The past as a rummage box

The right-wing Belgian politician Bart De Wever has caused an outcry by comparing the current rapprochement between Flemish and Walloons with Britain's appeasement policy in 1938 and by likening the government of Yves Leterme with the French Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis. De Standaard newspaper comments: "Above all, historical comparisons say something about the person who makes them. The past becomes a rummage box from which anyone can pull out the argument they want, even if it is not historically correct. ... The comparison with Vichy is striking primarily for its negative connotations. With it De Wever is suggesting that Belgium's Francophone communtiy is as pernicious, unreliable, immoral and unlawful as the Nazis. ... 'Munich 1938' and the appeasement policy of the time are still a symbol of political naivity and cowardice, and are regularly used as historical arguments. ... But that too is a one-sided and incomplete interpretation resting not on a deep insight into history but on present day opportunism."

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