Green Energy
- Wilders Considers Allying With Vlaams Belang
There have been a few posts very recently and quite the discussion in some of the threads about Vlaams Belang, BNP, Jean Marie LePen et al. Geert Wilders has said he would not ally with these groups (rightly so say humble little me). Now there is this...
- Just For The Record, I Have Been Consistently Anti-ethnic Nationalist ...
Just for the record, I have been saying the same thing about Vlaams Belang for a very long time. I have always held my current views against Ethnic Nationalism. If I ever supported any Ethnic Nationalist movement, I did so out of pure ignorance. Here,...
- An Email From An Infidel Gone Bad!
A friend of ours sent me an email from another friend of ours. The email was part of a larger conversation they had been having about the recent rift between Pamela, at Atlas Shrugs, and Charles, from Little Green Footballs. (And, just to be clear, by...
- Belgium Back To Normal, But ...
The rioting stopped last night in Brussels, as police cracked down, arresting the main culprits, apparently: Last night Brussels police arrested 39 youths, including 15 minors, in the Marollen neigbourhood. The area had seen heavy rioting the previous...
- Belgium Back To Normal, But ...
The rioting stopped last night in Brussels, as police cracked down, arresting the main culprits, apparently: Last night Brussels police arrested 39 youths, including 15 minors, in the Marollen neigbourhood. The area had seen heavy rioting the previous...
Green Energy
The Vlaams Belang Is Not Racist?
Richard Miniter says the Vlaams Belang is not a racist organization:
Since both Charles Johnson and Paul Belien are friends of Pajamas Media (indeed, Charles was a co-founder), I have sat out their “blog war.” I can’t stay silent anymore.
In today’s Washington Times, Paul Belien has a terrific piece on Hitler’s surprisingly positive view of Islam. Johnson should read it and call a truce.
Here’s the back story: Johnson accused Belien and his band of associating with “neo-nazis”—i.e. the Vlaams Belang, Belgium’s largest voter getter in the most recent national election. Johnson seems to think that the Vlaams Belang is some tiny poisonous fringe, like the followers of Larouche.
In truth, it enjoys the largest support of any party in Belgium because it alone violates the political correct cordon that protects radical Islam in Europe. The party is the sole defender of the embattled Jews in Antwerp, who are regularly attacked by Muslim immigrants. The party has complained about the rising violent crime rate that bedevils Belgium—and there is little reason to doubt official statistics that Muslim immigrants are behind this horrifying rise in violent attacks. And so on.
How do I know this? I lived in Beligum from 2000 to 2005, working for the Wall Street Journal Europe and European think tank. I have known Belien and his wife, who is, yes, a member of the Belgian parliament for the Vlaams Belang, for almost seven years and they have been guests in home in both Brussels and Washington. They are free-market conservatives whose views are identical mainstream Republicans in the U.S. They are pro-America and pro-Israel—which, last I checked, are not standard neo-nazi positions.
The Vlaams Belang is a mixed bag, like all genuine grassroots parties. I have met the party leaders. While they are not as free-market or as tolerant as Belien, they are not racists. Their closest American equivalent is Rep. Tom Tancredo, who while given to a single-issue mono-mania is also not a racist.
I suspect that Charles Johnson has not met any of the Vlaams Belang leadership or even interviewed them. He is simply following a left-wing link. He does not offer evidence, based not on his own experience, reporting or careful deliberation, but simply links to web sites of virulent critics—virtually all of whom have not interviewed party leaders or spent any time understanding the nuances of Belgian politics. The blind leading the blind.
These sites simply repeat a left-wing prejudice against the Vlaams Belang, which no matter how imperfect is not a bunch of neo-nazis. The European left wants large numbers of Muslim immigrants—they need the votes to make up for the loss of working class and union votes that have been slowly migrating away from them parties for the past two decades. And the Muslim migrants vote overwhelming for the left in every western European country.
Of course, any party that threatens the left’s hold on power (by calling for restrictions on immigration, measures to protect the rights of women and Jews and so on) is immediately branded racist or worst.
Ok. I'll take that under advisement.
UPDATE: Charles does agree with Richard Minter's characterization of Little Green Footballs criticisms of the Vlaams Belang.
