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<h1 itemprop="headline" id="headline" class="">Rattled by Attacks, Many Belgians Still Want Nation Split in TWO<span class=""></span></h1>
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<span class="">Professed “soccer hooligans”
and left-wing activists clashed at a peaceful rally in Brussels last
month, near a shrine to victims of the March 22 terrorist attacks.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times </span>
<p class="">ANTWERP,
Belgium — Normally, Dieter Moyaert and his soccer-loving friends liked
nothing more than hanging out at the Cafe Royal, a soccer bar dominated
by hard-core fans of Royal Antwerp, watching a match, downing beers and,
in a few cases, slipping into the bathroom for a stronger substance.</p><p class="">On
this particular weekend, though, things were different. Visible in the
distance, the stadium lights had been turned on, and a crucial match
against Lierse was about to start. But few people in this Dutch-speaking
city in the Flemish north of the country seemed really excited.</p><p class="">It
was right after the twin terrorist attacks in Brussels, and politicians
in the capital had just canceled a protest march against fear, out of
fear of more attacks. That, it seemed, was more than Mr. Moyaert and the
other self-styled “soccer hooligans” in a group known as the Antwerp
Casuals could stand.</p><p class="">In
an interview this week, Mr. Moyaert said he called the leaders of the
main rival hooligan groups and together they decided that on the day of
the canceled march they would head to Brussels, the capital, where the
French language dominates.</p><p class="">Dressed
in black, shouting insults against the Islamic State, they arrived
waving the flag. Not the black lion of Flanders, Mr. Moyaert emphasized,
but the black, yellow and red national flag of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/belgium/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Belgium." class="">Belgium</a>.</p>
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<span class="">Onlookers watched Belgian police officers advance on protesters in Brussels on Saturday.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times </span>
<p class="">“It
was unprecedented,” Mr. Moyaert said. “Our message was, ‘If hooligans
can unite under the national flag, the whole country can.’ We thought we
would be welcomed as heroes.”</p><p class="">But they were wrong.</p><p class="">Left-wing
activists saw them approaching and started shouting warnings that the
hooligans were fascists. Fights broke out. The riot police showed up.
The international news media had a field day reporting on the neo-Nazi
soccer hooligans. And once again, Belgium, among Europe’s most divided
and troubled countries, looked like a mess.</p>
<p class="" id="story-continues-1">“It’s
hard to unite the country,” Mr. Moyaert said. “But I still believe we
can keep things together.” Asked about the others in his group, he
paused. “What do my friends think? Forget it, they just want
independence.”</p> <br>
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<h2 class=""><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/news-event/brussels-attacks">Brussels Terror Attacks</a></h2>
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<ul><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/world/europe/najim-laachraoui-paris-brussels-attacks.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2FBrussels%20Terror%20Attacks">
<h2 class="">
<span class="">
Radicalization of a Belgium Student T</span>
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</a>
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<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/us/politics/senate-takes-steps-to-tighten-airport-security.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2FBrussels%20Terror%20Attacks">
<h2 class="">
<span class="">
Senate Takes Steps to Tighten Airport Security </span>
APR 7
</h2>
</a>
</li><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/world/europe/belgium-brussels-islam-radicalization.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2FBrussels%20Terror%20Attacks">
<h2 class="">
<span class="">
Blaming Policy, Not Islam, for Belgium’s Radicalized Youth </span>
APR 7
</h2>
</a>
</li><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/world/europe/brussels-airport-attack-suspect-video.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2FBrussels%20Terror%20Attacks">
<h2 class="">
<span class="">
Belgian Police Release New Video of Brussels Airport Suspect </span>
APR 7
</h2>
</a>
</li><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000004314568/belgium-attacker-man-in-hat.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2FBrussels%20Terror%20Attacks">
<h2 class="">
<span class="">
Belgium Releases Video of Terror Suspect </span>
APR 7
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</a>
</li></ul>
<p class=""><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/news-event/brussels-attacks">See More »</a></p>
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<div class="">
<h2 class="">Related Coverage</h2>
<ul><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/world/europe/najim-laachraoui-paris-brussels-attacks.html">
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<img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/04/07/world/07bombmaker_web1/07bombmaker_web1-thumbStandard-v2.jpg" alt="">
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<h2 class="">
<span class="">Radicalization of a Belgium Student Turned Bomb Maker Was Invisible</span>
APRIL 8, 2016
</h2>
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</a>
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<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/world/europe/belgium-brussels-islam-radicalization.html">
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<img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/04/08/world/08letter_web1/08letter_web1-thumbStandard.jpg" alt="">
