disagree with this (as is anyone's constitutional right in my country, the United States). But perhaps some arbitrary court will decide I am guilty of some vague thought crime and cannot involve myself in politics until I reform my beliefs.

Perhaps some think this is a good idea as to reform society and bring it closer to utopia, but people tend to forget that once the goverment takes away one freedom, it leads to another and another and another (all to make things more fair, or more secure). And one will find that a society without freedom falls victim to terror and murder from their own gov't far more then one that does.

Perhaps Belgium will now ban the Arab-European League (most recently in the news for threats against Jews in Antwerp), but why do I suspect that that won't happen?

Quoting my fellow countryman joeri: "This is a despicable article. You use the same tactics the Vlaams Blok uses: distort the truth. If you lie long enough, people will ultimately start to believe there is some truth in what you say."

This summarizes briefly what the competing political parties did to the Vlaams Blok. They shouted their usual epithets of "despicable", along a lot of "fascist" and "nazi", hoping to scare people off and nip a contender on the political market in the bud. They tried it for ten years and it didn't work, mainly because the Vlaams Blok rightly defends the people who want to curb immigration, to pursue an independent Flanders and to preserve the Flemish culture in the face of Walloon imperialism.
The opponents of the Vlaams Blok mainly consist of left-wing moralizers, and the mainstream parties that once went along with them, calling the Vlaams Blok all kinds of nasty names and are now sunk too far in the manure they flung to dare and say they were wrong, insulted the Vlaams Blok for their own gain, and -horresco referens- that they are sorry.

Quoting again: "The court's ruling does not forbid the VB. The only thing the VB have to do is stop putting the blame for everything on immigrants, whether or not illegal."

That is wrong. If upheld, the VB will be a "criminal organisation" and all people even remotely involved can be sued to shut them up, sue them into poverty and strip them of political rights. All because they say things the state doesn't want them to say. In the United States people cannot understand this as there is a First Amendment. Belgium has an inverse First Amendment: You have the right to think whatever you like, but if you utter it it'd better be politically correct.
Even worse, the court also establishes a precedent about how people can report, talk about and in general express themselves about this New Taboo of the Left-wing Church. If this ruling is upheld, the following minority groups get the right to sue anyone they want to see eliminated from public life (among the sentences there is temporary ineligibility for public office).

Women (since when an endangered minority??), coloured people (although i think white isn't considered a colour), foreigners (the German invasion in 1940 would have been protected by law if this law was in effect!), homosexuals (as usual).
Other "discriminations" include the now forbidden distinctions based on:
heritage (the king should be wary, because he got his job through his heritage), national or ethnic heritage, so-called-race (they changed the original phrasing "race" to "so-called-race" in the law! Apparently it was hard to both claim the left dogma of the non-existence of race, and at the same time sue people for something that didn't exist), marital status, birth (oops, trouble ahead for our princes, if someone wants their job), faith, age (employers fear this!), fortune (strangely enough, communists haven't been sued yet for spewing hate towards the rich), health (insurers, fear this!), handicap or physical property (redheads and ugly people, unite!)

For an interesting read on the Thought Control Law, feed http://www.antiracisme.be/nl/wetten/racisme/belgië/antidiscriminatiewet.htm into the Dutch-to-English translation at systransoft.com.

Also note that intentions and expressing intentions to say something along forbidden lines, are also forbidden!

After the US is done with Irak it would be interesting to ask them to come and clean out our mind-control-dicatators.

Quoting Joeri: "Imagine a British party that wants to deport all blacks to Africa, all Indians back to India. That is exactly what the VB wants, or at least wanted. They polished their retoric up a bit over the past few years, but that is only window dressing."

This is exactly the kind of reasoning the judge of appeals applied to the sentence: making a caricature of what is really said and assuming intentions. The Vlaams Blok doesn't say any of this in its party program, but who cares, joeri can look into people's minds and find out the Truth. Two can play that game: I should accuse joeri of being a criminal, and if he proves it isn't so, that would "only be window dressing".

Trackback: I learned of this piece (very interesting, very troubling) through a post by Andrew Stuttaford at National Review's The Corner, http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/04_04_18_corner-archive.asp#030595.

Good article.
I live in Flanders (Belgium) and it feels good that people are reacting also in other countries about the scary Belgian reality.
Keep up the good work !

Ok, here's the truth:

1) Vlaams blok has not been 'banned'.

2) Vlaams blok has been found guilty of breaking the law on several occasions and as has result has will now forfeit public funding.

On a further point, Vlaams Blok are a nasty bunch of racist idiots and far worse than the Lijst Fortuyn (though they are not particularly pleasant either).

DJMs "truth" corresponds exactly to what I report.

1. Yes and no, read my comments. The ban will be automatic and de facto, not de jure. Guilt by association and the Thought Control Law's clauses about aiding and abetting a "criminal" organisation (criminal in the sense of opening their mouths beyond the legal limits imposed by the law). None of the supporters of the judgement in this log seem to care about this infraction of civil rights.

2. Yes, guilty of infringing the law the other parties voted to shut them up. What a hottible offense, what a putrid criminals they are!

And the insult about the people in the Vlaams Blok clearly shows the kind of atmosphere left-wing VB-haters created to "prove" their own moral high-ground and to be able to look down in contempt for other opinions. Far easier than, say, arguing about the content of laws.

As an anecdote: more than 10 years ago the Vlaams Blok proposed using the army's C130 transport aircraft to repatriate illegal immigrants that lost their appeal. The entire political caste shouted "racist, nazi!" at them, as usual. Now, anno 2003, the same people that did the shouting recently repatriated illegal immigrants in a ... C130 aircraft carrier. Not a single reference to the Third Reich was made, by the way.

In belgium, it's all a matter of being in power to distinguish between implementing a government policy and being outlawed and criminal "racist idiots"...

To left-wing bigots, they are far worse than Fortuyn in the sense that they can't be shut up (yet), like the murdered Pim Fortuyn.

There can never be any unlimited freedom in any area because one person's freedom to act will always impinge on another's freedom not to have to suffer from the actions of the first. The American bias in favour of absolute free speech fails to offer adequate protection to those on the receiving end of hate speech and incitement to hatred. I think the European approach generally achieves a far better balance between the rights of free speech and the rights of those most vulnerable to the dangers of hate speech.

Here is an extract of the judgement: "Kritiek ten aanzien van de allochtone bevolking is niet verboden. Wel verboden is dat een groep of vereniging zich systematisch afzet tegen een bepaald ras of een bepaalde bevolkingsgroep." Basically: "Critisicm towards the immigrant community is not forbidden. What is forbidden is that a group or organisation systematically acts against a specific race or community". This has nothing to do with the VB giving a particular view on how to deal with newcomers that was offered to the public at large for political debate and everything to do with systematic racism and incitement to racial hatred. You may like a system where that is legal but fortunately Europeans don't.

Look like the leftists are winning in Belgium by pushing for such a ban against any political party that doesn't conform to the left's ideals or EU's utopian visions.

The leftists are following the Nazis' tactics of suppressing dissent and opposition.

Comments to: I have seen the future. It’s scary and Belgian (opinion Times Saturday April 24, 2004.

Dear Sir,

Personally I have no sympathy for the far-right Vlaams Blok political party. Nevertheless I regret that if the current verdict of the Court of Appeal in Ghent is confirmed, this party will be dissolved and its leaders forbidden to be elected again because they lose their political rights (I believe for five years), and this for political program points that are currently implemented in Holland and France, or for expressions in texts that are five or ten years old or so and are considered to be too on the knife’s edge, although meanwhile for instance in Holland, public opinion has much evolved in the same direction…

The judge was biased because he belongs to the frustrated little French minority from the city of Ghent (who happens to have relatively much judges, lawyers…), that is well-known for its harsh punishments against Flemish feeling people. Remind the execution of August Borms in 1945, only for political reasons.

