Information and disinformation about Belgium

Ingezonden door LVB op 2007-11-06 16:03

Today Belgium has been without a government for a record 149 days. On Monday Euronews broadcasted this report (in English) on the Belgian crisis:




Here is the same broadcast in French:



At first sight the report seems fairly balanced. We hear two veteran politicians, one Walloon, Gérard Deprez (a liberal member of the European Parliament), and one Fleming, Mark Eyskens (a former Belgian Prime Minister).


A no-nonsense report without silly allegations about the Flemish Christian-Democrat leader Yves Leterme singing the Marseillaise and with a map of Belgium which correctly indicates the linguistic enclaves of Comines-Komen and Voeren-Fourons – something the Belgian meteorological institute fails to do on its own maps.




The English version, however, repeats the often made mistake that Flemings speak another language than Dutch. It mentions “Flemish-speaking” twice, “Dutch-speaking” twice, “French-speaking” three times and “Francophone” once. I can already see an average non-Belgian schoolboy attempting to answer questions based on this report: How many linguistic groups are there in Belgium? The answer: Flemish-speakers, Dutch-speakers, French-speakers and Francophones!

If one listens carefully to what Mr Deprez and Mr Eyskens say, one can only conclude that they are engaged in wishful thinking, that they are saying how things should be in ideal circumstances. They shun away from the real obstacles to the formation of a government, and they pontificate about an economic revival and a grand future, perhaps  with some minor problems between the communities, parochial problems concerning rural backwaters, some annoying petty villages, like Asterix’s, which should not be taken seriously. Deprez and Eyskens carefully avoid referring to the real problems that are preventing the formation of a Belgian government.

But let us return to the matter of maps. Euronews shows a detailed map of Brussels and its surrounding area. But the map is full of mistakes.



First of all, the six Flemish municipalities with linguistic rights for Francophones have simply been added on to bilingual Brussels. As a result the map indicates that Brussels borders on Wallonia, which is not true. Also, the map does not specify that the Halle-Vilvoorde region is part of Flanders, i.e. Dutch-speaking. The indication “Flandre” refers to the light yellow area, while it should encompass the dark yellow part marked “Vilvorde” and “Hal” as well. Eight different satellites have broadcast this wrong picture across the whole of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. From the Canary Islands to Pakistan, and from Iceland to Kazakhstan.

And listen to what the broadcast says about the Flemish demand for separating the Flemish region of Halle-Vilvoorde from the electoral district of the bilingual region of Brussels:

It's also a bid to avert a threat by Dutch-speaking parties. They’ve said unless there's more decentralisation, they'll vote on Wednesday to begin the breakup of the electoral district that includes Brussels. Such a move would effectively deprive French-speaking Brussels suburbanites of the right to vote for French-speaking parties.

In French it sounds like this:
Ainsi la menace des partis flamands de voter mercredi la scission de l'arrondissement de Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde. Cela priverait 120.000 francophones du droit de voter pour des listes francophones aux élections législatives.

If we translate this, we get:
The Flemish parties threaten to split the electoral constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. This will rob 120,000 French-speakers of the right to vote for Francophone parties in parliamentary elections.

The latter is not true. Even after the split of BHV the French-speaking inhabitants of Flemish Brabant will be able to vote for French-speaking candidates, but only for French-speaking lists presented in their own constituency, and not for French-speaking politicians who are candidates in Brussels (these include some of Belgium’s Francophone political leaders).

But let us not be too harsh for the foreign media, whose correspondents read only Francophone newspapers and who may not yet have seen “Flanders Today”, the new English-language newsletter of the Flemish government.

Let us watch what the Flemish media bring about the Belgian crisis. Last Sunday I watched Royalty, a program on the Flemish commercial television VTM. It had an item about pro-Belgian activists. The journalist Kathy Pauwels said that many people are flying Belgian flags these days. “Especially in Brussels and Wallonia,” she added. Marc Reynebeau, an outspokenly pro-Belgian historian, was allowed to comment that by doing this “the people” want to show that they are worried about the political crisis and hope that the country will remain united. VTM did not say that, though Brussels is full of Belgian flags there are hardly any Belgian flags to be seen in Flanders. To learn this one had to watch the program Mise Au Point, three weeks ago on the French-speaking public television RTBF, where David Rennie, the Brussels correspondent of The Economist said:


