belgium, does it exist? new study weighs in (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Lawnchair Bes
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You can't explain it in a couple of minutes. If you have to do so, I'd just say there is a bit of political tension between the french speaking part and the Flemish. You might add that a lot of Flemish political parties try to tell people that the Walloon area is dead economic weight. Examples they often use are cities such as Charleroi, which are far from nice places to live. I don't agree with the entire political discourse, but it is what's creating a lot of tension. You could talk about the last political crisis of course: it took ages to get us a new prime minister and there were/are talks of splitting the country in half.
Brussels, of course, is supposed to be bilingual. But it's not. They speak French over there. Because I find it highly annoying that people ask me to speak a language I don't speak well in my own capital, I will never utter a word in French in Brussels, even though we all learnt French in high school. If I were to go to Charleroi, I would speak French though.
You could also talk about beer, chocolate, Congo, WW1 and godawful weather.
Brussels, of course, is supposed to be bilingual. But it's not. They speak French over there. Because I find it highly annoying that people ask me to speak a language I don't speak well in my own capital, I will never utter a word in French in Brussels, even though we all learnt French in high school. If I were to go to Charleroi, I would speak French though.
You could also talk about beer, chocolate, Congo, WW1 and godawful weather.
what the fuck??!!
Belgium is only in part a Francophone country.
Much of the tensions you probably have heared of are due to the industrial revolution in the XIXth century. Before 1850, Belgium's primary activity was agriculture, especially in Flanders. There was some cloth-making business it was still artisanal more than anything.
Belgium was the first country on the continent to exploit the industrial revolution to its full extent. Our coal acitivity, along the Liège-Charleroi axis (and to a lesser extent in Limburg) has been hailed as a model throughout Europe and was only followed later by the likes of the Ruhr.
This gave rise to the emergence of a French-speaking industrial bourgeoisie who ruled Belgium more or less until WWII. Mind you, French-speaking does not necessarily mean Walloon. A lot of Flemish industrials found it fancy to speak French rather than Flemish. As a consequence, all administration, schools, justice and so on where in French.
Frustration grew among the Flemish, and step by step the Flemish language gained more and more official usage (cornerstone: Flemish-isation of the Ghent university in 1930).
After WWII, the Walloon economy -roughly based on coal, steel and other havy industries- found it hard to pick up, and completely fell into oblivion in the 1970's, whereas the Flanders' economy started to boom.
This economic shift exacerbated the feelings of the "oppressed" Flemish. Not only were the French speakers imposing their language, now they even started to be an economic burden, literally begging for Flemish money.
That's more or less were we stand. The walloons are still trying to build something on the ruins of their past glory. The flemish are sick of buying for "those lazy-ass, socialist lowlifes", and are still paranoiac for any form of hidden assault of the French language on their territory.
Add to that the fact that Brussels in a French speaking city surrounded by Flanders, and that the Flemish politicians went a bit too far in trying to get the populist (Flemish-independist) vote, and you got a cocktail of frustration that is growing on both sides of the country
That makes 6 minutes, no?
EDIT: now, Belgian historians: please correct me.
Much of the tensions you probably have heared of are due to the industrial revolution in the XIXth century. Before 1850, Belgium's primary activity was agriculture, especially in Flanders. There was some cloth-making business it was still artisanal more than anything.
Belgium was the first country on the continent to exploit the industrial revolution to its full extent. Our coal acitivity, along the Liège-Charleroi axis (and to a lesser extent in Limburg) has been hailed as a model throughout Europe and was only followed later by the likes of the Ruhr.
This gave rise to the emergence of a French-speaking industrial bourgeoisie who ruled Belgium more or less until WWII. Mind you, French-speaking does not necessarily mean Walloon. A lot of Flemish industrials found it fancy to speak French rather than Flemish. As a consequence, all administration, schools, justice and so on where in French.
Frustration grew among the Flemish, and step by step the Flemish language gained more and more official usage (cornerstone: Flemish-isation of the Ghent university in 1930).
After WWII, the Walloon economy -roughly based on coal, steel and other havy industries- found it hard to pick up, and completely fell into oblivion in the 1970's, whereas the Flanders' economy started to boom.
This economic shift exacerbated the feelings of the "oppressed" Flemish. Not only were the French speakers imposing their language, now they even started to be an economic burden, literally begging for Flemish money.
That's more or less were we stand. The walloons are still trying to build something on the ruins of their past glory. The flemish are sick of buying for "those lazy-ass, socialist lowlifes", and are still paranoiac for any form of hidden assault of the French language on their territory.
Add to that the fact that Brussels in a French speaking city surrounded by Flanders, and that the Flemish politicians went a bit too far in trying to get the populist (Flemish-independist) vote, and you got a cocktail of frustration that is growing on both sides of the country
That makes 6 minutes, no?
EDIT: now, Belgian historians: please correct me.
Lol, sorry. I forgot that you're also interested in Belgium's history 
Seriously, my professors never payed too much attention to Belgium. Apart from Antwerpen's golden age, the colonisation and Belgium during the world wars, i never really learned anything about Belgium so i'm really interested about the genesis of their problem.
Seriously, my professors never payed too much attention to Belgium. Apart from Antwerpen's golden age, the colonisation and Belgium during the world wars, i never really learned anything about Belgium so i'm really interested about the genesis of their problem.
tu l'expliques en francais?
when i got back from france i had to do an oral presentation on anything i liked as long as it concerned french culture, i had 2 months to prepare but i just rocked up and started speaking about racism in france improv.. while other kids talked about music and football from a sheet of paper. Smiiished them all.
So bes, my advice to you is: bullshit your way to success! lesson learned..
when i got back from france i had to do an oral presentation on anything i liked as long as it concerned french culture, i had 2 months to prepare but i just rocked up and started speaking about racism in france improv.. while other kids talked about music and football from a sheet of paper. Smiiished them all.
So bes, my advice to you is: bullshit your way to success! lesson learned..