The N-VA rejects reparations for the colonial past

The report of the Special Commission on the Colonial Past discusses payments to African descendants, subsidies to associations, scholarships, and even rent arrears for occupied land in Congo. “With that guideline, we ourselves have quite a few historical scores to settle with just about every other European country,” MP Tomas Roggeman says.

On Wednesday, the House published the progress report of the experts for the Special Commission on the Colonial Past. The more than 600-page report provoked quite a few reactions. The N-VA has reservations about several of the proposals prescribed in the report. MP Tomas Roggeman clarifies: “We are against reparations. If we have to pay rent for the occupied lands in Congo, as is being suggested, we ourselves have quite a few historical scores to settle with just about every other European country. Moreover, the chapters on racism read like the cancel culture cookbook. From humour about Antwerp’s little hands to folklore giants and carnival processions: almost our entire folk culture is branded as ‘racism’. That is unacceptable.”

The Congo Commission progress report: thorough work, but the chapter on racism is strongly one-sided

Over a year after the establishment of the so-called “Congo Commission”, the progress report, which is supposed to serve as a guideline for the work, is finally ready. There are more than 600 pages on the former colonies of the Belgian state and recommendations on the relations between ethnic communities in this country. The rapporteur of the Commission for the N-VA, Tomas Roggeman, himself a historian, raises questions about this report: “First of all, I have to congratulate the historians on their thorough work. The Commission’s mission to seek historiographical consensus seems to have been successful at first reading. This is in stark contrast to the chapters on racism, which are often very one-sided. The roles of perpetrators and victim are collectively assigned to skin colours. For example, police violence against minority groups is discussed at length, while the reverse phenomenon is left untreated. The question arises whether such analyses are not more likely to risk deepening existing contradictions and blowing up bridges rather than building them.”

Cookbook of cancel culture: figures in dark chocolate as symbolic cannibalism

“Some chapters on racism read like the cancel culture cookbook. Certain forms of humour are targeted,” Tomas Roggeman says. Antwerp’s little hands and even figures in dark chocolate are labelled as “symbolic cannibalism”. The procession of giants in Lier and the carnival in Aalst are also dismissed as “recreational racism”.

Flemish people of today are not responsible for the actions of the Saxe-Coburgs of a century ago

The N-VA is also opposed to the route of reparations. The report discusses payments to African descendants, subsidies to associations, scholarships, and even rent arrears for occupied land in Congo. “With that guideline, we ourselves have quite a few historical scores to settle with just about every other European country. The report clearly states that reparations will be astronomically high. So let’s close off that route and debate alternative avenues of reconciliation. Flemish people of today are not responsible for the actions of the Saxe-Coburgs of a century ago. Let alone that he or she should have to pay for it,” Tomas Roggeman concludes.