Yesterday I was shocked when I drove to Flanders. I live in Brussels, like many [foreign] journalists. And it is true that we do not know Flanders well. We do not speak Dutch, that is certainly a valid point of criticism. But I was shocked. Like all journalists I had written articles about the appearance of Belgian flags in Brussels. In Flanders there was not a single Belgian flag. Not one. What is more, there was not a single Flemish flag either. That is something. It means that it isn’t civil war yet. [At this moment we see Luc Vandenbrande, a Flemish Christian-Democrat, whom the Walloons consider to be one of the Flemish-secessionist agitators, smile while Viscount Davignon says something to Gérard Deprez]. But we get the impression that the Flemings perceive this crisis differently. This is really telling.


Meanwhile the Belgian papers write that an internet petition in favour of Belgian unity has already been signed by 125,000 people. None of the papers mentions that 80 to 90% of those who signed up are Francophones, as Filip Van Laenen discovered when he examined the language in which those who sign up indicate their nationality. There are so many signatures of French-speaking Belgians that Filip had to draw a second graph in order to be able to indicate the distribution of non-French signatures. 

Reacties

#66661

traveller

zondag, 27 juli, 2008 - 20:47

 

@ Dutchman in Brussels
Sorry, I discovered your postings just today.
Ever been in Friesland? Ever been talking to a real Dutch Urker fisherman?
Your comment is typical. Brussels is lost to Flanders for the moment because of the Belgian political caste. Brussels is continue to survive thanks to Belgian politics, squeezing the money out of Flanders.
The moment Flanders separates from Wallonia, preferrably without Brussels, that famous European capital will sink in dispair and Europe will not save it, they can't because they are not organized for it.
At that moment Brussels will turn into chaos because unable to pay for their jobless people.
They will come begging for help to the only ones who are able to help: Flanders. You will see how quickly they will learn Flemish.

#66335

joe

maandag, 21 juli, 2008 - 10:57

 

errr right :-)
(don't blame it on sunshine, blame it on the boogay)

#66321

Nicolas -(uitgelogd)

zondag, 20 juli, 2008 - 22:59

 

Joe wrote: "even with a flemish sounding family name, speak flemish at home."

You mean: "even with a flemish sounding family name, speak french at home."

#66316

joe

zondag, 20 juli, 2008 - 22:20

 

@Dutchman in Brussels "Can you explain why the financially better off families in Flandern speak French at home."
Many of the old rich spoke French and still do. Take a look in the Humo and see who are the wealthiest families in Flanders, well, many of them, even with a flemish sounding family name, speak flemish at home. I happen to know a few of them personally, and although they speak french, they feel very flemish, some even want the separation. (for purely economical reasons, of course!)

#66159

Verheijen

woensdag, 16 juli, 2008 - 12:38

 

Tis tijd dat de vlamingen en de limburgers en de brabanders in belgie de stekker uit belgie steken en het stopcontact Brussel meenemen.Nooit Nooit zal brussel tot Wallonie horen .Over het lijk van de Nederlands sprekende.En daarna het frans uitroeien in het gebied

#65934

Krist

donderdag, 10 juli, 2008 - 15:15

 

@Dutchman in Brussels. People from Limburg communicate with people from West Flanders without any problem. People from West Flanders communicate with people from Amsterdam without much trouble, and without having to switch to a foreign language. That proves they speak the same language. Most people in Flanders are able to speak standard Dutch (with an accent, true). The differences between the Netherlands and belgium (and I have lived in both) are smaller than those between Germany and Switzerland (I am now living in Switzerland). The Swiss do not consider their language different from that of the Germans.

Brussels is a bit different, as many people who are able to speak the local flemish dialect never had any formal education in Dutch, and thus indeed don't know standard Dutch, but they are not the norm.

