Belgian Politics & Elections: Federal, regional & EP elections on June 9, 2024

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Some good recent articles on the Workers’ Party of Belgium

What makes the Workers’ Party of Belgium tick?

The change in the party was also very necessary in view of social-democratic parties having gradually drifted toward the center, up to becoming part of the new neoliberal offensive – with Tony Blair in the United Kingdom, Gerhard Schröder in Germany, and social-democratic ministers implementing privatization, deregulation and liberalization policies in Belgium. During the 2005 protest movement against the government’s pension reform, the PTB was very active at picket lines and in protest rallies, regaining credit for the trade unions. Membership conditions were eased and hundreds of trade unionists became members of a PTB in full revival mode. The party further transformed from a cadre party into a members’ party. And in the 2006 municipal elections, the party’s change of direction resulted in the election of 15 local representatives in six towns.

The Workers’ Party of Belgium was founded in 1979, but this was preceded by a decade of preparation, based on the students’ movement of May 68 and the choice of a group of students to link up with the working class and actively participate in various important strike movements. They also started the now-famous network of people’s clinics, Medicine for the People. But when in 1999, after thirty years of activism and hard work, the PTB-PVDA recorded a meager 0.6% at the parliamentary elections, the party was on the verge of an internal crisis and decided to engage in some serious soul-searching. A broad survey among party sympathizers helped the party leadership to pinpoint important flaws and weaknesses in our approach: sectarianism, rigid thinking, sloganeering, a radical confrontation strategy, too high demands on party members, a too restricted action terrain. The party decided to change, but realizing and implementing this took some time – a time of intense debate and practice. The first public sign of the party renewal was a broad mass campaign in favor of inexpensive prescription drugs, dubbed the ‘kiwi campaign’ (inspired by New Zealand’s system of public tendering for drug purchasing, thus cutting the profit margins of Big Pharma). This campaign also ushered in a new, fresh communication style of the party, with the kiwi fruit as a ‘fresh’ symbol.
In 2008, the party held its 8th Congress, the Renewal Congress. There, we confirmed our identity as a party of the working class in the broad sense, a party of the 21st century,  a party that remains firm on its Marxist principles and that aims for socialism, a party that applies adequate tactics in order to better conscientize, organize and mobilize ever-broader layers of the population. In 2010, we set up an annual solidarity festival on the Belgian seaside, called ManiFiesta. We supported new initiatives of the cultural sector and of the broader civil society against budget cuts and nationalist division. And we were active in each and every strike and protest movement, be it against the austerity policies imposed by the federal government – on the prodding of the European Commission – or in sectoral struggles of railway workers, bus drivers, cleaning personnel, health care workers and others.

Our renewed approach also bore fruits in elections. In the 2012 municipal elections, the PTB made its first breakthrough in two major cities: Antwerp and Liège, and in the 2014 parliamentary elections, the PTB obtained two representatives in the federal parliament, as well as two in the Walloon and four in the Brussels parliaments. They were the first Marxists in parliament in 30 years.

The party’s Solidarity Congress, in 2015, affirmed the orientation the PTB had taken and deepened the party’s analysis and orientations on socialism (‘Socialism 2.0’) and on the struggle for a cultural counter-hegemony, based on the working class but including broad layers of society. Meanwhile, the party had grown to 8,500 members and had significantly increased the number of its grassroots branches, both in municipalities and in factories.

The 2018 local elections and the 2019 regional, federal and European elections reflected the further growth and impact of the party. The number of PTB voters more than doubled compared to 2014, with the party now representing 8.6% of all voters in Belgium. In Wallonia, we obtained 13,8%, in Brussels 13.5% and in Flanders, moving against the tide of the extreme right, 5.6%. These are scores for communists not seen since 1946, when, just after the Second World War, the Communist Party won 12.7% of the vote. The PTB now has 39 representatives in the various parliaments, including in the European Parliaments (with one MEP). Concomitantly, party membership has peaked at over 19,000.

Our approach to conscientize, organize and mobilize the workers and the people for their immediate demands, linked to our longer-term strategy of change and our final goal of building an alternative, socialist society, was already defined and put into practice since the time of the ‘kiwi campaign’ and our Renewal Congress. But we further developed and refined this in the recent election campaigns, and are currently applying the same principles in our campaign for a minimum pension of 1,500 euro net.