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<h3 class="">LETTER FROM EUROPE </h3>
<h2 class="">
<span class="">Blaming Policy, Not Islam, for Belgium’s Radicalized Youth</span>
APRIL 7, 2016
</h2>
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</a>
</li><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/world/europe/brussels-airport-attack-suspect-video.html">
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<img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/04/08/world/08belgium_video1/08belgium_video1-thumbStandard.jpg" alt="">
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<h2 class="">
<span class="">Belgian Police Release New Video of Brussels Airport Suspect</span>
APRIL 7, 2016
</h2>
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</a>
</li><li>
<a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/europe/brussels-airports-reopening-delayed-by-security-dispute.html">
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<img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/04/02/world/02belgium_web1/02belgium_web1-thumbStandard.jpg" alt="">
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<h2 class="">
<span class="">Brussels Airport’s Reopening Delayed by Security Dispute</span>
APRIL 1, 2016
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</a>
</li></ul>
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<p class="" id="story-continues-3">The
Brussels attacks have shaken up people in Flanders, just as elsewhere
in the country. But weeks later many here are asking deeper questions:
whether the faltering, French-dominated federal government in Brussels
can cope with the difficult challenges of immigration and terrorism; or,
ultimately, whether the Flemish people are not better off going their
own way as an independent nation with Antwerp as its capital.</p><p class="">One
obvious monument to Flemish independence, the Iron Tower, rises 275
feet over the flat landscape of western Flanders, in the town of <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=diksmuide+belgium&biw=1878&bih=898&tbm=isch&imgil=SbkwHbwXi4lPOM%253A%253BFRLktqBR5QW18M%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FDiksmuide&source=iu&pf=m&fir=SbkwHbwXi4lPOM%253A%252CFRLktqBR5QW18M%252C_&usg=__EiKKnCkZtz6n-wVopARD4-uB_2w%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiutPOVxvzLAhXF8RQKHf2HCwUQyjcISw&ei=R1UGV-70CMXjU_2Prig#imgrc=_">Diksmuide</a>, and bears at its top a row of massive letters, an abbreviation for “All for Flanders — Flanders for Christ.”</p><p class="">It
was built after World War I, at the start of the Flemish national
movement, when soldiers returning from the muddy trenches and blood
spattered battlefields refused to accept the prewar status quo of French
dominance. In 1946, the tower was dynamited by unknown people, though
many suspected French-speaking groups. A new, even taller one was
immediately constructed in its place, though the pressure for Flemish
separatism slowly subsided.</p>
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<div id="g-0408-web-FLANDERSmap-460-graphic">
<img style="height: 324px;" id="g-ai0-0" class="" src="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2016/04/07/flandersmap/3cfd8713be9f9c425684c3097c748eb22629ecd5/0408-web-FLANDERSmap-460.png">
<div id="g-ai0-1" class="" style="width:19.8166%">
<p class="">BRITAIN</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-2" class="" style="width:37.4949%">
<p class="">NETHERLANDS</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-3" class="" style="">
<p class="">London</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-4" class="" style="">
<p class="">Antwerp</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-5" class="" style="">
<p class="">Diksmuide</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-6" class="" style="width:24.761%">
<p class="">FLANDERS</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-7" class="" style="width:25.5418%">
<p class="">GERMANY</p>
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<p class="">Aalst</p>
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<p class="">Brussels</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-10" class="" style="">
<p class="">Affligem</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-11" class="" style="width:24.913%">
<p class="">BELGIUM</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-12" class="" style="width:35.5613%">
<p class="">English Channel</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-13" class="" style="width:23.7746%">
<p class="">WALLONIA</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-14" class="" style="width:20.3248%">
<p class="">FRANCE</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-15" class="" style="width:36.0148%">
<p class="">LUXEMBOURG</p>
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<div id="g-ai0-16" class="" style="">
<p class="">50 Miles</p>
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<p class="">
</p>
By The New York Times </div>
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<p class="">But
the prospect of division is never far from the national consciousness,
particularly given that the nation’s largest political party, the New
Flemish Alliance, is dedicated to gradual, peaceful secession.</p><p class="">Belgium was <a href="http://www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/country/history/belgium_from_1830">not even a country until 1830</a>,
when a rebellion of the Southern Netherlands backed by France led to
independence. French became the dominant language, and the resulting
state structure was also favorable to those from Wallonia, the nation’s
French-speaking southern region. Dutch speakers, now a majority of 60
percent, were considered peasants by the French speakers, who found
their potato stew culture nearly barbaric.</p><p class="">In
addition to being divided between Dutch and French speakers, with a bit
of German thrown in, Belgium still lacks cohesive national symbols.
