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Abstract
Although they belong to different spheres, popular culture and populism can in some cases become intertwined and interlocked because they are both built around the antagonism between people and elite. Populist parties are often happy to associate themselves with popular culture as this allows them to strengthen their bond with the (signifier) people. This article looks at an inverse movement: the contestation of a populist party's claim on the people through popular culture. It analyzes the discursive struggle between the Flemish extreme-right populist party Vlaams Belang and 0110. On 1 October 2006, a series of concerts “for tolerance, against racism, against extremism, and against gratuitous violence” featuring many of Belgium's most popular artists from all kinds of genres, were held in four Belgian cities. The article shows how the organization behind the 0110 concerts managed to turn popular culture against the Vlaams Belang, thus questioning this party's claim on the signifier “people”.
Notes
1. In the margins of the concerts, a number of other (much smaller) artistic initiatives were organized under the 0110 banner. Luc Tuymans organized an arts exposition entitled “Mute in Antwerp”, at the location where on 11 May 2006 Hans Van Themsche shot and killed a two-year-old girl and her Malinese nanny, a murder that was considered to be inspired by racism. Mute, the 0110 website states, means “'falling silent’ or ‘silencing something or someone’”. Also, a literary event called “0110 Literair” (0110 Literary) was held on 1 October. Ninety-five authors wrote poetry to be published by the media under the header “Messages for the population”.
2. This does not imply that they ignore the role of institutions in “disciplining and policing” the boundary between, for example, what is part of the great tradition and what is not (see Hall 1981, 236)
3. This article focuses on the struggle for the signifier people through the struggle over popular culture, but it should be clear that the signifiers “popular culture”, “the people” and “power-bloc/elite” do not have a fixed meaning – politically nor culturally – but are constructed in and through discourse. They are elements that can be articulated in different discourses, disarticulated from a certain discourse, and rearticulated in another discourse. The meaning of those signifiers depends on the discourse in which they are articulated. “People”, “elite”, and “popular culture” therefore have different meanings in different discourses. The struggle between competing discourses for popular culture (as a way of claiming the people) is thus at the same time a struggle over the meaning of popular culture, people, and elite.
5. See http://polling2007.belgium.be/nl/cha/seat/seat_etop.html. This implies a much higher percentage in Flanders for only the inhabitants of Flanders and Brussels can vote for the VB.
6. Also, compared with the 2003 national elections, the VB lost votes in some areas. In the Antwerp canton – traditionally the area where the VB is the strongest – the party won 28.43% compared with 30.46% in 2003.
8. However, the socio-economic dimension does play a role in the VB's populist discourse as a way to oppose the Flemish people to the political establishment as well as to foreigners and Walloons. The political elite is criticized as being corrupt and in it for the money. The VB also systematically points to how the political establishment (also economically) favors foreigners and Walloons and disadvantages the Flemish (Jagers 2006, 211). At the same time the VB sees Flanders’ economic prosperity as the result of the Flemish’ work ethos that is again juxtaposed to the Walloons’ and foreigners’ lack thereof (Jagers 2006, 217–218).
9. www.vlaamsbelang.be and www.0110.be, respectively. www.0110.be is actually the URL for a blog by a Belgian blogger who allowed the 0110 organization to temporarily use the URL. The 0110 website is no longer accessible.
10. This included the death of Joe Van Holsbeeck after being stabbed in an armed robbery of his MP3 player (12 April 2006), the murder of a two-year-old and her Malinese nanny by Hans Van Themsche (9 May 2006), and the death of Guido De Moor after a violent incident with a number of youths of Moroccan descent on an Antwerp bus (24 June 2006).
