Input on Belgium

Lourens, a fellow free lancer that I met at Agritechnica in Germany, filled me in more on Belgium. So, I thought I would fill you guys in on what he said. Thanks Lourens!

Hello Laura,
Your report about Belgium needs a little adjustment I think.

As you pointed out correctly, the situation is rather complex, caused by
historical contexts, and money(of course).

An important date in European history is 1815. After the defeat of
Napoleon, Europe needed reshaping. Essential is the famous congres of
Vienna. If possible read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna

It will give you an idea of the complexity. Don't even try to remember
half of it. (Hardly anybody does). However remember that almost every
conflict in Europe goes back to that congres (which was at itself caused
by napoleon and previous history).



Back to Belgium:

At the above congres Belgium was added to NL as a kind of safety zone
with France. In 1830 they formed a seperate Monarchie.

At that time the upperclass was French and without speaking tha language
one could not get a high position. The majority spoke Flemisch (Dutch),
but they were also poor, and one was only alowed to vote after paying a
certain tax.

Also in court, only French was spoken, so the Flemish people could

hardly defend or understand.

This all lead to protests, and at the end legislation in which

boundaries were set about official languages in specific areas.

There are about 10,5 million Belgians, of which 6,1 million in Flanders,

3,4 million in Wallonia, 1 million in Brussels. There is also a German
corner in the East, with 100.000 people speaking German.

All together the Belgium Federation has many governments

For instance for:

The Dutch speaking community

The French speaking community

The German speking community
The Brussels area
The Federal Government
(The current crises concerns establishing the Federal gov.)


So, after being treated as lower class people by the (indeed!?) more
haughty, snobby French speaking fellow countrymen, the Flemish are now
turning the situation around. Especially because Flandres is
economically fully supporting Wallonia.

Around Brussels however, more and more French speakers are moving to the
official(by law 1962) Dutch speaking communities, and refuse to spek the
official language. This causes some severe conflicts.


Well, a lot more can be said about it. The message, I think, should be:

never repress other groups, even when its a minority.

best regards,

Lourens