Welcome to Belgium! Land of chocolate, beer and fries. Oh and politics that rival any circus.
I want to put a little disclaimer first, this is in no way or shape a piece written by someone who’s an expert in poltics, but rather by someone with a broad view on the matter and speaks from own experiences.
Just like most countries these days, my own government fails at establishing a new one after elections. To the suprise of almost no one who voted. We still have the luxury of being in a stable enough economy or we would see a lot more riots aswell. Of course this is a bit of speculation, as human nature is fickle and unpredictable, especially over here. We are the world record holder for the longest time without a government.
We’ve been in a similar situation before back in ’10-’11, then we went without a new government ( we still have a interim govt, but new laws and investments in society can’t be approved ) for 541 days. Today we are at 1/3 of that again and it seems things won’t be any better for the foreseeable future. Though this time they might just do re-elections instead of breaking our previous record.
Just like with any country, it’s ideologies not mixing well or collide head-on. It’s a give and take deal, but with higher stakes. However, if you take a step back, regardless of what party you are from, you will see what needs to be done. It’s time to stop the popularity contests and start listening to what the voters want.
Now, over here, we too have a steady rise in people voting for rightwinged or farrightwinged politicians. Before anyone starts to panic, the reason for this is because the traditional parties have failed at their jobs of delivering what people want. We’re one of the last countries that has mandatory voting, yet just like any other place, voting means nothing because everyone has a deal already and is ready to block those that do not meet their perspective. Even if that means blocking the biggest party.
Those 541 days were a prelude to things to come. At that time the traditional parties suffered loses and, at that time, a more centre focused party won with 30% of the votes. This was the biggest Flemish party, the fact that it’s also difficult to come to an agreement between Flemish and Walloon parties is a whole other story. Still even amongst the Flemish parties, this would sturr things up.
Fastforward to today and history already repeated itself, but with bigger issues regarding the feelings of the voters. And feelings can be a dangerous thing in times of uncertainty. Something anyone should know, especially those that have to run a country. So here we are, with a temporary governtment and no new one on the horizon. At the same time concerns amongst voters have not been dealt with. One of the biggest being the refugee crisis.
In short, over here the majority has no problems about helping people out. All things said and done, we wouldn’t want to suffer thus no one else should either. This sounds great in theory, but realistically, no place on Earth can suddenly deal with an influx of people. All kinds of problems arise immediatly; housing, food, health, communication and of course contribution. These are the concerns of the voters even without the refugee crisis. Everyone wants affordable homes or rent, wants to have a filled stomach, get the needed medical assistance, language is key ( can’t explain anything if you don’t understand each other ) and then there’s employement.
No country has an employment rate of 100%, that’s unlikely. That alone causes a trickle down effect. If you don’t have a job, you can’t afford a place, food, health insurance/assistance and don’t pay taxes to pay for the retirement of others etc. . So in reality, even without thinking in (far)left/(far)right terms, no country can say they can help 100% of its population. Yet the expectations are there to contribute to society. If it was just 10 people who were jobless on a population of 10 million, that wouldn’t be a big issue and you could still support them in certain ways. But it’s not just 10 people and it’s not just having a job or not that’s a problem. Even if you work, atleast half of your pay goes to rent or paying of the bank for your house. People still want to do fun things to, like vacations or maybe something smaller that makes you personally happy. Not everything costs the same and solid advice is to not live above you pay, but it’s human nature and you can only compromise with that. To do so, you have to listen to your voters.
So why aren’t the polticians listening then? It’s an age old question and yes you could just say ‘they don’t care, they just think of themselves’ and maybe you’re right. But right or not, it doesn’t change anything. Instead the only thing left is to seemingly take matters into you’re own hands. For some problems this isn’t an issue, but when people aren’t heard or feel ignored, things can get heated. Literally.
A few days ago, there was such an event. A new refugee centre was about to be opened, when someone torched the place. There were no occupants yet so nobody got hurt, just structual damage. The people living there are very straightforward with not wanting such a place and frankly in this case I agree. We still have a shortage of housing our ‘own’ people ( born and raised here ), so I don’t think it is wise to spend resources on others. It might sound cruel, but the world isn’t perfect. Like I said in the beginning, the willingness to help is here, but not at the cost of ourselves. You might read this as racist, but I can tell you it’s not ( though I will agree the line between that is thin and is being abused by both sides of the debate ). Yet, again it does not matter what you or I or anyone thinks it is. The fact remains that people want to see their needs fullfilled first, not to be seen as second rank citizens. A feeling that is on the rise and one that feeds into the rise of the rightwinged parties. It doesn’t take a genius to know where the trend will end up if you keep ignoring these issues and/or tackle them without any real thought.
I can say this, if we have to go to the elections again, then the farright will be the biggest winner. Even if they are not the biggest party. I could be wrong in that, but I would be very suprised if they didn’t gain any voters from the current political mess. People vote for them as a message, because it’s still easier to get it across then let’s say, stop paying taxes. Those in power are afraid of two things; losing their positions and having a civilian uprising. I’m not advocating for that last one, though the true power does lay with us, the voters. Even if our votes don’t seem to matter, we can always try something else without having to repeat the 1930’s and on. as many seem to fear with the rise of the (far)right.
So to anyone who reads this, be it today, tomorrow or even in a hundred years time. No matter what challenges a country faces, no matter your own personal ideology. If you stand alone, you will fail. This is not a utopian idea, it’s common sense. You have to reconcile the personal with the bigger picture. You can’t solve everything in one day or on your own or even in one place. Don’t give into the extremes of the political spectrum, use your brain to deal with each situation and that situations place in the world. No one has all the answers, but if you talk, think and work together things can be better and stay better. Once a situation has been dealt with, it doesn’t mean it can’t ever happen again. I’d say something about history repeating itself and how we must not forget it, but I feel that makes things worse. Because we tend to look at what happened already and expect the exact same to happen again, thus witholding ourselves from doing what is needed at times. I hate that I even have to mention this, but writting this I can already feel the thoughts of some. So no, this isn’t the justification of racism or persecution like the nazi’s. I don’t care about your looks, your heritage or ideology; as long as it doesn’t affect the bigger picture negatively. I’m not sure if I have a ideology, I always say I think Left, act Right and deal with the unexpected through a touch of anarchism. Translation: I’m open to anything, make quick decisions ( and stand by them with all consequences ) and expect the unexpected because life can be a little bit chaotic at times. Simple.