Raoul Hedebouw was recently elected president of the PTB. The opportunity for the team of It’s not every day on Sunday to take stock, with him, of the hot issues of this party, which is still talking about its approaches comparable to those of communism.
The PTB has a new president: Raoul Hedebouw. Well known to the faithful of this party, the Liégeois was this morning on the set of It’s not every day on Sunday to take stock of the direction taken by the party. Many issues have been addressed.
First aspect, the concrete line of the PTB. What is this party really defending, sometimes accused of favoring communism and which defines itself as being of Marxist lineage? “We say that we must change capitalism, this system of added value in the world of work which goes to the big bourgeois”, replied Raoul Hedebouw. “We are in a class society and that is what we want to change”. To do this, we must leave room for the population. “I believe we need a revolution, clearly. I believe in mobilizing people. The real power in Belgium is not in parliament, I haven’t seen power in parliament for 7 years. Power , he is with the ministers, in the cabinets. And who leads, who lobbies terrible? These are the multinationals. I believe in the power of the street and in parliamentary mobilization. There is a dynamic that is in motion, but it will take time”.
The PTB is also put forward for a form of closeness to the Chinese regime, in particular having opted for abstention when condemning the repression of the Uyghurs. What its president denies. “I am not pro-Chinese. We have condemned the repression of the Uyghurs. We remain an anti-imperialist party. We exploit human rights to justify geostrategic interests. The main troublemakers at the military level in the world , it’s the USA. When a state like the USA bombs Vietnam, Iraq, that they have razed a country, allowing the Islamic State to swarm there, Belgium should send a strong signal, that we put in the concert of nations at the UN and that we condemn the USA. I am afraid for the war to come, because a cold war was launched by Trump, then by Joe Biden and I am afraid that this become a hot war”, a lance Raoul Hedebouw
“I believe in science”
The president of the PTB also made a point of re-clarifying his position concerning health management. For him, it is time to change the paradigm, especially on vaccination. “The vaccination obligation is not a solution”, immediately launches Raoul Hedebouw. “What do we do, then, with the non-vaccinated? We talk about fines, but I don’t believe in it. I believe in the work of conviction to be done on the ground. Repression, lockdowns, I don’t agree with that. We need to put a lot more on prevention. I made a proposal to put free self-tests, as we do in Great Britain”, he then clarified.
On the other hand, he refused to go to the demonstration against the health pass, organized this Sunday in Brussels. “I greatly understand this anger, but there are speakers out there who are anti-science. And I believe in science”, he said on this subject.
Another hot topic is energy prices. For the PTB, the change from 21 to 6% VAT on these resources is of the order of the fundamental. “VAT is the least redistributive tax and therefore the most paid by the working class. I am against this VAT and I will never understand why you have 21% VAT on caviar and then you have a 6% rate on basic necessities. Are gas and electricity not basic necessities? I believe in them and we will continue the fight. If we want to make the rich pay, there is a tax on millionaires, there is there is the tax on the physical person. It is the tax on the heritage which is used for that “
Finally, a small parenthesis on the party’s salary approach, where salaries vary from 1800 to 2300 euros net. An approach ardently defended by Raoul Hedebouw. “Our logic is to continue to live like the workers we represent. There are a lot of people who earn less than me, there are a lot of people who suffer. Our principle is that if we don’t live like we think, we start to think like we live. There is a link between the fact that the deputies earn 5,800 euros net and the ease with which they vote for an increase in VAT on energy, or a jump in the index, etc. “, he claims, announcing a salary of € 2,020 net for his position as party president.