De Standaard also wondered last week: “Is it appropriate to honour two Nazi sympathizers, collaborators with the German occupier, including one (Borms) during the two world wars in addition?” “Wondering whether the Flemish parliament had become ‘masochist’, the daily recalled that ‘if Borms and De Clercq had achieved their ends, there would never have been a question of a Flemish parliament, or even of a democracy in general “.
Archive for the ‘Belgium’ Category
Belgium, Flemish Parliament Honours Nazi Collaborators.
Flemish Nationalists Honour Nazis.
This story began over the weekend.
Flemish Parliament funds brochure honouring Nazi collaborators
The Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organisations (CCOJB), the country’s EJC affiliate, has expressed outrage after a brochure honouring Nazi collaborators was published with funding from the Flemish Parliament.
The brochure, which was published as part of a special edition celebrating 50 years of the Flemish Parliament, depicted Nazi collaborators Staf De Clercq and August Borms among figures which have “shaped the emancipation of our language and our people”, as reported by the daily, De Standaard.
De Clercq, one of Belgium’s most notorious collaborators and the leader of the pro-Nazi Flemish National League (VNV), is described in the brochure as “an educator and language border activist”. Borms, who was sentenced to death as a collaborator and refused to denounce the Nazis is described as “a teacher and figurehead of activism during World War I.” The brochure does acknowledge that they were both Nazi collaborators.
“Honouring these collaborators of the Nazi regime is scandalous, at a time where we face growing concerns about our safety and our children being increasingly exposed to unbridled antisemitism”, said CCOJB President Yohan Benizri.
RTBF, today.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Flemish Parliament (or rather the creation in 1971 of the Cultural Council of the Dutch Community), it has decided, under the aegis of its president Liesbeth Homans (N-VA), to highlight 14 personalities who ” contributed to the emancipation of the people and their language ” in a special edition of Newsweek magazine. Among these rare hand-picked representatives are two notorious collaborators: August Borms and Staf De Clercq. A ” scandalous ” honour declared Yohan Benizri, president of the Coordination Committee of Jewish Organisations in Belgium (CCOJB).
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Flemish Parliament (or rather the creation in 1971 of the Cultural Council of the Dutch Community), the assembly decided, under the aegis of its president Liesbeth Homans (N-VA), to highlight 14 personalities having “contributed to the emancipation of the people and their language”. Among these rare hand-picked representatives are two notorious collaborators: August Borms and Staf De Clercq. A “scandalous” honour for Yohan Benizri, president of the Coordination Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOJB).
“Many young Belgians do not know the history of their country,” he laments. “You can’t fight hate speech effectively when you celebrate a shameful legacy. This effects of this message are totally deleterious. “
Le Soir notes that the Flemish paper of record De Standaard also reacted,
The biggest group in the Flemish Parliament is the hard right N-VA. New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie) led nationally by Bart De Wever. and in the region by Wilfried Vandaele.
There is also a strong pres ence (outside the ruling coalition) of the more openly far-right Vlaams Belang 23 seats, which has roots in the nationalist movement, such as the Flemish National League, which collaborated with the German occupation. There is only limited Green and left-wing representation.
| Flemish Parliament:
Government (70)
Opposition (54)
|
De Weever is a right wing nationalist, with ‘conservative’ views on just about everything. In October 2007, in reaction to the apology of the Mayor of Antwerp for his city’s collaboration in the deportation of Jews during the Second World War, Bart De Wever said that:
- “Antwerp did not organise the deportation of the Jews, it was the victim of Nazi occupation … Those who were in power at the time had to take tricky decisions in difficult times. I don’t find it very courageous to stigmatise them now.
Bart De Wever is a fervent supporter of Catalan nationalism, and a close ally of its leading figure, Carles Pauigdemont.
De Wever : “Puigdemont est un ami que l’on ne laisse pas tomber”
De Wever: “Puigdemont is a friend that we will never let down”.
Labour Against the Witch-hunt leaders ask, “Why is the Nazi holocaust more important than the Slave Trade and the Death of 10 million Africans in the Belgian Congo?”
Leading figures of Labour Against the Witch-hunt, Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein have caused controversy with this meme.
Greenstein’s Blog can be read here;
Greenstein does some calculations and comes up with an answer:
In these days of Black Lives Matter there is one, obvious, answer. White lives matter more. Yet this is not the whole answer, indeed it is not even half an answer. The Irish Famine is also not top of the book lists. Admittedly the British killed ‘only’ one million but the accepted figure of Jewish dead in the Holocaust is 6 million. The estimated number of dead in the Belgian Congo is 10 million. The estimated death from the Slave Trade is about 14 million.
It would be interesting to hear US and British activists from Black Lives Matter take up the issue of the the vicious rule of the Belgium Congo – a private domain of King Leopold ll (somebody whose name Greenstein does not bother to mention).
It is a live issue in Belgium, and has been for some time.
