The Left in Europe - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

Belgium
public transport in Brussels, which staged many direct actions in the Brussels
area, before being brought to trial. A branch of ATTAC was created in
Belgium, and has been especially active in opposition to the Bolkestein Directive
and the attack on public services, as well as to the European Constitutional
Treaty, together with the entire anti-capitalist left in Belgium, and
even a very small number of dissidents within the Greens and the Socialist
Party.
The peace movement in Belgium has traditionally been large and active.
Recently, on 11 January, a large march of up to 80,000 persons protested
against the Israeli attack on Gaza, a fairly large number, considering the
size of the country. The network of solidarity with third world countries is
important, and the Belgian NGOs and solidarity groups in general adopt
quite progressive positions within their European networks.
In 1996, after the declaration of bankruptcy of a key steel industry, Les
Forges de Clabecq, south of Brussels, with 1800 workers threatened with
redundancy, an important movement of resistance arose. A march for jobs
was organised, mobilising 70,000 people on 2 February 1996, and blockading
a major Belgian highway. The Belgian Gendarmerie charged the demonstrators,
who used bulldozers to clear their way and complete their action.
Finally, the Forges de Clabecq were sold to Duferco, but a part of the
steel production was continued. The entire union leadership, abandoned by
the Trades Union Federation hierarchy, was fired by the company, and
brought to trial which was highly publicised and continued until 2002; they
were acquitted. In 1999, the PvdA/PTB ran in the elections with a list
headed by the leader of the Clabecq union, Roberto D’Orazio, and won
90,000 votes, the most ever obtained by any list to the left of the socialist
and ecologist parties.
Despite all the Debates over the Belgian Constitution: A Broad Left Front
In 2008, a new political movement – not a party – was formed called “Climate
and Social Justice”, (Climat et Justice sociale/ Klimaat en Sociale
Rechtvaardigheid) responding to the need to join both ecological and social
anticapitalist action. It held a successful study camp during the summer of
2008 that concluded with an imaginative march against a highly antiecological
and energy-wasting project in the city of Maubray to create a
year-round winter sports facility, similar to the one in Abu Dhabi. The
march of dozens of persons on a sunny July day with skis, sweaters and ski
caps, or pulling sleds, contributed to the final abandonment of this disastrous
project. For the election in June 2009, a questionnaire is to be sent to
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