But the real problem lays in the (yes you read it right): in the Council of Europe. I send you my email (see in annex) from January 28, 2004 at a time that I could not yet believe that the Vlaams Blok party could be abolished.

In fact it is a conspiracy. The Belgian department of “Justice” is in the hands of Laurette Onkelinckx, from the Walloon "socialist" party. The Walloons get each year (according to the source) between 5,2 and 11 billion Euro of transfers in the social security from Flanders. Most of the Flemish are not aware of the fact that their salary cost is too high (which causes unemployment), because of the so-called “employer’s contribution to the social security”, a system that is said to be paid by the employer and not by the employee, but of course in the bookkeeping (I am a bookkeeper) from the international firms is stands as a cost.

Of course there are economical problems in Wallonia, but this is the pretext for general abuses there. The Walloons control themselves and in fact there is no control (last year one person was dropped from the social security's unemployment - if you want I can send you a text in Dutch that explains the whole system of abuse). They say: its no use to learn to all those hundreds of thousands of unemployed in Wallonia a new job, because there simply are no jobs. But perhaps if they only would start with learning a new job , the factories would come, isn’t it? But it’s easier to destroy the Vlaams Blok than to restructure! And the other Flemish parties (except now for the first time the Christian democrats in coalition with the civil Flemish nationalists, the cartel CD&V with NV-A) didn’t underline enough the problem of the transfers, because of inertia of the whole system (trade unions...).

And to perpetuate this viscous system, the Walloons who of course as French-speakers cherish their “good relations” with the Council of Europe, started again by the mouth of this "lady" Laurette Onkelinckx to lie or to give bias information to the Council of Europe (see the link for the text below). Indeed this evil lady is now the privileged interlocutor for the Council of Europe. If you read the text of the report about racism and intolerance (below) you will notice that it is an enumeration of all possible and impossible racial crimes that happened in Belgium. And the very cunning trick is to throw amid these facts two other things. First of all, the Vlaams Blok party, as if it is already proven in advance that they are the source of evil, and secondly more important, they start about their second target: “those who endanger the good relations between the Belgian communities”. That’s an euphemism for those who criticise the abuses in the social security system in Wallonia. So you see the background is about money and not about racism. This is confirmed by what I read on Friday in the daily La Libre Belgique: Tous ne sont évidemment pas racistes ou indépendantistes. See at:
Thus for the Walloons, racists and those Flemish who want independence are equal! A nice Walloon confession! Thus the Vlaams Blok doesn’t have to disappear because they are racists (or might be racists), but because they want independence!

With friendly greetings from Flanders in Belgium,

Johan Van Beek

Annex my former email to the members of the Council of Europe:

Title: Council of Europe: your report concerning racism and intolerance in Belgium

Dear Sirs,

I read your report at :

Thank you so much for trying to help us to get rid of the Vlaams Blok racist party. Unfortunately, you made a dreadful mistake and so I fear you will obtain with your efforts just the opposite of what you intend. You simply don’t seem to understand the situation. To prove that I am not the only one with this opinion, I will send you in annex an article of a Flemish democratic philosopher that yesterday happened to be published in the Flemish quality newspaper de Standaard. It’s about a Belgian Cardinal who ventilated a personal opinion and who must fear to end his days in prison because of the legislation you promoted.

The main problem is that Belgium went too far. The practical measures in Belgium such as written down in the Executive Summary of your report, go much farther than you write: they not only strengthen the protection provided by criminal law against ACTS inspired by racism. Belgium also attacks the Freedom of Speech (under the Belgian law also interpreted as an ACT- this is done intentionally but would lead me to far to explain) and that’s just what the Vlaams Blok party does grow: the racist Vlaams Blok party is continuously searching for manners to “say what the others cannot express” and they do it so adequately ( they simply make a sport out of it), so that you will never be able to catch them. So please write in your next report that freedom of speech must be guaranteed in Belgium. Thank you.

May I also draw your attention to the fact that there is an official language unity treaty between the Netherlands and Belgium (Taalunie Verdrag). Therefore may I ask you to call the translation of your report: “Dutch” instead of “Flemish”? The language spoken in Austria isn’t called Austrian either!

With friendly greetings from Flanders in Belgium,

Johan Van Beek

Annex the newspaper article (in Dutch):

Homofilie of democratie?

