State television in Belgium reported that the province of Flanders had proclaimed its independence and thus Belgium was no longer a country. The fake news story last Wednesday prompted outrage and comparisons to the H.G. Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds. Belgium is a loose union between Flemish-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south.
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This program wan not presented on the state television, because we don’t have one. It was shown on the RTBf , that the broadcast for the French speaking part of Belgium ( 3 000 000 people in Flanders we have 6 000 000 people 200 000 are speaking German 1 000 000 are living in Brussels and are supposed the be bilinguil, but most of them aren’t.
This broadcast of the Walloon television wanted to start a discussion about the consequenses of a possible division (split) of our country: a minority of the Flemish people wants an independent Flemish state. The broadcast made clear that Walloon and Flemish people both have an extreme, caricatural image of each other and also made clear that the majority of the Belgians does not want a division!
You use the term “province”, but the exact trm is “region” and we don’t have two regions, … but three: the Flemish region, the Walloon region, and the region Brussels Capital (“Brussel Hoofdstad”). If Belgium would ever split up, the Brussels region could be a big problem: no one would like to give up Brussels, our capital city, and it is not impossible there would be fights for this city. Brussels could be the cause of a civil war!
Our formula of confederalism is not always an easy one, but as long as we can avoid extreme deeds (like a Flemish or Walloon independence), Belgium is a wonderful country to live in!
Marie Alice
Ghent, Belgium.
This news is a bit chicky! Belgium is a great country as Marie summarized. The Flemish are a friendly and accomodating people, and Brussels is a beautiful city, (worth fighting for).
However, from my time in Antwerpen and Brussels, I know that most Belgiums are tolerant and respective, deep down, of the country’s sometimes divisive populations.
Long live the home of TRUE pommes frites!
Matt Lavington
Steamboat Springs, CO
Many in the province of Limburg (both Belgian and Netherlander) consider their native tongue to be quite distinct from Flemish and, of course, French.
To be sure, I LIKE BELGIANS!!
They are true heirs of Charlemagne
[If you like]; inventors of the modern world; hard-working.
Thier actually are no more heirs of Charlamgneand to be sure His son Carl Died unmarried, His son Pepin had two sons but neither married and his third son became a monk,His disowned son Gobbo was killed in a plot to overthrow Charlamagne