1. Minimal State
The functions of the state must be limited to those compatible with liberty. There is no corruption without government. Individuals and society should prevail over the State. Societal action is superior to government coercion.
Foundational statement
Tax is theft.
A moral claim and a starting point: what you create you own; what you own you may give or trade — but never be forced to surrender. Handwerpen is the act of throwing back the hand of the tyrant.
Antigoon and the Leviathan
At the gates of Antwerp, where the Scheldt opens to the world, the vicious giant Antigoon once exacted tribute from every traveller — merchant, craftsman, peasant or scholar.
Refusal meant violence: their hands cut off, their autonomy destroyed. So arose the first Leviathan on Belgian soil, feeding on fear, suffocating trade, violating the person and its property.
From the south, an individual, Silvius Brabo rose against him. He refused tribute, fought the giant, and cut off his hand — casting it into the Scheldt. “Handwerpen”: the city’s name, and its founding act. Through this gesture, passage was restored, dignity reclaimed, freedom reborn.
This is not a tale of cruelty, but of emancipation. It reminds us that liberty begins when individuals dare to resist the pretensions of power. Laissez faire — laissez passer. This is the foundational myth preceding the golden age of Flemish cities.
Forgotten, the severed hand of Antigoon sank deep on the riverbed. Ever since other giants have risen. The new Antigoon is the State organised around an illiberal democracy: bloated, coercive, omnipresent. It cuts not one hand, but every hand — through taxation, regulation, indoctrination.
Born from the incestuous entente of Demos, who could only father clones, Envy and Fear. Democracy without liberty, State without restraint. Socialism and Nationalism. The individual is oppressed, this time by their equals: No gods, no giants, just men.
Our task is Brabo’s task. To cut off the hand of Antigoon. To restore freedom as the basis of Belgian society. To remember that Antwerp’s myth is not folklore but corollary: either tribute or liberty.
The Belgian context
Handwerpen arises as a liberal project that attempts to provide viewpoints against the omnipresent social democrat discourse. Handwerpen opposes the ostracism of opposers, the subsidised status quo, the spurious conflict of interest, the oppressive compromise.
Ideological and decadent education silences the discordant, handicaps new generations by ostracising Liberal references. Belgians forget their illustrious past. There are stuck in narrow communitarianism, collectivism and nationalism. Divide et impera. Individual rights find no avail.
Belgian democracy is flawed. It gets prostituted by socialism and its clientelism, subject to the antidemocratic violence of strikes while paternalism subdues citizens. And the individual? their fundamental rights, customarily violated.
With time, their foundational constitution (1831), enlighten by liberal principles, was emptied of content through countless reforms, diluted under the pressured of illiberal demagogues.
Our project aims to criticise and propose, inside and outside the system. To resurrect ideas and to challenge the plumbeous consensus. Our aims is to reintegrate those ostracised in a necessary public debate. At the same time, to contest ideas of servitude and oppression and their fellow travellers, to oppose the heralds of the scythe who severe hundred of millions... Our aim is to denounce “la trahison des clercs”.
Our values: liberty.
Our philosophy: liberalism.
In this spirit, Handwerpen.be seeks to renew Belgium’s liberal heritage: through civic courage, economic vitality, the primacy of the individual and unity in diversity.
10 Principles
Liberalism advocates for the non-restricted respect for the individual’s life project. Liberalism defends the autonomy of individuals, their liberty to pursue their own’s goals while rejecting coercion and violence from third parties, be it the state, groups and other individuals.
We believe that:
Liberty is the ontological basis of reality. Determinism is false.
Liberty underpins the moral dimension of the human being. Liberty is good.
Liberalism is the political philosophy of freedom. The form or government is less important than the principles informing its structure and action.
For instance, a liberal monarchy is superior to unrestricted democracy. The authority and legitimacy of the state is in check.
Liberalism creates better societies, yet its superiority of outcomes is not its only or primary justification.
Truth can be attained. There is no liberty without truth. The enemies of truth are oftentimes those of liberty.
Freedom, Truth and Good are intrinsically bounded.
Below we outline 10 principles of political and societal liberty that ought to inform no matter what political regime or action. These principles are in starch contradiction with those ruling our lives today, in Belgium and elsewhere:
2. Primacy of the individual and its responsibility
True liberty is freedom from coercion not promises of welfare. Freedom means the right to act — and to bear the consequences. Individuals thrive when they own both their successes and their failures. Paternalism destroys moral growth and responsibility; only voluntary association and self-reliance are compatible with dignity.
3. Truth and Freedom of Opinion
The open society depends on the free exchange of ideas, even offensive ones. State-controlled education and media corrode this freedom by teaching conformity. Truth is discovered through confrontation, not consensus. Truth exists and can be only attain by reason and freedom of expression.
4. Private Property and the Dignity of the Individual
There is no liberty without private property. Property is liberty made tangible; it is the result of human endeavours, talent, sacrifices, ingenuity and chance. Violating the property, violates the person. To be taxed is to be dispossessed. Property is the ability to look at the future, to plan and to act. The state’s claim to redistribute violates the sacred link between effort and reward. Non coercive solidarity is desirable and naturally occurs: first within the family, then within local communities via associations. Solidarity without free choice is opression.
5. Against Democracy – Liberalism First
Democracy ought to be liberal, limited or not be. In Democracy lies the seed of totalitarianism. Liberty must limit democracy. Majorities give no right to submit the individual, the ultimate minority. Liberal institutions must restrain the scope of collective decision-making. A democracy that ignores natural rights becomes tyrannical.
6. The Superiority of the West and the decantation of Freedom
The West’s greatness lies in its painful conquest of liberty. We are losing what was so difficult to attain. Our civilization uniquely fused Greek reason, Roman law, and Christian dignity to free the individual. There it lies its unquestionable superiority. Liberty needs to be permanently embraced and defended. Liberalism is singular in its moral and civilizational fruits; it is the epitome of Western civilisation.
7. Freedom to Choose
Individual choices define human dignity. Freedom includes the right to err, to learn, and to change one’s path. Life projects gain moral worth from voluntary pursuit, not imposed virtue. Choosing what works best improves society. Paternalism and collectivism demoralise society, fragilizes it is creating dependent individuals. Opting out is a human right.
8. Free Money and the Threat of the State
Fiat money serves power, not people. It allows the expansion of state’s reach to maintain a captive society, to impose its violence to others. States tampered with the currency, repeatedly, across centuries. The state debases currency stealing you silently, through inflation, devaluation. Only sound money, one that serves as deposit of value, enables economic calculation and the creation of a better future via saving and investing.
9. Education and the Parents
Parents, not the state, are the first educators. The family has a natural moral authority over the child’s formation and the outmost interest in its success. Different models of education are possible and desirable; it is to the parents to choose what deem best for their offspring. Public education has failed. It does not pursue the creation of better citizens but more ignorant and manipulable ones.
10. The Market, Modern Agora
The Market is the true democracy of free people. Every voluntary exchange is a vote for value and cooperation without coercion. Freedom of choice. Political representation is necessarily flawed, irrelevant, while contracts are real acts of consent. Commerce civilizes — it is the peaceful conversation of mankind.
