Jewish organisations lodge complaint against float in Aalst Carnival procession
The Forum of Jewish organisations (FJO) and the Coordination Committee of Jewish Organisation (CCOJB) have lodged a joint complaint with the equal opportunities centre Unia and the City of Aalst against one of the floats that took part in Sunday and Monday’s carnival parade.
The organisations say that the caricatural portrayal of Jews on the float showed clear references to Nazi Germany.
The “Vismooil’n” carnival group had as the theme for it float “Sabbath Year 2019”. The group’s logo features a caricature of a Jewish man with dollar bills in the background. The men also had hooked noses.
The Jewish organisations see this as harking back to the caricature images produced by the Nazi propaganda machine to stir up hatred against Jews in the 1930’s. Consequently they have lodged complaints with both Unia and the city authorities.
In a joint press statement the organisations said that “Carnival or not, this has no place in a democratic country in 2019”.
Both organisations are keen to stress that they have nothing against humour or satire. However, they add that here a line has been crossed. The organisation hopes to hold a meeting with the city authorities in order to prevent this reoccurring in the future.