Filip Dewinter

Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter (born 11 September 1962) is a Belgian politician, journalist and commentator. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party.

Filip Dewinter
Dewinter in 2019
Member of the Flemish Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 1995
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office 13 December 1987 – 21 May 1995
Personal details
Born	Philip Michel Frans Dewinter (1962-09-11) 11 September 1962 (age 63) Bruges, Belgium
Political party	Vlaams Belang (2004–present) National Council of European Resistance (2017–present)
Other political affiliations	VVP (1978–1983) Vlaams Blok (1983–2004)
Spouse	Lutgarde Verboven
Children	3
Occupation	Politician
Website	www.filipdewinter.be

Family background and education

Dewinter's grandfather on his mother's side was a resistance fighter who had been very active in the resistance group, the Witte Brigade (White Brigade), in Blankenberge.^[1][2][3]

Political career

In 1983, he became a member of Vlaams Blok. In November 1987, he was elected member of the Belgian parliament, in which he formed a political faction with Gerolf Annemans (who, earlier that year, had succeeded to founder-Flemish Block president Karel Dillen). Under Dewinter's leadership, the parliamentary group continued to grow, notably in 1991, when the Flemish Block, from a small party, grew to about 12% of the voters.

In 2010, he participated in a conference in Israel organised by Likud on the fight against terrorism.^[4]

An extreme right-wing activist is sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 for planning the murder of Filip Dewinter, hoping to drag Belgium into civil war.^[5]

In October 2022, Dewinter was physically assaulted by a left-wing activist while giving a talk at a community centre in Kessel-Lo. The incident was condemned by CD&V chairman Sammy Mahdi, MR chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez, and Flemish minister Zuhal Demir of the N-VA.^[6]

On March 25, 2024, an investigation by Humo magazine and the Apache website revealed that Filip Dewinter had worked for several years as a "senior political advisor" for China.^[7]

One month later it was revealed that Filip Dewinter was also involved in the then uncovered Russian Influential Network "Voice of Europe".^[8]

Views

Controversies

Filip Dewinter was the guest speaker for a gathering of the former SS-collaborators of Sint-Maartensfonds which took place on 1 December 2001. That evening, Filip Dewinter opened his speech with the words "My Honour is loyalty" which was the official motto of the German SS-soldiers during WWII.^[9]

Dewinter has also been interviewed by the Israeli paper Haaretz. About the collaboration of Flemish nationalists during WWII he had to say:

Many Flemish nationalists collaborated during the war because they thought—and now it is clear that they were wrong—that this would help them achieve independence for Flanders. This is the whole story. The overwhelming majority were not Nazis. They collaborated in order to attain independence and because the Church called upon them to go out and fight the Communists—something that Western Europe continued to do for 50 years. Now, in 2005, it is easy to say: 'The collaboration was a mistake.' The collaboration did not help our country at all; we just became a vassal state of Germany. At the time, it was logical, because of the Church, because of communism. But this has no connection with Nazism.^[10]

About the attendance of party members to ceremonies marking the death of Staf De Clercq he responded:

He is one of the historic leaders of the party. This is part of the history of the Flemish nationalist movement and it is impossible to deny this. We are the descendants of this movement. Some of the members of the party attend these events because they want to honor the heritage of the Flemish movement. This does not mean that they agree with Nazism. Not at all. I understand that this is hard to understand as a Jew. I respect very much that Jews have a problem with this. But Jews must also understand that this is not as simple as it seems. Not all of the [Nazi] collaborators wanted to kill the Jews in Europe. Most of the collaborators had other motives. I think that if they were living today, most of them would be ashamed of what happened to the Jews. The only thing I can do today is to say that I respect very much the suffering of the Jewish people, to express my sympathy and condolences about what happened and to try to move far away from this. But the Jewish people must understand that not every collaborator was necessarily anti-Semitic.^[10]

Judaism and Islam

A December 2005 interview by Dewinter with the American Jewish newsweekly The Jewish Week included a question if "Jews should vote for a party that espouses xenophobia". Dewinter responded by saying: "Xenophobia is not the word I would use. If it absolutely must be a 'phobia,' let it be 'Islamophobia.'"^[11]

In 2007 Dewinter took part in hosting the international counter-jihad conference in Brussels in the European and Flemish Parliaments.^[12]

Quotes

• "Vlaams Blok says: Our own people first!! And yes, Vlaams Blok chooses a Flemish Flanders. And yes, Vlaams Blok chooses a white Europe!" (Vlaams Blok-meeting, 1991).^[13][14]
• "He who sows the Koran reaps the jihad".^[15]
• "[Immigrants] turn themselves into self pity. They become hostile, they cause nuisance and show criminal behaviour. In Flanders the multicultural society led to a multicriminal society."^[16]
• "Staf de Clercq is one of the historical leaders of the Flemish national movement. Our party, the Vlaams Belang, is the continuator of this movement. We may not deny this past. Although I realise that it might be difficult for Jewish readers to understand, most collaborators thought that they could realise an independent Flanders by cooperating with the Germans. Most of them are ashamed of the horror they caused. The only thing I can do today is to show understanding for the suffering of the Jewish people."^[17]