We should be making the best of our pomme frites and Trappist beers, because the way things are going, there may not be a united Belgium to celebrate in the near future...
"Unity and tolerance, with respect for identity of every federal entity, those are the only routes forward in our democratic society," he said. "We have to think of new forms of working together."
...begged King Albert.
If the forces of ethno-nationalist separatism do succeed in having their way, then what is presently regarded as satire may be come a sad reality:
Brussels lies only a few kilometres inside Flanders, but jumpy francophones now mutter, only half-jokingly, about creating a “corridor” to link it to French-speaking Wallonia, as if preparing for Berlin-style encirclement.
4 comments:
Belgian independence day - celebrating when from one perspective a gang of Catholic religious bigots buoyed up by the 1830 July Revolution in France committed an act of sepratist treachery against their fellow lowlanders in what is now the Netherlands and Luxemburg.
At least that is what Van Neil in the Hague might be saying anyway!
So is it all forms of self-determination, a fundamental aspect of Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 of the UN Charter, you hate or only strains that violate your 19th Century Imperialstic Rule Britania view of the world?
Another (theoretical) right granted by the United Nations:
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
I'm merely exercising that right (which you seem to resent) in this case to state that I believe that in the case of Belgium and the United Kingdom the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-faith state is the better option.
Does that belief still sound imperialistic to you???
It should also be noted by the above poster that, only in the most serious cases of oppression or conflict, could the right to self-determination ever be read as implying a right to secession from an established state.
All parts of Belgium, and indeed Britain, self-determine in the UN sense already. Indeed, in many cases, separatism is used as a way of denying self-determination (in terms of equal and indiscriminate involvement in the state) to minority groups.
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