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Belgium: Socialists abandon their anti-car policy
because Muslims don’t want to give up driving
See who’s driving the leftist/Islamic alliance? See which side will come out on top when they inevitably turn on one another?
Good Move, socialists bury eco-socialism
translated from “Good Move, les socialistes enterrent l’éco-socialisme,” by Bertrand Henne, RTBF Actus, May 16, 2024 (thanks to Medforth):
Socialists join the ranks of the anti-Good Move. The mobility plan for the capital that the PS decided with its partners seems indefensible one month before the election. Paul Magnette’s ecosocialism will remain in the books.
Death certificateAfter months of fighting a long and painful illness, we learned of the death of an idea. Belgian-style ecosocialism did not resist the attack from the Brussels PS and Ahmed Laaouej, its president. A few months ago, he refused to carry out, in his municipality, the mobility plan decided by the government, called Good Move. He also tried to postpone the deadlines for the low-emission zone which provides for a ban on the most polluting cars. He now considers that Good Move was wrong and that it was a failure. In short, ecosocialism as a concept seems dead in Brussels, at least under the leadership of Ahmed Laaouej.Old ideaEcosocialism is a concept that has existed since the 1970s. It aims to rethink Marxism according to new climatic and environmental realities. A refusal of productivism that Paul Magnette has taken up to try to transform the software of Belgian socialism for several years now. A strategic reform in the face of challenges. A tactical redeployment also in the face of the rise of Ecolo in 2019.But in reality, ecosocialism has had difficulty finding concrete translations. And then, he has a hard time convincing the socialist troops, particularly in Brussels.
A Brussels shiftIn Brussels, because there Ecolo had, more than in Wallonia, succeeded in imprinting environmentalist accents in the government agreement. 5 years ago, under the patronage of Laurette Onkelinx, the Socialists accepted an ambitious mobility plan aimed at rebalancing soft mobility versus the car. In short, to reduce the place of the car in public spaces. Generalization of 30 km/h, new cycle paths instead of traffic lanes, Good Move plan, reduction in parking spaces and increase in prices. All of these policies have caused frustration among many motorists.In the municipalities north of Brussels, the PTB won back part of the PS electorate with an openly pro-car speech, posing the working classes as victims of bicycle injuries. The MR, also in good shape in the polls, holds a pro-car discourse in favor of other categories of the population.
Ahmed Laaouej, who replaced Laurette Onkelinx at PS Brussels, attributes the spectacular erosion of the Socialists in the polls to these mobility policies. Enough to make many Brussels socialists doubt and question this ecosocialism coming from above. Many, but not all. Philippe Close and Caroline Désir, for example, remain aligned with ecosocialism, but in the face of polls, let Ahmed Laaouej try everything for everything.
DoubtThe PS is therefore in difficulty in Brussels. And one month before the elections, in full doubt. For more than a year we have been witnessing a misalignment of the PS with the Greens. The Josaphat wasteland issue which blocked the government for several weeks shows this. But Ahmed Laaouej’s declarations one month before the election, in this polarized debate, now place the PS in the camp of the pro-car parties, with the MR and the PTB, facing the Ecolos. The voter will say whether this clarification was beneficial for the PS or whether it was the desperate maneuver of a party in full doubt about its political identity.
Number of asylum seekers crossing Channel
since January tops 10,000, UK says
More than 10,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Britain in small boats so far this year, updated government data showed on Saturday, underlining a key challenge facing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a July 4 national election.
Issued on: 1 min
An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants heads towards England via the English Channel, UK on May 4, 2024. © Chris J Ratcliffe, Reuters
The number of people landing on England's southern beaches after making the dangerous Channel crossing fell by a third in 2023, but the latest numbers on a government website showed 10,170 arrived between January and May 25, up from 7,395 over the same period last year.
"We continue to work closely with our French partners to prevent crossings and save lives," an interior ministry spokesperson said in response to the surge in numbers.
Sunak, who announced the election date on Wednesday, said later this week that asylum seekers who come to Britain illegally would not be deported to Rwanda before the vote - casting doubt on one of his Conservative Party's flagship policies.
The plan has been bogged down by legal obstacles for more than two years, and the opposition Labour Party, which is about 20 points ahead in opinion polls and seen on track to end 14 years of Conservative rule, has promised to scrap the policy if it wins the election.
Labour's shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said Sunak's government had not done enough to tackle the issue.
"Because all the government's efforts are now focused on getting a few hundred people flown to Rwanda, they have lost sight of the thousands more who are crossing the Channel every month," Kinnock said in a statement.
Labour has said if elected it would create a Border Security Command that would bring together staff from the police, the domestic intelligence agency and prosecutors to work with international agencies to stop people smuggling.
(Reuters)
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