Why I do not celebrate the Flemish National Holiday on July 11.

July 11 is the Flemish National Holiday. I live in Flanders, and my mother tongue is Dutch, so I guess a lot of people would conclude that I am Flemish. Yet, I choose to identify myself as a Belgian, and I voluntarily choose not to celebrate on July 11. It may seem strange to some, but I do have my reasons.

Way back in the 19^th century, Dutch speaking Belgians did not enjoy the same rights as French speaking Belgians. For instance, it was not possible for the Flemish to enjoy education in Dutch, and the corporate and administrative language in Belgium was French. 

Needless to say that during these times, an emancipatory Flemish Movement was a necessity to establish those rights for Dutch speaking Belgians. In a nutshell, these rights were largely established during the first half of the 20^th century, and in my view, linguistic equality for each Belgian was being further established during the second half of the 20^th century, when the University of Louvain adopted Dutch as the language for its courses, and the French language courses were being moved to Louvain-la-Neuve in 1972. Furthermore, French as a language for the administrative and corporate world was abolished in Flanders in July 1973, and being replaced by Dutch.

In my view, from that time onwards, linguistic and cultural equality was, and still is a fact in Belgium. However, the Flemish Movement still exists in Belgium, and today, in the 21^st century, it seems (in the eyes of some people) a stronger brand than ever. 

From my point of view, the Flemish Movement is obsolete and no longer a necessity. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the victim of a crime that has become a perpetrator due to the fact that the victim for some reason or other has not obtained some form of closure.

In fact, in social science, it has long been established that victims can become perpetrators, and this is exactly what is happening to a lot of the members of the Flemish Movement. Often, Flemish nationalism has become chauvinism, and over the years, it has become associated with racism and discrimination against a number of minorities, including Belgians with a non-native or different cultural background.

Therefore, instead of providing a solution, the present day Flemish Movement provides society with a problem: a problem of ever growing racism and discrimination. In fact, linguistic discrimination was the very reason the Flemish Movement originated in the 19^th century. And somehow, a lot of people in Flanders fail to acknowledge the growing problem of discrimination and racism in present day Flanders.

In my view, the Flemish do not have a lot to celebrate on July 11. However, they should be doing a lot of soul searching instead!

A Walloon Heart and a Flemish Tongue

This might be the best description for my personal situation, since I was born nearly 50 years ago to a Flemish mother and a French speaking father. And, because I am Belgian, Dutch speakers from the Netherlands are likely to call my Dutch Flemish, the French might think that I am from the ‘Nord Pas de Calais’ region, and Walloons may forever think that I am after all, Flemish.

Even though Dutch was already the official language in Flanders at the time of my birth, my parents were of the opinion, that since that we were Belgian, it was necessary to be able to express ourselves in both Dutch and French. As a consequence, I was raised in Dutch by my parents, and at the same time, they have taught me French from the age of three onwards, when I was sufficiently proficient in Dutch to be able to learn a second language.

Subsequently, I can remember very well selling flowers for sea shells at the beach in De Panne, and that I did so in French. I was about 5 or 6 years old at the time. When I first started learning French at school, I was 8 years old, and as a consequence, I was already able to speak a little bit of French. It is clear that my parents were convinced that knowing French was a necessity in order to find work, or even in order to survive in life.

Incidentally, I have always obtained good grades for French during my school career. But, contrary to this, this does not mean that my French was always good. “Thanks” to a French teacher during high school, who was not really well suited to be a teacher, I have lost interest for my paternal language. After high school and receiving my high school diploma, I started studying English, and after that, I decided to become a social worker.

During my professional career, being proficient in French has helped me a lot. Even now that I am not working anymore, my French proficiency is still of help. And maybe, I like French even better than I did before!

And that is probably the reason why I wanted to state that my heart is Walloon, but my tongue is Flemish.

