Blokwatch
| Available in | Dutch |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 2004 |
| Dissolved | 2007 |
| Headquarters | |
| No. of locations | Flanders |
| Founder | Marc Spruyt |
| Key people | |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | 6 June 2004 |
| Current status | Defunct |
Blokwatch was the name of a Belgian news site, a virtual archive and documentation centre, and meeting point for research on and about the far right in Flanders. Most of its attention is focuseded on Vlaams Belang (VB; formerly called Vlaams Blok, hence the name "BlokWatch"). Among other things, the site provided the complete version (in Dutch) of the VB party's statutes (Flemish: Basisbeginselen) and the notorious 70-point plan.
It is an independent volunteer initiative, founded by Marc Spruyt (a.k.a. Blokwatcher), author of a number of works on the VB (Grove Borstels, Wat het Vlaams Blok verzwijgt) and who is generally considered the expert on the Far Right in Flanders.
History
[edit]
Blokwatch started around June 6, 2004 (one week before the elections of 13 June 2004) as a weblog. It soon became one of the ten most visited Skynet blogs in Belgium.
In early October 2004, an appeal was launched for new cooperators. Eventually, a team of 12 people was assembled that - after consolidating the Blokwatch web log with 3 other web logs (Baron Jéan de Sélys-Longchamps, antifa and vlaamsblok.blogspot) - re-launched the site on 7 January 2005.
On October 2007, Spruyt announced that the Blokwatch site would cease being updated.[1][2]
Protection committee
[edit]The site had a protection committee consisting of:
- Jan Blommaert (professor African languages and cultures University of Ghent, study group Language, Power and Identity Wetenschappelijke Onderzoeksgemeenschap Vlaanderen)
- Ronald Commers (professor Philosophy and Moral sciences University of Ghent, director Center for Ethics and Value Inquiry)
- Dirk Jacobs (professor Groupe d'études sur l'Ethnicité, le Racisme, les Migrations et l'Exclusion (GERME), Sociological Institute, ULB)
- Human Rights League
- Rik Pinxten (professor Comparative Sciences University of Ghent, president Humanistisch Verbond)
- Pieter Saey (professor Geography University of Ghent, Study group World-System analysis)
- Sami Zemni (professor study of the third world University of Ghent, president Centre for Islam in Europe)
Awards
[edit]- Democracy Award 2005
- Blokwatch ended third, and received this citation form the organisations "vzw Trefpunt" and "Democratie 2000" that presented the award on July 21, 2005 : "Blokwatch is today the most important source of information on the anti-democratic operation of the far right, especially since a number of quality newspapers have given up their research journalism in this domain."
- Le Prix Raymond Aron pour la démocratie
- Blokwatch received this prize on August 26, 2005 in the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium. It was awarded by the "Centre de Recherche et d’Etudes Politiques" (CREP), a pluralistic and independent foundation because of the receiver's engagement for democracy.
References
[edit]- ↑ "Blokwatch.be stopt ermee". De Standaard (in Flemish). 30 October 2007.
- ↑ "Blokwatch.be stopt: "Rol Vlaams Belang grotendeels uitgespeeld"". HLN (in Flemish). 30 October 2007.
See also
[edit]- Anti-fascist research group Kafka, a comparable research and documentation group on right-wing extremism in the Netherlands