I wonder what the Belgians' take is on someone in a foreign EU country who dissents from the official view?
Will I get a couple of goose stepping Belgian policemen on the mat for saying I think islam is a nutters charter, or that paedophiles should be fed through tree shredders?
Will dear Tone protect me from the Europe wide arrest warrant he signed for, or do I have to care what a Belgian thinks now as well.

The Vlaams Blok (VB) wasn't banned. It was forced to change its name to Vlaams Belang (VB), but it's still in operation.

More worrying is the requirement that all parties must have women as 1/3 of candidates. Surely it's up to the voter to vote female, if they want more women in Parliament. How long before they insist thst 10pc of candidates must be "gay" (not necessarily in the Chris Moyles sense), based on a vast over-estimate of their numbers? Or why not reserve seats for illegal immigrants?

Just change the name? That is ridiculous. Vlaams Blok was constructively banned (I should know, I was a member). Of course that was stupid because banning did not make the supporters vanish. Vlaams Belang has a different constitution to Vlaams Blok so it is much more than just a change of name. Of course they are trying to destroy that too with the "draining laws" which will prevent funding to any party that they do not like. The power elite want only allow us to vote between people they select for us first.

I suppport the family Belien-Colen !

Being criminalised by the Belgian state is, I would imagine, rather akin to being mauled by a King Charles spaniel - one is more surprised than hurt if they can actually manage to do it.

As far as I understand it, homeschooling is also illegal in Germany, and the father of 3 children in Hamburg has just been sent to jail for a week for refusing to let his children attend the local school. The court thought that it would not be in the children's interest to send the mother to jail as well. See (Link) from Spiegel for a report (sorry only in German). Opinion will no doubt be divided in the country, as the parents were motivated by religious concerns about what the children were to be taught in school, and therefore debate is likely to focus on the specific grounds for the refusal to send them to school, rather than the question whether it is appropriate or not for the State to create a legally enforceable monopoly.

The Libertarian Alliance press release criticises the practice of the State intimidating those who would only express views imimical to current State practice, but seems not to recognise that for example home schooling appears illegal in at least one other European Country. I say appears because as this (Link) says, the application of the law seems at best unclear, and to be determined by local practices and prejudices.

Wij moeten kunnen onze kinderen opleiden. Vrijheid voor Vlaanderen nu!

EIGHT multiple posts! And in a strange language too! That must be a record!

He is saying:

" We must be able to teach our children ourselves.
Freedom for Flanders now!

Flemish classical liberal"

While I agree with all of this, I'd like to make a simple point:

This did not happen in Belgium overnight.

In other words, all these pernicious laws were voted on, and agreed to (implicitly) by Belgian citizens, as layer upon layer upon layer of repression was added.

Now the water has reached boiling-point, and the frogs have found they're too weak to jump out of the pot.

Which is why these horrible regulations and restrictions need to be fought tooth and nail, as soon as they're proposed. It doesn't matter how innocent-sounding they are, or whether they only affect a few people; by the time the laws start affecting everybody, it's too late to resist them.

I feel for the Blegians, make no mistake: but in the final analysis, they allowed this to happen to themselves.

Now they're faced either with a future under subjugation, or with a need for radical, wrenching change -- and neither prospect is a pleasant one.

The commitment to democracy within the EU generally (see what happened with Austrians had the temerity to elect someone the EU did not like?) and in Belgium in particular is highly selective. Well Belgium is really quite a repressive country (you are free to live your life, just so long as you do it the way the people at the top want you to) and fits the true vibe of the EU institutions rather well.

The sooner Belgium is broken up the better... next? The EU, which should just be replaced with a simple customs union (an EEC rather than an EU)... and then the UK please. Freedom for England means freedom from that money pit called Scotland.

Vlaams Klassieke Liberaal wrote:

'Wij moeten kunnen onze kinderen opleiden. Vrijheid voor Vlaanderen nu!'

and I quite agree - but what then?

It's all very well yelling 'Vlaanderen for the Flemish!', but if it happened tomorrow - what would you do? You'd be a tiny enclave entirely surrounded by EU nations, which will impose their weltanschauing on you whether you like it or not.