This, Greenstein fails to mention.
If this pair are interested in the history, which they show few signs of familiarity with, the best known English language study is King Leopold’s Ghost (1998) by Adam Hochschild.
One can read an account of one of the principal sources of information about these horrific abuses (set up following the harrowing investigations by the Irishman Roger Casement in 1903, here: Commission d’enquête sur les exactions commises dans l’État indépendant du Congo `1904.
Not that Walker or Greenstein are interested in this history.
The point is simple “white lives matter more” – Jewish lives.
Jackie Walker is a member of the Board of the Labour Representation Committee. *
Both are office holders in Labour Against the Witch-hunt,
- Ken Livingstone
- Alexei Sayle, comedian
- Professor Moshé Machover, Israeli socialist and founder of Matzpen
- Ian Hodson, president of the Bakers Union
- Ken Loach, film director
- Noam Chomsky, author and activist
*
Election of Officers
Equalities Seats. BME: Jackie Walker
Update on the LRC
Stan Keable from labour Party Marxists and Secretary of Labour Against the Witch-hunt, writes in the Weekly Worker(28.5.20),
The Labour Representation Committee’s executive has decided to ‘postpone’ the planned June 27 online conference till some time in September. Why?
…….
we suspect that the real reason for the ‘postponement’ is political. Indeed, it is very likely that the real reason goes by the name of John McDonnell, the LRC’s president. The fear is surely that, if the conference went ahead, it would have been attended by many victims of the ‘Anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism’ witch-hunt. To address such a conference could end McDonnell’s glorious political career in the Labour Party with his expulsion. After seeing what happened to fellow MPs Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, he knows that is a real prospect.
He comments,
John McDonnell has undergone a sickening political decay. He, like Momentum owner Jon Lansman, helped lever the Labour Party into adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s so-called ‘definition’ of anti-Semitism: a definition which equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. Not only that: McDonnell supported the reactionary “zero tolerance” doctrine in the face of the blatantly dishonest witch-hunt against socialist and leftwing activists. Such treachery, such a failure to stand in solidarity with wrongly accused comrades, whose innocence he cannot have doubted, should not be passed over in silence. He certainly should have been stripped of his position as LRC president.
Further update:
We are reliably informed that Walker left the LRC Committee because they withdraw from the Labour Left Alliance (LLA).
She is listed as a supporter of the LLA.
” Tosh McDonald, former president Aslef, Doncaster councillor
Asa Winstanley, journalist
Jackie Walker
Graham Bash
Chris Williamson
Professor Moshe Machover
John Dunn, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.”
Backing the Protests against Racism and Standing by Labour Movement Guidance to Protect Against Covid-19.
The toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol is welcome.
This Blog also notes with sympathy these protests:
Today we hear more and more calls to topple the statues of the Beligum King who brutally ruled vast tracts of Central Africa as his private kingdom.
In the UK:
Here is the Johnson response to the latest protests, (BBC)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said anti-racism protests at the weekend were “subverted by thuggery” after some demonstrators clashed with police.
Mr Johnson said people had the right to protest but engaging in violence was a “betrayal” to the protesters’ cause.
Thousands of people attended largely peaceful demonstrations in cities across the UK at the weekend.
But unrest in London on Sunday led to eight officers being injured and 12 people being arrested.
In Bristol, police confirmed there would be an investigation into “criminal damage” of a statue of Edward Colston – a prominent 17th Century slave trader – which was ripped down by protesters in a move Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned as “utterly disgraceful”.
While the Metropolitan Police’s Supt Jo Edwards said following a “predominantly peaceful protest” in the capital, officers were faced with “scenes of violence and disorder” which were “entirely unacceptable”.
People will rightly ignore the Prime Minister’s bluster.
Yet some problems cannot be wished away.
On Shiraz Socialist, Jim Denham writes.
The dilemma: should you protest in a coronavirus pandemic? And if so, how?
Under ‘normal’ circumstances there’s be no question that all socialists (indeed, all decent people) should be joining these protests.
The problem (at least in the UK) is the continuing prevalence of Covid-19 and the continuing need to socially distance. Many of the protesters (especially young people) have taken the conscious decision to risk breaking social distancing (which is virtually impossible to adhere to on a demo or at a rally) because they regard the anti-racist cause as more important. Fair enough, perhaps: but those making that choice are not just risking their own health, but also the health of everyone else they come into contact with.
For trade unionists demanding the highest health and safety standards at work, this presents a real dilemma – and it also makes it impossible to argue for trade union support for the UK demos.
One reaction is whataboutery.
Lindsey German of Counterfire leads the charge, referring solely and exclusively to the issue as follows,
Here in Britain, we have had Priti Patel warning that the demos will help spread the virus – something that worried her not in the slightest when she welcomed VE day parties, the opening of garden centres and crowds on beaches. The government has, however, avoided major confrontation so far – a sign of its overall weakness. However, it is prepared to use force to crack down if it feels that it can.
