LL-L "Language politics" 2009.09.07 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 07 September 2009 - Volume 02
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2009.09.05 (02) [EN]

> From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
> Subject: LL-L Language Politics
> .... One of the traditional political events, the first Sunday of
September, since about 30 years,  is a hiking/biking tour in the ring of
Flemish municipalities around Brussels:
> http://www.de-gordel.be/
> http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/edu/gordel.pdf (5 Mb)
> Last year the French started with a, still modest, counter-event, at the
very same day, at the inside of the borders of the Brussels region:
> http://www.la-bretelle.be/
> It is better they focus on that and stop spreading pushpins on the Flemish
biking routes.
> "*Gordel*" in Dutch = belt ("riem" in my Limburgish)
> "*Bretelle*(s)" in French = suspenders ("pertelle" in my Limburgish)
> "Bretelle" is a kind of a carnival opposite to "gordel".
> The political opposite term to the Flemish "gordel", encircling and
containing the Brussels belly, is "*carcan*", straitjacket, in French.
> More official terms are "*rand*" in Dutch and "*périphérie*" in French.
Often these terms are used restrictively to just 6 Flemish villages around
Brussels, with a protection status (called "faciliteiten" "facilités") for
the French speakers.

The Flemish "*Gordel*" event (*29th* year) at the outside around Brussels
got *68000* participants, including French-speakers (liking the
well-organized event, without supporting the political goals).
http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/gordel/1.pdf
http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/gordel/2.pdf
The French "*Bretelle*" counter-event (*2d* year) on the very same day at
the inside of the borders of Brussels got *200* participants.
http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/gordel/bret.pdf

A recurring action point each year (less hot than last year) is the split of
the *BHV-district*.
The BHV (*Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde*) district is as well a judicial district
as also an electoral district.
It overlaps as well the bilingual Brussels capital region (*B*) as also the
unilingual Dutch (& Brabantish) language area (*HV*) around Brussels in the
West of the province of Flemish Brabant.

A reason for demanding the split from the Flemish site is to stop the
French-language expansion of Brussels. Also new Flemish electoral law turned
maintening the district BHV unconstitutional.

A reason for refusing the split from the French site is their fear that the
language protection in the 6 "randgemeenten", municipalities outside the
border of Brussels, with facilities for the French risks to be jeopardized.
They also fear that breaking all bridges along regional borders will easy a
complete split of this kingdom.

Negotiations failed last year since the Flemish were demanding, while the
French had noting to ask for, so no decent compromise was possible.
The exchange they asked for, a cession of territory from Flanders to
Brussels, was not accepable for the Flemish.

A new word in "Belgian Dutch" is "*Maddens doctrine*"
It got its name from an article in De Standaard from the 3d of March.
http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/gordel/maddens.pdf
Maddens proposes to smoke out the French budgetwise and keep the
*BHV-issue*in the refrigerator, till the squeezed French are forced to
the negotiation
table, with something to ask for from their side.
Read more at http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddens-doctrine
and http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Maddens

Regards,
Roger

•

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