Fact 1: Without the voices of the “new Belgians”, Antwerp would have been darker than ever on October 8, according to an analysis by Jan Hertogen, Flemish sociologist. It is in the districts where the new Belgians have experienced the greatest progress, such as Antwerp and Borgerhout, that the Vlaams Belang is in decline. According to this analysis, new Belgians have increased by 6.9% since 2000 in the district of Antwerp. At the same time, Vlaams Belang lost 1.2%. In Borgerhout, there was an increase in naturalizations of around 7.5% and the far-right party fell by 4.6%. The same analysis also shows that in Borgerhout, among the “former Belgians”, the score of Vlaams Belang is improving. In the other districts of Deurne, Hoboken and Merksem, the weight of the new Belgians is not yet heavy enough to reverse the trend, indicates the sociologist. This is probably the reason why the VB experienced historic scores of more than 40% on October 8, he specifies (Source: Belga, Antwerp 01/15/2007)
Fact 2: The police of European countries will soon have automatic access to the databases of other Member States containing information relating to DNA, fingerprints and registration plates. In Belgium, the procedure will be effective from April. During an informal Council of Interior Ministers in Dresden (Germany), the ministers discussed the integration of the Treaty of Prüm into the Community framework. Signed in 2005 by Germany, France, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, the treaty provides more flexible procedures for the exchange of sensitive information, such as DNA and fingerprints, between European polices. There now appears to be consensus to extend the procedure to all 27 member states, although the United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic have expressed reservations about the legal and financial impact. In Belgium, the Treaty of Prüm has been ratified and will enter into force in April. The treaty also allows the organization of joint police patrols, cross-border pursuits as well as the exchange of police officers during major events such as football tournaments or political summits (Source: Belga, Brussels 15/01/2007)
It can be interesting to bring together facts usually perceived as separate, using the method of concomitance or synchronicity.
On the one hand, we are witnessing proven competition from ethnic minorities against a weakened majority, prey to the values of the New Leviathan: individualism, hedonism and consumerism. This competition has an economic aspect and a demographic aspect, but also a political translation. This study clearly shows this, by highlighting a bipolarization of public opinion as it is expressed in the votes and ultimately in the relationships of political power, in other words the capacity to decide collectively.
On the other hand, we are witnessing a policeization of Europe in the terms of obscure treaties, concluded between governments in the absence of any real democratic control. Of course, these governments will always be able to explain to the naive housewife that these provisions will protect her against criminals. In reality, this is not how we find criminals, and this European police area represents a new stage in the already extensive surveillance of populations, and in the internationally organized regression of public freedoms.
These two elements brought together are illustrative of the politics of power: exasperating social tensions on the one hand, and attempting to artificially curb the effects of this exasperation, whether by political, legal or police means, on the other hand.
On the interest of bringing together facts usually perceived separately