Much better, as KdT and James of Hereford observe, to work for a far-more-radical and wrenching change, which is to dissolve the political structure of the EU as presently practised, and return it to what it was 25-30 years ago - a customs union/free trade union. Because the powers-that-be in Brussels and Strasbourg are going to homogenize the entire organization into their ways of thinking, make no bones about it, and long-standing ethnic, cultural and social structures, as well as the greater part of the freedoms of the individual, are going to be steamrollered flat in the process. The people who run the thing believe only in socialized, statist or collectivist approaches - to everything. And if you happen to disagree, or you want to do things in a different way - they will crush you. There is simply no place for individual diversions from the Grand Master Plan, where the state and its self-anointed leaders will have a single, approved process - for everything.

The Belien-Colen matter is a prime example. It would be hard to imagine parents better-equipped to educate their own children - but this is not about the education of their children, it is about enforcing conformity. They will be made examples of, pour encourager les autres. Look, proles - we slapped down these parents, and they are highly-0educated and successful members of society. Just think what will happen to you if you try anything similar. . . . .

I had high hopes for Vlaams Blok - I really thought that they might be able to force change. But, of course, so many Belgians are now addicted to the benefits of the state and its all-encompassing nanny-like control over their lives, that they stood by and twiddled as the party was summarily banned. So, instead of yelling 'Vlaanderen for the Flemish!', how about yelling 'Belgium for the Belgians - and free every other EU country from tyranny while you're at it!'

llater,

llamas

Isn't Belgium the country where you can only name your children from an approved list?

Not quite - although Belgian authorities have rejected names chosen by parents for their children, I don't know that there is an 'approved list' of names.

If you really want to run afoul of the name police, Germany is the place to be:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05286/588031.stm

Like I said - one approved process - for everything. Even the name you choose for your child is subject to State control. This is the kind of thing that makes Americans scratch their heads in a fog of total incomprehension - the idea that your child's name is something that the State can become involved in is simply beyond the ability of most Americans to even visualize.

llater,

llamas

we are not ever to be able escaping from european union while we are continuing with belgium so as an absolute smallest thing we must be independent. so yelling about independence is the minimum for getting better than now.

I am happy for 'belgium for the belgians' and i wish the francophones well in their belgium. belgium for the belgians and vlanders for the flemish.

Kim wrote:

This did not happen in Belgium overnight.

In other words, all these pernicious laws were voted on, and agreed to (implicitly) by Belgian citizens, as layer upon layer upon layer of repression was added.

We have (been having) the same problem in the UK.

Strangely, I (and perhaps others) thought that we elected MPs to look after our interests. To an extent, that does not seem to have been happening. One hopes that the condition is not terminal.

Kim does, surely, have a good point. We get the government we elected; and perhaps that's the one we deserve too.

However, the government gets the people it always had: abuse them a bit and one gets torching of speed cameras (thanks Perry; made my day, especially the one on the A46). Go further and ...

Best regards

What is the world coming to? Governments are intruding daily in my rights. There needs to be a revolution for freedom loving people. This applies especially for the people of the EU. We should have the right to use guns, teach our children ourselves, have low taxes, be free to sell our goods and services to whoever is willing to buy them and be respectful of other peoples human rights. To hell with the EU and its puppet governments!

Nigel Sedgewick wrote:

' . . . .abuse them a bit and one gets torching of speed cameras (thanks Perry; made my day, especially the one on the A46). Go further and ...'

Oh, has that started? I wondered when I would hear the first report of that from the UK. Can you provide a link?

llater,

llamas

Here. Enjoy.

Wil Thompson,

Governments are intruding daily in my rights. There needs to be a revolution for freedom loving people.

And there we have the problem, the manner in which the concepts of rights and freedoms are elided.

The more rights we are granted, the more our freedoms are abridged.

Stuff the peoples rights, give us back our freedoms.

Aaah, thank you. Warms the cockles of my heart to see such a robust response to Big Brother.

llater,

llamas

You'll know you're winning Over There, my Brit friends, when cameras are installed to guard the cameras -- and THOSE are destroyed, too.

Long live the Revolution! Death to Gatsos!

Oh, as an aside, there was once a spririted discussion at my Forum as to which calibre would be the optimal Gatso-killer.

Answers:
Close-range: 12ga with either a slug or heavy buckshot.
From a distance (+100 yards): .30-06 (or, in the Brit case, .303 would do admirably).

All in the spirit of Information You Need To Know, of course -- I'd never actually suggest such an Evil Deed.

Not me, no sir....