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Wever, Bart De
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2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Television taboos nuclear humour
In view of the Japanese nuclear accident, several television stations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have refrained from broadcasting episodes of the satirical cartoon series The Simpsons which feature a nuclear disaster. That is wrong, writes the chairman of the Flemish nationalist N-VA party, Bart de Wever in his column for the daily De Standard: "Perhaps for the German public sphere The Simpsons and Fukushima ... lie too close to the border between comedy and tragedy. The idea that the Japanese reactor could be managed with impunity by people who are more like Homer Simpson and Monty Burns than we would have thought possible is painful indeed. We prefer to see the tragedy of the courageous Japanese, and their superhuman fight against a fate which was cause not by humans but the hand of God. When fear rules, laughter must give way."
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » Catastrophe, » Germany
Bart De Wever on the benefits of national identity
Bart De Wever, of the centre-right New Flemish Alliance, disagrees with liberal European politician Guy Verhofstadt in the debate about the purpose of national identity. De Wever argues in the daily De Standaard that identity continues to play an important role in today's society, especially in times of globalisation: "Identity is a social construct that binds a group of people who do not know each other into a community. ... For the time being we fail to appreciate the true value of a wholesome experience of identity. This is unfortunate when you consider the alternatives. On the one hand there is self-contained nationalism and its dialectic of opposites and conflict. On the other hand is Verhofstadt's postnational cosmopolitanism. Clearly this is appealing for those with a second home in Tuscany. For big earners, complete disengagement from community structures is the ultimate neoliberal dream. The less well-off, however, are in the grips of an unpleasant world where they must do their best to get by culturally, economically and democratically."
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Weltanschauung, » Global
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