The first pillar of this approach is political: listen to the people and find out which social problems concern them most, and put them on the agenda. These are the issues of pensions, unaffordable electricity bills, high prices for medicines and health care, tax justice and free public transport, among others. And contrast these with the exorbitant profits of transnational corporations and the shameful schemes for tax exemptions, tax havens, and tax fraud provided to them. There is also a strong anti-establishment side to our political positioning, which is responding to the people’s justified outrage about the many privileges the political, banking and business elites allot themselves. Finally, we make it a point to offer positive and realistic solutions for every major issue, as opposed to the empty promises of the traditional parties.

The second pillar is organizational: a party of active members, with a strong grassroots campaign, involving thousands of volunteers. This involves a pyramidal system of contacting and involving party militants and members, collaborators, activists and sympathizers, layer by layer. This also involves simple campaign tools, a practice-oriented and brief political education. And above all, there is the clear call to mobilize, to take to the streets and to take action for change.

The third pillar is communication on social media, a pillar we have yet to develop to its fullest potential. In the last weeks of the election campaign, we reached 500,000 people per day on social media, and we began to produce more video clips and motion stories that often became very popular.

On these three components (politics, organizing, and communication), our municipal councilors and members of parliaments play a supportive role, with a working principle which is “street-council-street”: from the street to the council or parliament, and back to the street. Their speeches, resolutions and legislative work in the municipal council and parliament serve and reinforce the social struggle. But the latter will always remain the decisive factor – as it was historically in the fights to end child labor, install the eight-hour working week or obtain equal voting rights.

Let me give recent examples of how we go about it by highlighting our current campaign for minimum pensions of 1,500 euro net. With average pensions ranging from 1,244 euros for men to 989 euros for women, retired workers cannot even afford a retirement home, let alone enjoy their retirement. This is why, in accordance with a new citizens’ initiative act, the PTB is going to table a bill for a minimum retirement pension of 1,500 euro net. The law stipulates that the House must hear those tabling the bill, provided it collects 25,000 signatures. But our target is 100,000 signatures at least, both on paper and online. We are linking the campaign on the ground to the work carried out by our parliamentarians. The 1,500 euro net minimum retirement pension will not materialize automatically. Attaining it is going to require a struggle. We will have to develop our struggle into a mass movement: the 100,000 signatories (and more) behind the citizens’ initiative bill, the unions, civil society (social organizations, local organizations, etc.), all together. We are determined to win a victory, just as when we won the campaign against the “Turtel tax” in Flanders (additional taxation on every consumer’s energy bill), or like in the US campaign for a minimum wage of $15 was won.

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Belgium’s Left Breakthrough

In 2014, Syriza had been one of the big stories of the European elections and, with strong performances for Podemos in Spain and Sinn Féin in Ireland, the rise of the Nordic-Green Left bloc (GUE-NGL) was one of the stories of the election. Five years on, these left-wing alternatives have faded against the backdrop of an increasingly-strong populist right. But one country stands as an exception to this trend, providing a stark contrast to the failures elsewhere on the radical left.

How party on the rise PTB-PVDA gained 35 seats in Belgian parliament

A Marxist in the European Parliament

“We Are a Marxist Party That Believes in a Socialist Future”

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Besides, the two parties are not at their limit. More than a quarter of the Flemish can imagine voting for the PVDA. At Vlaams Belang that is over forty percent. Only the N-VA has a higher potential with 45 percent. All other parties have a potential of 30 percent.

Popularity poll!

De Wever most popular, followed by far-right chairman Tom Van Grieken who's going to become a dad. The bourgeois liberal De Croo (son of), and new riser on the left Conner Rousseau who reminds me of Macron are rising. Our PVDA chairman is fifth. Raoul Hedebouw does better as french-speaking communist than the two Green politicians. Dries Van Langenhove on the list disturbs me as well, as he's the Lauren Southern or Candace Owens from Belgium, campaigning for a white flemish identitarian society, and is basically a neo-nazi. 45% said they couldn't identify with any politician, a large group that shows how disenfranchised our society is from traditional politics.

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I thought Rousseau was on the left of the sp.a?

(Then again, this is the party that once fell head-over-heels for Bruno Tobback...)

