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A Swiss prescription for what ails Belgium

ANDREW REDING

Special to Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 4:29 PM EDT 17/03/08

Belgium's Dutch-French feud is a festering political sore. Could the Swiss model cure the factionalism? ...Read the full article

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  1. Blaque Jacque Shallaque from Canada writes: This opinion piece seems to paint the Flemish/Walloon issue in Belgium as a language problem. But language is only a side-issue. The real issue seems to be economic/cultural.

    The Flemish are economically more productive, more capitalistic and more wary of entanglement with the EU sociopolitical experiment. The Walloons are much of a welfare state, much more "EU" like, and are supported to a very significant extent by Flemish tax dollars.

    In Brussels, dutch speakers have become almost invisible, and there is huge resentment against the manner in which the French have "stolen" the capital, and populated it with their own social institutions.

    The Walloons have also wielded political power out of proportion to their numbers, against a source of resentment.

    Frankly, other than the the scare tactic of the unknown outcome, there is no clear reason for the Flemish to want to participate in today's Belgium, as they see themselves used and disrespected.

    The EU, already under attack from many directions because of in creasing recognition that it is turning into a nondemocratic nonrepresentative oligarchy, would be HUGELY embarrassed if its capital city, Brussels, was to come from a nation that fell apart due to nationalistic influence, which are precisely what the EU wishes to abolish. So Belgium has been hugely pressured, frankly threatened, to avoid the separation/secession route.

    It's a much more complex story that this simple opinion piece is telling. We seem to have had many of these one sided opinion pieces in the Globe recently. I wonder why?
  2. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: Blaque Jacque Shallaque from Canada - you evidently don't know anything about Belgium. First, remove the GDP produced by the BHV region from the Flanders GDP and you'll see that the so-called Flemish economic miracle isn't so great. Second, you claim that the Flemish resent the French have 'stolen' the capital. I have news for you - the capital has been French-speaking since the birth of the country in 1830. Nothing was 'stolen'. Third, your claim that the Walloons wield power out of proportion to their numbers is ridiculous. Belgium was always run by an francophone elite. They made the country what it is today and French has always been the national language, much like English is in Canada. You're right that it's much more complex than this article illustrates, but not for the reasons you claim. I lived in Belgium for a few years (Brussels) and I can tell you any discussion of the complexities of this country without mentioning the racist tendencies of many Flemish, and their strong support for the nationalism, fascism and anti-immigration policies of the main political parties in Flanders, ie the Vlaams Belang, doesn't do justice to the topic. And what would Flanders do on their own? Join the Netherlands? The fact is the identity of Belgium was shaped by francophones and that is what insenses the Flemish. It's an anger born of resentment and jealousy, but in the end those country bumpkins are no more suited to running a modern nation than the country bumpkins we have out west who suffer from the same conceit.
  3. one thinker from Canada writes: As a side note. If the analogy is kept which of the two examples used in this essay apply for Canada, are we swiss or belgiums or neither ?
  4. Rollo Tomasi from Belgium writes: one thinker from Canada writes: As a side note. If the analogy is kept which of the two examples used in this essay apply for Canada, are we swiss or belgiums or neither ?
    ------------------------

    Niether.
  5. Oren Margolis from Oxford, United Kingdom writes: The first two posters here, in their own highly partisan ways, are in spite of themselves getting at the issue. Yes, Brussels was historically part of the county of Flanders; and yes, modern "Belgium", a made-up post-Napoleonic country named after an ancient Celtic tribe that Caesar had come across, was a construction by a French-speaking elite.

    But of course it's not so simple, because the glory days of Flanders were under the Valois dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold in particular, who, though they operated with complete independence and often in opposition to France, were scions of the French royal house. They were French-speaking, and their remarkable culture, of which a town like Bruges/Brugge is so proud, was French-oriented, and even the great Flemish artists, such as Jan van Eyck, worked within this, albeit multilingual, French elite-dominant sphere. But "Burgundy" was an informal construction with no state structure, and the different counties and duchies were held separately by the Burgundian duke; Flanders was Flanders, Brabant was Brabant, and Burgundy, way down south, was Burgundy. Habsburg rule didn't really change that.

    What does is the creation of the modern state. And make no mistake, it was a non-organic creation from the outside; there was no historical motivation for drawing just these territories together, other than the fact that they were generally Catholic. A nice bulwark between Germany and France it is, but that's about it. What's the option? It's not like states drawn on ethnic lines prove much more stable, and as we see in the Balkans, there's always some other ethnicity popping up. Indeed, there is nothing natural about the State, in general, only that it is the modern face of the imposed power structure. Is the problem of Belgium not just the problem of the State, which must constantly seek to justify itself, and thus a problem of Modernity?
  6. Rhadamanthus behind the Rockies from Victoria BC, Canada writes: Steve Allan,

    I take issue with this statement of yours: "those country bumpkins are no more suited to running a modern nation than the country bumpkins we have out west who suffer from the same conceit."

