Belgium: Language faultline makes Belgians foreigners in their own country

[Harold Schiffman]

Language faultline makes Belgians foreigners in their own country


DILBEEK, Belgium (AFP) — "In Dilbeek, Flemish are at home," reads a
sign greeting visitors to a cultural centre in this small city on the
outskirts of Brussels, much to the indignation of French speakers.
Sitting on the linguistic faultline that divides Belgium into Dutch
and French speaking halves, this city of 40,000 people is a microcosm
of the tensions fuelling one of the deepest political crises in the
country's history.
"We are Belgian citizens, we are not foreigners in Flanders," said
Michel Dandoy, a French-speaking politician in the Flemish city.

"It's incredible to be considered as second class citizens. Our
(French-speaking) associations don't receive subsidies, we are not
allowed to hold meetings on the premises of the city council," said
Dandoy, a member of the only French-speaking party in the
Dutch-speaking suburbs surrounding Brussels.
The small dormitory towns around Brussels are at the centre of the
political crisis gripping linguistically divided Belgium, which is set
to break its record on Tuesday for the longest period without forming
a new coalition government.

Tensions over the rights of French-speakers in such Flemish towns to
vote for Francophone politicians are one of the main issues keeping
politicians from agreeing a ruling coalition nearly five months after
a June 10 general election. In Dilbeek, the French-speaking minority,
which makes up 15 to 25 percent of the population, have little contact
with their Dutch-speaking neighbors. "We don't mix a lot,"
acknowledged Jean Paulis, a 76-year-old retired French-speaking
engineer who has been living in Dilbeek since the 1960s. "If I'd
known, I would have never bought land here," he added bitterly.

After more than 40 years in the city, Paulis has no Flemish friends
and his wife, who speaks no Dutch, prefers to do her shopping in
mainly French-speaking Brussels nearby. Paulis rails against local
civil servants' refusal to speak in any other language but Dutch and
bans at local Flemish schools against French-speaking students using
the language of Moliere with each other on the playground. But
Dilbeek's mayor, Stefaan Platteau, a descendent of French huguenots,
insists that such complaints come only from a minority of die-hards
"who totally refuse to integrate and find learning Dutch horrible."

"If I moved to Paris, I would find it normal to learn French," he
said. Amid such local tensions, politicians face a herculean task of
forging a federal coalition government drawing on politicians from
both Dutch and French speaking parties as required under the country's
proportional voting system. While in the distant past French was the
dominant language among the political elite, the Flemish have become
increasingly assertive about their language as the northern region has
grown richer than the southern French-speaking region of Wallonia
since World War II.

In the June 10 election, Flemish politicians demanded more power over
economic policy to be devolved to regional authorities amid public
opinion that Flemish taxpayers foot the bill for jobless benefits in
high-unemployment Wallonia. But as political tensions simmer, the
crisis has also sparked rare showings of patriotism among individuals
concerned about the uncertain fate of their country amid speculation
that it could even one day split up. Brussels in particular is
sprouting a growing number of national black-yellow-red flags
fluttering from the windows and balconies of average citizens although
the movement is nearly imperceptible in Flanders.

"It's the national flag that's sought after, not the Flemish lion or
the Walloon rooster" said Gregory Leroo, managing director of leading
Belgian flag maker Wollux, in reference to the two regions' flags

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