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 19th 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 20th
century, and in my view, linguistic equality for each Belgian was being further
established during the second half of the 20th 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 21st 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point of view, the Flemish Movement is obsolete and no longer a necessity.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 19th 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!
