Mouvement d'Action Civique (, MAC; English: ''Movement for Social Action'') was a minor

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political movement in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

during the 1960s. The party's logo, a

Celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...

, was adopted in 1961 and was also the logo of the successor party,

Jeune Europe Jeune Europe (, "Young Europe") was a Neo-fascism, neo-fascist Pan-European nationalism, euro-nationalist movement formed by Jean Thiriart in Belgium. Emile Lecerf, a later editor of the ''Nouvel Europe Magazine'', was one of Thiriart's associa ...

. The origins of the MAC lay in the 1960 independence of the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

and the resulting

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis () was a period of Crisis, political upheaval and war, conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost ...

which saw the vast majority of

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

colonials, who were largely French-speaking, return to Belgium.Paul Hainsworth, ''The Extreme Right in Europe and the USA'', Pinter, 1992, p. 130 From within this group a number of extremist organisation began to grow up, most notably the ''Comité d'Action et de Défense des Belges d'Afrique'' (CADBA or Committee for Action and the Defence of African Belgians), which had worked against the

decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

of the Belgian Congo. When this aim was not forthcoming (and became increasingly undesirable due to the trouble in Congo and the return of most Belgians) CADBA reinvented itself as the MAC, becoming more of an extremist white armed group. A minor movement, it worked with

domestically, as well as the British

Union Movement The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the ...

and the

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Army Organisation") was a far-right dissident French paramilitary and terrorist organisation during the Algerian War, founded in 1961 by Raoul Salan, Pierre Lagaillarde and Jean-Jacques S ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and was a founder member of the

National Party of Europe The National Party of Europe (NPE) was an initiative undertaken by a number of far-right political parties in Europe during the 1960s to help increase cross-border co-operation and work towards European unity. Under the direction of Sir Oswald Mos ...

Notes

References

Neo-Nazi organizations Political organisations based in Belgium Neo-Nazism in Belgium Fascist parties in Belgium {{poli-org-stub