#65683

Dutchman in Brussels

zondag, 6 juli, 2008 - 21:25

 

@Krist: After living in Brussels for over 40 years, I think I can judge if Flemish is Dutch or not. When I'm in Limburg or Zeeland or Groningen, people do speak their regional language BUT also correct Dutch. It has never happened to me in the Netherlands that I don't understand someone, however this morning at the local Sunday market here in Brusssels, it did happen once more. To prove that Flemish_is_NOT_Dutch, though it has the same base (like all germanic languages) here are some examples. In Holland you will NEVER hear expressions translated directly from French like "tis te zeggen" (c'est à dire), "het belt" (il sonne) instead of "de bel gaat", stationeren (stationner) instead of parkeren, "wadde?" instead of "wat?". Many other examples could be given. I'm not saying that nobody should have an accent. There are lots of accents in the Netherlands too, like is the case in every country. I'm saying that if people in Flandern would also speak a correct version of Dutch the language would be taken more seriously. Some 30 years ago it was quite possible to speak Dutch in Brussels. Now try to speak Dutch at the cashiers of the Delhaize or the Carrefour in Oudergem. Even in Overijse, when you go to the local Krefel, the sales people start by saying "Bonjour monsieur" without even trying Dutch. I get Belgacom sales reps at my door who ONLY speak French, though I live in a (bilingual???) Brussels community. If you go to the community hall in a Brussels community to get your identity card, you will get a french card if you do not ask specifically for a flemish one! Everyone with a french card is francophone in the statistics. Now the question: how come French is more dominant in Brussels? Can you explain why the financially better off families in Flandern speak French at home, but they tell me they also speak dialect (meaning they can also speak the language of local people)?

#65383

Krist

woensdag, 2 juli, 2008 - 11:19

 

@Dutchman in Brussels: For your information: Flemish _is_ Dutch. It is as much Dutch as Limburgs, Zeeuws, Drenths or Gronings. And you are making a caricature when you are saying that Flemings can't communicate with someone from the next village over. This is simply not true Flemings from all over Belgium communicate just fine. The average Fleming is able to speak a Dutch that is as correct as the language of the average Dutchman. With a different accent and a preference for some words that might sound strange to a Dutchman, but are therefore not automatically wrong.
Learning Dutch as a foreigner is not useless in Flanders, as many foreigners who did this can tell you. That public TV applies subtitles to Dutch shows is indeed a pity, as it is entirely not needed, and gives the completely false impression of Dutch and Flemish being separate languages.

#65380

A Dutchman in Brussels

woensdag, 2 juli, 2008 - 09:12

 

For your information: Flemish is indeed NOT Dutch. The Flemish are proud to speak a dialect. The cannot even communicate between themselves while living in villages only 5 km apart! If they would speak Dutch correctly, there wouldn't be a problem. If you would learn Dutch as a foreigner in Belgium, you would hardly be able to use it. The Flemish themselves can't: Flemish TV subtitles Dutch TV series!

#64576

La Gazette

dinsdag, 10 juni, 2008 - 03:12

 

just read what La Gazette de Berlin (The newspaper in french in Germany) said about Belgium :

http://www.lagazettedeberli...

http://www.lagazettedeberli...

#55821

arnout

vrijdag, 7 december, 2007 - 11:34

 

and please, explain to me the "selling out my own people"-thing.

#55820

arnout

vrijdag, 7 december, 2007 - 11:30

 

i apologize for the spelling errors.
as i said, there are no actual transfers from flanders to wallonia and brussels. the only real solidarity is from the rich to the poor. the problem is that there are more poor people in wallonia and brussels, than in flanders. so my question is: do you want to share your wealth with poor flemish people?
the reason why i am socialist is because i believe that some people are lucky, some are less lucky, and others have just bad luck (starting from birth). i'm not a communist, because i also believe that people who do the effort to work hard, should be rewarded for that. and i'd also like to remind you that the rich get a lot of money back. (Child benefits, our whole educational system, health insurance,...)
and just for the record: i'm against corruption, duh.

#55787

Tweaker

donderdag, 6 december, 2007 - 21:02

 

@ arnout

another idea... why don't you give your taxes to those corrupt politicians right away while I use mine to help people who can really use it... the poor!

your poor have wages we can only dream of...

#55786

Tweaker

donderdag, 6 december, 2007 - 21:00

 

@ arnout

it's not a matter of rich and poor and solidarity... it's all about corrupt politicians... those poor you talk about won't even see a dime of that 'solidarity' since it goes straight into politicians bank accounts (using nifty constructions... Flahaut knows all about it).

btw, 'are wealth'? 'are social system'? what kind of slang is that? belgian leftisch? you seems to be a socialist yourself so it's quite obvious why you don't have a problem with 'as solidarity wrapped theft'... it's socialists' trademark.

