Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0034/00341.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 17KB | 273 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00341}
$Pretitle{370}
$Title{Belgium
Introduction}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Stephan B. Wickman}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{ch
political
belgian
social
belgium
wallonia
catholic
language
belgians
country}
$Date{1984}
$Log{}
Country:     Belgium
Book:        Belgium, A Country Study
Author:      Stephan B. Wickman
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Introduction

     A cartoon character appearing in a French-language Belgian
publication in early 1984 lamented: "The more one knows how things
are going in Flanders and Wallonia, the less one knows how
things are going in Belgium." The same complaint could easily come from an
outside observer struggling to understand this small but complex country.

     Flanders, roughly the northern half of the country, is inhabited
primarily by the Dutch-speaking Flemings, who make up the majority of the
Belgian population (see fig. 1; table 3, Appendix A). Its historical and
cultural identities are distinct from those of Wallonia, home of the
French-speaking Walloons, who account for about one third of the population.
In between lies the national capital, Brussels, where most of the residents
speak French but do not consider themselves to be Walloons. Brussels was
traditionally a Flemish city, as its art and architecture attest, and its
so-called Frenchification has bothered some Flemings, who for years were
treated as second-class citizens throughout the country. The tensions
between these regions and language communities have been the most
outstanding features of the society.

     The origins of the language problem date to well before Belgium's
independence in 1830, but the histories of these early years can suffer
from either of two common biases. On the one hand are historians who stress
the unity of the Belgian peoples in opposing foreign domination. On the other
hand are those who emphasize the separateness of the Dutch speakers and the
French speakers, arguing that Belgium is the unnatural creation of the
European powers who so often battled over its territory.

     The language division occurred gradually after the Germanic Franks
began to invade the territory in the fifth century A.D., wresting it from the
Romans (see Early History, ch. 1). In the northern part of the territory,
where the Germanic influence was strongest, early forms of Dutch developed.
In the southern part, the continued Latin influence gave rise to early forms
of French. During the next millennium, however, the divisiveness inherent
in feudalism (see Glossary) prevented the development of a single center of
power and culture, leaving the various duchies and towns that sprang up
in the territory to their own devices. In particular, the cities and towns
of Flanders flourished during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance;
the architecture and painting of the Flemish masters were unsurpassed
anywhere else in Europe.

     After the mid-sixteenth century, the territory came under progressively
stronger forms of foreign rule for three centuries (see Foreign Domination,
ch. 1). Although the Netherlands succeeded in throwing out the Spanish
Habsburgs in 1585, the southern part of the Lowlands failed in its attempt
to join the effort. Thereafter the two areas developed separately. The
crucial port of Antwerp, whose access was through the Netherlands, was closed
for more than two centuries. During the ravages of the Inquisition, many
Protestants fled to the Netherlands from the area that eventually became
Belgium. During the period of Austrian rule (1715-95) the old local hierarchy
of the Roman Catholic clergy, the nobility, and the medieval guilds, together
with the growing middle classes of merchants, professionals, and
intellectuals, began to unite in opposing political centralization. Internal
conflicts between the conservative and progressive elements of this primarily
French-speaking opposition, however, undermined the brief Brabant Revolution
(1789-90)-the precursor of independent Belgium-even as Napoleon's armies
swept decisively across the country.

     After Napolean's final defeat in 1815 at Waterloo (located just south
of Brussels), the European powers carried out their plan to unite the Belgian
provinces with the Netherlands under William of Orange. If William had been
receptive to the demands of the opposition in the southern part of his
kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands might have remained one country.
Instead, his obstinacy and incompetence prompted the Belgian elite, still
primarily French-speaking, to take control of the deteriorating economic
and political situation themselves and ultimately to declare independence.
The European powers found the prospect of an independent and neutral
Belgium to their liking and forced William to acquiesce.

     The Dutch-speaking Belgians did not protest the independence movement,
but they gradually realized that history had relegated them to the status
of second-class citizens in a country where they formed the majority. French
had been the language of government and culture since the days of Spanish
rule, and the constitution of 1831 did nothing to ensure equal treatment for
the Dutch languages. Laws recognizing biligualism in Flanders (1873), making
Dutch an official language (1898), and establishing separate Dutch and French
administrations in Flanders and Wallonia (1932) were too long in the making.
The political elite, even that of Flemish parentage, was Fench-speaking. The
situation was exacerbated by the Industrial Revolution, which touched down in
the coalfields and ironworks of Wallonia before spreading elsewhere in Europe,
leaving much of Flanders to languish in relative poverty.

     After the devastation of the two world wars, which again used Belgium
as a battleground, the language issue moved to the center stage of politics.
The controversy reached its worst pass in 1968, when the Flemish students
at the prestigious Catholic University of Louvain (KUL/UCL) took to the
streets to demand the removal of the French half of the university to
Wallonia. The government coalition fell apart during the crisis, and the
political elite, which by then had become primarily Dutch-speaking,
redoubled its efforts to find a permanent solution to the language, or
communities, problem. The politicians agreed among themselves to change
the Constitution, decentralizing some political powers to new regional
and community councils. The changes promulgated in 1971 had to be modified
yet again, amid controversy, in 1980. The status of Brussels was left
unresolved, region governments being set up only in Flanders and Wallonia.
Ironically, economic decline in the aging industries of Wallonia and the
profitable growth of small-scale industry in Flanders had completely turned
the tables in favor of the Flemings by that time.

     Balancing the demands of the Dutch-and French-speaking Belgians remained
the most obvious concern of the Belgian political elite in early 1985. Each of
the traditional political parties had split into two separate parties, one for
the Dutch speakers, the other for the French speakers. In addition, there were
minority parties representing even more strident opinions in favor of extreme
views on regional autonomy (see Political Parties, ch. 4). But there were
other issues of almost equal importance that also had their roots in the
nation's intensely political history. One set of issues pertained to the role
of religion in the society, the other to matters of social and economic
equity. In fact, before the language problem became the major focus of
attention, these issued had dominated Belgian politics.

     Belgium is a Catholic country. (Some historians have argued that the
strong Roman Catholic tradition of the Flemish population was responsible
for its support of the Belgian independence movement against the Protestant
king to the Netherland.) Most Belgians are baptized Roman Catholics, and even
if they are nonpracticing, they must confront the values and attitudes