Flanders: French-speaking mayors blocked from taking up public office

Recent news from Belgium has been encouraging as the Flems are increasingly seen standing up to the French-speaking mafia ruling the country behind the scenes:

Flemish regional authorities have blocked three French-speaking mayors from taking up public office since they were elected in January 2007 in the Brussels suburbs of Linkebeek, Wezembeek-Oppem and Kraainem. Marino Keulen, the Flemish Interior Minister responsible for the ban, remained defiant and announced he will stick by his decision to outlaw the elected mayors."Flanders has not been convicted. Only a court can impose a conviction," he said. "I would have preferred a different decision, because this will hit the international headlines, but the real impact is nil." Mr Keulen insisted that the three mayors did not respect Flemish linguistic legislation that prohibits French election literature even though the suburbs they represent, while geographically in Dutch-speaking Flanders, are mainly inhabited by French speakers. The COE [Council of Europe] has demanded that the mayors be immediately appointed and called for a review of Belgium's linguistic laws that have been used by Flemish nationalists to ban the use of the French language in municipalities around Brussels, home to the EU. Damien Thiéry, the banned mayor elect for Linkebeek, told human rights watchdogs in Strasbourg that a legal appeal in Belgium could take five years. "You are our last recourse. Without you the democracy will die out in our towns," he said. The COE's intervention has stepped up the long-running row between Belgium's two main communities, the richer Dutch-speaking northern region of Flanders and the poorer francophone Wallonia region in the south. Flanders, where 60 per cent of Belgium's 10.5 million people live, has sought more regional powers leading to a political impasse that means Belgium has been without government since inconclusive elections in June 2007.

03 Dec 2008

Bruno Waterfield

link

This news story is also interesting in that it mentions only three municipalities as having elected a French-speaking mayor in Flanders even though the Francophones often claim that most communes located between Brussels and Wallonia are inhabited by a majority of French speakers and should be annexed to Wallonia in case of Flanders seceding from the Belgian Kingdom.

Why is French Declining and Francophonie as a Club Expanding?

Africa Beyond the Post-Colonial by Ola Uduku and Alfred Zack-Williams unmasks the Francophonie masquerade in Africa:











Africa Beyond the Post-Colonial: Political and Socio-Cultural Identities
By Ola Uduku, Alfred Zack-Williams
Contributor Ola Uduku, Alfred Zack-Williams
Published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004
ISBN 0754631710, 9780754631712
140 pages

A Taste Of Their Own Medicine

The French are given a taste of their own medicine in Flanders:

A young man missed his last train in Brugges. He had to look for a hotel. At the station he phoned his French speaking girlfriend to explain he couldn't make it. Of course he phoned in French. A guy interrupts this private conversation by punching in his back saying: "In Brugge spreken we Vlaams!" (In Bruges we speak Flemish.) The young man thought he didn't have to explain why he phoned in French and went on. A few seconds later he is pulled at his shoulder and receives a serious fist blow in his face. He bleeds and looses one tooth.

The French actor Stéphane Bern sitting on a terrace in Brugges cannot get a drink. The waiter refuses to serve him because he speaks French.

And then, on October 17, 2008, the 14 year old Sara. Perfectly bilingual: She walks home with a friend after school. They gossip and tattle in French. They are surrounded by three other girls from school. One is sending an SMS. Another reproaches Sara that she speaks French in Flanders. Sara tries to defend herself but a few minutes later the mates of the other girls appear at the scenery. Sara receives 38 stabs of a cutter knife. While they stab, they shout: "Geen Frans, we zijn hier in Vlaanderen." (No French, We are in flanders here.)

Flemings Take to Learning English Instead of French

An excerpt from Education in a federal system: A
case-study of Belgium, by Caroline Varin, University of Pennsylvania, year 2006:

Most television channels in the Flemish Brabant show English shows,
but usually use subtitles instead of dubbing the voices. This has helped immerse the youth in the Anglo-Saxon culture and facilitated the learning of English. Moreover, the Flemish population has traditionally learnt French as a second language. The Flemish have recently taken to learning English as a second language, as opposed to French, and have developed strong ties with the Anglo-Saxon world, leaving them with a comparative advantage in international business and politics. In a bilingual country, speaking both languages is practically a guarantee of findingemployment, a fact that is evident in the rates of unemployment in Flanders and in Walloon which will be discussed later.

Weaknesses of the Francophone system

There is a panoply of literature speculating on the reasons for the disparity between the results of the Flemish Community and the Walloon-Brussels Community. These mostly focus on the weaknesses of the Francophone education system, particularly the inequity of the schools, the nefarious impact of the ‘redoublement’ and the hierarchic set-up of the schooling institutions. With regards to the influence of the French, it is evident that the French educational system is intrinsically weak, particularly in Reading Comprehension where it ranks 18th out of all OECD countries, but also in mathematics and sciences.