Boy, does he disagree.
Since both Charles Johnson and Paul Belien are friends of Pajamas Media (indeed, Charles was a co-founder), I have sat out their “blog war.” I can’t stay silent anymore.
In today’s Washington Times, Paul Belien has a terrific piece on Hitler’s surprisingly positive view of Islam. Johnson should read it and call a truce.
Here’s the back story: Johnson accused Belien and his band of associating with “neo-nazis”—i.e. the Vlaams Belang, Belgium’s largest voter getter in the most recent national election. Johnson seems to think that the Vlaams Belang is some tiny poisonous fringe, like the followers of Larouche.
In truth, it enjoys the largest support of any party in Belgium because it alone violates the political correct cordon that protects radical Islam in Europe. The party is the sole defender of the embattled Jews in Antwerp, who are regularly attacked by Muslim immigrants. The party has complained about the rising violent crime rate that bedevils Belgium—and there is little reason to doubt official statistics that Muslim immigrants are behind this horrifying rise in violent attacks. And so on.
How do I know this? I lived in Beligum from 2000 to 2005, working for the Wall Street Journal Europe and European think tank. I have known Belien and his wife, who is, yes, a member of the Belgian parliament for the Vlaams Belang, for almost seven years and they have been guests in home in both Brussels and Washington. They are free-market conservatives whose views are identical mainstream Republicans in the U.S. They are pro-America and pro-Israel—which, last I checked, are not standard neo-nazi positions.
The Vlaams Belang is a mixed bag, like all genuine grassroots parties. I have met the party leaders. While they are not as free-market or as tolerant as Belien, they are not racists. Their closest American equivalent is Rep. Tom Tancredo, who while given to a single-issue mono-mania is also not a racist.
I suspect that Charles Johnson has not met any of the Vlaams Belang leadership or even interviewed them. He is simply following a left-wing link. He does not offer evidence, based not on his own experience, reporting or careful deliberation, but simply links to web sites of virulent critics—virtually all of whom have not interviewed party leaders or spent any time understanding the nuances of Belgian politics. The blind leading the blind.
These sites simply repeat a left-wing prejudice against the Vlaams Belang, which no matter how imperfect is not a bunch of neo-nazis. The European left wants large numbers of Muslim immigrants—they need the votes to make up for the loss of working class and union votes that have been slowly migrating away from them parties for the past two decades. And the Muslim migrants vote overwhelming for the left in every western European country.
Of course, any party that threatens the left’s hold on power (by calling for restrictions on immigration, measures to protect the rights of women and Jews and so on) is immediately branded racist or worst.
Ok. I'll take that under advisement.
UPDATE: Charles does agree with Richard Minter's characterization of Little Green Footballs criticisms of the Vlaams Belang.
Boy, does he disagree.
- Wilders Considers Allying With Vlaams Belang
There have been a few posts very recently and quite the discussion in some of the threads about Vlaams Belang, BNP, Jean Marie LePen et al. Geert Wilders has said he would not ally with these groups (rightly so say humble little me). Now there is this...
- Just For The Record, I Have Been Consistently Anti-ethnic Nationalist ...
Just for the record, I have been saying the same thing about Vlaams Belang for a very long time. I have always held my current views against Ethnic Nationalism. If I ever supported any Ethnic Nationalist movement, I did so out of pure ignorance. Here,...
- An Email From An Infidel Gone Bad!
A friend of ours sent me an email from another friend of ours. The email was part of a larger conversation they had been having about the recent rift between Pamela, at Atlas Shrugs, and Charles, from Little Green Footballs. (And, just to be clear, by...
- Belgium Back To Normal, But ...
The rioting stopped last night in Brussels, as police cracked down, arresting the main culprits, apparently: Last night Brussels police arrested 39 youths, including 15 minors, in the Marollen neigbourhood. The area had seen heavy rioting the previous...
- Belgium Back To Normal, But ...
The rioting stopped last night in Brussels, as police cracked down, arresting the main culprits, apparently: Last night Brussels police arrested 39 youths, including 15 minors, in the Marollen neigbourhood. The area had seen heavy rioting the previous...