The article "Confrontations continue in Belgium’s language row" describes the growing rift between the French speaking Walloons in the south of Belgium, and the Dutch speaking Flanders in the north. Now, over 4 months after the election, the country has yet to unite under a new government, and tensions between the north and south continue to rise.
What I find interesting about the current situation in Belgium is the role that language plays in the conflict. The Flanders differ greatly in political ideology, geography, etc from the Walloons, yet the focus of the debate seems to be on language.
Historically, Flemish was looked down upon by the French speakers of the south, and considered a lesser language. More recently, however, the north is increasingly wealthy, and the balance of power is changing because of it. This reversal of the linguistic hierarchy probably plays a key role in the conflict.
In efforts to increase mutual understanding, bilingual schools that enforce the use of both Flemish and French are materializing throughout Belgium. The bilingual school are working on the premise that understanding of both languages will help to unite the opposing demographics, however there are still many areas of Belgium that are predominantly monolingual.
This problem is not unique to Belgium. The Basque and Catalan populations of Spain have been trying to gain autonomy for years, and a split of Belgium may "embolden" them, comments the NY Times. The struggle for power between different linguistic cultures is a reoccurring theme, and it would be interesting to get to the bottom of why this seems to happen.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that people tend to feel more positively to people they understand and conversely more negatively towards those that they don't understand (interrogation example?).
Confrontations continue in Belgium's language row:
http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=449823&lng=1
Belgian schools: bilingual taboos easing in multilingual Belgium
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jEej8d2wyxP2YAXCARFxWR2uAbzg
Belgium:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/belgium/index.html?8qa
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2 comments:
As far as why we see so many examples of linguistic conflict, I would look to the fact that language deals so much with personal identity. Ignorance and pride can contribute to tensions between two languages and cultures. For example, we can see that throughout history what one may not understand can cause fear and, as a result feelings of suspicion and dislike. There is also the concept of linguistic pride that can come off as arrogance and disapproval of others.
Nice post! There have been several other blogs about similar issues cropping up in canada and elsewhere that you might want to take a look at. what other solutions exist to this type of conflict?
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