Blog 12 - Who Needs Government? Belgium Doesn't...

Belgium is currently entrenched in its worst political crisis in its 177-year existence. Due to spats between Francophone and Dutch-Speaking politicians, the winners of the spring election have been unable to form a governmental coalition. So essentially, for the past 149 days, the nation of Belgium has been operating without a government. The dispute arises from longstanding tensions within the country caused by its linguistic “fault-lines.” The country was split into three linguistically based federated regions in the 1980s: the richer Dutch speaking northern region of Flanders, the poorer Francophone southern region of Wallonia, and the officially bilingual but mostly Francophone capital of Brussels. About 60% of the country speaks Dutch and about the remaining 40% speak French.

Within the two monolingual regions, people who speak the non-preferred languages often feel like “second class citizens,” particularly in Flanders where the Flemish have become increasing assertive about the use of Dutch language. For instance, in Flanders, Francophone associations don’t receive subsidies, and they cannot hold meetings on the premises of the city council. The government has even banned the use of French on playgrounds in local school. Particularly in Flanders, civil servants only speak the official language. The linguistic tensions between the northern and southern region has caused Flemish politicians to demand more freedom for self-rule, now beginning to suggest splitting Belgium into two countries with Brussels as a sort of independent “‘European’ capital.” Yet people in Wallonia would suffer from this separation, because of the regions high unemployment, post-industrial decay, and weak regional identity. As a Flemish engineer said, “The differences are too big now. The two sides will never get along. The future is two countries.” So, at this crucial juncture in Belgian history, the nation is in a state of crisis

One suggestion by a mayor of a small town in Flanders is simply that Francophones in Belgium ought to learn Dutch. He says, “If I moved to Paris, I would find it normal to learn French.” He raises a fairly basic question: When moving to a foreign country, must you learn the dominant language in this country? This question has come up a couple times in class, and it’s definitely a tough one to tackle. Learning the dominant language of a country that you’re coming to certainly has its perks, but people don’t HAVE to learn it. It’s a choice with positives and negatives. The government can be oriented towards one language over another, but restricting certain basic rights, such as the right to assembly on public property, is simply excessive. By infringing upon these rights, the government doesn’t achieve anything and it unnecessarily and unfairly limits freedoms.

However, I think this story has to do with an even more fundamental question: Can an officially bilingual state exist? The case of Belgium seems to suggest that eventually such states devolve and disputes arise that cannot be resolved. In the end, the effort required to keep a bilingual state intact is simply not worth it. According to a Belgium graphic designer, “If we all spoke both languages [which is unfeasible in a large nation] Belgium would have a future for sure, but we don’t.” I don’t think this line of reasoning is entirely valid. A bilingual state definitely poses challenges, but I think it is a possibility, as long as the government is scrupulous in offering opportunities and services in both languages. Problems will almost certainly occur but they can be solved and crises can be averted (See Canada for an example). Now is it beneficial to have a bilingual state? If a nation has significant population of two societies with different languages, then I think it certainly is beneficial because languages are synonymous with cultures and by promoting both languages, both cultures are preserved and enhanced. So I hope that Belgium remains intact and solves this crisis. The people of Flanders and Wallonia will both be better off for it.



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https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/be.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=2NPCKSNCA3QYFQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/08/05/wbelgium105.xml
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/273175
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/04/europe/EU-GEN-EU-Government-Talks.php
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJEtuppvEPtbl1GhR98F_zZKbp0A
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/06/wbelg106.xml