Het beruchte interview van kardinaal Joos in P-Magazine blijft reacties uitlokken. Volgens Filips Defoort moeten we ons dringend bezinnen over de tirannie van de politieke correctheid, die de democratie grondig vervalst.
DE commotie over de uitlatingen van kardinaal Joos in P-Magazine zou voor elke bewuste burger zorgwekkend moeten zijn. Let wel, de opinie van kardinaal Joos is op zich niet zorgwekkend. Want we moeten ons afvragen wat die opinie vertegenwoordigt. Weerspiegelt die de houding van de kerk of het College der Kardinalen? Uit staatkundig oogpunt is kardinaal Joos een ambteloze privé-burger, een man van tachtig jaar die denkt vanuit de denkschema's en referentiekaders waarmee hij in de jaren twintig, dertig en veertig is opgegroeid. De zinvolle informatiewerving waarmee iemand het eigen denkkader opbouwt, verloopt volgens de gangbare psychologische inzichten tot hoogstens het vijfde levensdecennium. Wat kardinaal Joos betreft, eindigt die periode in de jaren zestig. Het Amerikaanse College voor Psychiatrie, bijvoorbeeld, heeft homofilie nog tot in de jaren zeventig als pathologisch beschouwd. We zouden de opinie van kardinaal Joos dan ook als een curiosum kunnen beschouwen, een document humain dat nog vlug is opgetekend terwijl deze vertegenwoordiger van zijn generatie nog tot de levenden behoort. Een boodschap uit Jurassic Park, als het ware. Maar uiteraard is dat niet de reden waarom een gezaghebbende publicatie als , tussen de blote billen door, de opinie van een kardinaal op een karikaturale manier naar voren brengt. Nee, de mening van de tachtigjarige man moet voorgesteld worden als die van de kerk, en dus bespottelijk zijn en aangevallen worden. Daarbij doen de media en het hele politiek correcte apparaat van holebi's, Animo-jongeren en backbenchers krampachtig alsof de opinies van de heer Joos uitermate schokkend zijn. Het politiek correcte apparaat heeft namelijk, tragikomisch genoeg, met kardinaal Joos een belangrijk punt van overeenkomst: ze geloven allebei dat wat zij verkondigen, per definitie de gangbare opinie is. Tussen kardinaal Joos en het politiek correcte establishment is er anders wel een klein verschilpunt. Wat je in Vlaanderen op huwelijken en begrafenissen en in een doorsnee café te horen krijgt, toont aan dat opinies als die van kardinaal Joos duidelijk meer bijval genieten dan de beoefenaars van de politieke correctheid beseffen of willen toegeven. Maar als rechtgeaard democraat kun je alleen maar vaststellen dat in het hele debat, paradoxaal genoeg, niemand wil opmerken dat politieke correctheid de democratie grondig vervalst. Ik wil vooraf duidelijk maken dat wat volgt niets met enige opinie ten gronde over homofilie te maken heeft maar alles over de plaats van een minderheid in een democratie. Enkele jaren geleden werden we opgezadeld met een wet die onder meer discriminatie op grond van seksuele geaardheid verbiedt. Dat dat specifieke element van de wet vanuit democratische oogpunt grensoverschrijdend was, is wellicht ontsnapt aan de aandacht van het groeiende aantal politici dat niet langer met klassieke tekstanalyse, exegese of termijndenken vertrouwd is. De absurditeit ervan springt meteen in het oog: geen enkele van de politiek correcte personen of verenigingen die luid jammeren over de uitspraken van kardinaal Joos, zou gedogen dat men op grond van deze bepaling zou zeggen dat men nu maar eens moet ophouden met pedofielen te koeioneren op grond van hun 'seksuele geaardheid'. Maar goed, seksuele geaardheid en gedrag zijn dus onbespreekbaar, op straffe van vervolging door het Centrum voor Gelijkheid van Kansen en Racismebestrijding. Tenminste, voor zover het niet over het celibaat gaat, want dat mag meteen gecategoriseerd worden als 'onnatuurlijk en aberrant gedrag'. Waarom hebben ze niet meteen bij wet vastgelegd dat we ook niet mogen discrimineren op grond van rookgedrag, rijgedrag, enzovoort? Het zou alvast de Tuf-Tuf Club veel moeite hebben bespaard. Want het grensoverschrijdende aspect is zonneklaar. Zeggen dat je niet mag discrimineren op grond van afkomst, geslacht, huidkleur en andere, is één zaak. Het is iets heel anders als je de maatschappij of individuele leden van een maatschappij a priori het recht ontzegt om een mening over gedragsnormen te hebben en die ook te uiten. Want de democratie laat zich samenvatten in de woorden: 'Ik verafschuw uw ideeën, maar ik ben bereid te sterven voor uw recht ze te uiten.' De democratie verplicht mij niet mijn medeburgers aardig te vinden. Integendeel, de democratie geeft mij het goede en onvervreemdbare recht over de medeburgers precies te denken en te zeggen wat ik wil. Dat holebi's menen dat zij hun seksuele geaardheid mogen beleven, is hun goede en onvervreemdbare recht. Dat zij menen dat ik niet langer over hun gedragsvorm het mijne mag denken en zeggen, is volstrekt antidemocratisch. Door de totale uitholling van het recht op vrije meningsuiting zal de democratie binnen de kortste keren tot een irrelevant concept worden gereduceerd. Zullen we over een paar jaar ook alleen nog zwijgend en in neutrale kleding gehuld een voetbalwedstrijd kunnen bijwonen, omdat we anders de gevoelens van de aanhang van de tegenstander beledigen? Misschien kunnen de tegenstanders van SK Beveren, dat voor zijn rol als uithangbord voor Afrikaanse spelers door het Amerikaanse blad Time als voorbeeld van culturele integratie werd geprezen, voor elke wedstrijd meteen om een nederlaag met forfaitscore vragen, om te vermijden dat ze achteraf op de vingers worden getikt door het Centrum voor Gelijkheid van Kansen en Racismebestrijding? Een specifiek standpunt over homofilie en homofiel gedrag past gewoon in het aloude 'nature versus nurture'-debat, waar per definitie nooit een einde aan komt. Op symposia besluiten ze dit soort discussies steevast met de gevleugelde zin 'Your guess is as good as mine', waarna de borrel volgt. In de politiek correcte nieuwe democratie volgen aanklachten wegens belediging. Men zou er goed aan doen te bedenken dat de opinie dat homofilie niet pathologisch is, niet wetenschappelijker is dan de vroegere opinie. Ze berust niet op kwantificeerbare feiten of reproduceerbare experimenten. Ze is wat ze is, een opinie, geen wetenschap. Dat die opinie in dit land onaanvechtbaar is, op straffe van rechtsvervolging, is alleen te wijten aan het feit dat enkele politici op een onbewaakt ogenblik het Peter principle (mensen promoveren totdat ze een functie bereiken die ze niet aankunnen) in de praktijk hebben toegepast. Homeopathie wordt niet ineens wetenschappelijk verantwoord doordat politici homeopathie tot geneeskunde verklaren, omdat een luidruchtige minderheid dat wil. Een volk heeft nu eenmaal de wetten die het verdient: in Alabama mag je het jouwe niet denken over Genesis, in Vlaanderen niet over homofilie. We zouden dringend moeten beseffen dat politieke correctheid geen kenmerk is van een werkzame democratie, maar van het ancien régime. De koning was door God op zijn plaats gesteld, zijn oorlogen waren rechtvaardig, zijn rechtbanken onfeilbaar, en de adel hield de maatschappij in stand. Kritische bedenkingen bij de wijsheid en bekwaamheid van die figuren waren ondenkbaar en hoogst incorrect, en werden afgestraft. Anno 2004 zien we dan ook hoe de keizer-kosters van het politiek correcte denken een vrij geuite mening - het meest elementaire recht in een democratische samenleving - 'beledigend' achten en voor de rechter aanklagen. Uiteraard rekenen ze alleen op het onmiddellijke effect van de aankondiging van de klacht op de holebi-kiezer. Eer de rechtbank de hele wetenschappelijke en ideologische controverse over homofilie als een al dan niet pathologisch gedragsvorm heeft doorgenomen, is de levensverwachting van de kardinaal allang overschreden. Ik zal me intussen niet de moeite getroosten om figuren als de heer Philip Vermoortel uit Leuven (DS 23 januari) bij het Centrum voor Gelijkheid van Kansen en Racismebestrijding aan te klagen wegens laster. Volgens hem ben ik, omdat ik iemand ben die nog steeds gelooft dat een kerk verdraagzaamheid en liefde kan uitdragen, 'grondig gestoord' en moet ik 'geïnterneerd' worden, als 'gevaar voor de volksgezondheid, cultuur en democratie'. Zijn taal bewijst dat de heer Vermoortel zich anno 1930-1934 wellicht perfect thuis zou hebben gevoeld bij de bruingeklede - en in grote meerderheid homofiele - verdedigers van de Kultur die zich opmaakten om de straat met de matrak schoon te vegen voor de rechtgeaarde, internerende en ausradierende democraten. Met zijn voorkeur voor de Atheense democratie, waar een grondbezitter met zeven zonen alles en een efebe van achttien jaar niets te vertellen had, sluit de heer Dupont uit Gent (DS 23 januari) zich volkomen aan bij de visie van kardinaal Joos. Eerlijkheidhalve had hij eraan toe moeten voegen dat er nergens zoveel grove homograppen werden gedebiteerd als in het Atheense theater. De Atheners beseften dat wie in een ethisch niet bevoogdende maatschappij wil leven, tegen een stootje moet kunnen. (De auteur is filosoof.)
27/01/2004 P-Magazine, Filips Defoort
©Copyright De Standaard

Additional to my former contribution, the link to the French-speaking daily, that was not represented:
http://www.lalibre.be/article.phtml?id=10&subid=90&art_id=163474

It is interesting to note that the Vlams Blok is being declared a criminal organization for "inciting hatred and violence" while the Arab-European League, WHICH HAS ACTUALLY CARRIED OUT ACTS OF HATRED AND VIOLENCE, is not.

So saying something that some court construes as "inciting" hatred and violence is a criminal act, but actually DOING IT doesn't qualify, eh?

Funny old world you Europeans live in isn't it

Funny ? Do you really think it is pleasant in hell ?

The problem is that when they threatened directly President Bush, they swiftly had to change laws, but who will ever worry about the little Flemish and their Jewish friends who have much less means of defence, because the French-speakers block every legislation that will reduce their Arab friends’ influence?

Upgrade : the French-speaking Walloons work in much matters together with the small Flemish ( in fact Dutch-speaking) left, who act in much files as idiots without a long term vision.

Wow. Europe continues to display the symptoms of a decaying/dying civilization. Watching people actually rationalize their intolerance and opposition to free speech and the right to vote your conscience is eye-opening. Nevertheless, it appears that within two-three generations, most of Europe will be under the control of Islamic theocracies. I suppose their is irony in that.

Irony ? Who can really understand the anxiety of young mothers and their screaming children praying that the storm of the pogrom may pass their Antwerp doorstep? I don’t want to suggest that these horrible things are organised by the French-speakers (this could not be because they live at the other side of the Walloon border) and their left-wing Flemish allies, but at least they give a nod to the Arabs that harassing will stay unpunished. And Abou Jahjah and his lieutenant Azzus who learned their job with the Hizbullah in Lebanon, clearly understood the message!

This article mixes half-truths about what happened last week with utter lies and extremely slanted views. That's the most arrant nonsense I've read about my country for a long time.

