Enemies of Belgium
From Gerard de La Vallee Poussin Sir: On receiving the article (Surrender monkeys', 31 July) from Paul Belien, readers must have wondered what would motivate an individual to so denigrate his own country. It is not surprising that British publishers have declined his manuscripts — if this article is anything to go by, his Belgian history is a work of fiction. On 5 August 1914 Belgium was invaded, with overwhelming force, by one of the guarantors of its neutrality. It has no apologies to make over its role in the first world war and, rather than rebut each statistic and factual distortion of this revolting article, I would suggest that greater credence lies with the likes of Sir Basil Liddell Hart's History of the First World War and Barbara Tuchman's August 1914.
Mr Belien promotes the ideas of the Vlaams Blok — our more dangerous equivalent of your BNP. This is a minority, but it is a powerful group of Flemish nationalists, fed on a myth of an Aryan past who, resentful of having to cohabit with their French-speaking partners to the south, have long been determined to eliminate the state of Belgium (thus amputating WalIonia) and raising an ethnically pure Flemish national independent state from the ashes. To this end, they have systematically attempted to destroy the symbols of Belgian nationhood: no opportunity is missed to denigrate our royal family, a living (and popular) symbol of our unity; no shame can arise out of a revision of history, so long as there are some converts on the way; no opportunity is missed to destroy any sense of pride of nationhood.
Gerard de La Vallee Poussin
Coutisse, Belgium
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