The Left in Europe - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

UAG: Long Term Effort to Unite the Anti-Capitalist Left in Belgium
Belgium
In 2006, after an appeal in the main newspaper of the country by three major
traditional leftist leaders Jef Sleeckx, Lode Van Outrive and Georges
Debunne, a new coalition called Committee for a Different Politics (CAP in
both languages), and also “Une Autre Gauche” (“A different left”/UAG in
the French areas) was formed by critical trade unionists and independent
leftists, and with the participation of the PC, the LCR, and the Humanist
party. The small Trotskyite PSL/LSP joined, but did not accept some democratic
rules that the movement adopted in order to remain plural, and not to
permit the artificial supremacy of any tendency on its boards. All other organisations
accepted those rules. In Wallonia, the majority of the members
of UAG resisted this attempt to dominate the UAG, and the PSL announced
it would withdraw from the movement. In Flanders, in the UAG counterpart
CAP, this resistance was unsuccessful, so that the LSP quickly dominated
that group; thereafter, the PSL organised CAP committees in Wallonia.
Traditionally very popular persons like Lode van Outrive and Jef
Sleeckx decided to keep their distance from the CAP and the PSL/LSP. In
the federal elections in 2007, the UAG decided not to stand candidates. The
CAP decided to stand in both parts of the country – with very disappointing
results in both.
On Sunday 7 June 2009, the Belgians will elect their representatives for
both the regional parliaments and for the European Parliament. As the PTB
had announced that it would change its behaviour, and with the formation
of the UAG in 2006 and with observer status in the European Left Party as
of 2007, there was some hope that the anti-capitalist list would enter this
election united. The UAG serves as an important platform for building the
unity of the entire anti-capitalist left in Belgium, especially in the Frenchspeaking
part of the country.
But despite the fact that the anti-capitalist left has no chance divided, the
same old behaviour has since re-emerged. The PTB, its promise of a new
political culture notwithstanding, was the first party to decide to stand
alone, both for the regional representatives and for the European election of
June 2009. Despite multiple initiatives, pronouncement and meetings organised
by the UAG, and despite the fact that its efforts to obtain the necessary
unity in order to face the economical crisis in a meaningful manner
attracted widespread support from numerous and diverse sectors, including
many trade unionists disappointed by the policy of the Socialist Party and
well-known leftist intellectuals (François Houtart, Jean Bricmont, Vincent
Decroly and others), the Trotskyite LCR, which had been involved in the
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