Ghent students move to ban left-wing group
The Active Left Students (ALS) organisation based at the University of Ghent, Brussels has come under attack by other student political groups. A Trotskyite movement, the ALS has enjoyed considerable support from the student population. In particular the group organised an anti-fascist demonstration attended by up to 1,500 students in winter 2004. ALS has also been involved in campaigns against cuts in social services and wishes to reform the university's system of academic representation.
A motion to ban ALS from the university campus has been proposed by the organisations of the Christian Democratic Students (CDS) and the Liberal Union of Flemish Students (LVSV), student wings of the two major centre-right parties in Belgium. They maintain that ALS activities represent an attack on the European convention on human rights because the organisation believes that the far-right Vlaams Belang (formerly Vlaams Blok) should not be allowed to hold speaker meetings at the university.
The ALS disrupted previous meetings by the Vlaams Belang. In November 2004 they forced the Catholic Flemish Students Union to abandon a debate at which Vlaams Belang representatives were to be present. Following an ALS campaign other speakers pulled out of the debate and university authorities refused to provide a venue for events involving Vlaams Belang.
The motion to expel ALS from the campus will be discussed at a meeting of the Political and Philosophical Council which represents all the university's student political organisations later this month.
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