    I am no country bumpkin and neither are most of the people who happen to live west of the Lakehead. Is it a conceit of ours that we should "run the country"? No. But Canadians are voting with their feet and moving West, and moving Canada's economic center west with them.

    I am rather disappointed to hear such bigotry (the bigotry here is an anti-Western chauvinism) as Ontarians are, after all, supposedly the most enlightened people in the country-- or claim to be.

    Thankfully I don't share such chauvinism. If BC and the West take on a larger role in Canada it's because we've worked hard and we will have earned it. I'm sorry that your economy is not doing well and ours is out here, but when the tables have been turned, you here much less grousing about it out here.

    I'd like to say that such an arrogant attitude is unique, but I've heard it before from a few Ontarians. After being the center of the universe for so many decades (since before Confederation) such people have a hard time letting go of their feelings of entitlement.

    But then again, I'm sure you, Steve, in no way speak for the majority of your fellow Ontarians. Ontario was a founding partner of Canada and we could never have made it to where we are today if such attitudes prevailed.

    And such arrogance will not go unchallenged on my watch.
  7. O T from Canada writes: steve allan writes: "And what would Flanders do on their own? Join the Netherlands?"

    No, because the Dutch look down on the Flemish. Rightfully so, I might add.

    "the capital has been French-speaking since the birth of the country in 1830."

    No, Brussels was originally a Dutch-speaking city which is now officially bilingual (although the majority of the population are now French speakers).

    Whatever the case, all I can say is that Flanders is the most boring, backwater place I've ever lived!
  8. National Action Committee on the Status of Elvis in Canada from Ottawa, Canada writes: steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes:but in the end those country bumpkins are no more suited to running a modern nation than the country bumpkins we have out west who suffer from the same conceit.

    As a resident of Ontario, I wish to dissociate myself with the bigoted views above. The vast majority of Ontarians do not hold these narrow-minded views.

    Steve Allan, you are no doubt one of those who contributed to the failure of the Belgian experiment. Please stay away from Canada: we still have a chance.
  9. Blaque Jacque Shallaque from Canada writes: Steve Allan, reading your arrogant post makes the source of the Flemish / Walloon problem clear. Thank you for enlightening everyone here.
  10. deliciously uncanadian from Canada writes: The Franco-German divide is alive and well in Switzerland.

    Buy the Tribune de Geneve and try finding stories about the German parts of the country. On the other hand, France, and Paris in particular, take up most of the column inches.

    The peace in Switzerland is akin to a couple with separate bedrooms.
  11. CD W from Canada writes: The poor Walloons, cant get a break, well they should make their own breaks. Maybe they should claim some aboriginal status and start blockading. We could send them an OPP commissioner or 2 to not stop them.
  12. Kevin McDougald from Winnipeg, Canada writes: One of the secrets to Switzerland's success is that it has a small population. As a country's population increases in size, its governability tends to deteriorate.
  13. Blaque Jacque Shallaque from Canada writes: For a more meaningful assessment of the Flemish/Walloon issue, see this article in Speigel Online.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,516277,00.html

    Much of the crisis there is about Fraconophone arrogance and sense of entitlement.

    I wonder if that happens anywhere else in the world....
  14. Randal Oulton from Canada writes: >> steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: Blaque Jacque Shallaque from Canada - you evidently don't know anything about Belgium

    Well I don't know anything about Belgium. But the distasteful arrogance of your post made me immediately think that you, Mr Allan, confuse personal opinion with "knowing."

    >> those country bumpkins are no more suited to running a modern nation than the country bumpkins we have out west who suffer from the same conceit.

    I am born and bred in Ontario, and I just want to say that I ain't seen the today's self-appointed Family Compact people in Upper Canada do much for working people, so I'm willing to give the bumpkins a shot. And I'd probably enjoy a beer with them more than I would a chilled Chardonnay with you.
  15. David Wesdon from Toronto, Canada writes: The author is right when he says Switzerland works because it was formed as a federation of equal cantons. I just don't know how he would apply the Swiss prescription for Belgium. By wiping our history and introducing cantons?

    Canada is living proof that introducing cantons or provinces would not help. We already have 10 provinces, but we still have problems because of our history. French Canadians were not recognized as equal partners and that's why they don't feel like part of our country today. No-one can rewrite history.
  16. Dr. Sartor from Victoria, Canada writes: This is all much ado about nothing. "Belgium" is a hoax:

    http://zapatopi.net/belgium/

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