Sometimes it is difficult to say how exactly Belgian politics are seen from abroad. The least I can say is that Mr. Pollard delivered an extremely partisan opinion piece. He doesn't explain anything to his readers - seems all too happy to speak his mind about the "artificiality" of Belgium, the "victimization" of the VB, or the "undemocratic" character of our anti-racist laws. It's just as if a spokesman from the VB had told him what to say about the court's decision. And it just scares me that such an influent and presumably learned person can be either so partisan or credulous. Talk about objective journalism...

Here are a few issues that the article presented in a very misleading way:

1. There is no ban. At all. 3 associations which were affiliated to the Blok between 1999 and 2001 were fined and accused of enfringing an existing law that condemns acts (and public speech acts) of racism and xenophobia. To speak of a ban shows a particularly preposterous ignorance of the legal decision. Mr. Pollard doesn't know what is at stake.

Quote: "In Belgium, parties have no corporate existence but are rather comprised of a series of groups and organisations." This is wrong and, dare I say, ridiculous when you know the unusual weight of the political parties in Belgium, at every level of decision.

Quote: "It is those groups which have been labelled racist and undemocratic." Sorry, no group was labelled "undemocratic".

Quote: "As a consequence, anyone who has dealings with them is guilty by association". Wrong again.

Ironically enough, in an "update" footnote to his article, Mr.Pollard felt obliged to qualify his previous judgements and reminds that "to be technically correct, it's not the VB itself which has been banned but its constituent parts". What does Mr. Pollard means exactly by "its constituent parts" ? Three associations that were affiliated to the Blok between 1999 and 2001 ?

In short, there is nothing remotely correct in that article - not to mention the most "technical" aspects of the decision. This does not deserved to be called journalism, and Mr. Pollard should quote his sources and check their accuracy.

2. Yes, we've had hate speech laws in Belgium for a little less than 10 years. This is the first time they are applied. The ground on which they are based is any public speech which encourages or endorses discrimination and racism. The same law exists in France and never hindered the Front National to grow bigger. It won't probably harm the Blok either - they love to whine about how the "establishment" hates them.

3. Speaking of the establishment... How strange, really... The only party who does speek of the "establishment" is the VB itself. Which is not really original. They borrowed it from Le Pen's rhetorics. Yes, it is purely rhetorical - a real piece of VB's propaganda machine. So that Ghent court is notoriously left-wing ? Sure, if you are a VB member, every person around you is left-wing and part of a big conspiracy to stifle you. While, of course, VB members keep being invited on television sets to expose their views, on a weekly basis. How anti-establishment does it sound exactly ? Let's be serious for a moment. It took almost ten years before these VB-related associations could get sued and fined. Ten long years of embarrassment for the Flemish courts which repeatedly declared their incompetence. This week's decision came really unexpected.

4. Quote: "Maybe such a policy is indeed racist; maybe it isn’t. The VB itself, which has much in common with the Fortuyn List in the Netherlands, has been accused of this. But in a democracy, surely, that is a decision which voters should make, not judges".

How strange... So the judges are not part of democracy ? How democratic does it sound to you ? We have anti-racist laws, they were applied. Maybe VB members will moderate their language, qualify their groundless accusations against "immigrants" (some of them being already Belgian, by the way, since their parents came to Belgium some fourty years ago) and find other ways to have people vote for them. Is that too demanding ?

And, by the way: yes, the VB is a racist party. Belgium has a good set of laws to condemn that. They might also be useful against other groups - radical Arab-Muslim groups in particular. The VB is a rabid extreme-right party which, if they ever won the elections, would sweep democracy under the carpet. They love to introduce themselves as a mature, grown-up, fiercely independent "nationalist" party, but they are the heirs to the infamous part of the Flemish nationalists who collaborated with Nazi Germany. Karel Dillen, VB's founder, never made a mystery out of it. Whereas the democratic nationalists stayed within the VolksUnie, Karel Dillen founded the VB with a few nostalgics of the German occupation. I'm not making this up - if Mr. Pollard cared to investigate a bit more on who are the brave VB members he supported in his article, he would know it as well as I do.

5. Quote: "This week one emerged: Alain Smetrijns, who happens also to be the chairman of the Lions Club in Ghent, a francophone pro-Belgian group."

That one is extraordinary ! Flemish members of the bourgeoisie who choose to speak French are called "Fransquillons". They are not Francophones, but Flemish who speak French. The difference is enormous.

By the way... let me think about it. So it is a sin to be "pro-Belgian" ... I guess that in order to be a good democrat, according to Mr. Pollard, you've got to be "pro-Flemish". I see... Mr Pollard chose his side, that's for sure.

The Lions Club... Such a lair of leftists, isn't it ?

6. Quote: "Belgium is in many ways a mini-EU: an artificial state created (much like Europe’s three former such states, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia) as a result of political ideology rather than any sense of national unity, and held together by a political class which is prepared to subvert democracy to achieve its ends".

Ok, Mr. Pollard. Show me one "natural" state in Europe, and I'll buy it. Flanders is so much more "natural", isn't it ? When it becomes independent, will it also claim the French city of Lille (called Rijsel a few centuries ago) ? Will it give back the city of Hasselt to the long-forsaken "Principality of Liege" ? Will it claim full hand on both sides of the River Scheldt ? What are Mr. Pollard's plans for Brussels ? Quite an artificial city, isn't it ?

And, by the way, I am Belgian and proud of it. How artificial is that, Mr. Pollard ?

7. Quote: "Add to that a judiciary which, far from being independent of the political establishment, is an important part of the problem, and you have a recipe for what took place in Ghent this week: democracy, Belgian-style, in which you may vote only for a party whose views are approved by the elites".

Groundless accusation again. If Mr. Pollard knew a bit more what is going on in Belgium, he would know that all the mainstream Flemish parties, including the Socialists, have a Flemish agenda. The CD&V - the old Christian-Democrat party that governed Belgium for nearly half a century explicitly stated that it wanted Belgium to become a confederation. It is allied to the right wing of the old democratic-nationalist party (NVA) - surprising news for Mr. Pollard: there are Flemish nationalists (anti-Belgium people !) in the Belgian elite. There have been for decades, and they are currently dominating the Flemish political scene. Flanders could probably become independent without the Vlaams Blok. Mr. Pollard can sit quietly in his armchair: he days of Belgium may be numbered anyway. And if the process goes on peacefully, democratically, however sad I would feel, I would have nothing to say against it.

Problem is, Mr. Pollard doesn't know much about my country.

In short, if you are not convinced that Mr. Pollard was briefed by a VB spokesman to write his opinion piece, check the following site:

http://www.flemishrepublic.org/

Maybe one of the places where Mr. Pollard got all his ideas regarding how the mean Belgian establishment stifled the brave VB ? Talk about objective journalism...

An outraged Belgian reader.

Who wants to protest against the sentence of the court can sign the petition on http://www.vrijemeningsuiting.org/index.php?p=lijst, the Internet site of the committee for the free opinion
expression

More than 4000 people has already signed the petition.

Thx in advance ...

Mr Pollard is dead right. It is indeed frightening to live in a country where a judge, appointed by politicians, makes it virtually impossible for a political party with a dissenting view to survive. Granted there may be factual inaccuracies in his article, but he sure got the general idea right: VB must be banished. The ramblings of the chocolateman do not change that fact.

If one reads the actual text of the verdict, this only becomes more frightening. The actual 'crimes' VB committed, the texts for which they were condemned are in some, if not most cases arguable ( e.g. It was deemed rascist to cite official police figures about the ratio of crimes committed by immigrants.).

I am not a VB supporter, but they were the only political party in Flanders (apart from the Green party, which is, sadly, almost dead) that up to now have not been involved in financial scandals of any sort, where no bribing has taken placeand that not have appointed their 'friends' in any high places. Maybe that backfired for them this time.