French has a poor vocabulary

By Justitia & Veritas:

Le français a un vocabulaire pauvre (André Martinet (Sorbonne)) (il doit très souvent puiser dans le réservoir sémantique grec et latin pour former ses mots; de plus, le système de dérivation est inefficace). Le wallon a, par contre, un vocabulaire plus riche, EN PLUS DES emprunts à ces mêmes langues.
De plus, le rapprochement sémantique entre les différents lexèmes wallons présentés est immédiatement perçu par le locuteur wallophone. Ce n'est nullement le cas du francophone pour les correspondants en français.
Comparons:

French has a poor vocabulary (André Martinet (Sorbonne University - Paris)) (it must often borrow words from Greek and Latin to make new words and the derivation system is inefficient). In comparison, Walloon has a more developed vocabulary, BESIDE the words from Latin and Greek.
Moreover, the close semantic link between the different lexemes listed here can be directly observed by the Walloon speaker. This is not the case for the corresponding French words.
Let us compare:

More here

Flems Fight Against French Language

In BBC News, oct. 8th 2008:

When Fernand Herman died in 2005, his widow thought of a fitting epitaph for the former Belgian cabinet minister and Euro MP: "L'Europe est ma patrie" (Europe is my homeland).
But the funeral director warned her that the authorities of Overijse, a Flemish town, would take a dim view of a French-language grave.
Rudy Herman suggested Latin - and "Europa patria mea" passed muster.
Her husband is probably the only French-speaker buried in the cemetery who is remembered by more than a mere name and two dates.
Like many other municipalities near Brussels, Overijse takes language very seriously.
The capital is a cosmopolitan, largely French-speaking enclave within Flanders - and as its swelling population moves out, the suburbs are fighting to preserve their Flemish identity.

In Overijse, the local authorities' zeal is in evidence on the high street. In May, a local restaurant received a letter from the Overijse council, which read:

"As you know, this is a Flemish commune, whose official language is Dutch. However, we notice that your neon sign, 'Thai takeaway', is in English only. We would like to request that you change this to 'Thai meeneemrestaurant'.
"We are also asking you to greet your customers in Dutch 'Goede dag' or 'Goede avond', instead of just in French."
Many non-Dutch shopkeepers insist relations with the Overijse authorities are civil, and accusations of "linguistic cleansing" levelled by some French-speakers are overdone.
A few shops down from the Thai takeaway, a new brasserie has a distinctly Gallic feel to it.
"Moules marinieres" feature prominently on the menu, and the stereo plays songs by Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour.
Eric Vermersch, the manager, says he uses a Dutch-speaker in his dealings with the town hall, and there is always a Flemish waiter on hand in the brasserie.
"There is a gentleman's agreement. As long as you respect others, you're OK," Mr Vermersch says. "This is nothing like Northern Ireland and Orange marches."


Bloody ethnic strife is not about to break out in Brussels' leafy suburbs - but the war of words can get nasty. Militant groups, such as the Taal Aktie Komitee (TAK), specialise in vandalising non-Dutch billboards and facilities.
One Overijse business whose owner has been resisting official requests to change its English-language sign - "textile repair shop" - is regularly spray-painted with "Nederlands" ("Dutch") graffiti.
Some shopkeepers feel under such pressure that they will only speak under condition of anonymity.
One, in Tervuren, says Belgium's government crisis has poisoned the atmosphere, and led to many Flemish people boycotting his restaurant.
"Over the past 15 months our sales have fallen by 35%," he says. "I'm from a mixed family. I grew up speaking both Dutch and French, I find it sad that it has come to this."
In another suburb, "Jeff" says local officials are encouraging people to report any non-Dutch in-store advertising, adding that he once received a letter complaining about some ads in his food shop.
"I cannot bear for people to tell me how to run my business," Jeff says. "Most of my customers are non-Dutch speakers. If I speak only Dutch, I might as well close up shop."
In fact that is exactly what Jeff is doing. He is moving to France.
(...)
Near Brussels, linguistic defensiveness is fuelled not just by historical grievances, but also fears for the future. What would happen if the flight to the suburbs turned the Flemish into a minority on their own soil?
(...)
But he insists that Flemish land is sacrosanct: "If nobody speaks Dutch in a Flemish town - that will not change our opinion: it still belongs to Flanders."
Mr Van Biesen says he understands the measures taken in some suburbs to stem an expanding wave of newcomers demanding special rights.
"If you give them one inch of ground, they will try to spread to other parts a couple of years later," he says. That lesson is not lost on neighbouring Zaventem. The town, where the Brussels airport is located, is home to a large expatriate community and immigrants from all over the world.
But Mayor Francis Vermeiren is determined to uphold Flemishness. All visitors to the town hall must bring an interpreter if they don't speak Dutch, as staff are banned from speaking another language.
"I speak English to the people from London, and 'je parle en francais' to the people from Wallonia," he says. "We respect the culture of everyone, but we ask that they respect our culture also."
Zaventem has also set a controversial Dutch language requirement for people applying to buy cheap land from the municipality.
"The point is not to keep foreigners out," Mr Vermeiren insists. "The condition is that they should have to either know or learn the language."
But some who are learning Dutch feel they could be made to feel more welcome in Zaventem. Souhaila, a 16-year-old student, says her native French is banned from the school grounds.
"If they catch us speaking French in playground they tell us to stop. If we continue we get a detention. This bothers me," she says.

