First of all, “La Libre Belgique” makes a comparison with the events of Budapest in 1956 (LLB 22th August 1968 : « Prague 1968 inevitably reminds Budapest, autumn 1956. In both cases, the Communist Military Power intervened in order to break down the liberation process started in the bosom of a satellite country “). LLB tries to find an explanation about the Russian behaviour : the newspaper observes the map of Europe and finds geographical explanations (“ First the nationalist Russia reacted. A look at the map is sufficient to notice that Czechoslovakia belongs to the glacis that surrounds USSR . This country, between both blocks, is a pad that spreads out between Europe of NATO and the Europe of the Warsaw Pact). The newspaper also tries to find ideological explanation about Moscow’s behaviour (“Afterwards the ideological Russia gets going. Communism is viscerally incompatible with freedom).

Then the newspaper puts the stress on the attitude of the European Communist parties, bringing out the separation, or even the condemnation of the acts that took place in Prague. But it also insists on the fact that these parties need an electorate, and therefore a displayed solidarity with Moscow could have turned bad for the Communist parties of Europe (“What credence should we give this behaviour ? It is important to keep in mind that Occidental Communist parties would have lost their audience and would have cut off from the Left forces which are eternally tempted to flirt with them if they had vouched for the Prague events. It is thus self-preservation that worked. The leaders of these parties realized the need of not cutting off from the public opinion, but this is not a guarantee of sincerity at all).

The newspaper also parallels the event with the Hitler Invasion of 1938, showing that way that Czechoslovakia is definitely unlucky. The paper tries to be as objective as possible (the different pages relating the events step by step give evidences about that), but even so it wonders if this intervention was really appropriate.

Same version for the newspaper “Le Soir” which comes back to these events in its edition of August 22th 1968 by repeating the words of the different political personalities (so it quotes N. Ceaucescu, Head of State of Romania : “ A serious mistake as well as a danger for the peace in Europe”, it also quotes the British reaction : “It’s a tragedy”). The newspaper makes then a tour of the reactions worldwide and of the arrangements made in order to prepare for any eventuality (it shows that way that the Austrian army has been alerted).

The general tone of the newspaper is thus neutrality. The journalists repeat the words of the personalities who reacted without adding any comments. But we can guess what questions the redaction asks about the legitimacy of the Soviet intervention in Prague through the choice of the repeated and underlined words. It is incomprehension. Even if a short article speaks about the Russian justification of these events (“The Soviet troops and their allies will quit Czechoslovakia as soon as the threat will be removed”).

Thus “Le Soir” and “La Libre Belgique” show the incomprehension experienced facing these events. They form a first trend within the Belgian press.

“Vers l’Avenir”, French-speaking newspaper of Catholic trend, speaks about the Czechoslovakian events in a relatively wide perspective. The redaction tries indeed to approach all aspects of the Soviet invasion. Thus we can find articles presenting the situation in Prague itself (“New shots during the night in Prague” or “Supplying gets more and more difficult”), articles recalling the situation within the country (“The convoys are incommoded by the lack of signposts” or “Four Russian soldiers killed in Czechoslovakia”), as well as articles dealing with the reactions worldwide (“ The name Dubcek painted on a bridge in Warsaw” or “The Czechoslovakian tourists blocked in Hungary go back to their country”).

Then the newspaper echoes the Czechoslovakian Christians, who appeal for worldwide mobilization. (“Thirty thousands of Christians from Karlovy Vary and Sokolov appeal on the Free Prague Radio, picked up in Paris, for asking all Churches and Religious organizations to mobilize the public opinion in order to condemn the armed intervention in Czechoslovakia and to require an immediate withdrawal of the occupants”). The newspaper cares that way of Christians’ fate.

“Vers l’Avenir” is interested in the occupied people’s fate and underlines strongly their active resistance, bringing the Czechoslovakian reaction to light. That wouldn’t have been the case a while before the Soviet intervention (“We were rather expecting the Czech and Slovak population to get back to their sad resignation, like at the time of M. Novotny : boycotting the imposed authorities and sabotaging production, yes, but all this through torpor and passivity. But there was a real reawakening after the nine months lasting Dubcek experience”).

The redaction puts in stress the attitude of the people, this is probably justified by its reading audience : the middle class and the popular class. It insists on some aspects of everyday life, which are considered as more attractive by the readers, rather than on political considerations.

The reaction of the newspaper “La Wallonie” is totally different. It condemns of course the events of Prague, but it wonders whether the Russian government would be given free hand? Indeed it puts the stress on the lack of strong reaction from the Occident and it fears that other events of the same kind could occur somewhere else. (“Henceforth it will be difficult for the friends of peace and of socialism to denounce again the attitudes of the Imperialists, in America or anywhere else. What would we answer if the American marine or air force, using the requirement of the Cuban citizens, would have the idea to restore an allegedly democratic order in La Havana ?” – Issue of the 22th August 1968).

“La Wallonie” replaces this event in a socialist perspective, hoping that Europe can be a whole that react to this event…. in a socialist way (“From that moment on and at the occasion of the Czech drama, wouldn’t it be in this so small and scorned Occidental Europe, that definitive resolutions have to come in order to insure socialism its supremacy ? - Issue of the 22th August 1968). Thus in some way “La Wallonie” hijacks this event and tries to turn it to the advantage of socialism.

“Le Drapeau Rouge” is a weekly neswpaper of Communist trend, it is therefore in a particular position at the time of these events. It condemns the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, but the author of the document speaks with moderation. When reading an article in the issue of the 30th August 1968, we can realize that the newspaper doesn’t want a splitting between the different Communist parties in the world but it prefers unity that would guarantee, according to it, balance and stability. The reading of the newspaper “La Libre Belgique” has already allowed us to know that the different European Communist parties had condemned the Russian intervention, but also that these Communist parties were standing in a precarious position which forced the Communist parties of Europe to condemn the Russian attitude for these events. “La Libre Belgique” kept mistrustful in front of the stand taken by the Communist parties, putting in doubt their sincerity. When reading the pages of “Le Drapeau Rouge”, we can only wonder the same way. However without being able to find an answer.