these were the elections that would deliver the first Vlaams Belang mayor in Antwerpen. i can hardly remember elections in Belgium from before the time they were nick-named “black sunday” (since that election day in the 1980s when became clear how many people were ready and eager to vote for what then was called the Vlaams Blok). yesterday’s elections did not turn out black. ambigious, but not black. (and the mayor of Antwerpen remains red, although it’s the red of a socialist party revamped by neoliberalism and populism.) a bend in the VB growth line.
what made that happen? much talk about the charismatic populist leader of the socialist. in fact much talk about everything except… jan hertogen’s careful analysis of the elections results relates the interruption of the VB growth line to the so-called migrant vote. nadia wrote an excellent piece based on this analysis, monsterverantwoordelijkheid voor een monsteroverwinning. the affirmation of an “allochtoon” political subject in the realm of party politics and elections. but guess how difficult this is for Vlaanderen to see and recognize…