Hello comrades,

(Origianlly posted in r/TankieTheDeprogram)

Belgium is in the middle of a nationwide strike week against the austerity agenda of Bart De Wever’s Arizona-coalition and right on cue, MR president Georges-Louis Bouchez, and Education Minister Valérie Glatigny (MR) held a conference in Liège to promote their neoliberal education reforms. It went about as well as you would expect.

Around 500 protesters, mobilized by Antifa and other left-wing groups, gathered near the Liège conference centre. When police blocked access, the crowd moved toward City Hall. About ten protesters tried to force the doors open, windows were smashed, and the offices of La Meuse and RTL were hit with paint, fruit, and eggs. As they deserve.

Police had prepared heavily: large deployments, container barricades, closed bridges and parks, and water cannons were eventually used to disperse the crowd in front of City Hall. This follows similar clashes at an MR meeting in September.

As expected, Bouchez filed a complaint and demanded the dissolution of Antifa, “liberals” once again showing that they are for fascism.

And of course, the Belgian subreddits are doing what they always do: handwringing over broken windows and paint, rather than supporting workers, students, and activists who are actually resisting the Arizona-coalition’s policies.

Feel free to discuss Belgian politics, the current union strikes, and the broader implications of these protests. How do you see working-class resistance developing in Wallonia and Flanders? What lessons can other movements take from these actions?

Also, please send solidarity to the workers on strike or, if you can, consider supporting or joining their union actions.

N.B.: I might make a separate post later about the Belgian protests, as well as the fact that the ARIZONA coalition finalized their budget agreement without taking the unions’ demands into account

Sources (links not included to avoid tracking):

  • VRT News: “Protest tegen MR-voorzitter Bouchez in Luik escaleert: demonstranten proberen stadhuis binnen te dringen”

  • RTL “Conference du MR à Liège: tout s’est déroulé dans le calme, 400 manifestants sur place”

  • Qu4tre: “Un mur de containers près du Palais des Congrès pour la venue de Georges-Louis Bouchez”

  • TodayinLiege: “La venue du président du MR G.L. Bouchez au Palais des Congrès ce mercredi fait craindre des heurts”