Just for your info: a law professor from the university of Leuven who is member of another political party in Belgium, expressed his concerns about the legal consequences of this verdict, was cited as having said the "Flemish people should have a moral obligation to vote for VB now", and as a result of this he was thrown out of the party and the university is investigating whether they should fire him.... Frightening indeed.

Just my 2 cents

I'm Flemmish and I'm proud to be. I'm voting vlaams blok (VB) & I have no problem telling people about it. But now it seems that everyone that vote VB is or will be a criminal. If they are Racists... well then we have 800.000 of them in belgium. If they are facists...well again 800.000 of them...but in our Socialist party (SP.a) we have also people who are far left... not to say communists. Are all voters for the SP.a Communists ??? oh no ofcourse not, but all VB voters must be racists, facist or Nazis by definition, by law. This is the short sighted, ill mannered behavior that we live in. The real danger is the fact that this once small party is also asking for a flemish republic. In the earlier days they where harmless, but now they could become the 3thd or second party in belgium... and that's scaring a lot of people both flemish & french. True, the anti immigration view of the VB has gained them the most voters. And it's excatly for that reason I'm also voting VB. To prevent that my place is taken over by people, that I can't understand, who's faces I can't see, sign & posters I can't read,... And believe me this is not so strange. You know that only 20 years ago a lot of signs on pubs or restaurants where in french in my town (brugge, near the coast). Many people where speaking french in my town... so why can't it happen again ? Only this time it could be Arabic ???
Is it so Ill manered to ask to someone that he'll adapt to our way of live, is it so dead wrong to ask people to hold on to our basic rules and laws ? I don't think so, if that person is planning to stay here for a (very) long time. The truth is that VB is scaring a lot of people just because they are growing so big and become a treath for the french speaking socialists and belgian parties.
Again VB is the only nationalist party in Belgium. NV-A the other so called nationalist party is so small & can't do any harm at all, so for now, they leave them as they are... but who's next ? When & why ?
The court can tell me I'm dead wrong, but I'm going to vote VB on the 13th of june just like a lot of other flemish people and believe me this time we'll not be with 800.000 racist, facist or whatever. No this time we will be 1.000.000 or more.
From last week on I'm by law a racists and a criminal, well maybe if the judge will make some time, he can watch me playing djembe on saturday night with my African friends, or com watch me playing my conga's on saturday morning with some cubans... He won't find me on the corner dealing drugs or robbing nightshops, he won't find me breaking the law... so since I'm a normal fellow that doesn't agree with the majority, I must be a criminal ...

To the chocolate maker:: I presume you have collaborated to the “praline summit” in Brussels some time ago about an own European defence alliance? Also because of the superior (bias) quality of your feature, we may be sure that it is written by Belgian’s best diplomat (professional liar).

By the way, did you already excuse in England for not willing to sell (paying!!) ammunition in the first Gulf war? Was this one of the reasons that the first Gulf war had to be stopped and that a swift victory was not possible and that now so much English soldiers must die? Afterwards the ammunition was thrown away because it became too old. And in the second Gulf war, the Belgian defence minister lobbied to cut off the coalition’s European military supply lines. And then you are surprised the English don’t like Belgium?

Your feature also proves that you are simply part of the problem. The freedom of speech in Belgium is muzzled by a semi-official institute: “the agency for equal chances”, thus by the tax-payer. In my view this is a modern version of the inquisition. And if one does not like this idea, the “chocolate maker”, tax-paid, says that it is not true.

But what you write is also mere bullshit.

There is indeed a ban for the Vlaams Blok, because the members of the present Vlaams Blok will not be allowed to be re-elected again.

“Racist and also democratic”. Indeed, the court only said that the Vlaams Blok is racist…and then all the other parties started to say that they are undemocratic too, as a kind of a local synonym. Do you really think that in England they are all Byzantine nigglers like you?

“As a consequence, anyone who has dealings with them is guilty by association”. You say this is not true. But in all the Belgian newspapers it was written that everyone who for instance rents a hall to the Vlaams Blok for a meeting can be convicted too. Only as an example.

Is the Ghent court left-wing or not? Indeed, it’s the first time I read this, but don’t forget the most general read daily in those circles is Le Soir from Brussels and that newspaper is left-wing. But that’s not the point. The other judges may repeat as much as they want, that the judge who wrote the verdict was impartial in the twelve former major rulings he made, but in this case, HE CAN NOT BE IMPARTIAL, because as one of the leaders of the little but fanatic local French-speaking society, HE IS JUDGE AND PARTY AT THE SAME TIME. Remind the Dutroux case (who abused little girls). There the judge Connerotte was taken away from the case for much less, eating spaghetti with the victim, but this probably had other reasons….

The Vlaams Blok is a rabid party, you say. That’s true. I nobody can give the advice to vote for it. But Verhofstadt is also a master of false promises and false candidates who will never have a seat in the parliaments they are elected for. Verhofstadt is only strong in one thing: to sweep problems under the carpet. That’s perhaps also one of the reasons the Vlaams Blok continues to grow.

Then you are afraid the Flemish will invade France as soon as they are independent. I can guarantee you that they won’t fight against France, at least not without the English, such as they always did in history. Also to remind, after the Flemish war of liberation (1297-1305), the Flemish gave Lille to France, also because it was already by that time French-speaking. As a diplomat you should know this!

Also to note: I would be afraid to write down these things in Belgium, because after ten years of uncertainty, I could end by being condemned by some judge! State terror, nothing more or less I call this.

Here I will stop. I could write a book about the nonsense of the chocolate maker. And I won’t click on a Vlaams Blok link either. I never read that propaganda.

Johan Van Beek
For the case you would doubt: I vote for the CD&V NV-A coalition

Further ramblings from the Chocolate Maker...

For decades, the true spearhead of the Flemish political struggle towards more autonomy wasn't the VB. It was the VolksUnie (People's Union), a disparate party associating right and left-wing members who shared the same nationalist feelings. It is generally acknowledged that, although their political weight was never really important, they actually won, as Belgium slowly evolved to become a federal state giving a broad autonomy to its constitutive parts. However, what many Flemish nationalists rarely remember, is that this victory wasn't only due to Flemish struggles - Wallonia also had regionalists who claimed more autonomy, especially from an economic point of view.

My point is that it would be extremely short-sighted to victimize the Blok because of their "pro-Flemish" views - yet that's also what Mr. Pollard did. In many respects, the VB began to be successful precisely when all the major state reforms were already in progress - when the Flemish movement spearheaded by the VolksUnie was starting to die out, short of true "raison d'être". The VolksUnie soon ended in a split: some of its right-wing components were absorbed by the freshly created VB, some others created their own right-wing democratic-nationalist movement (as today's NVA, allied to the CD&V), while the left-wing also created its own movement (Spirit), quickly absorbed by the Flemish Socialist Party.

You could say that the nationalist creed is now well spread among all the mainstream Flemish parties. In fact, all the other Flemish parties have a Flemish agenda. Belgium seems to be an outdated concept in Flanders today. The CD&V (the old Christian-Democrats), in particular, is currently claiming the regionalisation or communautarization (if the word exists) of the last remnants of federal "competences". They will probably win the elections in June. If they apply their programme, Belgium will end up being just an empty shell - a sort of superstructure giving all authority to the constitutive regions and communities. The explicit end-result of this process, according to the CD&V, will be a change in status: Belgium will have to be called a confederal state. But this will only be a first step: since the federal state won't govern anything any more, there will be no reason to keep it active. Secession will then be inevitable. The other parties (even the SP.A) also have a regional/Flemish agenda. The next communautarian negociations will turn into a new reform of the Belgian state - a state that is already torn apart, anyway, emptied from within. Talk about "pro-Belgium" feelings within the political elite...

