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The Vlaams Blok (VB, English: Flemish Bloc) was a Belgian right-wing and secessionist political party which advocated anti-immigration. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for independence of Flanders. On November 14, 2004 the party changed its name to Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest). From its creation in 1978, it was the most notably militant right wing of the Flemish movement. All significant Flemish political parties were reluctant to enter coalitions with the Vlaams Blok. Following the agreement, known as the cordon sanitaire, Vlaams Blok never entered any level of government. As of 2006, this agreement still applies to the successor party, Vlaams Belang, although a coalition exists between the Vlaams Belang and the lesser known right wing party VLOTT. Together, they stood at the 2006 municipal elections. An appeal court in Ghent, Belgium, in April 2004 ruled that some of the party's organizations had breached the 1981 law on racism and xenophobia. Afterwards, Vlaams Blok changed its name to Vlaams Belang. Vlaams Blok's track record in the Flemish and Belgian parliament elections was strong. The election campaigns consisted mainly of the immigration and law-and-order theme, combined with the desire for Flemish autonomy (e.g.: it abstained from a crucial vote on splitting the unified electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde).
[edit] HistoryThe party first made its appearance in the 1978 general elections. It was founded by dissatisfied members of the largest right wing party at the time, the Volksunie (People's Union). Among them were a former Volksunie deputy (Lode Claes) and more militant people like Karel Dillen. The founders had strong links to, and open sympathy for, the Nazi political system New Order and the ensueing collaboration with the Nazis during World War II.[1] Vlaams Blok has experienced a continuous electoral growth (with the exception of the 1981 elections). The Vlaams Blok was particularly strong in and around Antwerp, where it received thirty-three percent of the votes in the last municipal elections in which it participated. Since the end of the eighties, its main focus tended to be on "nationalist" themes such as immigration and crime. Because of this evolution, some members left the party, but this did not seem to cause much electoral damage. Many studies and opinion polls showed that its electoral support was mainly based on its tough image on immigration and crime, and on its image as the "only real opposition party", rather than on its platform for the creation of an independent Flemish republic. In fact, some polls showed that the majority of its electorate was opposed to the disappearance of the Belgian monarchy. Others have suggested that many Vlaams Blok voters chose to support them not out of agreement with their policies but more out of disillusionment with the political establishment during the 1990s. Other Flemish parties followed a cordon sanitaire against the Vlaams Blok, but several politicians in these parties (such as the CD&V, VLD and N-VA) actually criticised the cordon sanitaire as being undemocratic. Some observers also noted that a few factions existed within the Vlaams Blok: a religious conservative, Catholic wing (whose most notable figure is Alexandra Colen), more moderate Flemish nationalists, and more hardline racists. In 1995, the federal parliament passed a law outlawing Holocaust denial; the VB voted for the law, "out of a desire for respectability and to break out of its political isolation", even though its leadership contained Holocaust deniers[2] . In 1996, Karel Dillen, who was "President for life" since 1977, appointed Frank Vanhecke as his successor. It is believed by many that Filip Dewinter was the party's real strong man. In 2002, the party ideologue and vice-president Roeland Raes gave an interview on Dutch TV where he cast doubt over the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In the same interview he also questioned the scale of the Nazis' use of gas chambers and the authenticity of Anne Frank's diary. In response to the media assault following the interview, Raes was forced to resign his position but vowed to remain active within the party [3]. In 2003, a Vlaams Blok politician was dropped from a delegation of Flemish parliamentarians due to visit the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly after strongly criticizing the SNP [4]. When in April 2004, the appeal court in Ghent ruled the party in contempt with Belgian law on racism and xenophobia, it announced that the party regularly portrayed foreigners as "criminals who take bread from the mouths of Flemish workers" and found it guilty of "permanent incitement to segregation and racism." The Vlaams Blok appealed the court decision, but the ruling was confirmed on November 9, 2004 by the Belgian High Court, effectively sentencing the party to abandon the "racist elements" of its program and paying a fine of about 40,000 Euros. The leadership of the Vlaams Blok seized the occasion to dissolve the party, and start afresh under a new name. The whole trial was seen by some as a political trial, inspired by the Belgian establishment. The federal parliament amended the Constitution to create legal possibilities to condemn Vlaams Blok.[5] According to professor Lamine (KUL), a former VB member and "advisor" of the party's legal team, the party for propaganda reasons purposely carried a weak defence, in order to lose the case : "For the party leaders, losing was much more interesting. Winning just wasn't an option."[6] Lamine himself had earlier stated that the VB should have carried the trial to the European Court of Human Rights, but VB senator Joris Van Hauthem had already stated in 2005, that: "If we had gone to Strasbourg [ECHR] based on procedural arguments, we might have had a case. But Lamine already put in a private claim to overturn the Appeals Court verdict, on the basis of substantive arguments. If Vlaams Belang were to put forth a claim against the verdict as well, at Strasbourg, the Court will bundle both cases. Then we would lose the case for sure. Lamine has thus given us the final blow."[7] Law professor Lamine denied this : "The party legal department's head doesn't know what he's doing."[7] [edit] Supreme Court's decision of November 9, 2004On November 9, 2004, the Belgian Supreme Court upheld a decision of the Appeal court of Ghent ruling that three organizations associated with the Vlaams Blok were in contempt with the 1981 Belgian law on racism and xenophobia, or more precisely that the party pursued permanent incitement to discrimination and racial segregation. The Supreme Court held that the prohibition to pursue discrimination and segregation in an obvious and sustained manner is also applicable to political parties (press release in Dutch [8] and in French [9], see decision in Dutch below). On November 14, the Vlaams Blok disbanded itself, and a new party with the name Vlaams Belang (in English: Flemish Interest) was created. According to the party leaders, the new party will follow the same programme as used during the regional elections of 2004, but without the infamous '70 steps plan', which was the basis of the party since 1992. Gerolf Annemans created instant controversy during the inauguration event of the new party by issuing veiled personal threats to the prosecutors and judges who presided over the case in the Supreme Court and courts of appeal. Gerolf Annemans declared during the new party congress: "De namen van alle juridische hoofdrolspelers uit dat proces staan voorgoed in het geheugen van déze jurist gegrift: ze zijn gewaarschuwd voor de rest van hun carrière" which can be translated as "The names of all main legal figures in that trial are forever engraved in this lawyer's memory; they are warned for the rest of their careers". [edit] Notable members
[edit] Election results (1978-2004)
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
[edit] External links
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