No nooo NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Jun. 13th, 2004 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
franceslievensI will never understand why people decide to vote for a Flemish nationalist extreme right party that propagates anti-politics.
So there were regional and European elections today. Vlaams Blok has won again, as it has been doing since it came into existence some twenty years ago. It has become the second biggest party of Flanders and has been calling everyone stupid that ignored them when the first results came out. Here's to one of the worst formations of a governement since I was allowed to vote.
Some figures
Antwerp: 1 in 3 has been voting for Vlaams Blok since that terrible Black Sunday in 1991. The city has been governed by a rainbow coloured coalition of everyone against the biggest party. Now Vlaams Blok has reached the ultimate high of more than 34% of the votes.
Mechelen, famous because of its (non-existent?) problem with foreigners and gangs (oh, just shut up, this is a little province town...): Vlaams Blok is the biggest party with 31%.
Also in Lier and other smaller towns in the proximity of Antwerp Vlaams Blok is the biggest party.
Brussels: Vlaams Blok is the biggest party for the Flemish votes.
The only point of light I see in all this is that Vlaams Blok seems to have reached its ceiling in my city. They stabilised a bit, but are still the biggest party for the Dutch speaking part of the city. 1 in 4 of the "Flemish votes" went to this party. Ignored by all, denigrated by others they purely exist to make life of the reigning parties misserable. No-one can even think about starting a coalition with Vlaams Blok. It would blow up this country. A country that's called Belgium and not Flanders.
But most of all I'm angry at all those silly people that dare to cast their vote away like this. What are they thinking? "Let them reign," they think. "Let them teach the others a lesson. Let them show those big parties how it's done." Vlaams Blok is the only true opposition party that's left in this country. One that isn't tainted by the democratic ways of consensus and concession. They can still demand and promise without compromise. They can still yell at the French, the Walloons, for ignoring the typical Flemish heritage, for draining this "state" that should be. It's all they want: a free Flanders with Brussels as it's capital. But Brussels doesn't want this because Brussels is bilingual (and mostly French) and yet again we get these silly rows between languages. And yet again I do not understand. For the "Francophones" I'm a typical case of Vlaams Blok voter. For the others I'm a progressive nuthead that doesn't understand her own heritage. Well, I live in Brussels and I wanna keep on living here speaking two languages.
Voting for Vlaams Blok is saying: "I don't like this country. I don't like what you guys are doing to this country. I may have a home and a car and a dog, but I don't feel safe at night." But Vlaams Blok doesn't give the answers. It only shows us the problems. And sometimes these problems aren't real ones. I can live together with the French speaking half of this country. We get along, we start to learn each other's language. The foreigners that come to take away our jobs are the biggest group out of a job. Brussels has its problems, but these are normal problems for a city the size of this one. Criminality and gettho's exist of course. We have to find solutions to live together. Being angry with others and wanting to put a barrier between you and them isn't one of them.
But most of all: What does it say about me that I do not know if I would protest against Vlaams Blok in the governement or if I would let them reign to show their voters that in a democracy one has to work by the book, and that is for every party the same?
I would love to "Kick the people till they get a conscious".
From Louis Paul Boon: Schop de mensen tot zij een geweten krijgen.
So there were regional and European elections today. Vlaams Blok has won again, as it has been doing since it came into existence some twenty years ago. It has become the second biggest party of Flanders and has been calling everyone stupid that ignored them when the first results came out. Here's to one of the worst formations of a governement since I was allowed to vote.
Some figures
Antwerp: 1 in 3 has been voting for Vlaams Blok since that terrible Black Sunday in 1991. The city has been governed by a rainbow coloured coalition of everyone against the biggest party. Now Vlaams Blok has reached the ultimate high of more than 34% of the votes.
Mechelen, famous because of its (non-existent?) problem with foreigners and gangs (oh, just shut up, this is a little province town...): Vlaams Blok is the biggest party with 31%.
Also in Lier and other smaller towns in the proximity of Antwerp Vlaams Blok is the biggest party.
Brussels: Vlaams Blok is the biggest party for the Flemish votes.
The only point of light I see in all this is that Vlaams Blok seems to have reached its ceiling in my city. They stabilised a bit, but are still the biggest party for the Dutch speaking part of the city. 1 in 4 of the "Flemish votes" went to this party. Ignored by all, denigrated by others they purely exist to make life of the reigning parties misserable. No-one can even think about starting a coalition with Vlaams Blok. It would blow up this country. A country that's called Belgium and not Flanders.
But most of all I'm angry at all those silly people that dare to cast their vote away like this. What are they thinking? "Let them reign," they think. "Let them teach the others a lesson. Let them show those big parties how it's done." Vlaams Blok is the only true opposition party that's left in this country. One that isn't tainted by the democratic ways of consensus and concession. They can still demand and promise without compromise. They can still yell at the French, the Walloons, for ignoring the typical Flemish heritage, for draining this "state" that should be. It's all they want: a free Flanders with Brussels as it's capital. But Brussels doesn't want this because Brussels is bilingual (and mostly French) and yet again we get these silly rows between languages. And yet again I do not understand. For the "Francophones" I'm a typical case of Vlaams Blok voter. For the others I'm a progressive nuthead that doesn't understand her own heritage. Well, I live in Brussels and I wanna keep on living here speaking two languages.
Voting for Vlaams Blok is saying: "I don't like this country. I don't like what you guys are doing to this country. I may have a home and a car and a dog, but I don't feel safe at night." But Vlaams Blok doesn't give the answers. It only shows us the problems. And sometimes these problems aren't real ones. I can live together with the French speaking half of this country. We get along, we start to learn each other's language. The foreigners that come to take away our jobs are the biggest group out of a job. Brussels has its problems, but these are normal problems for a city the size of this one. Criminality and gettho's exist of course. We have to find solutions to live together. Being angry with others and wanting to put a barrier between you and them isn't one of them.
But most of all: What does it say about me that I do not know if I would protest against Vlaams Blok in the governement or if I would let them reign to show their voters that in a democracy one has to work by the book, and that is for every party the same?
I would love to "Kick the people till they get a conscious".
From Louis Paul Boon: Schop de mensen tot zij een geweten krijgen.
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-14 10:08 am (UTC)And can I just say that politics scare, confuse, irritate and frustrate me! Polititians make me angry, and I don't understand what drives people to vote for people just "because there's nobody else". I'm dreading the elections in the UK, personally, I want them all to lose!!!
Re: Yep I'm that Frances...
Date: 2004-06-14 11:19 am (UTC)Go ahead and add me if you like (don't know if I'm that interesting...)
I do not want all the parties to loose over here. I just wish people weren't so silly to vote for a nationalist party. This country is so small. What would Flanders do better that the federal state doesn't do allready?? Plus: we had federal elections last year and it seems most people have voted against things that went wrong in the federal governement instead of looking at things in the regional governement.
Oh dear, I guess this is one of the things I can keep on talking about. :-)