There is the <a href="http://atomium.be/history.aspx">“Atomium</a>,” a chrome structure made for the 1958 World’s Fair. There is <a href="http://www.brussels.be/artdet.cfm/4328">‘‘Manneken Pis,’</a>’
a statue of a boy urinating. And, of course, chocolate, abbey-brewed
beers and the national soccer team, the Rode Duivels, or red devils.
That is about it, most Belgians, Flemish or Wallonian, agree.</p><p class="">The new challenges to Belgian unity were visible inside the Iron Tower one day recently. At its base was a small memorial for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/world/europe/brussels-attacks-bart-migom.html">Bart Migom</a>,
a 21-year-old student from Diksmuide who died in the suicide bombings
at Brussels Airport. He had been on his way to see his American
girlfriend in Georgia.</p>
<p class="" id="story-continues-4">“During
the next elections we will see yet another move to the right,” said
Koen Coupillie, the leader of the local chapter of the New Flemish
Alliance. “People are angry and feel powerless after these attacks, so
we can expect that some will vote for extreme right parties.”</p><p class="">Flanders
had already taken a shift to the right over the last decade, with Mr.
Coupillie’s party sweeping up most of the votes and becoming, in 2014, <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/65832aa2-4f01-11e4-9c88-00144feab7de.html#axzz459OZKnQV">the single largest political party in Belgium.</a>
On the other side there has been no political change. The Parti
Socialiste has for decades attracted the main French-language vote.</p>
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<p class="">“Their
solution for everything is completely different,” Mr. Coupillie, 32,
said of the Parti Socialiste. “They just want to keep old structures in
place, while we want to reform and improve.”</p><p class="">Standing
on top of the tower, which affords a panoramic view of preserved
trenches from the First World War, Mr. Coupillie pointed at the new
location for a center for asylum seekers, where 200 refugees would soon
be housed. “We had a town gathering,” he said. “People were calm, but it
will take a long time for them to accept outsiders, I expect.”</p><p class="">Immigration
has been a hot-button issue in Belgium, as elsewhere in Europe. Between
2000 and 2010, Belgium accepted more immigrants than Canada, which has
more than three times the population. Over 25 percent of Belgium’s 11
million people have an immigrant background, and many of them, from
former French colonies like Morocco, speak French.</p><p class="">At
a farmer’s market in Aalst, a Flemish city close to Brussels, many said
the integration of Muslims in Belgium had failed, and laid the blame
with the French-dominated elite in the capital.</p><p class="">“We
live separated,” said Jos Wauters, a civil servant from the nearby city
of Affligem, known for its blond beer brewed in a nearby abbey. “We
don’t meet, we don’t talk. It’s not working out.”</p><p class="">He
blamed the left-wing French parties, which had long blocked national
laws on compulsory language courses. “Meanwhile, they just continued
inviting people to come. Of course we have huge problems now.” His wife
nodded, though when she spoke her accent revealed her Wallonian
background.</p><p class="">“We can all live together, Flemish and Wallonian,” Mr. Wauters said, smiling and pointing to his wife, “but only in Flanders.”</p></div></div>From the NYTimes 4/8/16<br clear="all"><div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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