Members of the European Parliament Working Group on Antisemitism have expressed their ‘’greatly concern’’ about the potential for racism and antisemitism during the upcoming edition of the annual carnival in Aalst, Belgium, on Sunday.
‘’We call on local authorities and organizers to ensure that the festival be a space free of manifestations of hatred,’’ they wrote in an open letter.
Last year, at the same carnival, a float depicted Orthodox Jews with imagery associated with antisemitic stereotypes. The float featured two giant puppets of Orthodox Jews with hooked noses and rats sitting on money bags. The display shocked the Jewish community as they were reminiscent of Nazi period propaganda.
The float was condemned by the European Commission and last December to remove the carnival from its ‘’World Heritage List.’’ In December last year, following the attempt by the Mayor of Aalst, Christoph D’Haese, to evade censure of the event by preemptively de-listing it from the UNESCO ‘’List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,’’ UNESCO publicly withdrew its official recognition of the Aalst carnival
Faced with wide-spread criticism, festival officials and local authorities denied the antisemitic nature of the float and refused to acknowledge or reflect on the problematic impact of the wagon.
‘’Regardless of the organizer’s intent, it unquestionably instills in the public a stereotypical image of the Jewish community, associated with centuries-old oppression, discrimination, expulsions and pogroms,’’ the MEPs letter said.
The text of the open letter adds: ‘’This imagery perpetuates, in front of children, racist stereotypes and conspiracy theories and contributes to the othering of the Jewish community. It comes at a time when, according to a recent Fundamental Rights Agency Survey, 87% of Belgian Jews perceive antisemitism as a serious problem nationally, and 67% of them avoid wearing Jewish symbols out of fear of being attacked.’’
Despite calls for a meeting by a Belgian agency fighting against discrimination, the Mayor of Aalst has yet to take decisive measures to mitigate the risks associated with
The MEPs urged he Mayor of Aalst as well as the Aalst City Council ‘’to be vigilant about the upcoming parade’ as they noted that flyers depicting similar imagery as from last year’s parade, portraying Jews as puppet masters that control global institutions are currently circulating throughout the city. ‘’We expect this year’s edition to only escalate the hateful messages from last year,’’ they wrote.
‘’We acknowledge the value of satire and parody within any robust democracy. However, the many examples of antisemitic and xenophobic stereotypes that we have seen exhibited in the Aalst carnival go well beyond the parameters of satire and run counter to the European values of diversity and inclusion that we champion as Members of the European Parliament,’’ they said.
‘’It pains us that while we European Parliamentarians, debate the issue of antisemitism in Europe, hateful imagery is displayed just 30 kilometers away,’’ says the letter.
The letter concludes: ‘’ It is vital that we back up our words with action and fight antisemitism whenever it occurs. We urge both local and national authorities to take necessary action to ensure that the Aalst Carnival does not continue as a publicly endorsed and supported platform for antisemitism and hate.’’
The letter was signed by German MEP Nicola Beer (of the Renew Europe group), German MEP Sergey Lagodinsky (of the Greens group), Spanish MEP Juan Fernando Lopez (Socialist), Belgian MEP Frédérique Ries (Renew Europe) and Swedish MEP David Lega (European People’s Party).
The International Movement for Peace and Coexistence (IMPAC) commended and endorsed the open letter issued by the members of the European Parliament Working Group on Antisemitism.
‘’We agree completely with them that the 2019 Aalst carnival float unquestionably instilled in the public a stereotyped image of the Jewish community, associated with centuries-old oppression, discrimination, expulsions and pogroms,” it said in a statement.
The group said that the images of the float ‘’have brought shame upon Belgium’s reputation as a liberal, tolerant country.’’
IMPAC also criticized a report issued about the carnival by the Belgian federal equalities watchdog, Unia, which explained its understanding of Belgian carnival culture and did not condemn the antisemitic images. ‘’In stark contrast the report failed to include any history at all of antisemitism in Belgium or Flanders in particular. It failed to give a definition of antisemitism, avoiding all reference to the IHRA definition, which as been adopted by the Belgian Senate.’’
The group called upon the Belgian federal authorities ‘’to instigate an independent investigation into the fitness for purpose of Unia with regard to its statutory duty to combat antisemitism, and in particular how it responded to the antisemtism at the 2019 Aalst Carnival.’’
Read also https://ejpress.org/despite-condemnations-carnival-in-belgium-is-expected-to-display-again-antisemitic-puppets/