Belgium: Fighting the fascists in Gent


LSP/MAS organises biggest anti-fascist demo in years

Fifteen hundred students and young people marched through the streets of
Gent on the night of 3 December to counter the demonstration organised by NSV,
the fascist student wing of Vlaams Belang, (the renamed Vlaams Blok).

By an LSP/MAS member

The campaigning and mobilisation for this anti-fascist demonstration fell,
as has been the case since 1995, almost exclusively on the shoulders of
Blokbuster and Active Left Students, (respectively the anti-fascist campaign
and student organisation of LSP/MAS, the Belgian section of the CWI). The NSV
could only mobilise 150 thugs.

The NSV demonstration is an annual event taking place in one of the main
Flemish university cities. They use these events to try and force their way
into political life at the colleges and universities and make themselves
acceptable.

The Vlaams Blok/Belang, despite its electoral successes, has been
repeatedly defeated on the streets and its student organisation is still
banned at Gent University.

The theme of the NSV demo was opposition to the entry of Turkey into the
European Union (EU). In the leaflets the NSV produced, they claimed that
"Turkish mobs have been a historical threat to Western Europe".

Building support in working-class areas

IN OUR campaign for the counter demonstration we opposed this racist
bigotry and explained that we are against the EU because of its neo-liberal
policies we would not support Turkish membership of the EU because of what the
consequences of these neo-liberal policies would be for the Turkish people.

We pointed to our record of real opposition against the EU. It was
International Resistance – the anti-capitalist campaign initiated by the CWI –
that organised the student and school student strikes as a protest against the
EU summit in Gent in October 2001.

The anti-fascist demonstration was peaceful and received a very friendly
reception in the working class neighboorhoods it went through, in which a
large section of the population is Turkish.

In the build up to the demonstration a team of our activists campaigned in
these neighbourhoods explaining why we were organising this demonstration and
why we had chosen that particular route. Last Monday a team of comrades
organised a door-to-door paper sale and sold many copies of Socialistisch
Links, our party paper.

On the night of the demonstration some local residents had put up our
posters and waved the students on as they passed by. Some residents even came
out to offer drinks and refreshments.

Orchestrated fascist attack

AT THE end of our demonstration most people returned to the student area to
protect it from fascist provocation and intimidation. By that time the
official part of the NSV demonstration had ended and the police had given the
thugs free reign in the centre of the student neighbourhood.

Everybody who was recognisable as an immigrant, an anti-fascist, a member
of LSP/MAS or from the French part of the country was targetted for a beating.

The members of Blokbuster, Active Left Students and LSP/MAS intervened and
started organising the defence of the street against the fascists.

A commando of about 20 fascists, with about a 100 behind them ready to
intervene, attacked the anti-fascists with military discipline in order to
split us up. This assault was led by the national chairperson of the Vlaams
Belang youth, Hans Verreyt.

The police intervened but only to use the water cannon against the
anti-racist demonstrators and to protect the NSV members when they got
isolated and surrounded by our people.

At the end of the evening a number of CWI comrades were arrested.

The police recognised the pivotal role these comrades had played in
organising the protest and protecting the students against the fascist
attacks. One young lad was dragged away by plain clothes policemen in an
unmarked car. After receiving a terrible beating by the police they kept him
in for hours of interrogation and intimidation.

The Gent police had clearly underestimated the strength and determination
of the young anti-fascists and the lead given by the Belgian CWI. They took
revenge on whichever member of the CWI they could get their hands on.

The Belgian CWI provided the leadership and the organisation for the
anti-fascist actions. We made it clear we offer an alternative to broader
layers by building an active opposition.

That is important in order to be able to fight the populist methods of the
Vlaams Belang that has led to their electoral growth.

At the same time we prevented the student area of the city being dominated
by violent fascists who are at the core of the Vlaams Belang.