Yet, the VB keeps accusing all the mainstream parties of being "pro-Belgium". It keeps accusing the "socialist Walloons" to live as parasites and profiteers. It keeps accusing the immigrants to spoil the Flemish land and blood. It keeps assuming that they are the only ones to lust for independence. And that's exactly what Mr. Pollard repeated in his article. He didn't check his sources, nor their accuracy. I am truly amazed, and scared, to see that such a learned person contented himself with repeating the words of a VB spokesperson.

If Flanders want to go on their own, I have nothing against it, as long as it will be the result of a democratic, parliamentary and positive project carried out by the various components of the Flemish opinion trends. If it is the result of the VB's politics, I will be sincerely ashamed. These people have nothing to offer but a secession of Flanders against anything that they deem "un-Flemish": Walloons, Fransquillons, socialists (on either side of the linguistic border), pro-Belgian people, Belgian institutions and, of course, immigrants, be they Belgian or not. A few years ago, they wanted to rapatriate people who had settled in Belgium for decades, whose children were Belgian and work in Belgium. Their crime ? Not Flemish enough. If the Flemish nationalists ever win, it will be despite VB's efforts, not thanks to them. And they will have to learn to live with all the immigrants and immigrants' children anyway, because I have no intention to experience another dark age of Europe.

This page will probably provides Blokkers with a good opportunity to tell Mr.Pollard how right he was. My ramblings are targeted at Mr. Pollard's article exclusively - I sincerely don't understand how such an honorable man was abused by VB's rhetorics and didn't care to check his sources or understand the court's decision.

The belgiam rulers themselves have been racists from the very beginning : 1830 Belgium was founded as a frenchspeaking country. Almost 50 % of the population lost their mother language and were of a sudden analphabets, because knowing only their flemish language. After the WW1 leading political intellectuals that asked for cultural rights for Flanders were jailed, after WW2 another far stronger action against flemish nationalists threw the mouvement once more back for decades. Shame on the Belgian State and its system. It really is a very dark sign for a European Union.

How "natural" is Mr. Pollard's "United" Kingdom? Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,...

At least, the Belgian diplomats have found a way to make two large groups of people live together in relative peace.

Perhaps Mr. Pollard actually wants Brussels to become a second Belfast. Actually, his article is one of those wearisome examples of Belgium-bashing and Brussels-bashing we are getting quite used to in Belgium. Its attitude can be traced back to the nineteenth century, when Belgium was founded and quickly became the most prosperous industrial nation on the continent.

I suppose that any event would have sufficed for ventilating these anti-European feelings. Suppose judges hadn't condemned the VB! Probably, Mr. Pollard could then write exactlly the same anti-Belgian and anti-European piece, reversing all his arguments (e.g. he could then say it is typical for a bureaucratic country like Belgium that it is unable to stop racism, he could go on mentioning Belgium's violent colonial past in Africa etc.)

I'm very sorry, but I am happy with the verdict, Mr. Pollard. For years and years, British journalists have been criticizing Belgium because of the existence of VB. Now that VB is condemned, you should be honest and admit that Belgian justice has been done. VB has been plaguing our society for long enough now.

Clown Pipo believes that no new far-right party will emerge…

Also to note: Pipo is the nickname of a useless member of the Belgian government, who had to become deputy minister because one of Verhofstadt’s friends was promised a seat in parliament. Actually he has nothing to do and so he started a web-site were he explains how he thinks to “simplify” the administration.

He is also well-known to have visited the south of Lebanon, were Hizbullah explained him how to get president Bush, PM Sharon and the others in jail with the Belgian genocide law, and this for the case they would lose in future their elections.

Fortunately clever president Bush saw the danger in time…

http://www.flemishrepublic.org/ check it out.... brussels strangles opposition ... politic-correct terrorism

There is no such thing as an absolute freedom of speech. A society must be able to forbid not opionions, but slander and blatant hate, to protect itself from chaos, anarchy and medieval tribalism. However the way in which the belgian judiciary outlawed a party with an estimated following of about 20 % of the Flemish population looks more like an attack of a scared government against an ultra-nationalist party to stampede it to death. (Reminds me of the outlawing of Batusana, the Basque nationalists). Now the Leuven University is even contemplating a ban against nationalist professor Mathias Storme, because he said he would vote for the "Vlaams Blok". Sad story, democracy slipping away?

It is only some14 months ago, I wrote some mails to the Molinari and CNE institutes, and afterwards joined them for an evening meeting, being the only Flemish person present. But libertarians are free from xenophobia. It is a pity libertarism is hardly known in Flanders, since the crowd means it is synonym to the politics of VLD, the liberalist party. Well, VLD even left the basics of liberalism behind, influenced by the red government parties. When I started to write republican pamflets in local papers, a lot of people considered me to get crazy. But I had my reasons, since I have been working for years as account manager in multinational companies and I was always comparing salaries with American fellows and we found out , when I should live in the USA, I would have saved a sum of over 600000 $ in some 18 years, taking in account I would have had to pay more for personal insurance and education. The last 3 years I had to change 4 times jobs, because my employer went bankrupt or closed down Belgian operations. So I had some time for reflection and for getting really angry, discovering how the Belgian government cheats the Flemish population. You know it or not, Belgian suicide number is the highest in the world, but nobody wants to admit the truth. Do not think I am going to commit suicide, no I love my live too much. But
like I always was a fighter in sales, with enormeous energy, I shall continue to write and talk them down, and when violence will be necessary, I won't be shy of it, the Flemish battle of 11 juli 1302 could find place again.

dear sir, what a surprise to read the truth about Belgium. Our life a s flemisch people living in belgium is hell. In Bussels we cannot speak our own language in contacts whit the police, in hospitals...
Our laws are actually ok but you cannot go to court to enforce them. Very often when I speak Dutch francophones start to insult me . So the VB is the only radical party who still defends the rights of the flemish people and that is the reason why they will be forbidden . If you don't want to collaborate whit the francophone fascists of Belgium they take away your jobs, your rights...Belgium is a fascist francophone dictatorship.

quote: "the Belgian diplomats have found a way to make two large groups of people live together in relative peace."

LOL, laughing very loud. What this fellow calls diplomats are in reality parasites, forming a network that always steals more money out of the treasury chest without bottom. State debt has risen again and reaches now over 300 billion US$, in a state with hardly
2 million active people.
Uncle Sam, can you invent us a new Marshall plan ? In return, we will make Louis Michel shut up forever. This Michel is the nincompoopy clown who regularly raises his voice against US politics abroad and claims he represents Belgium. But not Flanders and we are in fact 6 million of the 10 million Belgians. To understand better what is happening , foreigners also should know the "Vlaams Blok" is supported by more than 30% of the Flemish with right to vote. Youngsters under age of 18 cannot vote, and it is not unthinkable soon 70% of the Flemish will vote for the party.
Probably one of the leading politicians Annemans or Dewinter will get killed after the 13 june votes, just like Pim Fortuyn was killed in the Netherlands for instauring a "real democracy".

I am proud to be Flemish and am proud to have been voting for Vlaams Blok since I was allowed to vote because this party is the ONLY ONE to represent the real flemish thoughts.
To separate from Belgium and put in place the immigrationstop that should have been imposed in 1994.
There is no more space for immigrants as they put too much pressure on the social security system. The way it is going now is like a time bomb ticking away. Let us hope that the next judge will have more sense and not so politically biassed as the one in Gent. The traditional parties like the liberals and socialist shit themselves from such a strong Flemish believe within the electorate. I hope that Vlaams Blok will get the majority next election, that would create chaos within the establishment. Good luck VB

On Belgian television this weekend, the leaders of the 3 largest Flemish parties blamed the media for giving to much attention to the rightwing party Vlaams Blok.
They added that the fight against racism and discrimination (which is identified to the fight against the forementioned party) is not only a mission for politics and the media, but also for all other entities of society, e.g. the trade unions.
Party members and party supporters thus need to be stripped of their social and professional status, preferably be thrown out of their own house and denied access to their children, and this as a result of a concerted effort on all fronts.
This is the kind of tactics which were widely applied in communist countries: displease the regime and you will suffer the consequences in all aspects of your personal life.
Such tactics of overall fallout are clearly opposed to the basics of capitalist democracy, where the negative consequences of one's viewpoints should be limited to the political arena and the media.
But then again, democracy is just a rallying cry these days, not a term with any content.

