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| English: Towards the future | |
|---|---|
 A 1907 edition of Vers l'avenir intended for the Catholic youth movement, Jeunes Gardes catholiques of Ixelles. | |
National anthem of the Congo Free State and party anthem of the Rexist Party | |
| Lyrics | Gentil Theodoor Antheunis |
| Relinquished | 1908 (as the national anthem of Congo Free State) |
| Succeeded by | "La Brabançonne" |
Vers l'avenir (French: [vɛʁ lavniʁ]; "Towards the Future"), less commonly known by its Dutch title Naar wijd en zijd, is a Belgian nationalist song which was also the national anthem of the Congo Free State. The lyrics were written by Gentil Theodoor Antheunis. It was also adopted as the anthem of the Rexist Party, a Fascist political movement founded in 1930 by Léon Degrelle. Upon the annexation of the Congo Free State as a colony of Belgium, this anthem was replaced with La Brabançonne, the national anthem of Belgium.[1]
- ^ Viaene, Vincent (2008). "King Leopold's Imperialism and the Origins of the Belgian Colonial Party, 1860–1905". The Journal of Modern History. 80 (4): 741–790. doi:10.1086/591110. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 10.1086/591110. S2CID 144513498.