The rise of the Far Right in mainland Europe
Philippe | 13.06.2007 06:47
Excellent post yesterday on the Belgian Indymedia site concerning their recent General Elections
http://www.indymedia.be/en/node/12417
The rise of the Far Right Vlams Belang (was Vlams Block) has worrying lessons for us in the UK. The VB with its message of seperation for the two parts of Belgie into French and Vlams speaking and a hardline atitude to the Turkish and Morrocan minorities gained much support in the rural area of the country.
They gained nearly 35% of the total vote and under the Proportinal Representation system operating this will see them have a large number of seats in Parliment. It is the equivalent of the BNP gaining about 100 seats in the UK Parliment !
At the same time the Socialist / Spirit party alliance saw its vote collapse to less than 10% and the Right of Centre Christian Democrats become the biggest party.
Throughout the campaign there was only one topic that Vox Pops showed was of interest to the people, imigration. The Belgian policy of taking large numbers of immigrants and providing them with the very best facilities and financial assitance in Europe has caused resentment and unrest. The recent call for Belgian to become a Muslim state by an Antwerp cleric only fueled the fires. VB gained by all of this.
http://www.indymedia.be/en/node/12417 The rise of the Far Right Vlams Belang (was Vlams Block) has worrying lessons for us in the UK. The VB with its message of seperation for the two parts of Belgie into French and Vlams speaking and a hardline atitude to the Turkish and Morrocan minorities gained much support in the rural area of the country.
They gained nearly 35% of the total vote and under the Proportinal Representation system operating this will see them have a large number of seats in Parliment. It is the equivalent of the BNP gaining about 100 seats in the UK Parliment !
At the same time the Socialist / Spirit party alliance saw its vote collapse to less than 10% and the Right of Centre Christian Democrats become the biggest party.
Throughout the campaign there was only one topic that Vox Pops showed was of interest to the people, imigration. The Belgian policy of taking large numbers of immigrants and providing them with the very best facilities and financial assitance in Europe has caused resentment and unrest. The recent call for Belgian to become a Muslim state by an Antwerp cleric only fueled the fires. VB gained by all of this.
Philippe
