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Flemish and Francophones, into the void - Trouw/Presseurop - English

Just two months before Belgium takes over the EU presidency, the 22 April resignation of PM Yves Leterme has once again revived fears that the country is on the verge of falling apart at the seams. At the heart of the crisis, disputes over rights and privileges of French and Flemish speakers in the bilingual constituency of BHV, or Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.

Five Flemish flags flutter proudly in front of the town hall in Lennik. Unfurled across the balcony is a banner saying "Divide BHV". The mayor of Flemish Lennik, Willy De Waele, explains the situation. "It's quite simple really: the very existence of BHV is at odds with the partitioning of Belgium." The country is in fact split up into three regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels-Capital. BHV (Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde) is the only voting district straddling the regional border. It encompasses the Brussels-Capital region [with its 19 municipalities], which is bilingual, along with 35 Flemish municipalities, including Lennik.

Consequently, the French-speaking parties can garner votes there [in European and federal elections] among voters officially residing in Flanders. [Conversely, however, Flemish residents of Wallonia are not allowed to vote on the Flemish party tickets in Brussels, which the Flemish consider unfair]. But that's not the only thing that peeves the Flemings: "Two legal principles are at loggerheads: jus soli and human rights. The French speakers living here in Flanders assert their rights. They settle down here, but don't accept our language or our culture," bemoans De Waele.

by Fran on Thu Apr 22nd, 2010 at 05:01:46 PM EST
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And thus, the legacy built on the money from King Leopold's slavery, torture, mass environmental destruction, and (one of) the world's largest holocausts, slowly degrades to its logical conclusion; faux racism based upon language and heritage and whether one is in favor of immediate changeover to IP6 or a gradual transition.

I propose the Israeli solution. First, the rich Flems gets grants for several billion per year in military hardware from an as yet un-named bankrupt North American country, plus the tools and parts for a nuclear arsenal.

A little fence...a little 24 meter high, several hundred meter long fence built on the farmland of those pesky ingrate french speakers to keep them out of the Phlegmatic promised land.  

Any french-speakers who leave for a little vacation during our brief periods of enthusiastic nationalism will not be allowed back, ever, not even if the Geneva Protocols ever get mentioned in discussions (which they rarely will since that would be impolite and cause a disruption in the decades long discussions that we are working so hard on in this difficult time.) We will use some of the left over money from the morally bankrupt un-named north american country to build 'settlements' for 'settlers', a noble race doing noble work for our noble G_d.

No trade with France to the french speakers in the Occupied Territories of Eretz Belgium.

All the water sources diverted to central control for fair and balanced distribution.

Bruxelles sounds to french. From here on, the name reverts to the original Broeksel, which means, the home of the Marshians, from whence the yaun God of all promised us this land North of the river Seine and South and West of the Rhine, both areas of our national history from where we escaped slavery and worse.

The french speakers can entire the capital, but not if they use the roads or railroad or don't go through a checkpoint with full body search for the men, and worse for their donkey. They can live in the capital city if they have a permit that we are in the process of designing, but if they have an old permit, they shall be allowed to be deported.

That is all. We are kind. But if they continue to throw cow patties and those little fart joke rockets, we will kill a few hundred more kids and all the best and brightest. Oh, and sorry about invading Luxembourg - those buildings used to be so pretty.

Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.

Frank Delaney ~ Ireland

by siegestate (siegestate or beyondwarispeace.com) on Fri Apr 23rd, 2010 at 07:49:55 AM EST
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