Dear Mr Pollard.

Whomever may have informed you was an honest and truthful person.

But let us not forget the influence of the King of Belgium and his
entourage to obtain this judgment.

Belgium has since 1830 never been a free democracy and the
Belgian justice has never been on the side of the Flemish people.

And let us not forget that the transfer of wealth from Flanders to
the south is increaing year by year.

Every two years each Flemish family is donating a mediumsized car to
every Frenchspeaking family.

The Flemish have been meek and cowardly in their reaction to this state of affairs in Belgium. This is fortunately changing and will change drastically with the next elections.

Flanders will become within the next decade an independent republic within the European context. We will not ban the King from our territory but as Paul Snoek, a Flemish poet, once said: He would be more suitable to be an automobile mechanic with his own garage.

Patrik

We clearly have had enough.

Belgium has been qualified by commentators, on other occasions, as the most intolerant and the most oppressive state in the EU, as well as the laughing stock of the world, the remainder of the GDR, with thought police, STASI-practices, political trials and all that. Very scary indeed. When President Putin recently curtailed the opposition in Russia, the Western world was shocked. After the Ghent trial most of the western media were looking away, probably because they couldn't believe what they heard.
Fortunately Stephen Pollard was looking on and he is absolutely right: "Racism" was indeed only a pretext for the Belgian establishment to get rid of a political party which wants Belgium to be dissolved. The outraged reactions of some pro-establishment mailers prove the correctnes of Mr. Pollards assessment. Belgium was the fruit of an illegal secession from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830. The secession of Flanders and Wallonia from artificial and multinational Belgium, is getting momentum every day Belgium is perceived as a failure, as Czechoslovakia did 12 years ago. The only way the Belgian establishment could try to postpone this secession was the vilification of the Vlaams Blok at a time that it crosses the 20% barrier in the opinion polls.
But this could well turn out to be a miscalculation and the Vlaams Blok could welll become the first party in the country. People want to be respected and do not tolerate to be outlawed.

Well, mr Pollard, many thanks for giving the whole world the real truth about Belgium. I was already thinking libertarians would continue for ages to write down the "right charter for the ideal society" without really taking action. You are taking that action.
Great.
May be you will feel hurt by reactions as those from chocolate maker, probably he is member of the left dictator branch. It is easy to steal money without getting punished. The real active citizen in Belgium is actually robbed over and over. 50 % of his salary goes to taxes, 10 % to traffic fines ( leaving your door gives you 50 % chance to get a fine of about 180 $, for some people one
fourth of their income), 21% of the rest of the salary goes again to value added taxes. And instead of being able to do something with that money, most proprietors have to invest over and over in protecting against crime and burglary. Are you surprised more and more people are fed up with the system. And the one party, telling the truth is condamned by court. Justice is dead in Belgium,
and soon you can write new articles about the decline of this rotten state. I am not a soothsayer, but a realist and fellow of Jeremy Rifkin. Reading "END OF WORK" made me analyze the Belgian reality. Most are still blind to this future, but I can see clearly. Belgium has no revenue, only costs, since all productivity is almost zero. Jobs are disappearing by thousands and the only way to make some money these days is crime or flee to politics,
almost synonym in Belgium. And there is no way out. In the States
I would rise tax by 2%, since there is still a margin in states with a 20% tax ratio, others only 10%. Flemish people always worked hard,
but when jobs become scarce, there should be a way for new creativity. Even that is countered by the Belgian state, especially the Partie Socialiste. Flanders was able to become a rich part of the world thanks to a good balance between economical development, good education, polyglot students, and saving money.
But PS couldn't stand this, instead of being satisfied by the big transfers of Flemish money to their pockets, they got so greedy they want now the money we invested in our homes. And never that. They went one bridge too far... Payback time, or better time to get our payments back.

Well written article,

I think few people outside of Belgium still have any idea of what's really going on here, I admit I hardly ever read anything written in the foreign press about us but I can't imagine it to draw a pretty picture of the Flemmish in general.

Even though I am a voter of the Flemmish Block (my reasons for this are simple, even though I might not agree on all the issues they propose, they are the only political party here that still has any credibility left in my opinion) and am therefor at least a little biased towards taking their side, even an objective outsider can see that what has happened in the court of Ghent is a direct assault on the freedom of speech ... in theory you can now be tried and convicted for telling a joke involving an 'ethnic minority group'! What amazes me the most about all of this isn't the fact that it happened ... I've seen how corrupt this government is and it'd be nice to know that we still have a working justice system but when a man gets convicted for "one year effective" for killing 12 of his neighbours chickens ... yeah I guess we know better ... to come back to what amazes me is the fact that the EU doesn't take action, we are being robbed of a human right, a right as important as our freedom of speech and the EU doesn't even seem to wonder wether or not we should still be considered a democracy at all.

anyway, I guess I wrote quite a lot but I just want to say kudos for writing this splendid article, telling the truth about what kind of condition our country is in.

I'm happy that everyone in England can read how it works here in Belgium. We want a Flemish Republic without the interfering of the French speaking people of Wallon.
That was the big issue to bring Vlaams Blok to the court. Now I hope Vlaams Blok will become a lot of votes at 13/06. (ellection)
Vlaams Blok isn't bad, they say what a lot of people think here in Flanders. I'm voting Vlaams Blok and i'm not a rascist. I'm a nationalist, realist and proud to be Flemish.

Dear Chocolate Maker,

I grew up in Brussels and I have always known Brussels to be a Flemish city. In 1830, the founding year of Belgium, 96% of the population had Dutch (Flemish) as their home language.

The Belgian state immediately started a francisation campaign but with only moderate success. In 1944 Brussels was still a city with a
majority of Dutchspeakers.

After the "liberation" the Belgian authorities together with the internationalistic communists started a campaign of terror to force Flemish parents to send their children to a school with French as
teaching medium.

I went to St Viateur in the Haeckstraat in Molenbeek. In the Flemish
section there were less than 40 children and in the French section
more than 800, of which the majority spoke Flemish at home. They were taught hatred for everything that was Flemish and in one generation the Flemish became a minority in its own city.

My father was in prison for socalled collaboration and for anti-belgian
political activities. He was promised his freedom if my brother and myself would switch to a French school.

He refused and he sat for another two years.

I have always been proud of my late father and my love for my own
culture and especially language is a passion.

That Brussels is an artificial city is indeed true as it oozes its Flemish
heritage in its buildings and street names.

Brussels is and will remain the Flemish capital despite us being degraded to a small minority. We will never give it up !!!

I honestly believe that the Gentoise judge killed democracy in Belgium, at the behest of the "Center against racism and for the battle against poor chances" (literal translation of that quango's name "Centrum Tegen Racisme en Kansarmoedebestrijding") and the League For Human Rights (yes, them too...). It is important to know that the quango "Center" falls under the direct call of the Belgian Prime Minister. It is also important to know that a new "anti-racist party law" is being raced through the Senate and Chamber by the Belgian legislative bodies at a speed hithertoo unseen in Belgian history, which is constructed with the specific goal of prohibiting the Vlaams Blok party and similar ones in the future. A first similar law approved several years ago could not do the trick... a new one is on its way. It is also very impressive to notice the speed with which the Gentoise judge found time in his agenda for that case of appeal when other court cases of appeal usually take at least a year to get planned. This one, asked just a few months ago, quite conveniently found place just before the Flemish and European Elections of June 13th. Unfortunately for the good planners this leaves just enough time for the Vlaams Blok to ask for Cassation at a moment when nothing can be done anymore before the coming elections. And appeal to Cassation negates the former judge's decision until the verdict of the Cassation judges has been decided upon. Interesting dance of legal nitpicking maybe but typically Belgian.