Some are already claiming that nobody who is not a “person of colour” should comment critically on these protests.
Socialist Worker offers justifications for ignoring social distancing.
Most people are wearing masks,” he said. “The necessity of the movement overrides the virus.”
Several placards read, “Racism is a pandemic.” There was a sense that the threat posed to black people by police violence and racism was at least as significant as the threat posed by the virus.
“We are in the midst of a pandemic, but racism is a pandemic too,” recruitment worker Yvonne told Socialist Worker. “Everyone needs to fight it. It’s not something black people can get rid of by ourselves.”
Sunday’s march was made up of young black and white.
Racism may have spread across the country, with deep roots.
It is a threat.
But what justification is there for providing conditions in which they virus can spread?
The labour movement is trying to help those engaged in fighting it.
How anybody override that effort?
This is a TUC statement (2nd of June) on that aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic,
Commenting on the announcement today (Tuesday) by Matt Hancock that Kemi Badenoch will lead a further enquiry into why black and minority ethic (BME) people are more at risk of coronavirus, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“The government has known for months that the virus has hit black and ethnic minority people hardest – in their health, jobs and wallets.
“Rather than just warm words, the government must now show that Black Lives Matter with urgent action to protect BME people at work and to give all key workers the pay rise they have earned.
“BME communities must have confidence that their health is being taken seriously.
“The government needs to put in place a funded action plan to tackle the egregious inequality BME people still face, and must be fully transparent about how it is considering BME communities in its policy decisions.”
TUC guidance for Health and Safety reps on social distancing at work
1. Eliminate
Can the risk of breaking social distancing be eliminated using alternate working methods like home working? If not:2. Reduce
Can the risk of breaking social distancing be reduced by limiting the number of workers in any given area or supply more welfare facilities? If not:3. Isolate
Can the risk of breaking social distancing be isolated by separating areas of the workplace? If not:4. Control
Can the risk of breaking social distancing be controlled through supervision, clearly marked areas of access and two metre markings similar to supermarkets? If not – or if the risk still can’t be sufficiently avoided – then issue PPE.5. Personal Protective Equipment
Following the risk assessment, clear and identified PPE should be issued free of charge. Regulation 4 of the PPE states:Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective.
This means that PPE should not be the first means of controlling the risk of contracting Covid-19 in the workplace
6. Discipline
Through proper training, advice and clear understandable policies and notices including posters.
The issue of the social distancing the TUC backs has come to the fore in these protests.
In Spiked Michael Cook crows at the reaction to US protests.
If you can remember that long ago, there was a time when the only protesters defying the Covid-19 lockdowns in the United States were small crowds of roughnecks from flyover country, waving flags and brandishing placards at state capitals.
…
Now, crowds of tens of thousands have gathered to protest the appalling killing of George Floyd in cities across the country. Most of them are ignoring social distancing. If the public-health advice is correct, hospitals could expect a spike in coronavirus cases.
So are these protesters freeloaders? According to an open letter signed by hundreds of health workers, they are heroes. Lockdown critics may deserve to die without ventilators, but protesters against racism should be encouraged, praised and supported. The public-health response ‘must be wholly different from the response to white protesters resisting stay-home orders’, says the letter. ‘White supremacy is a lethal public-health issue that predates and contributes to Covid-19’, it continues.
In Belgium the leading francophone daily, Le Soir, reports that the absence of social distancing at protests has been less than well received.
Polémique sanitaire après la manifestation anti-raciste à Bruxelles
And the world:
But the issues Shiraz raises remain.
Take the national populist right, and its cheerleaders in the Red-Brown Spiked web site.
Spiked writers backed the far-right Vox protests in Spain against social distancing (Spain is in revolt against the lockdown, and other national protests against lockdown measures across Europe (The mass arrest of anti-lockdown protesters in Berlin shows we have given up our freedoms far too easily.)
The Italian extreme right, and ;pandemic deniers, have demonstrated in recent weeks.
In Brazil the national populist President Jair Bolsanaro has joined in.
Bolsonaro greets anti-lockdown protesters as coronavirus cases rise in Brazil – video
In effect those flaunting social distancing rules are not just putting people’s heath at risk, they are playing the game of the far-right opponents of lockdown.
How can we criticise them when we excuse the same behaviour?
No cause or group can over-ride the need to protect lives.
Coronavirus is a physical reality that cannot be wished away.
Clashes
The clashes in London and elsewhere are also a live issue.
A respected local councillor in Ipswich, one of those who led the call to get local Tory councillor suspended for his racism tweets,
(This is the Tory)
How can we answer the views of people like Alisadair, people who form the backbone of our movement?
Now we have Keir Starmer.
Those who reject this approach need some serious responses.
Lawlessness is perhaps easier to excuse than spreading the pandemic.
