Articles

Speech by Peter Mertens, Chariman of the PTB-PVDA, at ManiFiesta, 22 September 2019

Contribution to the PCP Conference, Palmela, 13 September 2019 by Jos D'Haese, head of the PTB-PVDA group in the Flemish Parliament.

Now that Thomas Cook Belgium has also been declared financially incapacitated, Maria Vindevoghel, member of parliament for PTB-PVDA, warns against the possibility of a snowball effect in the sector. For the former Sabena trade unionist, dismissals must be avoided at all costs. “Shareholders and employers have benefited for years from profits and bonuses. Workers, on the other hand, are left in the most complete uncertainty today.”

Shall we soon have to change street names throughout Europe such as the Karl Marx Avenue in Berlin, forbid the sale of t-shirts carrying the portrait of Che Guevara, censor anticapitalist rhetoric, ban from the education programmes aspects that would be considered too positive toward the former communist regimes? This is, in any case, what a dangerous resolution of the European Parliament is inviting us to do.

Marc Botenga, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the PTB-PVDA, voted against Ursula von der Leyen's candidacy as the new president of the European Commission, as did the entire Group of the European United Left (GUE/NGL), of which the PTB-PVDA is a member.

ManiFiesta, the solidarity festival organized by Solidaire and Medicine for the People, was born in 2010, in the midst of a political crisis in Belgium, against a backdrop of rising nationalism. Almost ten years later, ManiFiesta still promises to be a moment of solidarity and struggle against the far right and division. Meet ManiFiesta director Mario Franssen.

Despite an attempt to change its façade, Vlaams Belang remains a far-right racist party. It is essential to unmask the racist, anti-social and dangerous nature of this party, as well as the attempt at "normalisation" that is at work.

The Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) launches its new international website. Through this site, you can learn more about our party in four languages: English, French, German and Spanish.

This year we are organizing the 10th edition of ManiFiesta, the largest solidarity festival in Belgium, organized by Solidaire, the PTB newspaper and Médecine pour le peuple, the PTB network of people’s clinics. On the weekend of 21 & 22 September, the small town of Bredene on the Belgian coast will be the meeting place for all forms of resistance and struggles for a change of society.

The PTB-PVDA (Workers’ Party of Belgium) is a big winner in the last elections all over Belgium. In Wallonia and Brussels, it is the party that has made the most progress. In Flanders, it is the second fastest growing party. What are the reasons for this success? In this article, we look back at the election campaign and the result of the May 26 elections.

As radical left forces were suffering defeats across Europe in the recent elections, the Belgian Workers' Party secured historic gains with a clear message of class politics.

The appeal from the common trade union front for a general strike on 13 February has been massively followed. It was a very long time ago that it had been this strong.