2023-10-06 13:19:42
Update
October 06, 2023
15:19
The excuses of Conner Rousseau, suspected of racist remarks, are hardly convincing. The future of the president of Vooruit, announced to be bright, risks suffering from his missteps.
The apologies presented Thursday by Conner Rousseau, who had made racist remarks to police officers, were hardly convincing. In the hours following his mea culpa, Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo), Hadja Lahbib (MR), Nadia Naji (Groen), Ahmed Laaouej (PS) or core Raoul Hedebouw (PTB) reacted bitterly.
Indeed, the president of Vooruit did not qualify his remarks made in a café in Sint-Niklaas at the beginning of September as “racist”.
“This seems to reveal a deep nature. For a left-wing party, this is embarrassing!”
However, this is the essence of his declarations, released while he was drunk, which gave rise to the dispute. The details of the words are not officially known, but, according to the Flemish press, he spoke of “bruine mensen” (“brown men”), in reference to the Roma, inciting the police to use their batons once morest them “to teach them respect“.
A left more to the right
Pour Jean Faniel, general director of Crispthe Center for Sociopolitical Research and Information, “this seems to reveal a deep nature. For a left-wing party, this is embarrassing!”
“The SP (ancestor of Vooruit, Editor’s note) had used this strategy in the 90s, when Johan Vande Lanotte took restrictive measures regarding migration. This has no in no wayon the contrary, hampered the growth of the Vlaams Belang“, recalls the director of Crisp.
“With his communication strategy, Conner Rousseau caused his party to climb by 50% in the polls. We analyze this as a renewed vigor of the left in Flanders. But which left is this? From a left that leans towards the center, becomes “right”?“
What consequences?
The grievances once morest Rousseau are not limited to his racist comments. He also did ban the publication of reports on the subject in the press and contacted the mayor and the local police chief concerning the images filmed during the evening in question.
At Vooruit, no one has any interest in seeing the man who succeeded in awakening the red in Flemish country jump.
But the man is not a minister. If political partners and opposition can blame him, it is up to his party to possibly hold him to account. But at Vooruit, we are discreet: no one has any interest in seeing the one who succeeded in awakening the red in Flemish country jump.
Brief, “the political consequences will probably stop here, for the short term aspect”, believes Jean Faniel. “But this episode risks leaving traces in the longer term. Rousseau might claim a future position as Prime Minister. However, apart from the content of his remarks, he demonstrated that he was neither very reliable nor in control of himself. Who will want him at the head of the country? Sending such a personality to represent Belgium abroad would not be good for our image.“
Quant with legal consequenceswe will have to wait for the decision of the prosecution following the investigation which has been opened.
Sanction at the polls?
Difficult to say how this sequence will be perceived by the population. “One of the constants in the history of the Roma is Stigma“, recalls Jean Faniel. Who will defend this community?
“I fear that this episode will further unleash a form of racist speech in Flanders.”
“If Conner Rousseau had attacked the Italians, the Turks or the Moroccans, the outcome would undoubtedly be different. But I don’t know any political representative of the Roma community. And it is striking to note that the first to react to this affair come from immigration backgrounds.”
“I fear that this episode further releases a form of racist speech in Flanders“, recognizes Jean Faniel. “Some people risk considering that they think the same thing as Conner Rousseau, but they do not have the right to say it.”
The summary
- Conner Rousseau, president of Vooruit, apologized for comments made during a drunken evening.
- He did not admit to having shown racism, which the political world deplores.
- A judicial investigation has been opened.
- At the political level, it seems difficult to force him to new explanations or to take a step aside.
- But his attitude diminishes his chances of becoming Prime Minister.
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