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| Dull Belgium Wants To Be as Hip as Holland |
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Posted by CN Staff on February 08, 2003 at 19:55:07 PT By Andrew Osborn in Brussels Source: Observer UK 
The Netherlands has long been regarded as Europe's most permissive nation, but an unlikely interloper is staking a claim to that title: boring old Belgium. Best known for chocolate, strong beers and the European Commission, Belgium is in the throes of a quiet but far-reaching revolution. It may be small (pop. 10 million) and Catholic, but it is well on the way to becoming a society every bit as liberal and laid-back as Holland. And change is being driven from above. The ruling 'rainbow' coalition - Liberals, Socialists and Greens - has orchestrated a change in attitudes and legislation since it came to power in 1999. Gay weddings were made legal the week before last; Belgium became the second country in the world (after the Netherlands) to legalise euthanasia last year; and the government has brought forward controversial legislation authorising the personal use of cannabis. Attitudes to prostitution have been easing. Amsterdam-style window boxes surround Brussels's seedy Gare du Nord, the plush Avenue Louise bristles with escort girls and the area around parliament is dotted with brothels. Amsterdam-style coffee shops have not begun to appear yet, but there are other outward signs of a 'liberal' society. Gay and lesbian bars jostle for space in the centre of Brussels, Antwerp plays host to a raucous gay pride march every year and the smell of mari juana hangs in the air of bars and clubs. 'Belgium has an image as a very small, dull country where nothing happens apart from EU summits,' said Bart Hikspoors, deputy editor of men's magazine Ché . 'But maybe people will start to notice that it has as much, if not more, to offer than other European countries.' Alain Destexhe, a liberal senator from the Mouvement Réformateur (one of the coalition partners), says the changes are unprecedented. 'It was forbidden to even discuss these kind of matters for the past 50 years,' he said yesterday. 'For too long we had a government dominated by Christian Democrats. They have been in power since the Second World War, with the exception of four years, and they held back change.' Opinion polls show that three quarters of people backed moves to legalise euthanasia. But many Belgians are more lukewarm about gay weddings and, while young people are enthusiastic about the decriminalisation of cannabis, many older people are less sure. Source: Observer, The (UK) Related Articles: Weekend To Remember Dutch Could Teach Us A Lot About Marijuana Dutch Celebrate 30 Years of Legal Pot Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #8 posted by eco-man on February 09, 2003 at 11:14:59 PT |
| This is a test! What does FoM stand for? See answer at end of comment. I really thought there were vast numbers of "CN Staff"! It is like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz. Just one guy, and that huge voice! I guess you mean we can post the article or a link to it. As a comment. That works. Even if you don't pick the article as one to post, people can click the link. You could create a webform to put on the homepage here that would only have enough space for a long multi-line URL. Then people could tell you about articles that way too. By giving you the URL to it. If it gets too busy, you can always delete the webform. If people have more personal reports (not media copy-and-paste) I recommend posting them at San Francisco Indymedia, too. It is one of the few Indymedia sites indexed daily by Google News. FoM = Friend of Marijuana. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by FoM on February 09, 2003 at 10:49:18 PT |
| I am CNews Staff. I pick the articles to post each day. I just thought CNews Staff looked better then FoM. What the heck is an FoM anyway but CNews Staff looks better. Just post info here and if you find an article in a newspaper about the MMM posted it and mention for me to check it out. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by eco-man on February 09, 2003 at 10:41:52 PT |
| I hang out at Indymedia sites, Google News, etc., etc.., FoM. I don't stop in here as often as I should, so I don't know what has been going on. And it seems all email addresses are spam magnets nowadays. A constant battle for me. So, communicating here is fine for me. But I still don't know where to tell people to send media articles to for CannabisNews.com, though. I don't see an email address link on the CannabisNews homepage. Or a form, or instructions of any kind. I assume "CN Staff" chooses the articles to post. But how can people send in stuff to the CN Staff? Here is what I posted on the MMMlinks page about where to send MMM rally reports in the media: *Please send in personal or published MMM rally reports to Dana Beal dana@cures-not-wars.org and to the MMM Reports email list and public archive mmmreports@yahoogroups.com (you have to subscribe first to send in reports). Subscribe by sending email here first: mmmreports-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or by going to the homepage and clicking the "Join this Group" button. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mmmreports [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by FoM on February 09, 2003 at 10:16:30 PT |
| I had to stop getting email for CNews. Too many problems to even begin to mention. Posting information here is good. Won't that work ok? Thanks for posting the picture page on San Francisco Indymedia. You're welcome about the link. Thanks for all your hard work. I will make a page for this year as the time aproaches. PS: I check pages on 800 - 600 resolution. You're covering it from way back when! Good thinking. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by eco-man on February 09, 2003 at 09:55:36 PT |
| I caught some of the show, and said to myself, this can't be a rerun, and it's too weird even for Saturday Night Live. But it was Saturday Night Live! On another day recently I heard an ad (for theAnimatrix.com?) that used the phrase "Million Machine March"!!! http://www.theAnimatrix.com FoM, did you see these Ed Rosenthal links I sent to one of your email addresses before they started bouncing: San Francisco Indymedia homepage FEATURES Ed Rosenthal and has a link in the feature to your trial pics and articles page. http://sf.indymedia.org It is the feature in the middle of the page (for now) called "Prominent Advocate for Medical Marijuana Ed Rosenthal Convicted." Google News Shortcut that has your trial pics page as one of the top 10 main articles (out of around 500). I posted an older version (with a link to the original location) of the trial pics page on San Francisco Indymedia. Google News indexes San Francisco Indymedia daily. http://google.com/news?q=ed+rosenthal I now have a 17 inch monitor. But I still make sure pages work OK at 640 by 480! :) Thanks for the link back to the MMMlinks page: http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/mmmlinks.htm and http://corporatism.tripod.com/mmmlinks.htm Is there an email address people can send MMM media reports to CannabisNews.com? submissions@cannabisnews.com is bouncing. It seems to be forwarded to your old Yahoo email address, and that is full and bouncing. submissions@cannabisnews.com is the address that was on the MMMlinks page. I just took it off. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by John Tyler on February 09, 2003 at 06:02:30 PT |
| I saw it too. It was very funny. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 08, 2003 at 20:50:03 PT |
| I couldn't believe the bong and smoke and he held the hit until he got back on stage. It was great! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by pokesmotter on February 08, 2003 at 20:47:03 PT:
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| on saturday night live i just listened to mathew mcconaghey do bonghits as a part of his monologue. wow. [ Post Comment ] |
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