View source for Filip Dewinter

{{short description|Belgian politician|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Filip Dewinter
| image               = Filip Dewinter studio Vlaams Parlement.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| alt                 = 
| caption             = Dewinter in 2019
| office              = [[Flemish Parliament|Member of the Flemish Parliament]]
| term_start          = 21 May 1995
| term_end            = 
| office2             = [[Belgian Chamber of Representatives|Member of the Chamber of Representatives]]
| term_start2         = 13 December 1987
| term_end2           = 21 May 1995
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1962|09|11|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Bruges]], [[Belgium]]
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| birthname           = Philip Michel Frans Dewinter
| nationality         = [[Belgium|Belgian]]
| party               = [[Vlaams Belang]] (2004–present)<br>[[National Council of European Resistance]] (2017–present)
| otherparty          = [[:nl:Vlaamse Volkspartij (1977)|VVP]] (1978–1983)<br>[[Vlaams Blok]] (1983–2004)
| spouse              = Lutgarde Verboven
| children            = 3
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = [[Politician]]
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| website             = [http://www.filipdewinter.be/ www.filipdewinter.be]
}}

'''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 Movement|Flemish nationalist]] and [[secession]]ist [[political party]].

==Family background and education==
His father was studying medicine at the [[Leuven]] [[Katholieke Universiteit Leuven|University]] during [[World War II]], when he had to hide, as the threat of being deported by the Germans increased. He was nevertheless arrested and already after a few months of imprisonment in [[Bruges]], had been deported to [[Germany]] to work in a munitions factory. He returned, after the war, sick and emaciated and unable to take up his studies again.

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]].<ref>With the view of harming the image of Dewinter in the eyes of part of his electorate, the Flemish newspaper ''De Morgen'' (The Morning) made known Dewinter's rather [[politically correct]] family origins. Later on, Dewinter confirmed the resistance of his grandfather and the deportation of his father, including to the Flemish Jewish magazine ''Joods Actueel'', to the Israeli newspaper ''Haaretz'' and on his own [http://www.filipdewinter.be/category/interviews web site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213101617/http://www.filipdewinter.be/category/interviews |date=13 February 2012 }}.</ref><ref>In an [http://www.etiennevermeersch.be/vermeersch/artikels/politiek/indeclinch interview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207073508/http://www.etiennevermeersch.be/vermeersch/artikels/politiek/indeclinch |date=7 February 2008 }} with Etienne Vermeersch, he countered this philosopher on this subject and reminded him of his own father, who had been a member of the [[Flemish National Union|VNV]] (Flemish National Union) and hence bound by the choice of this political party to collaborate with the Germans during the occupation of Belgium.</ref><ref>Adi Schwartz, [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=617760 ''A little-known story'' in Haaretz] (28 August 2005): ''"After being asked whether his increasing closeness to Jews and Israel is a tactical move, he responds: "This is perhaps not proof, but this will explain to you a bit who I am. Many people think I come from a family of collaborators, but I do not. My father was a young medical student during the war. His studies were interrupted during the war and he was due to be taken to forced labor in Germany. But he fled from the Germans and managed to elude them for several months. They caught him, threw him in prison and ultimately sent him to do forced labor. I saw pictures of him when he returned from the war. He had nothing and he was sick. He never became a doctor and his career was ruined. My grandfather was also a member of the Resistance. He fought against the Germans as a police officer".''</ref>

Dewinter was already politically active during his [[high school]] years at the ''Sint-Franciscus-Xaverius instituut'' in [[Bruges]]. In 1978, as a 16-year-old, he founded the Flemish Student Action Group (''Vlaamse Studenten Actie Groep''), that later was transformed into the Nationalist Young Students League (''Nationalistisch Jong Studenten Verbond''). In September 1982, he moved to [[Antwerp]] where he began studying political and social sciences at the [[University of Antwerp]] but dropped out at the end of his first year. At university he became a member of the Nationalist Student Society ([[Nationalistische Studentenvereniging]]), one of the ideological seminaries of the Vlaams Belang. He completed a [[journalist]] degree at the Erasmus College (''Erasmus Handelsschool'') in 1985. After his studies he worked as a reporter for the newspaper ''[[De Nieuwe Gids]]'', the Antwerp edition of ''[[Het Volk (newspaper)|Het Volk]].''

==Political career==
As a teenager, Dewinter was briefly a member of the [[national liberalism|national-liberal]] Flemish People's Party (''Vlaamse Volkspartij'') founded by [[Lode Claes]], one of the precursor parties of the [[Flemish Block]] (''Vlaams Blok'') which had split from the Flemish nationalist [[Volksunie]] party.  In 1983, he became a member of Vlaams Blok.  In November 1987, he was elected [[:fr:47e législature de la Chambre des Représentants de Belgique|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. This growth has continued ever since.

In 1988, he also became a City councilman in Antwerp. When the Flemish Parliament and the Belgian Parliament got elected separately in 1995, he chose to be a member of the Flemish Parliament (which deals with a lot of regional matters). His hard statements on especially foreign migration provided for victories in the elections of 1999 and 2003 for the Flemish Parliament. Dewinter was, together with Gerolf Annemans, the author of the notorious '[[70 steps plan (Belgium)|70-puntenplan]]' published in the beginning of the 1990s, a policy paper consisting of 70 articles.

In 2006, he was quoted in [[Bye-bye Belgium]], which some{{who|date=December 2020}} Belgian politicians saw as a break of the [[Cordon sanitaire (politics)|cordon sanitaire]].{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Together with [[Hugo Coveliers]] of the [[VLOTT]] party, Dewinter formed a list cartel for the [[2006 Belgian local elections|city elections]] of [[Antwerp]] on 8 October 2006.