Cœur wallon et langue flamande

C’est peut-être la meilleure description de ma situation, comme je suis née il y a déjà presque 50 ans d’une mère flamande et d’un père francophone. Et, comme je suis belge, les néerlandophones provenant des Pays – Bas, diront toujours que je suis flamande, les Français diront toujours que je suis un Ch’ti, et les Wallons seront peut – être d’avis que je resterai toujours flamande.
Bien que le néerlandais fût déjà la langue officielle de la Flandre lors de ma naissance, mes parents étaient d’avis qu’étant belge, il était nécessaire de pouvoir s’exprimer davantage en néerlandais et français. Par conséquent, mes parents m’ont élevé en néerlandais et en même temps, ils m’ont appris le français dès que j’avais trois ans, et que j’étais suffisamment compétente en néerlandais afin de pouvoir apprendre une deuxième langue.
Par la suite, je me souviens encore très bien que je vendais des fleurs pour des coquillages à la plage de la Panne, et que je le faisais en français. J’avais 5 ou 6 ans. Quand je commençais à apprendre le français à l’école, j’avais 8 ans et je pouvais donc déjà parler le français un petit peu. Il est clair que mes parents furent convaincus que la connaissance de la langue française était nécessaire afin de trouver un boulot et afin de réussir dans la vie.
Par ailleurs, j’ai toujours eu de bonnes notes en français lors de ma carrière scolaire. Par contre, ça ne veut pas dire que mon français était bon. « Grâce » à un professeur de français à l’école secondaire qui n’était vraiment pas doué pour la profession d’enseignant, j’ai un peu perdu mon intérêt pour ma langue paternelle. Après les humanités et l’obtention de mon baccalauréat, j’ai commencé des études de l’anglais, et en suite, j’ai décidé de devenir assistante sociale.
Lors de ma carrière professionnelle, ma connaissance de la langue française m’a beaucoup aidée. Même maintenant que je ne travaille plus, ma connaissance de la langue française me sert encore. Et peut être que maintenant, j’aime le français encore plus qu’avant !
Et c’est la raison pour laquelle, que je voudrais dire que mon cœur est wallon, et ma langue flamande !

Taking nationalism too far.

Some of my readers might wonder whether I am guilty of doing just that: taking nationalism too far. When I first started using the alias ‘littlebelgianwriter’ I just wanted to point out that I am Belgian as opposed to any other country in the world.
Nowadays I am not so sure. Frequently I find myself blogging on Belgian matters and to tell you the truth, that is also the reason why I created this blogspot. While writing on Belgium and Belgian matters in particular I do want to make sure that I do not take nationalism too far.

Some of you might wonder what nationalism means to me. Nationalism can be about one’s feelings for a country, a culture of a language. Nationalism can also have its roots in the fact that one ethnic group is being discriminated against. I guess that is where Irish nationalism and Flemish nationalism originated from. Sometimes nationalism is needed to secure human rights. Once those rights are well established, in my view, there is no use in taking nationalism any further.

When taken further, once healthy nationalism may lead to discrimination and the violation of basic human rights of other ethnic groups in society. In other words, the victim becomes a culprit himself.

In my view and experience this is now happening at times in contemporary Belgium where once Flemish nationalists rightly so fought to establish educational and cultural rights. In my view those rights have been long established. Taking nationalism any further in contemporary Flanders in my view may lead to the discrimination of other ethnicities.

Nowadays I feel they are taking nationalism one step too far. Born out of a Dutch speaking mother and a French speaking father, I do not want to take nationalism too far. To me all Belgians are equal. I do not care whether they speak Dutch, French or German. I now call myself a Belgian because I do not want to take nationalism too far.

All cats will have to be neutered by law in Belgium by September 2014

When I first learned about this, it made a lot of sense to me. I had recently become a cat owner due to the fact that someone gave her 2 cats away because she no longer was able to keep them herself. At that time I had been looking for a cat because I wanted one to catch mice in my garden. I was surprised how easy it was to become a cat owner: there seemed to be litters everywhere and animal shelters seemed to be full of cats. I also learned that a lot of cats in shelters ended up dead or euthanized because there were no suitable owners to be found. That said I still am glad that I got my cats straight from the owner and that I opted for both cats instead of the one I first had wanted.

