Anyone for Flemish?
Sir: Having just been elected as a deputy to the Belgian Parliament as a member of Vlaams Blok, I thought I would share my first experiences of the British press with your readers.
During the campaign, we held a rally in a hall. Hanging from the wall was a slogan, in Flemish: 'Nu afrekenen'. In English, this slogan means 'It is time to settle accounts' — the acounts in question being the scan- dals in Belgium and also Belgium's enor- mous government debt. Or that is what it means to everyone except Sarah Helm, the Brussels correspondent of the Independent. She was writing about, what in her opinion, was an extreme right-wing anti-immigrant party — so she translated the Vlaams Blok slogan as 'Nu Afreken' as meaning 'No Africans'.
I read the article — and sent a copy of my reply to Sarah Helms to all of the English language newspapers in Brussels. This led John Palmer, the Guardian corre- spondent to ring me up. 'Lady,' he said, `you want to pretend your party is not a racist party. I will tell you what you want to do with immigrants: you want to round them up, put them in camps and forcibly evict them.'
Why are questions in such tone not put to anyone else in Belgium? Last Sunday the Belgian Socialist Party won the elec- tions despite its proven corruption. In fact, it won because it was corrupt. Many Belgian voters do not care about the cor- ruption of the state. On the contrary, they applaud it. Cheating the fiscal authorities is a national sport over here: this should surprise no one, as Belgium is an artificial creation. There are no feelings of national loyalty. And the establishment's only mes- sage is: 'Give your vote to the frauds, not to those who are undermining our positions.'
Alexandra Colen
Lemmestraat 3, Antwerp, Belgium
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