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Vlaams Blok racist, says court
Expatica.com ^ | 22 April 2004 | N/A

Posted on 04/26/2004 3:51:05 PM PDT by swilhelm73

BRUSSELS - A Gent court has ruled that Belgium's far-right Flemish party, the Vlaams Blok, has repeatedly broken Belgium's anti-racism laws by publishing overtly racist propaganda.

The court made its ruling on Tuesday evening at the end of a landmark case brought by two Belgian anti-racism groups.

In its judgement the court said the Blok deliberately tried to stir up "hatred against foreigners, with the principal targets being north Africans and Turks."

Quoting Vlaams Blok propaganda, the court said the party described foreigners as "criminals who take the bread out of the mouths of Flemish workers, take advantage of the social security system and because of their culture, race or religion cannot integrate."

The court added that the Blok's rhetoric was clearly based on race rather than nationality as it also called for 'foreigners' from families that had been legally living in Belgium for two or three generations to be "sent home."

Such views clearly breach a 1981 Belgian law that outlaws racial discrimination, the court said.

In handing out its judgement, the court fined three associations linked to the Vlaams Blok nearly EUR 12,400 each.

The ruling is also likely to deprive the far right party of around EUR 4 million a year of state funding. Racist political parties are not allowed to receive handouts from state coffers in Belgium.

The Vlaams Blok is a major political force in Dutch-speaking Flanders, which it would like to see become an independent state.

In last year's parliamentary elections it won nearly 18 percent of the vote in Flanders and in 2000, 33 percent of voters supported it in municipal polls in Antwerp, the region's largest city.

The Vlaams Blok's President Frank Vanhecke condemned the court's ruling and said he was planning an appeal.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: vlaamsblok
Basically the same situation as if the Clintons had banned the Republican Party while it was out of power in 93 because they were "racist".

Europe, where representative government is just so passe...

1 posted on 04/26/2004 3:51:05 PM PDT by swilhelm73
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To: swilhelm73
Ah, Yessssss. Government by Fiat!

See what happens when a nation doesn't have a First Amendment(or a 2nd Amend,for that matter!)


And the Democrats want US to follow the Euroweanies!
2 posted on 04/26/2004 4:59:41 PM PDT by RedMonqey (Its is dangerous to be right when your government is wrong)
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To: swilhelm73
"Vlaams Blok is a major political force in Dutch-speaking Flanders..."

Wondering what other-than-european languages the verdict was published in....

3 posted on 04/26/2004 5:18:21 PM PDT by norton
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To: norton
Wondering what other-than-european languages the verdict was published in....

The preferered national language of the rulers of Belguim and the EuroUnion: French.

The Vlaams Blok position has been that the natural social and cultural allies of Flanders would be the UK and the USA, not cheese eating surrender minkeys.

4 posted on 04/26/2004 6:16:42 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy ("Despise not the jester. Often he is the only one speaking the truth")
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