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☆ Flemish Nationalists Thwart Ascent of Secessionist Party as They Win Belgian Elections
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-09 | by ( Koba Ryckewaert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Voters in Belgium handed a victory to a conservative Flemish nationalist party, disproving polls that had predicted a sweep to first place by Flemish secessionists, preliminary results showed on Sunday. The New Flemish Alliance, a party that seeks greater autonomy for the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, was poised in the national elections to become the country’s largest. The results, if confirmed in the final count, will bring relief to the country’s political establishment, which had long been bracing for a victory by the far-right party Vlaams Belang. With more than 70 percent of the votes counted nationwide on Sunday evening, the New Flemish Alliance was set to secure 22 percent of the national vote, with Vlaams Belang trailing with 17 percent.

Persons: Flemish secessionists, Vlaams Organizations: Flemish, New Flemish Alliance, Vlaams Belang Locations: Belgium, Flemish

☆ ‘The Bachelor,’ but Make It Belgian Politics
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-08 | by ( Matina Stevis-Gridneff | Koba Ryckewaert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the United States, Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden can barely agree to share a stage for a debate. The show, a political version of “The Bachelor” called “The Conclave,” transfixed Belgians in the run-up to the vote for the country’s national and regional parliaments. The elections are coinciding with those for a European Parliament this weekend, in which 27 European Union countries will vote. As in many other European countries, the mainstream political establishment in Belgium has shrunk electorally. But for Belgium, that dynamic is further complicated by the divide between the country’s French-speaking south, Wallonia, and its Dutch-speaking north, Flanders.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Joe Biden, ” Organizations: Union Locations: United States, Belgium, Wallonia, Flanders

☆ His Skull Was Taken From Congo as a War Trophy. Will Belgium Finally Return It?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Monika Pronczuk | Koba Ryckewaert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Once a powerful local Congolese leader, Lusinga Iwa Ng’ombe fought back against Belgian colonial invaders in the late 19th century. He was such a thorn in their side that Émile Storms, who commanded Belgian troops in the region, predicted his head would “eventually end up in Brussels with a little label — it would not be out of place in a museum.”That is exactly what happened. Troops of Mr. Storms killed and decapitated Mr. Lusinga in 1884, and his skull ended up in a box in the Brussels-based Institute for Natural Sciences, along with over 500 human remains taken from former Belgian colonies. His descendants are struggling to have his remains returned, their efforts unfolding against the backdrop of a larger debate about Europe’s responsibility for the colonial atrocities, reparations and restitution of plundered heritage.

Persons: Iwa Ng’ombe, “, Storms, Mr, Lusinga Organizations: Iwa, Belgian, Natural Sciences Locations: Congolese, Belgian, Brussels

Both the tradition and the church still stand. By the end of the 19th century, nearly 2,000 boarders lived among the Geelians, as the locals call themselves. Today the town of 41,000 in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, has 120 boarders in local homes. Those suspicions only grew as Geel’s approach crushed up against the rising medical field of psychiatry. In more recent times, however, the town has come up for reconsideration as an emblem of a humane alternative to the neglect or institutionalization of those with mental illness found in other places.

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