Daens Page #4

us about the multiplication

of the bread and fish.

Lots of them hundreds,

thousands of them, women and children,

rich and poor, had followed Christ

and had been listening to Him.

When the evening came, the apostles

asked him to send the crowd home,

or to the surrounded villages

to find food and shelter. And he said

"Why don't you feed them?"

They told him there was barely,

enough for themselves,

He looked reproachfully at them,

asked the people to sit,

looked towards heaven,

blessed the loaves of

bread and the fish

and had his disciples share them

There were 5,000 people.

They all ate.

They all had their fill.

Dearly beloved,

if Christ teaches us

that it is our duty

to share without prejudice

of rank or class,

if he gives away the little food he

has to perfect strangers,

then why shouldn't this be the duty

of the Belgian bourgeois class

toward the poor, who they know?

Who work for them!

Or do these people, who claim to be

faithful servants of the pope,

think that the gospel

is not meant for French ears,

because it is written in Latin? People scream:

"We're hungry"! Loud and clear.

And these words should not

be thrown to the wind.

It is time the voices of the

poor were heard in this country.

Besides, my dear friends, how come,

the voice of the rich is always

much louder than a poor man's?

Why is a poor man's vote

worth less than a rich man's?

Who has a right to say: ''you

are good and you are bad,''

''you can vote,

and you cannot.'?"

Unbelievable!

He preaches universal suffrage!

Gentlemen, directors. What does the pope,

whom you like to quote so much,

what does he say,

in his encyclical Rerum Novarum?

"We are convinced

that we should improve

the fate of the lower class

because a large part of them

live in undeserved misery."

My dear friends, it is clear that

our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII, and Christ

are speaking the same language

and that an end should be put

to this organised, established injustice.

And remember, my friends:

you don't have anything.

It is not you who have to share,

but those,

who have just left this church.

How can you be so clumsy?

Thanks to your brutality,

Daens has all the trumps.

Be more clever with you workers.

Give them soup,

knit them scarves...

That will make us popular.

The pope wants more charity.

That's the right policy!

I'm not sure that's enough.

The situation is too serious.

They demand the universal suffrage.

-They'll never have it!

I'm sorry, but...

a lot of people think otherwise.

Half of the factories are striking

for the universal suffrage.

The agitation is such that,

it would be a miracle if Aalst

escapes this revolution.

Mr Woeste, the strikers find support

everywhere, even within our own party.

Father Daens runs a campaign

for the universal suffrage,

within our party.

-Throw him out.

Him, his brother and the others.

-No, that's not enough.

That would turn him into a martyr.

There's only one way to finish him

unfrock him!

In civil clothes

this priest will be a nobody.

I'll go all the way to the Vatican.

Not in that thing, you won't!

-Very funny...

We must be aware that many workers

will turn their back on the Church.

More so the reason not to hesitate

and to be firm to Daens.

I'd love to, but I won't be degraded

to Mr Woeste's errand boy.

Send Daens to the Congo.

They're short of missionaries.

Then Daens will choose for the

blacks and everyone will return.

I know Daens.

Hurry up Willem,

I have work to do.

Sorry Monseigneur, the only solution

here might be a prayer.

Arise, ye wretched of the earth.....

Monseigneur....

- This is the result of your reckless talk!

Father Daens!

You are a priest

to spread God's word,

not the socialists'.

If there is inequality on earth,

it is because God wants it.

I wouldn't say that.

You reason like Woeste..

He turns God into a Belgian

and bars everyone who doesn't

belong to his Belgian heaven.

- Quiet... Daens!

I haven't asked you here

to discuss politics.

Once more, you embarrass me

with your difficult character.

Instead of visiting pubs in your robe,

don't you think you should look at

yourself and try to find out

whether all this popularity

doesn't stem from the pursuit

of pure vanity?

You don't listen to anybody,

because you want them

to listen to you!

That is not the issue.

The seriousness of the situation

in Aalst escapes you.

You and I are facing hard times.

Flanders is lost if Aalst becomes red.

That's what catholic workers think.

You are stumbling over your own brains.

To give you a chance

to do penance for this,

you will temporarily celebrate

the mass in solitude.

I forbid you to preach

in Sint-Martinus church again!

Don't do that, Monseigneur!

I beg you....

- Kneel,

so that I can bless you.

More....

-No, or there'll be

nothing left for the little ones..

- Let them work, if they want to eat.

I'm on strike. - Lazy!

Ask Louis!

Louis is a rat.

-Don't speak about him like that.

You don't work either.

-Don't talk to father like that.

You shut up too, you're on strike!

Give it back, you can't do that!

It's for Jannes.

Give that potato back!

Enough!

- If that's how it is,

there's free soup at the factory

Sit down you.

We only eat what we work for.

That soup is for the poor.

-We are poor, Dad!.

Worker or striker?

-I don't work.

Go away.

- I work.

Why don't they get anything?

-You only get soup if you work..

Do you think I'm crazy?

Do you think we feed the reds?

That soup is poison!

Belgium strikes! We must join them!

Do you want them to laugh at us?

That soup is to break the strike!.

We, the socialist, are giving

soup to everybody. Real good

Aalst onion soup for everyone!

Don't believe them. Who wants some?

- Don't eat it. It's pagan soup!

Don't believe them.

- Let's all strike! Strike for the universal suffrage!

I think he's right .

We must carry on the strike.

They'll think you're red too!

I don't care, I'm hungry.

Who else?

I'm sure Daens supports the strike.

He should say so

- But he's gone.

You'll never see him again, believe me.

Where is Daens, Father?

A priest is like a soldier.

He goes where God needs him.

I want to know where Daens is.

You're hiding him.

Ridiculous

-Then were is Daens?

Now, now, friends...

Leave the Father alone.

I want to know where Daens is!

Where is Daens!

- Schmitt, no more soup.

No soup for strikers!

Louis! - Have you gone made?

Leave that kid alone, you idiot!

Where's the soup?

- But, Elizabeth.

Wasn't that soup for everyone?

Long live the strike!

And the universal suffrage!

Not enough salt.

One million more votes...

That's preposterous!

You insult the people!

Gentlemen! A little dignity, please!

The vote is closed.

I'll read to you the result of the vote

on the law proposal from Mr Nyssens,

on the introduction in Belgium

of plural suffrage.

Have voted in favour: 119

Have voted against: 14

Abstentions:
12

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