Belgium: the continuing far-right threat
OCTOBER’S LOCAL elections in Belgium saw new
electoral advances by the far-right, especially the Vlaams Belang
(Flemish Interest, formerly Vlaams Blok). In its first election contest
since its forced name change in 2004 – after a conviction for racism –
the Vlaams Belang (VB) won 794 councillors, compared to 459 in the last
council elections in 2000.
Despite this advance, the national media focussed on
the VB results in the cities of Antwerp and Ghent where the party did
not gain, claiming that VB had been defeated. The traditional parties
and their lackeys in the media quickly stated the supposed reason for
that ‘defeat’: in Antwerp and Ghent the local authorities had shown that
with ‘good governance’ the far-right can be beaten.
But that is not the case. In Antwerp the VB vote
went from 33% in 2000 to 33.5% in 2006. That is no reason for
celebration. In Ghent it is true that the VB lost a little but, given
the resources for its campaign there, this comes as no surprise. The
traditional parties in Ghent, furthermore, maximised media attention on
the outgoing mayor and the fact that the Belgian prime minister Guy
Verhofstadt and vice-premier Van den Bossche were candidates in the
city.
In Antwerp the VB lost in the city-centre districts
of Antwerp-central and Borgerhout. The party, however, gained a lot in
the surrounding districts. In Deurne, Merksem and Hoboken the VB got
respectively 43.5%, 41.5% and 41%. In Hoboken all the parties have
formed an alliance to keep the VB off the district authority, even
though that means negotiating with the far-left PVDA/PTB (Workers’ Party
Belgium, a Maoist group) which won two district councillors.
The traditional parties and the media saw the result
as a victory for the outgoing coalition in Antwerp and Ghent. This is
not true. It was a victory of well worked out media and publicity
campaigns of some leading figures. In Antwerp the mayor, Patrick
Janssens, won a stunning 72,000 preference votes (this means about 25%
of all the voters gave him a preferential vote). This pushed his party,
the social democratic SP.a (Socialist Party, Different), to 35.3% of the
vote (compared to 19.5% in 2000).
This was not a victory for Janssens’ party, however,
let alone his coalition of all the traditional parties, as it might
appear at first sight. The right-wing VLD (Flemish Liberal Democrats,
Verhofstadt’s party) did not even manage to get 10% in Flanders’ biggest
city: its vote fell from 16% to 9.7%. The Greens lost four of their six
councillors. Only the CD&V (Christian-Democratic & Flemish party)
managed to remain stable at 11.6%, but did not gain from its electoral
alliance with the nationalist NVA (New Flemish Alliance). In fact, the
Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter was correct to say that Janssens had
cannibalised his coalition partners.
Neither was Janssens’ result a victory for his own
party, as his campaign did not make a link to his party affiliation.
This led to some uproar inside the SP.a, where some of the activists
refused to campaign for him. Two weeks before the council elections, he
could not even mobilise 50 people for a publicity bike-tour through the
city. Janssens won votes from all the traditional parties, including his
own! It will lead to a further increase in the use of spin doctors and
US-style publicity campaigns.
The Vlaams Belang was not able to make progress in
the two city centre districts of Antwerp. In Borgerhout the VB had made
its historic breakthrough in the 1988 council elections, but now lost 5%
compared to 2000. The VB claims that the reason is the change in the
social composition of the area, especially the increase in the number of
immigrants.
Indeed, there has been a change in the social
composition. But the main difference is not the increase of immigrants
who can vote. Since the first national electoral breakthrough of the VB
in 1991, the federal and regional governments have invested in the big
cities in the Flemish area, above all in projects of city-marketing and
projects aimed at attracting a richer layer. These developments have
increased house prices and have pushed a layer of poorer people outside
the city centre. Instead of providing solutions to the problems in the
big cities, the authorities have pushed the problems to the areas around
the city centre. This can be seen in the electoral results of the VB,
with its big gains in those areas outside the town centre.
The media attention on the VB results in the centre
of Antwerp and in Ghent has lessened the pressure on the traditional
parties to go into coalition with the VB at local level. The so-called
‘cordon sanitaire’, a political agreement not to form any coalition with
the VB, has survived the council elections. Of course, the Left
Socialist Party/Movement for a Socialist Alternative (LSP/MAS – CWI
Belgium) opposes any participation of the VB in local authorities or
governments. But a political agreement not to form any coalitions with
the VB does not give an answer to the reasons why people vote for the
VB. It will not, therefore, stop the electoral growth of this party.
The cordon sanitaire also will not lead to splits
inside the VB, between those who are aiming for a career and are
prepared to compromise their political beliefs for governmental jobs,
and the ‘hardliners’. Such a split would only become possible if the VB
is in a more defensive position following workers’ struggles that put
other issues on the political agenda than those advanced by the VB.
After the cordon sanitaire the politicians and media
now have found a new central argument against the far-right. Now we are
being told that the VB can be defeated through ‘good governance’, and
that Janssens proves that with his electoral success. This tends towards
the idea that only a group of ‘technocrats’ and specialists can offer a
solution. With a growing crisis of confidence in politicians, some tend
to put their hopes in so-called ‘independent’ experts. This will not,
however, offer a way forward. It is reminiscent of how the Belgian
capitalists tried to get out of the political crisis in the 1930s by
appointing a top official of the national bank as an ‘independent’ prime
minister; Paul Van Zeeland led a government of ‘experts’ from 1935. The
result in the 1936 elections was clear: an even bigger polarisation,
with record votes for the fascists but also for the Communist Party.
The question is what is meant by ‘good governance’,
and what class content is being given to that idea? None of the
establishment parties will choose the side of the majority of the
population, the workers and their families. The only way to stop the
far-right is by opposing the politics of the neo-liberal parties which
only offer unemployment, higher prices, lower wages and longer working
weeks for the workers. The far-right can grow on the basis of a passive
discontent. Active resistance is needed, but with a political instrument
to organise and strengthen this resistance.
Anti-fascists have to give a political answer to the
voters of the Vlaams Belang and will need a new formation of the
workers’ movement based on active involvement in struggles to do so. The
movement ‘for different politics’ (CAP), around former MPs Jef Sleeckx
and Lode Van Outrive, and former European Trade Union Confederation
president Georges Debunne, offers the best possibility in years.
In the council elections there were some good
results for the Maoist Workers’ Party Belgium, tripling its number of
councillors to 15. This party will be quickly tested. In Hoboken it
might enter into a coalition with the establishment parties. At the same
time, the party says it has been ‘renewed’. In the words of one of its
councillors, the party is less radical today and even accepts elements
of the market economy.
Jef Sleeckx said at a national launch conference of
a new left formation on 28 October in Brussels (with over 600 present)
that there is a huge potential for a serious formation to the left of
the establishment parties. The LSP/MAS agrees on the need for a broad
new workers’ party, and supports any practical steps in this direction.
There is a huge potential for such an initiative. The new left formation
will have its first participation in the national elections of 2007.
Geert Cool
LSP/MAS (CWI Belgium)
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