Opération antiterroriste en Belgique: la police visée par des menaces, une interpellation à Molenbeek

Not sure if Lesoir.be is some major news source over there, but I have had it in my bookmarks for at least a decade. The ongoing story in the news right now is a major counterterrorist operation in Verviers, Belgium.

According to the socialist newspaper Volkskrant (People's Newspaper), GroenLinks (GreenLeft) and PvdA (Party of Labor) are thinking about merging into a new party called ELAN (Eensgezind Links Alternatief Nederland, United Leftist Alternative Netherlands).

'Een bundeling van krachten zou progressieve kiezers eindelijk het gevoel geven dat ze kunnen winnen, dat er een andere wind gaat waaien in dit land, dat we de samenleving eindelijk terugveroveren op de marketeers, de graaiers, de profiteurs, de nulbelastingbetalers, de fraudeurs en de renteniers.'

"Bundling our forces would finally give progressive voters the feeling they can win, that the wind will turn in this country, that we'll reconquer society from the marketeers, the grabbers, the profiteers, the zero-taxpayers, the fraudsters and the people of leisure."^[1]

'Het zou een blamage zijn als rechts de eerste vrouwelijke premier levert. Er moet een linkse vrouw kandidaat worden.'

"It would be a disgrace if right delivered the first female prime minister. A leftist women needs to become candidate."^[2]

'Het zou echt een keer moeten gebeuren, ook als symbool tegen de politieke fragmentatie. We hebben het altijd over verbinding. Laat dat zelf dan ook zien.'

"It should really happen, as a symbol against political fragmentation. We're always talking about connecting. So let's show it ourselves."^[3]

Dat de verschillen inhoudelijk klein zijn, bleek vorig jaar, toen in de aanloop naar de Europese verkiezingen PvdA en GroenLinks op alle zestig vragen van de Stemwijzer een identiek antwoord gaven. De partijen zijn min of meer tot elkaar veroordeeld. Waarom dan geen fusie?

That the differences are small was shown last year, when both parties answered all sixty questions of the voting guide identically. They're practically sentenced to each other. So why not a merger?^[4]

'Wij vertegenwoordigen het jongste electoraat, de PvdA zo'n beetje het oudste electoraat, aldus een vertrouweling van Klaver. 'Het zou waanzinnig zijn om die twee merken weg te gooien.'

"We [GreenLeft] represent the youngest electorate, Labor about the oldest electorate ... it'd be crazy to throw away those two brands."^[5]

¹ You know another name for "people of leisure"? People who didn't frivolously go on expensive vacations to South Africa every year, but saved and invested some of it. But sure, good luck getting votes by insulting those who should vote for you.↵

² I can barely even begin to comprehend the thought process behind this statement. Are we talking about the Netherlands here or about the US or something?↵

³ This guy should talk to Mr 'you're all grabbers" up there.↵

⁴ This is nothing particularly new. They're called GreenLeft for a reason. It's primarily a matter of emphasis.↵

⁵ Sounds about right.↵

You know another name for "people of leisure"?

In ancient, classical and modern leftist ("modern" starting roughly with Marx) economic literature it has been a rather consistent term, "people of leisure" or "leisure class". Classical and Marxist economic literature are in near-full agreement with their analysis of social stratification. They only differ in whether the stratification should stay as it is or needs to be addressed by means of a heavier wheel of redistribution or outright revolution.

Another term for this is "rentier".
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rentier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rentier_capitalism

Added: By the way, I am in the middle of a book on this topic http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833
It is a discussion of how the leisure class emerges in "advanced barbaric stage", then the primary leisure class acquires a "vicarious leisure class" in industrial society and then how the vicarious leisure class transforms into upper-echelon employees in corporate service while the primary leisure class turns into corporate owner class. Fascinating and thought-provoking reading, even though suffering from some culturally contingent a priori speculation regarding the early stages of social relations. Still, Piketty is worthless in comparison.

Apparently we're entering lockdown now.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/coronavirus/news/belgium-enters-lockdown-over-coronavirus-crisis-until-5-april/

The NRC published the following opinion piece:

,,Kijk eens wat er nu wordt uitgeschakeld: onderwijs, kunst, cultuur, wetenschap, grote bijeenkomsten. Als je niet beter wist zou je denken dat dit het draaiboek van een rechts-populistische machtsgreep is.

,,Ik maak me als staatsburger grote zorgen over de dag dat we weer tot normaliteit moeten terugkeren. Kan dat dan nog? Of zijn er dan zoveel processen in gang gezet die een eigen dynamiek hebben, dat we helemaal niet meer terug kúnnen? Omdat er weer nieuwe redenen zijn om onze rechten op te schorten.

,,Ik zie geen enkele bezinning op de vraag of we wel op de goede weg zijn, niet epidemiologisch, maar qua grondrechten. We hebben te maken met een dambreuk. Als historicus weet ik dat het intrekken van rechten zelden tijdelijk is."

Wat, vraagt hij in zijn artikel, als we op een morgen wakker worden in een gezondheidsdictatuur? ,,Daarmee bedoel ik een situatie waarin de mensen in de eerste plaats gezien worden als potentiële dragers van een virus, niet als individuen met rechten."

"Look what's being eliminated now: education, art, culture, science, big gatherings. If you didn't know any better, you'd think this is the script of a right-populist seizure of power.

"As a citizen, I'm very worried about the day when we have to return to normality. Is that still possible? Or are there so many processes that have their own dynamics, that we can't go back at all? Because there will be new reasons to suspend our rights.

"I don't see any reflection on whether we're on the right track, not in epidemiological terms, but in terms of fundamental rights. We're dealing with a watershed moment. As a historian, I know that revoking rights is rarely temporary."

What, he asks in his article, when we wake up one morning in a health dictatorship? "By that, I mean a situation where people are seen primarily as potential carriers of a virus, not as individuals with rights."


It seems a bit far-fetched for now.

Fundamental rights? They are an illusion. Sometimes people are forced to do the right thing. That's human life.
The threshold is debatable.

Possibly in the wake of racist police violence in USA, King Leopold II of Belgium is not so hip these days.

Last week a statue of Leopold II in the city of Antwerp was set on fire, before authorities took it down. Statues have been daubed with red paint in Ghent and Ostend and pulled down in Brussels.

[...]

For activists the holy grail is the giant statue of Leopold II on horseback at the gates of the Royal Palace in Brussels. A petition calling on the city for its removal has reached 74,000 signatures.

Given the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State, I don't think he's ever been particularly hip. Even back in his day he was quite controversial.

The statues craziness shows how easy it is for mental midgets to fulfil their limitation grey cells.

Given the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State, I don't think he's ever been particularly hip. Even back in his day he was quite controversial.

Leopold, reclining on his throne of severed hands, that would be a statue to remember.

He supposedly said they should cut off anything but that, because the hands attached to the body are what he needed to make money.

You should have added to thay passing history comment re the former Belgian rulers that whatthe country got into after freedom was as bad if not worse.