Brussels, a French-speaking city?

Luc van Braekel reports on the findings of a 2007 study disproving another of the countless lies constantly spread by Francophonie propagandists:

85% to 90% of the people in Brussels are French-speaking, according to French-speaking politicians and Wikipedia. But is it true? Not so, says Freddy Neyts, a Dutch-speaking citizen from Brussels and husband of former minister Annemie Neyts. He did some calculations based on census data from the Belgian Directorate-General of Statistics (Statbel) and presented them last Tuesday at a debate in Brussels. The result: during the day 44% of the people in Brussels are French-speakers. At night, when commuters and tourists have left, this mounts to 48%. The numbers are summarized in the following table:

Freddy Neyts

And Mr Neyts concludes: "Every day, 400,000 Dutch-speakers and 430,000 people whose mother tongue is not French or Dutch are staying in Brussels. And 650,000 French-speakers, which is a relative majority but not an absolute majority. At night, people sleep, and there is not much need for multilingual services. But during the day and in the evening, it is all but normal that the Brussels Capital Region is bilingual (French/Dutch) for government services, health services, institutions and companies. Preferably multilingual, out of respect and politeness for immigrants and foreign visitors. Which city or region in the democratic world does not function this way? Only in Brussels it is possible that an arrogant French-speaking class imposes its language upon the population and the visitors, and constantly tries to humiliate people who do not speak French."

Children banned from speaking French?

That was two years ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5305484.stm Belgian town bans school French Belgium's regions enjoy a wide degree of educational autonomy The mayor of Merchtem in Belgium has defended a ban on speaking French in the town's schools. Eddie de Block said the ban, introduced on Monday, would help all non-Dutch speakers integrate in the Flemish town near Brussels. Mr de Block insisted that the new measure did not violate human rights. Belgium has witnessed a number of language rows between the Dutch-speaking Flemish population and the French-speaking Walloons. 'No problem' "What we want is to teach children to speak Dutch," Mr de Block told the BBC News website. "It's not a great problem," he said, adding that only about 8% of some 1,400 pupils in the town's four schools spoke languages other than Dutch. Street signs are sometimes defaced in the language dispute The ban means parents and children will only be allowed to speak Dutch on the school premises. Anyone caught speaking anything other than Dutch will be reprimanded by teachers. Mr de Block said two experts with degrees in teaching Dutch as a foreign language had been employed to help non-Dutch speaking pupils. However, parents will be allowed to use interpreters if they have communication problems during parents' meetings. The mayor dismissed suggestions that the ban violated human rights, saying the schools were being funded by Flemish communities who were responsible for safeguarding the Dutch language.

On March this year, a Brussels-based French speaker blogged the following rant:

The decision by the mayor of Merchtem has since expanded to other boroughs bordering Brussels where up to 80% of inhabitants are French-speakers. Even worse, the prohibition of the use of the French language now apply "around the school" ("omgeving"). Of course, the Flemish authorities do not specify what they mean by "around the school", so that the use of the French or English language is de facto banned on the entire territory. Numerous French-speaking children, perfectly bilingual, indicate that they are subject to pressure and threats from Flemish-speaking teachers so they do not dare to speak French or English between them outside the school. Some were indeed punished because they spoke French or English between them on the public highway. The prohibition of the French language among individuals is illegal.Yet this is the reality lived by French-speaking children in the heart of Europe.

The above post doesn't link to any evidence of other Flemish communities around Brussels trying to ban the use of French in and around schools, so that statement needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially given the French speakers' propensity to brandish the victim card in Belgium. Plus, there are no communities in Flanders with 80% French speakers, these statements are to be put in the same categories with the many other lies French speakers keep spreading about the respective importance of French and Flemish in Belgium. In this case, they lie about the importance of French in the communities located in Flanders between Brussels and the Wallonia border because they claim these communities for Wallonia in case of a Flemish secession. The communities in question are in Flanders because they were found Flemish speaking in the 1960s when the federal system was set up. It is highly improbable that French speakers should have become as numerous as the Francophone media claim they now are: the ethnic French have too dire TFRs in Belgium and the majority of French speakers in Brussels itself is a short one. Moroccans and other immigrants generally learn French in Wallonia and Dutch in Flanders. In Brussels, many immigrants speak both Dutch and French.

Flemish Teacher of French Laments Vanishing Knowledge of French in Flanders

This is what Pieter Jansegers, a Flemish teacher of French has to say about the decline of the French language in Flanders and elsewhere:

It's a pitty that in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, the knowledge of French is disappearing to the point that University students aren't able to consult French language sources concerning their specific discipline.

 

Let alone that these student would be able to follow or to give a scientific discourse in French as a contribution to a conference... unless they're specific study field is French, ofcourse or they've followed a Master-after-Master for which French was on the language curriculum.

 

French is even loosing out on Africa, the first public statement broadcasted of Kabbila was a statement in English. I was really amased about this interview and the very strong eloquence of his English.