An extreme right party opposing immigration in Flanders aims for big gains in local elections tomorrow, reports Jamie Smyth in Antwerp
They've come in their droves to see their leader. Teenagers wearing glasses, clutching cans of coke and flags. Old men in their belts and breeches, sporting colourful ties, and well-dressed women, who look like they are attending church in their Sunday best.
But this is no ordinary meeting. The thousand or so people gathered in Antwerp's theatre district are attending a rally by Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), an extreme right political party that is accused of "Islamaphobia" and despising multiculturalism.
Its manifesto calls for an independent Flanders separate from the French-speaking region of Belgium, zero tolerance towards criminals and the deportation of immigrants who do not assimilate into Flemish society. Its leaders dress in expensive suits while the party's security guards at the event are dressed in black T-shirts, black jeans and boots with the distinctive yellow lion insignia, a symbol of Flanders.
Yet, despite the extreme rhetoric, Vlaams Belang is not a marginal force in Flemish politics. It is the second biggest party in a region of six million people (achieving 24.1 per cent of the vote in the 2004 regional elections in Flanders) and is hoping for a local election victory tomorrow that could hand the party its first taste of power in some town councils and districts throughout Flanders.
"We hope to get 35 per cent of the vote in Antwerp, but it is my dream to get 42 per cent of the vote in some districts, as that would stop other parties from blocking us by forming coalitions among themselves," says Gerolf Annemans, a Vlaams Belang MP in the Belgium Federal parliament. "It is not unrealistic that we can control districts." More than 5,000 Vlaams Belang candidates will stand in the elections tomorrow, which the party hopes to use as a springboard for next year's national elections. The central issue in the election is whether Vlaams Belang can break the "cordon sanitaire", a defensive electoral agreement that the mainstream parties formed in 1989 to prevent the far right from holding the reins of power in Flanders.
Political analysts believe some older local mayors, who won't need to stand again for the mainstream parties in six years time, could break party ranks and form coalitions with Vlaams Belang to cling to power. And on the sidelines of the Antwerp rally, local activists and party members are confident of making a breakthrough.
"The cordon sanitaire is undemocratic and can't stay," says Monique van Campfort, a candidate standing in the municipality of Vosselaar, where Vlaams Belang is competing in local elections for the first time.
She is campaigning on a platform to bring more special treatment for old people who live alone in the municipality. She also wants strict curbs on immigration and to ensure migrants assimilate and do not get to set their own rules in society.
"We are not a racist party. I have Turkish and American friends," says van Campfort, who adds that the party is not as extreme as it was 20 years ago.
In fact, Vlaams Belang is a new party, established following a court case in 2004 that ruled that its predecessor party Vlaams Blok was guilty of "repeated incitement to discrimination" against minorities.
But the personalities are the same and the core ideology has remained, even if it has been repackaged in a less overtly racist manner to appeal to a wider selection of people, says Said El Khadraoui, a Belgian MEP and board member of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and opposition to Racism, the state body that took the legal case against Vlaams Blok.
VLAAMS BELANG IS more sophisticated now. The image of the boxing glove, which adorned posters in previous election campaigns has been replaced by a welcoming picture of the countryside under the slogan "Secure, Flemish, Liveable".
"Of course they are clever people and they are careful what they put in electoral posters and leaflets now, but they are the same basic ideas," says El Khadraoui. "Dewinter [ Filip Dewinter, ideological leader of Vlaams Belang] is a racist, a populist, a very aggressive propagandist and a very good organiser. The party is ruled from the top."
The rapturous reception that Dewinter gets from the party faithful when he steps on stage at the Antwerp rally demonstrates his appeal. Dressed in a smart grey suit and striped tie, he looks the most respectable of politicians. His message is delivered eloquently in a speech punctuated by standing ovations and flag-waving.
"People are fed up with immigration and don't want any more immigrants in their neighbourhood. Some areas of Antwerp are like a kasbah in Marrakech," he tells The Irish Times. "Most of the immigrants are Muslim and have their own traditions and way of life. Our people don't feel at home in their own neighbourhoods anymore."
Dewinter insists his inflammatory comments are not racist and the party wouldn't be so popular if it campaigned only on immigration issues. In this election local issues such as clean streets and tackling crime are just as important, he insists.
But several recent racist incidents in Antwerp demonstrate that tensions run high in Belgium's second city. The most serious of these was the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman from Mali in May by an 18-year-old. The teenager's father was a founding member of Vlaams Blok, while his aunt is a Vlaams Belang MP serving in the parliament.
Party officials distance themselves from the shooting, saying it was the act of a sick person, and it is unclear whether the incident will damage the party in tomorrow's election.
"Certainly they are on an upward curve of support," says Carl Devos, professor of political science at Ghent University. "They will increase their vote on the last local elections in 2000 when they got 13.4 per cent and in some districts they may get a majority of votes . . . For some [ getting into power in a few districts] would mean little practical change in local politics while for others it would be the end of history."