Of course the case does not immediately condemn the party itself, only 3 subsidiary organisations involved in the publication of the parties views were. But the precedence will be set and anyone even remotely suspect of consorting with "racists" will face charges, leading to hefty fines and the loss of political power for at least 5 years. Yes, it is quite possible to destroy a party that way.
I know for a fact that people who are known members of the Vlaams Blok often face being fired from their work and being thrown out of their union and medical security fund (membership of which is obligated in Belgium !). I think this is called ostracizing ? Yet it is another heirloom from our democratic forbears the Ancient Greeks... they not only gave us the choice of the people but also the shunning of the unwanted. Tsa.

Is the Vlaams Blok racist ? Hmm... tough question... How racist is it to want less overpopulation in one's country by halting further immigration and to ask foreigners who do not wish to integrate themselves in the local culture, imposing their own cultural values upon the locals, ignoring local laws when it behooves them... to leave ? How racist is it to actually report this "unpatriotic" behaviour to the public, citing the actual criminality figures of the police forces (an act condemned by the Gentoise judge as "racist") ? The Belgicists who are always complaining about the "Flemish Nationalists" should be concerned about others who laughingly violate Belgian laws and mock Belgian police officers.

And indeed, if you want racist comment and hate-talk... visit the website of the Arab-European League. Its founder once coldly stated in an interview that Europe will be Arab within the decade.

And if you want to find anti-state forces in Belgium urging to overthrow the government just read the first 2 points of action in the Socialist Union's Statutes, found at the end of the membership booklet. (Been member, had the booklet, actually read it... and shivered. Are those Statutes still in there ? Dangerous stuff... someone might actually believe what is written in there...)

In the end it is my own intellectual freedom that is at stake here. If the government can punish you for opinions even when you might have had the intention to utter them (actually one of the 2 reasons why the Gentoise judge condemned the 3 VB subsidiaries, the other one is the act of uttering) how dare I still voice my opinions on our society and government ? Yes, your eyes are not betraying you: "might have had the intention to" is punishable !!!
My right of free speech and expression has now become roadkill on the Politically Correct Highway. So will yours because the precedent is set.

The fact in Belgium is that the French speaking minority will always do anything to keep Flanders in its grips, because they need the money from Flanders but certainly not the Flemish (Dutch) language.
Which is typical for France, look what happened to the Flanders part of France, it has nearly been destroyed by Paris.
Look what France is trying to do in or to Europe, not in the least very much helped by the Germans.
The people in Flanders need all the help they can get, and which way you look at it, Het Vlaams Blok was the only party who tried, so they need all the help too.
The stupid thing is that what happens in the Netherlands, BY LAW, in respect to the problems brought about by immigration, is called racist in Flanders.
It is a very sorry thing that happened in Flanders, and a message to all politicians in Europe: do not meddle with democracy, otherwise one day you will wake up to see that your party is all of a sudden outlawed.

Dear faveere,

No one can claim the city of Brussels. Not the Flemmings, not the Francophones. It is a region in itself, an incredibly cosmopolitan city, the seat of at least two major international organisations (EU and NATO). There is no turning back and it won't ever become Flemish again. It will either stay Belgian, or become a sort of European District. Anyway, whatever happens in Flanders in a couple of months, it will be up to the people of Brussels to decide, and to no one else. And I doubt they accept to become the capital of a Flemish Republic. I'm afraid the only way for Flemish to keep Brussels as an institutional capital of their Region-Community is to stay within the Belgian institution.

Mr. Pollard, I hope you have an eye at these comments from time to time. Just to have an idea what an average Blokker has in mind.

First off all, i'm voting already 2 year for the Vlaams Blok.
And next elections i will do it again. They are growing with every election, they just say what the Flemish people think but not dare to say because then they are racists and a lot of other crap.
The AEL is a lot worser then the Vlaams Blok, they want Islam in the Dutch schools, they want moskees in short they want that we adapt to the Islam religion. I thought i'm living in Belgium and the standard religion is there Christen, ok i'm not believing in that either but that's not the real point, the point is that they are coming to us and telling us what to do and what not to do in OUR OWN country. Also when you say something against an immigrant because they did in that case something wrong, they use the word racist to often. I'm living in my own country and the police is a lot of harder against these Belgians, because when there happens something with an immigrant, there is a huge investigation and a lot of other crap. For checking of the police aren't racistical. but it can also happen that the Belgian is not handled correct but then there is nothing wrong.
The other parties in Belgium are just afraid of the Vlaams Blok, the N-VA and the CD&V are going into a coallition to be the greatest party, otherwise the VB maybe could be second or maybe... who knows... i'm confident my party will never die.
And many Flemish will join this vision if the other parties don't recognize the real problems in Belgium, there is also the problem with Wallon but this a whole different matter...
and to the author of this article, well done, it's very objective handled. when a journalist or another person in Belgium would have published such a article you are a racist, or a pro VB. What in this case you aren't.

apologies for the many written errors
grtz to all
Jeroen

don't spill your time on The chocolate Maker... watch his email
In France.....

Thanks Erik for making this perfectly clear.

So because I have a yahoo.fr e-mail address I am not worthy of your time ? The simple fact that I could be a Francophone (Good Heavens !) is enough to convince you of my views ? A simple suspicion regarding my alleged origin , and I am already labelled as "anti-Flemish" ? Is this what you implied, Erik ?

Chocolate maker, your opinions are those of a Flanders-hatred.
You want to spoil the real truth, since I have already had contact with Walloon members of libertarism, I laugh at your comments.
In separated regions, there will be no need to fight about Brussels.
It is obvious the Flemish communities will become part of Flanders
and vice versa. We do not hate the Wallon people, not at all. We
only want justice to be done and Vlaams Blok will be the first party to lead our republic. But afterwards, we will proceed to a libertarian republic, since most voters only vote VB as a first step to freedom. Anyhow Belgium cannot longer exist, since the biggest political crime in 100 years has been committed last week: blow up the democracy in a courtroom. As you already know by now, in Belgium they send you to prison for killing 12 chicken. What should we do with the traitors in Brussels ?

Thanks to Stephen Pollard for providing this forum! I am actually learning quite a bit from the debates.

I've vacationed in Belgium a number of times (my wife spent 5 years as a child attending school in the Liege area and serves as my translator with the French speakers) and as a rabid follower of U.S. and world politics, I'd always wished I could read the local newspapers to get a sense of the national debates. Since this is largely carried forth in English, it seems like the next best thing.

So far, I'd categorize myself as someone disappointed by the ruling on Vlaams Blok. Perhaps this is due to my quaint, "American" love of free speech -- I'd rather see VB take its chances at the polls than have some judge rule them to the sidelines.

Overall, it does bother me that there's such a harsh split of political opinion between Walloons and Flemish. From having traveled the length and breadth of Belgium (not very hard to do!) it really does feel like one country. To name just one example, I'm a beer-lover, and you can find amazing local beer in Bruges just as easily as you can find it in Liege. There's great Trappist ale in Wallonia (Orval) and ale just as wonderful in Antwerp. One Nation Under Beer? *grin*

Having said that, as someone who proudly leans right politically, if I were Belgian it would bother me that my only non-leftist option is a party that also calls for an independent Flanders. It feels like that would be a tragedy. (And again, as an American who lives in a country that accommodates and assimilates people from every part of the world, a little tough to understand.)

But I guess that's reality of EU-era, socialist Europe, right? (I'd be interested in seeing what happened to intra-EU politics if the U.S. withdrew all of its military support and protection, but that's another debate!)

Keep it going, I'm enjoying this. But when the rhetoric gets too overheated, please do pause for a Straffe Hendrik Tripel, a "Gaufre Liegeoise" or a piece of gourmet chocolate. *GRIN*

~Reid Davis, Belgium-lover