As soon as the cats were effectively in my home it suddenly dawned on me how many cats there were in my neighbourhood and in my own backyard for that matter. Most of them belong to dedicated owners but some clearly were strays. Needless to say what happens if/ when stray cats start breeding: there are even more stray cats and not nearly enough prospective cat owners around to feed them. That means that every year more cats will end up in shelters and possibly euthanized if no owner or prospective owner turns up.
Therefore I found it plausible at first when I learned that stray cats and cats in shelters were going to be neutered before they would be given to new owners. That way the number of stray cats would be reduced because they no longer would be able to procreate in the wild and unattended for.

In a second phase private cat owners who want to sell or give away their cats to someone else will be required to have the cats neutered before they are sold or given away. This I also am able to understand somewhat because that way when the new owner is not able to look after the cats properly at least the cats will not end up with litter and unattended for.

Further down the line of the law is also stated that its goal is that in the end all cats would become neutered. That is the bit that makes no sense to me. If all cats are going to be neutered how on Earth will cats be able to procreate? If cats are no longer able to procreate there will be a moment where there are no longer any cats.
Wait a minute! There is one thing I did not read in this law. Commercial kennels and cat breeders were not mentioned in this law. This means that they still will be able to breed cats. To my knowledge cats bred in kennels by professional breeders are pedigree cats. Why does this make me think of Harry Potter and Slytherin were no mudbloods are allowed and only those of pure blood are?
Why are some cats more equal than others?

Whatever Happened to the Belgian Flag?

This may seem like a strange question to ask. Let me explain myself. A few weeks ago it dawned on me that the flags hanging along the main road in our town are all Flemish flags. That would seem normal to many people because I live in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

However, until further notice Flanders is still a part of Belgium and a few weeks after the Belgian National Holiday July 21 and the coronation of our new king Philip one would expect the Belgian flag hanging all over Main Street.

To be on the safe side I consulted the guidelines for hanging an official flag in my country. Official flags are no longer mandatory except on National Holidays. This somewhat assured me because I was wondering why the flags were up anyway since it was way past the Flemish National Holiday on July 11.

Furthermore I learned that when multiple flags are used the Belgian Flag still prevails. That would explain why last year the Belgian, Flemish and European flags were on display on National Holidays. However on a Belgian Holiday one would expect the Belgian flag and not the Flemish flag. After all we still live in the Belgian Kingdom and not in the Republic of Flanders though for some this might be wishful thinking.

What Happened to Belgian Frankness?

As a little girl I was taught to speak my mind. To my knowledge I have never put things bluntly because I believe I was brought up to be polite as well as direct. In my view being direct can avoid a lot of trouble. When speaking directly people will always know what you mean.

Some people prefer indirect communication. That is alright by my standards. Indirect communication involves a lot of interpretation of circumstantial and secondary information. In some cultures direct communication will prevail, in others indirect communication will. As I stated before: as a little girl I was taught to speak my mind, therefore it is safe to say that I abide by direct communication. Since I was raised a Belgian I never doubted that direct communication was a Belgian thing.

Nowadays I am not so sure anymore: recently I had conversation which left me somewhat baffled. Somewhere along the line it hit me that the person I was talking to did not really speak his mind. In fact it seemed like he went along with what I was saying just to be polite. In the end it did not do our little conversation much good. What is the use of agreeing with someone when as a matter of fact you disagree? In fact this attitude led to a lot of confusion. As a result I did get the wrong end of the stick. This was a shame. I am genuinely interested in what people have to say, whether they agree with me or not.
I am asking myself why some Belgians no longer seem to speak their mind. In all honesty: ‘What happened to Belgian frankness?’ Did Belgian frankness disappear along with the Belgian franc and the subsequent introduction of the euro?