LL-L "Events" 2008.09.23 (03) [E]

Tue Sep 23 15:07:40 UTC 2008

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L O W L A N D S - L - 23 September 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Events" 2008.09.22 (03) [E]

Beste Luc und Reinhard!

*Luc schreev:*

Too bad that Northern Germany was left out of the picture.

What should be bad if any Dutch/Flemish people make a good fiesta, with
everybody invited to take part? A party within the extended family - guests
are welcomed (as far as I understood the publication) - is something
different than a mega-party(*) of the whole, big 'Flachland'. To name it
'Flachlandfest' implies for me: "Flachländer aller Länder, kommt und
vereinigt Euch (beim Feiern)!"

[(*) But that could be another good idea, by the way!]

Any event arranged by e.g. the people of Land Hadeln doesn't connote the
presence and participation of the people of Land Kehdingen - though they
probably are welcomed, without the necessity of a formal diplomatic
memorandum ;-)! (This could be different in Dithmarschen *s*.)

*Ron in answer:*

What you're seeing there is typical of the average view in Germany....The
fact that many people do not see it as such (which to northern "extremists"
may seem like an insult) is the result of long-time Germanization.

Hmm- I'm not sure to understand you. Perhaps you missed the fact that this
is an event mainly arranged by Dutch and Flemish organizations, because of
the irritating *".de"*?? Why else should it be an average view of Germans,
or even an indication of Germanization? To see (more or less slightly)
different and closely related folks representing their culture
and themselves and having some good days WITHIN Germany? Three cheers
for all those welcomed little fertilizing differences! What could be better
than to experience that other, closely related folks seem to feel
comfortable in Berlin? I don't think this should be looked upon as another
event of 'separatism'.

I'm waiting for more of this kind of regional identity with its
individualistic specialties  and PR-events - that should be Modern Europe
and will help to save minorities and the wonderful diversity of the Old
World.

Kumpelmenten!

Jonny Meibohm

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Events

Hi, everyone!

I guess I (and Luc?) reacted in a biased way to the name *Flachland*,
because we want to transcend political boundaries. To me it evokes not just
Belgium and the Netherlands, but its larger part is in Northern Germany,
geographically, topographically, culturally and linguistically. It's
"biased" in that I would like to think that when it comes to such aspects
compartmentalizing  on a country level ought to be a thing of the past (i.e.
should not be perpetuated) in today's Europe ("Belgium and the Netherlands
are flat, Germany isn't.)

I'm all for a Belgian-Netherlands festival ... *anywhere*. I think I can
safely say that this goes for all of us on Lowlands-L. I congratulate the
organizers on that. It's a wonderful thing. There is a lot of ignorance
about the "Low Countries" in Germany as a whole, as there is about the
heritage of Germany's north.

I know this may seem like silly splitting of hairs, but I think that if you
have it in Germany the name should be chosen in such a way that everyone
knows exactly which region you mean and that Northern Germany is not
included, especially when the name is *German*. A Dutch name might have been
a happier choice. Names tend to be evocative and labeling, and many people
never go beyond names.

Anyway, I copied the organizers on yesterday's posting and received a
response from one of them, which I really appreciate and share with you
below.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

***

Dear sirs,

I do understand your concern. But please bear in mind that the decision was
largely practical.

Organising a festival of this size and on such short terms takes a lot of
manpower and time. If we were to include *all* the Low Countries as defined
by linguistics and culture, would require us to deal with laws and habits
yet unknown to us. What is more, is that you have to draw the line
somewhere. We could indeed include half Europe in our festival if we were to
follow your guidelines.

Moreover, we are a group of Dutch-speaking young people who live in Berlin.
Technically, we should also include the French-speaking part of Belgium
(which, considering its vast range of quality cinema, would be an excellent
idea). However, we were faced with a lot of opposition from our maecenases
(including the Flemish representative on the Belgian embassy in Berlin). If
you have read a bit about Belgium (if not, now would be a good time, given
the new political crisis) in the last 40 years, you can probably understand
that it was a sheer impossibility to include anything that referred to
Belgium.

We are curbed and indeed crippled by political squabbles that seem to haunt
us far over the Belgian borders, rather than our own young enthousiasm. Yes,
Flemish nationalism seems far more bitter on the outside of the Belgian
border.

Lastly, no matter how much you twist or turn it, northern Germany may be on
a cultural continuum, but boundaries have nonetheless contained cultures, as
they did with languages, and drawn them to a certain epicentre. Therefore I
think we can rightly state that we're culturally - however slightly -
different.

Now, to make a long story short, everyone in the organisation has his or her
reasons. Some do it to fill their c.v.'s, others purely out of love for
music, film, theatre and fine arts. I personally have a more
polito-economical purpose. I want to re-establish both Belgium and the Dutch
language on the cultural map of Europe. Thanks to the Belgian political
malaise and speakers of Dutch claiming they either speak "Hollandic" or
"Flemish" (which, by all linguistic standards, is false), outsiders do no
longer know what to think.

To give you an example: recently I was not chosen for a job in Berlin
because I could not convince them that I was a native speaker Dutch ("How
can you speak Dutch if you're Belgian, you speak Flemish at best...").

So there. I do not know why I took the time to write all this, but I guess I
enjoyed musing about the situation in the meantime and I hope you understand
our views.

Best regards,

Sander Van de Moortel

sander.vandemoortel at gmail.com
Germany: +49 151 57 24 9494
Belgium: +32 473 888 408
VoIP: +32 2 888 93 82
skype: sandervdm

www.flachlandfest.de
sander at flachland.org
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