‘That is not my ambition’: A forgotten chapter in the history of the Flemish Movement and postwar leftist cultural circles

Abstract

In the early 1980s Humo's iconic rock Journalist Marc Mijlemans went to Dublin and was amazed to learn of the nationalism of U2's The Edge. In the autumn of 2003, Frank Vandenbroucke (socialist Minister of Labour in Belgium's federal government) was equally surprised when journalists suggested that his recent political fight with his Walloon counterparts might earn him an honorary place in the Flemish Movement: ‘That is not my ambition’ he said, and laughed. Since the early 1970s Flemish nationalism and progressive, trendy or cool behaviour have seemed mutually exclusive. In my paper, I argue that an increasingly ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’ culture nevertheless promotes ideals and ambitions crucial to the Flemish Movement. I will use the work of Johan Anthierens as a case study, but Humo, Herman de Coninck and Tom Lanoye provide other cases in point.