BTW, after my earlier posts some blogs described me as a hypocrite, in that I had supposedly previously expressed support for the Vlaams Blok (predecessor of the Vlaams Belang). I am still being labelled as such in some forums.
Such criticism was based on a piece I wrote a while ago and, when first made, it was clearly a deliberate lie, as its authors are all perfectly capable of understanding English. First, I wrote this in the piece:I hold no brief for the VB; and were I to have a vote in Flanders, I would not vote for it. But even if I hadn't made that clear in the piece, it was, as you can read for yourself, about the dangers of banning views with which the state disagrees. It did not in any way express support for such views (after all, as a Jew, I am hardly likely to support a racist, neo-fascist party such as the VB).
The Vlaams Blok was effectively banned by the Belgian state because, among other things, it advocated the break up of Belgium. It is one thing to campaign against a party, to criticise its members, to point out its flaws and to attack it and its members every opportunity. That is the basis of democratic politics.
It is quite another to ban it.
