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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 23 September 2008 - Volume 02<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Jonny</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:jonny.meibohm@arcor.de">jonny.meibohm@arcor.de</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Events" 2008.09.22 (03) [E]</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Beste Luc und
Reinhard!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Luc schreev:</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: teal;">Too bad that Northern
Germany
was left out of the picture.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">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'. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";" lang="DE">To name it
'Flachlandfest' implies for me: "Flachländer aller Länder, kommt und
vereinigt Euch (beim Feiern)!"</span><span style="" lang="DE"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">[(*) But that could
be another good idea, by the way!]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">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*.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Ron in answer:</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: teal;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">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 <i><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">".de"</span></i>?? 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'.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I'm waiting for more
of this kind of regional identity with its individualistic specialties</span> <span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> and PR-events - that should
be Modern Europe and will help to save minorities and the wonderful
diversity of the Old World.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Kumpelmenten!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Jonny Meibohm</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
----------<br>
<br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Subject: Events<br>
<br>
Hi, everyone!<br>
<br>
I guess I (and Luc?) reacted in a biased way to the name <i>Flachland</i>,
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.)<br>
<br>
I'm all for a Belgian-Netherlands festival ... <i>anywhere</i>. 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.<br><br>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 <i>German</i>. A Dutch name might
have been a happier choice. Names tend to be evocative and labeling, and many people never go beyond names.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron<br>
<br>
***<br>
<br>
</span>Dear sirs,<br>
<br>
I do understand your concern. But please bear in mind that the decision was
largely practical.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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...").<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<span style="" lang="NL">Best regards,<br>
<br clear="all">
Sander Van de Moortel<br>
<br>
</span><a href="mailto:sander.vandemoortel@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="text-decoration: none;" lang="NL"><span id="lw_1222179012_0">sander.vandemoortel@gmail.com</span></span></span></a><span style="" lang="NL"><br>
Germany: +49 151 57 24 9494<br>
Belgium: +32 473 888 408<br>
VoIP: +32 2 888 93 82<br>
skype: sandervdm<br>
<br>
</span><a href="http://www.flachlandfest.de/" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="text-decoration: none;" lang="NL"><span id="lw_1222179012_1">www.flachlandfest.de</span></span></span></a><span style="" lang="NL"><br>
</span><a href="mailto:sander@flachland.org" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="text-decoration: none;" lang="NL"><span id="lw_1222179012_2">sander@flachland.org</span></span></span></a><span style="" lang="NL"></span></p>
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