Belgium: swings to the right
01 January 1991
Belgium: swings to the right
artdoc August=1992
CARF, no 6, January/February 1992
[Campaign Against Racism and Fascism]
Another fascist party installed itself as a parliamentary force
in November 1991 when, in Belgium's general election, the racist
and neo-nazi Vlaams Blok tripled its vote, gaining 12 seats in
the National Assembly. The Belgian Front National also gained a
seat in the Assembly.
Rebellion and repression
The swing to the right has come as no surprise to Belgian
anti-racists, who point to the explosive mixture of state
racism and the growth of the far Right. Uprisings by immigrant
youth in March 1991 rocked the system. Since then, politicians
and press have been adopting Vlaams Blok themes: law and
order, repression, and criminalisation of immigrants.
The `riots' were the result of years of racism and racist
immigration laws which have become institutionalised at every
point of officialdom and reach their nadir in the actions of
the police. The European parliament's Ford Report warned of
extreme racial harassment among Belgian police. And a recent
study showed that 56% of young male migrants under 25 in
Brussels experience regular identity checks. It was an
identity check in Vorst, one of the 1 9 districts of Brussels,
that sparked off the first spate of rioting and led to 200
arrests. `They asked for my identity card and my papers', said
the young man concerned. `All of them were in order. I thought
the three policemen would let me go, but the driver beckoned
me, and as I went nearer, he suddenly grabbed me and said:
"Here, I'm the law. It's not you who make the law".'
Three days of rioting later, the Vlaams Blok announced that it
would be holding a meeting in Molenbreek (a district of
Brussels with a large immigrant population). In the event, the
fascists never showed up, but young immigrants who had taken
to the streets to defend their community quickly came into
confrontation with the police.
The policing of control
The uprisings, though, have not led to a questioning of
Belgium's racism. Rather, the press has orchestrated a
campaign against the immigrants, resulting in more repression.
An Operational Centre for Coordination and Information has
been set up to centralise the operations of all police forces
in Brussels, and has created auxiliary police forces as well
as more surveillance and information gathering in migrant
districts. The Minister of justice has proposed further
repressive measures, including detention for up to 10 days
without trial and the adoption of judicial emergency
procedures.
Anti-Arab racism
The press offensive against immigrants also harked back to the
Gulf war, during which Arab radio stations came under attack
from the government and had their subsidies cancelled. The
Standard , a Catholic Flemish newspaper, claimed that the
`riots' were caused by the same vandals who were responsible
for pro-Palestinian and anti-American actions during the war.
Meanwhile, racial violence and police racism continue
unabated.
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