Far right gains in Belgium

[Colonâ„¢]

It's curious how much perceptions differ in the Belgian media compared to foreign media. Journalists abroad had been considering it a certainty Filip Dewinter of the VB would be the next mayor of Antwerp, while the domestic view was rather that the far-right would gain strength, but not enough to break the rainbow coalition.

And after the elections, most foreign media tend to look at the gains across Flanders, while domestic media are rather focused at the stagnation in Antwerp and what the implications are for the future.
Similarly, foreign media mostly see a defeat for the ruling coalition, while the domestic view is that another Verhofstadt government has become a possibility again, due to the strong showing of the leading men of Flemish liberal party individually.

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
It's curious how much perceptions differ in the Belgian media compared to foreign media. Journalists abroad had been considering it a certainty Filip Dewinter of the VB would be the next mayor of Antwerp, while the domestic view was rather that the far-right would gain strength, but not enough to break the rainbow coalition.

And after the elections, most foreign media tend to look at the gains across Flanders, while domestic media are rather focused at the stagnation in Antwerp and what the implications are for the future.
Similarly, foreign media mostly see a defeat for the ruling coalition, while the domestic view is that another Verhofstadt government has become a possibility again, due to the strong showing of the leading men of Flemish liberal party individually.

Yes, that's really interesting. I noticed about the same back when the far right in Austria was the big issue. Domestic topics and foreign perception where two completely different pairs of shoes. I'm sure the same applies in every country. From inside, it looks as if the outside world gets a completely distorted image of what it is really about, from outside it looks as if a whole country had almost surrendered.

[Dinner]

Has the "far right" in Belgium actually been extremist in any way? Limiting immigration doesn't sound so extremist. Maybe if the main stream parties listened to the voters desires then this problem would go away.

[alva]

It's extremist for European standards.

[dannubis]

The party smells of discrimination against weaker subsegments of our population. And that alone is enough for me to despise them.

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Has the "far right" in Belgium actually been extremist in any way? Limiting immigration doesn't sound so extremist. Maybe if the main stream parties listened to the voters desires then this problem would go away.

It used to argue publicly that the immigrant population should all be kicked out, for one.

Maybe it doesn't appear as extremist anymore today, but that mostly goes to show how succesful the party has been in softening its image and how strong the immigrant-sentiment has become elsewhere, such as in the US.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
Maybe it doesn't appear as extremist anymore today, but that mostly goes to show how succesful the party has been in softening its image and how strong the immigrant-sentiment has become elsewhere, such as in the US.

He's American. Their centre-right is equivalent to our far-right

[Colonâ„¢]

No, it's not.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Oerdin
It seems people want to slow down immigration especially from muslim countries.

That is oversimplification...they tend to pick up a lot of votes because no one has interest in the mainstream parties any more...let us be honest...the Labour party in the UK has been ignoring what people say for years now, ie, Iraq...people see this 'last resort' as the likes of Labour just don't represent them...

[Provost Harrison]

...Labour just boast about what they have supposedly done which just sounds arrogant and patronising, which is a view of the party as a whole now, and that Blair seems above dealing with the concerns of the common man, and that's why they will lose the next election if they don't sort themselves out.

[Solly]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
...Labour just boast about what they have supposedly done which just sounds arrogant and patronising, which is a view of the party as a whole now, and that Blair seems above dealing with the concerns of the common man, and that's why they will lose the next election if they don't sort themselves out.

They've had ten years so how can they say there are still things to do..

[dannubis]

imagine a society that has no different needs after 10 years