No not really, or at least that is the feeling i get. Hans (i don't know his surname anymore) was on the left, and would've been a better chairman. All my preferred chairman candidates lost unfortunately .

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I thought Rousseau was on the left of the sp.a?

(Then again, this is the party that once fell head-over-heels for Bruno Tobback...)

No not really, or at least that is the feeling i get. Hans (i don't know his surname anymore) was on the left, and would've been a better chairman. All my preferred chairman candidates lost unfortunately .

Hans Bonte? He wasn't really on the left. He's a so called Red Lion, one of the last of its breed : a flamingant socialist.

Rousseau is hard to characterise really. Worked his way up the ranks of the party so not a usurper type, definitely not on the left of the group, definitely not Tobback either. Close to the Combrez wing I guess.

I liked Crombez, but yeah not so much Rousseau.

And i meant Hannes De Reu.

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Wait, how on Earth did the fascists from VB get to 24%?

Most likely because people are just fed up. Our politicans played house of cards at the peak of the crisis, and the N-VA's budget cuts program alongside De Wever's inability to tap into public sentiment during this crisis is costing his party dearly. VB's messaging is simple and they will always outflank the N-VA on every issue.

Also, given that VB+N-VA are at 45% or so, any chance Flanders goes full Catalonia and actually tries to secede? I wonder what new Belgian resident Puigdemont thinks about it

The last thing the (sane) nationalists in Flanders want at this stage is a referendum, because then BHV comes back into play, and there's a very serious risk of them losing the referendum given the actual issue of Flemish independence is nothing like the Catalan issue, in that most people don't really care about it. Only 10% of N-VA voters actually vote N-VA specifically for decentralisation, and with VB its just there as another edgy policy but they litterally run lists in Brussels with francophones saying the important priority is getting rid of immigrants.


I imagine Puigdemont is in favour but given he was sort of driven out of Flanders by virtue of only speaking...French with them...he will continue to reside in Waterloo.

So does that mean that the nationalist strategy would be to shake the belgian state around enough that it kind of just falls apart without popular input?

Yes, the N-VA are very open about it. They want to make the Walloons want to proceed to state break up by having as hard a right-wing policy as possible, and also by defunding and stripping any federal power possible enough for it to just wither away.

VB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> neoliberal N-VA

Meanwhile Mp DVL got caught in a lockdown party

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Federal MP Dries Van Langenhove caught at lockdown party

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Weren't Flemish nationalists hoping that the EU would take over the powers of the Belgian state, removing the need for it?

I don't know.

Only thing i know is that Flemish independence has become less relevant. VB calls for it. They did yesterday in a debate, and state reforms / confederacy are issues that are way more relevant and pushed for by certain parties. I'm not in favour of it. I want to centralize the country's institutions (not all of them, but some). That doesn't mean you can be proud of your nation. I'm certainly proud to be Flemish, and we have a great history, but i'm also a Belgicist and for governing purposes, we need to work better together.

Decentralization certainly did cost lives for COVID-19 because of all those governments, parliaments and institutions. Healthcare should be federalized. Climate change should be federalized, period. In terms of climate change, it would even be ideal if we were able to take action on a global level. Now, there are only agreements which are not strictly followed and guidelines which are not followed as well.

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Our 9 ministers of healthcare

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All probable have 9 other mandates too

That's true. But it's like a really inefficient approach to healthcare. It surely did cost some lives, and is one of the causes why Belgium has a high death rate. Beke also ****ed up in the rest homes.

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Again satisfied with the polling of PVDA-PTB. I don't understand the enthusiasm for s.pa and it's leader Conner Rousseau. I'm not really a fan of him. I liked Crombez. All current party leaders are downgrades from their previous ones, except for MR. I like Bouchez.

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Negotiations between the Right block and the PS are not working, so now CD&V and Open VLD are trying hard to convince the sp.a to join as the lone left-wing party in the coalition. I think this might finally be it, although the stumbling block will be the MR : N-VA already proposed a "Danish social democracy" model of high social protections but hard on borders and immigration to the PS, which the latter agreed to, only to see the MR veto it. I can imagine they will do the same with Rousseau, only to see MR shaft everything.

Ugh opinion of MR shifted very negatively in my view. Why would they want to block everything. I would be in favour of a Danish social democratic model.