In 2010, he participated in a conference in [[Israel]] organised by [[Likud]] on the fight against terrorism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://orientxxi.info/magazine/les-yeux-doux-de-benyamin-netanyahou-a-l-extreme-droite-europeenne,2651|title=Les yeux doux de Benyamin Nétanyahou à l'extrême droite européenne|first=Dominique|last=Vidal|date=2 October 2018|website=Orient XXI}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rtbf.be/info/belgique/detail_quinze-sympathisants-nazis-parmi-les-candidats-vlaams-belang?id=10034172|title=Quinze sympathisants nazis parmi les candidats Vlaams Belang|date=2 October 2018|website=RTBF Info}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2022/10/23/far-right-mp-assaulted-by-left-wing-activist-in-leuven/|title=Far-right MP assaulted by left-wing activist in Leuven|website=vrt.be|date=23 October 2022 }}</ref>

On March 25, 2024, an investigation by [[Humo (magazine)|Humo]] magazine and the ''[[Apache.be|Apache]]'' website revealed that Filip Dewinter had worked for several years as a "senior political advisor" for [[China]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-25 |title=Vlaamse media: politicus Filip Dewinter jarenlang werkzaam voor China |url=https://nos.nl/artikel/2514137-vlaamse-media-politicus-filip-dewinter-jarenlang-werkzaam-voor-china |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=nos.nl |language=nl}}</ref>

One month later it was revealed that Filip Dewinter was also involved in the then uncovered [[Russian propaganda|Russian Influential Network]] "[[Russian interference in European politics|Voice of Europe]]".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-29 |title=Russian influence scandal rocks EU |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/voice-of-europe-russia-influence-scandal-election/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="vb-df">{{cite journal|author=Christophe Diercxsens|title=The Double Face of Flemish Extreme Right: Public Propaganda vs. the Real Soul of Vlaams Belang|year=2007|publisher=Catholic University of Leuven}}</ref>

Dewinter has also been [[interview]]ed by the [[Israel]]i [[newspaper|paper]] ''[[Haaretz]]''. About the [[collaboration]] of [[Flanders|Flemish]] [[nationalism|nationalists]] during WWII he had to say:
<blockquote>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 [[national church|Church]], because of [[communism]]. But this has no connection with Nazism.<ref name="filipdewinter.be">[http://www.filipdewinter.be/page.php?linkID=200] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016172726/http://www.filipdewinter.be/page.php?linkID=200|date=16 October 2005}}</ref></blockquote>

In addition, as noted by the [[Stephen Roth Institute]], Dewinter has been interviewed by the American radio talk show [[The Political Cesspool]].{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

About the attendance of party members to ceremonies marking the death of [[Staf De Clercq]] he responded:
<blockquote>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.<ref name="filipdewinter.be"/></blockquote>

=== 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]].'"<ref>[http://www.filipdewinter.be/page.php?linkID=238] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928125113/http://www.filipdewinter.be/page.php?linkID=238|date=28 September 2007}}</ref> This statement, as well as the Blok's condemnation for racism, have weighted heavily on the French-speaking Belgian [[Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)|Socialist Party]] as well as other francophone and Flemish parties for them to become part of an appeal against the [[Vlaams Belang]] at the [[Council of State (Belgium)|Council of State]], an appeal that tries to take away the government subsidy of the Vlaams Belang.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

In 2007 Dewinter took part in hosting the international [[counter-jihad]] conference in Brussels in the European and Flemish Parliaments.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-counter-jihad-movement/|title=Factsheet: Counter-Jihad Movement|date=17 September 2020|work=Bridge Initiative|publisher=Georgetown University}}</ref>

==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).<ref>{{cite video
  | people = Philip Dewinter (Speaking)
  | title = Echte gezicht van Vlaams Belang (Vlaams blok)
  | format = youtube
  | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVdL3fTf58M
  | location = Belgium
  |date = 1991 }} Original in [[Dutch Language|Dutch]]: ''Eigen volk eerst, een Vlaams Vlaanderen en... een blank Europa''.
</ref><ref>
{{cite web
 |last         = Bristow
 |first        = Kyle
 |title        = Global Politician
 |date         = 2008-09-04
 |url          = http://www.globalpolitician.com/24464-western-civilization
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080414004539/http://www.globalpolitician.com/24464-western-civilization
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-date = 14 April 2008
 |access-date   = 2009-02-04}}</ref>
*"She who wears a [[hijab]] signs her 'return to sender' contract."
*"He who sows the [[Koran]] reaps the [[jihad]]".<ref>{{cite news|title=Europe's response to the Paris attacks is different this time|url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21678514-je-suis-charlie-was-about-free-speech-time-issue-migrants-europe-sees-paris-attacks|access-date=17 November 2015|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=14 November 2015}}</ref>
*"[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."<ref>''Metro'', 16 June 2005</ref>
*"[[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."<ref>''Ha'aretz'', 31 August 2005</ref>

== Notes ==
{{BLP primary sources|article|date=February 2007}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}
*{{Official website|http://www.filipdewinter.be/ }}
*[https://www.vlaamsbelang.org/ Vlaams Belang web site]
*[http://www.resistances.be/dewinter.html resistances.be] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720045028/http://www.resistances.be/dewinter.html |date=20 July 2017 }} {{in lang|fr}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewinter, Filip}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Belgian critics of Islam]]
[[Category:Counter-jihad activists]]
[[Category:Flemish activists]]
[[Category:MEPs for Belgium 2009–2014]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bruges]]
[[Category:Right-wing populism in Belgium]]
[[Category:Vlaams Belang MEPs]]
[[Category:Vlaams Belang politicians]]