Just had a company event and out of nowhere they all started talking about ma freeze peach and how China is “literally 1984” and how we can see that our main conflicts nowadays are between “evil autocracy” and “democracy with western values where it could never happen that the press is lying”. I had to bite my tongue so hard the entire time, which I think they noticed. In the end I just said that I don’t want to provoke the inevitable world war 3 even more, which killed the mood hard lol.
It’s so frustrating to be alone in a group of “intellectuals”… Especially if you need to stay civil to not get fired.
It’s got a long way to go but healthcare and insurance is really cheap. I pay 14 euro’s a month and basically cover everything I need, from routine checks to hospital visits.
Unions are massive with around 50-60% of all working people as a member of a union, and they are not afraid to take action.
Unemployment care is pretty good and you won’t financially wreck yourself.
You pay insane taxes on your wages but it helps to build a decent safety/health net for everyone. Taxes for rich people and big companies can be better though.
People are born mad at the system it seems, so setting up action is easy.
Public transport is not perfect but pretty cheap. I can travel everywhere for 6 euro’s.
It’s got a long way to go and there’s a lot of things that need to be fixed but it has a very solid base for socialists to build upon. Which our party is now noticing with increased popularity. It is a country where, normally, everyone has a decent chance of living, but you won’t be rich. Comfortable and safe, but there’s not that much room to grow if you don’t already have the money. But there is also a lot of help if you need to prevent getting into poverty. But with the crisis now, things need to change for sure.
How is it in regards to more social issues like racism, lgbtq rights, etc? I might have to check out my neighbour country some time :)
Far right extremism is a big problem, especially in Flanders. There’s problems with racism and segregation still.
LGBTQ+ rights are decent I think. Trans people have no huge problems with transitioning or changing gender as far as I know. Being openly gay or bi, especially in big cities, doesn’t give you much problems. But it needs work still. But in general it’s pretty good, just not perfect yet.
I would like to add to this regarding the far right thing: there’s also a strong left block to counter the far right movements. For example, this far right nutjob is touring the country with a book about the great replacement theory and every school he gets to, there are protests. Today’s protest, for example, consisted of 800 people waiting for him at the entrance. A couple of weeks ago he was in our city where he was met with several hundreds of protesters as well. So they don’t get a free pass to do what they want.
Here’s a pic from today for example
Sounds about as good as it gets in western Europe! Thanks for explaining :)
F-f-fourteen euros a month…
You know, I am surprised people are still mad at the system with the extensive social safety net and all. Is it cause after patching up capitalism with a band aid, and the issues still persist, you see it as the core problem?
Glad to hear you guys are making waves in the labour movement, especially in Western Europe.
The anger is mainly because we have 17 governments with countless of officials, all not really working together, making governing a bureaucratic mess.
And things can be a lot better. Belgium still has a poverty problem of some sorts, it still has a right wing problem, big companies get too much benefits still, contributing zero to society while getting funded by subsidies, the country is in need of renovations of roads and houses, the energy market is in the hands of basically one big company, etc. There is still work to do, but there is a solid base to build upon.
Ah I see
well, its making waves compared to us XD!
That’s awesome. I also heard that Belgium is adjusting wages in response to the inflation if I’m not mistaken. I wonder why Belgium is so based compared to its neighbors?
Most wages get adjusted to inflation yearly. So I think in January my wage will rise 10,something% (official figure). The government decided that companies won’t have to go above the inflation for two years, which means no raise for the entire country for two years. The adjustment is not bad but even then the unions decided it isn’t enough and are calling for a new strike (last one being 9th of november). So they are pushing for more, as they should.
Unions remained powerful in Belgium, together with the workforce in general. In The Netherlands the unions died down for example and are only now regaining momentum. This lead to a dying down of the Dutch labor movement in general, whereas it remained strong in Belgium. That’s one of the reasons Belgium has an openly marxist political party right now, and The Netherlands doesn’t. It’s not a shame here to be communist.