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N-VA asked Open VLD and CD&V apparently to make join the far-right VB in the coalition but they both rejected the idea.

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https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2020/07/12/n-va-supremo-bart-de-wever-makes-abortion-issue-a-no-go-forcing/

The end of the "Arizona talks" or a new beginning?

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Far-left virologist Marc Van Ranst gets death threats from the far-right. He is under police protection now.

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If the main parties get forced into a choice of coalition between the ptb or vb, which would they go for first?

VB in Flanders
ptb in Wallonia

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I honestly think reparations are a dumb idea, because Congo's administration is corrupt. You can't undo the past, but past elite generations are responsible. We however can expose Leopold II for who he was, remove all statues and street names of him and teach about it

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Yes. This country is a joke.

We could also see fresh elections with the NVA and PS actually singing from the same hymnesheet Vs the green-liberal axis... extraordinary!

far-right vs far-left vs green/liberal vs nationalist/socdems. And christian democrats, well everyone forget about them.

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Calls for new inquiry into Belgian police custody death

The wife of a Slovak man who died in Belgian police custody has called for a fresh inquiry after shocking images of his detention emerged.
Jozef Chovanec was arrested at Charleroi airport in 2018 after causing a disturbance on his flight.
While in custody, he began banging his head on the wall of his cell to the point of bleeding. A group of officers are later seen pinning him down.
Chovanec was taken to hospital, but fell into a coma and died the next day.
The images from the cell show several officers laughing during the incident, while another appears to give a Nazi salute. Another is filmed sitting on Chovanec's rib cage for 16 minutes.
His death has drawn parallels in Belgium with the case of George Floyd, who died in May after a police officer knelt on his neck during his arrest in the US.

I wonder if this is getting any coverage in Belgium, but I also have a related question: these types of people clearly vote VB in Flanders, but Wallonia has no relevant far-right parties and I don't think that les flics down there are less fash than anywhere else. Who would that Hitler-saluting cop vote for?

The far-left is capitalizing on it, i've seen. And i've seen it in the media and on social media a lot.

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Potentially a government will be formed by Green-Ecolo, PS-s.pa, Open VLD-MR and potentially cdH-CD&V (perhaps without CD&V) and Défi.

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I'm a member of comac. Our candidates got elected in the social council of ughent.

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Our country is such a joke

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Our country is such a joke

A post transferable to many places, these days.

I think we are reaching new heights of sickening cynicism here though, especially given the situation. People are losing their jobs, passing away and getting mental health problems while a bunch of politicians argue and leave the table, arrive late to meetings to annoy each other, don't follow protocol, go to the media and start talking themselves up (and that just describes Georges-Louis Bouchez, who is like a caricature of the post-modern political figure)...all for what? Who can get the most ministerial posts. I don't think any country in the developed West can seriously square up to Belgium's failures at a high political level. It's why I personally have taken it upon myself to consider vote extreme left next election even though I don't agree with a lot of the PVDA/PTB's world views. And, more seriously, I actually wouldn't care that much if VB and N-VA had a majority in Flanders. I would hope we can guarentee basic human rights but that's about it. The political class as a whole deserve to be snookered, to lose their jobs. This has been going on for 15 years now. I just checked a Belgian forum I frequent and its archive posts from 2007 - the same kabuki dance and media stunts (that time it was Leterme who was the master of disaster, with Reynders in close competition - somehow those guys have been promoted elsewhere). It has to stop, there has to be a complete overhaul of the parties and figures that dominate this country.

And I should add that small countries like ours with so many levels of power means you don't really get to choose your political class here. There is the illusion of choice of course, and many people are complicit with the partiocracy. But when Bouchez, who was high up on his list in Hainaut, is rejected by his own constituents but parachuted onto the Senate and elected party president, you can clearly see how he is imposed on us rather than the other way round. And the PS, cdH and ECOLO and all the equivalents across the linguistic border are no better. Only a massive electoral anomaly such as the extremes together winning an outright majority can maybe change this and signal the end of their charade, which is only kept alive by their complacency. After all, fail at the federal level? Here's a post at the regional level. Fail at the city council level? Off you go to the provincial level. Fail at regional level? Head of list at the European elections, or go get pickled in the party Think Tank. Its all a sham.  

Agreed.

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Thousands of people protest against Vivaldi

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Never VB!