Posted on 03/05/2007 11:01:15 PM PST by neverdem
When Americans think of Belgium -- if they do so at all -- they probably think of a small European country lying between the borders of the Netherlands, Germany, France and even smaller Luxembourg.
Occupied by the Nazis during World War II, Belgium became the center of operations for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which located its headquarters in the capital city of Brussels in 1967.
More recently, the European Union and its associated parliament and economic organizations located their headquarters in Belgium. (Of slightly less importance in Belgian history, though appreciated by film fans everywhere, is the fact that Belgium gave the world a lovely young woman named Audrey Hepburn. Belgium also produces some of the best chocolates in the world and over one hundred beers.)
Belgium is in many ways an artificial state because it is composed of three distinct groups of people from three different cultures that historically have not always gotten along.
Since 1993 the French-speaking population, or Walloons, which are primarily Roman Catholic, the tiny German-speaking population and the Flemish-speaking regions each have had their own parliament under a loosely federalized system of government, under the somewhat titular King of the Belgians.
On paper, that sounds workable and could imply that Belgium is a model government in which plural interests are recognized at the local level but a federal government reigns supreme. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different.
According to the highly regarded philosopher Roger Scruton, who has written extensively on the issues of multiculturalism in Western Europe, Belgium today is a seething political mess. In the same country where the European Union holds forth on European unity, the most popular political party in the country, now called the Vlaams Belang, has been banned.
The Vlaams Belang also is known as the Flemish Nationalist Party inasmuch as it favors separatism somewhat in the way that Czechoslovakia divided into the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia. Clearly, the Belgian state views that as a threat. In order to defeat the Party in 2000, the government extended the vote to non-citizens, most of whom are Muslim immigrants.
The Vlaams Belang still won 24% of the vote. And so in 2004, the Belgian supreme court in Brussels declared the predecessor of the Vlaams Belang, called the Vlaams Blok, to be a "criminal organization" guilty of racism. Its only crime was success in too many elections on a platform of Flemish nationalism, anti-socialism and against current Belgian immigration policies.
When the Vlaams Belang continued winning elections funds were cut off. This will make it impossible to campaign and, according to the Party's leader in Antwerp, Flip Dewinter, when coupled with the rising number of voting immigrants the de-funding eventually will achieve the Government's goal of completely eliminating its main opposition.
Imagine if this could happen here, if the Democrats could eliminate the Republican Party by labeling it racist and taking away its funding! (Oh, wait. That is what they might like to do, but a lengthier discussion of this subject will have to await another column.)
Across most of Western Europe -- but especially in France, Germany and Belgium -- immigrants from the various countries of North Africa as well as Turkey and the Middle East have been steadily arriving since the 1960s.
As Muslims, most of these immigrants have remained in separate areas of their host countries, shopping in their own stores, marrying within their own group, building mosques in traditional Eastern architectural styles, and in some cases, taking advantage of traditionally generous European governments with their "cradle to grave" social-welfare policies.
To even mention the possibility that this might not be good for the existing population of Western European Christians or that some of these immigrants might be Islamic fundamentalists and sympathetic to the goals of men such as Osama Bin Laden is to trigger instantaneous condemnation. In Belgium today rejecting the paradigm of multiculturalism means being branded a criminal and a racist.
It always has amazed me when left-wing governments or their representative political parties accuse their opposition of intolerance. What could be more intolerant than criminalizing one's opponents? What could be less democratic that changing the laws and allowing non-citizens the vote in order to win an election? Who is more intolerant than leftists, who condescendingly believe that only they have the answers to society's problems?
This is what a coalition of various socialist and liberal parties in Belgium want everyone to believe: that wanting to limit the number of immigrants in a society means one is a racist.
If this has a somewhat familiar sound it should. Many of our United States, especially in the West and Southwest, today are overrun with illegal immigrants, mostly from Latin America. Yet anyone calling for true immigration reform or the actual enforcement of laws already on the books frequently is labeled a racist.
Suggesting that it might not be a good idea that the vast majority of public school children in Texas and California are Hispanic and that their parents may or may not be legal immigrants is intolerant and even cruel according to the left-wingers.
Immigration or the policy of allowing new people into a "melting pot" such as the United States is difficult enough, but in a country already fragmented such as Belgium, which was artificially cobbled together out of sections practicing two main religions and speaking three languages, it is virtually impossible.
Disbanding the Vlaams Belang is the equivalent of shooting the messenger who delivers the bad news. Will the Republican Party in the U.S. be next?
(Paul M. Weyrich is chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.)
Copyright 2007, Free Congress Foundation
French fries are also supposed to be Belgian.
I'll have bratkartoffeln with that jaegerschnitzel there Dihat! What the article doesn't mention is that the Turks actually do WORK! On Saturdays nonetheless. The waffle eaters couldn't outlaw immigration if they wanted to because if they did the country would shut down. Sad state of affairs...literally!
What's Dihat?
It is a man's name in Turkey!
Who, during daylight hours, is a shoe salesman who drives a classic Dodge sedan.
(Seriously, how do you consider separatism when the entire country would fit in Delaware's backyard?)
Appreciated (again).
IMHO, you're missing the point for which I posted the story. If we grant citizenship and voting privileges to all these illegal aliens, we might have democratic socialism until the republic goes bust, and saying anything politically incorrect will be a hate crime regardless of the truth of the matter. Scroll down about a quarter of the way on this link to Oslo Muslims Six Times More Likely to Rape. Our illegal aliens have shown a similar criminal proclivity, not limited to MS 13.
Appreciated.
Regards, Ivan
Appreciated (for both the link and for reading the page).
Thanks for the link.
To say nothing of the ugly ugly sexual assault cases in Belgium, that included the top politicians.
i was in Belgium about ten years ago-i visited on two occasions and i found the Walloon-Flemish situation somewhat ridiculous-they are almost all Catholic,and are almost all Caucasian-okay-so no racial or religious tension-it's the language that gets them going-most Flemings speak english also-Walloons either don't or won't-i raan into Flemings with French first names who hated French speakers-go figure that one out!the moslems were already a major problem even then and contributed heavily to the crime rate-the country doesn't work very well-it's corrupt to the core and in the Walloon areas very economically depressed-sort of like what happened in Gary,Indiana when the steel mills closed-the same thing happened in Wallonia-this is very strange insofar as their next door neighbor,the Netherlands doesn't have these types of problems,except the muslim infestation
I'm pretty lowbrow. When I think of Belgium, I think of the Monty Python skit of the TV show Prejudice':
"Well now, the result of last week's competition when we asked you to find a derogatory term for the Belgians. Well, the response was enormous and we took quite a long time sorting out the winners. There were some very clever entries. Mrs Hatred of Leicester Said 'let's not call them anything, let's just ignore them'
... (applause starts vigorously, but he holds his hands up for silence)
... and a Mr St John of Huntingdon said he couldn't think of anything more derogatory than Belgians.
(cheers and applause; a girl in showgirl costume comes on and holds up placards through next bit)
But in the end we settled on three choices: number three ... the Sprouts (placard 'The Sprouts'), sent in by Mrs Vicious of Hastings... very nice ;
number two..... the Phlegms (placard) ... from Mrs Childmolester of Worthing;
but the winner was undoubtedly from Mrs No-Supper-For-You from Norwood in Lancashire... Miserable Fat Belgian Bastards.
(placard; roar of applause)
Very good - thank you, Carol.
BTTT
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