Caryl Phillips writes in Saturday's Guardian about growing racism in Flanders and the rise of the racist, nationalist Vlaams Blok.

"Contrary to what the Vlaams Blok or other European right-wing parties might think, Europe has long passed the stage where it can afford to imagine itself as a series of homogeneous, yet independent, societies. The newly fluent, interdependent Europe has little choice but to recognise and embrace multiculturalism. In fact, it could be argued that coming to terms with the reality of this new vision of ourselves is the biggest social and cultural challenge the continent has faced since the Renaissance..."

However, he finds his vision of a European multicultural society challenged on a visit to Antwerp:

"What is wrong with [my] view of a multicultural society is that it presupposes that [non-white voices in Belgium] will be able to write, sing, paint, or dance their stories, and that they will have an audience. [My] multicultural society works only if there is a reciprocal exchange and, hopefully one day, a commingling, of narratives.


The silenced minority Saturday May 15, 2004, The Guardian