#55697

traveller

woensdag, 5 december, 2007 - 11:22

 

@ arnout

I really don't know about which Brussels you are speaking, but the Brussels I am talking about has city-sectors where the police doesn't DARE to patrol and/or to interfere in any brawl.
Further the transfers from "rich to poor" are going on since 177 years, long before the Vlaams Belang existed, and it is time Wallonia and Brussels get their house in order. 177 years of parasitism is enough.
How would you control the money flows? Through the walloon socialst party maffia?

You are full of human compassion, have some compassion for the people who pay since 177 years and see their own wealth go down the drain. If Flanders goes also bankrupt who will pay then?

#55696

arnout

woensdag, 5 december, 2007 - 11:03

 

1) the solidarity in belgium is between rich people and poor people. so actually, this is not about "do we want to give money to the french speaking in Wallonia and Brussels?". the real question is: "do we want to give money to the poor?" so, i say yes, we should share are wealth but by doing that we shouldn't discourage people to work. so instead of dividing are social system, we should just reform it. (solidarity but no free riding) let's not forget that the whole thing about transfers from flanders to wallonia was brought up by our very own nazi-party. i'd think twice before i copy there words.
flanders is still one of the richest regions in the world.
2) i kind of agree about brussels except for the "hell-hole" and "crime is rampant". brussels is really a great international city and i love it.

#55669

traveller

dinsdag, 4 december, 2007 - 20:13

 

There are basically 2 main problems in Belgium:
1)the transfers from Flanders to Wallonia and Brussels and 2)Brussels itself.
Wallonia is death scared to lose the flemish money which is already flowing in ever invreasing amounts since the creation of Belgium. Today the amount reaches over 12 billion euro per year or approx. 10% of the Gross national product if I remember correctly. No country in the world can afford this percentage. West-Germany paid 5% of their GNP to East-Germany for approx. 10 years and the West-Germans went beserk, so the government stopped the massive financial input in East-Germany or the East German part(ex-GDR).
Flanders does this since 177 years in ever increasing amounts.
Brussels has 19, yes 19 municipalities for 1 million people. The socialist PS party controls most municipalities with a large immigrant population and an enormous amount of jobless people. Crime is rampant. Therefore the french speaking middle class left Brussels and went to live in the flemish peacefull, well organized small cities around Brussels, but french imperialism is such that they immediately "conquered" those cities and villages and wanted to attach them to Brussels for 2 reasons: first they wanted to make them "french speaking or Brussels suburbs" and second their politicians wanted to use the cities to beef up the Brussels finances. Of course the only result will be that those small cities will become the same hell-holes as Brussels. After that is done the french speakers can try to annexe further Flemish ground for the same reasons.

Does this make it clearer???

#55553

arnout

maandag, 3 december, 2007 - 19:07

 

@tweaker: - what's your problem? you're telling everyone else that they have absolutely no idea. well, i do, and now you have a problem with that? selling out my own people? explanation...
- and ok, annexation isn't the right word, so you tell me how you'd call a transfer of territory from one political entity to another, and i will use that word.
- you say: "Isn't 13 billion euro's annually not more than enough?" now there's a statement we could really avoid.
- why don't you give your point of view on the situation instead of reminding us how ignorant or disrespectful we are. i'd be happy to hear it.

#55452

Tweaker

zondag, 2 december, 2007 - 22:06

 

@ arnout

"since the flemish want more autonomy, they're probably gonna have to give something in return."

Isn't 13 billion euro's annually not more than enough?
Your opinion on this subject is the kind of opinion we want to avoid here, selling out your own people isn't something you should consider. Respect other people please!

you wrote: "call it an annexation."

call it anschluss!!

#55413

arnout

zondag, 2 december, 2007 - 16:41

 

i want to be clear about some stuff (and hopefully my bad english won't stand in the way), also i want to say i'm flemish, but i try to as neutral as possible:
before 1970 belgium was just one state with the 3 official languages. but since 1970 belgium has been divided in a bidimensional way, there are both regions and communities.
- there are 3 regions in Belgium (based on territory): Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. which means that Brussels isn't a city in Flanders, instead it's a region entirely surrounded by Flanders.
- there are 3 communities in Belgium (based on language): the dutch-speaking, the french-speaking and the german-speaking.
in flanders there's only one official language: dutch. in wallonia there's also one official language: french, except for a couple of german municipalities. in brussels there are two official languages: french and dutch (and maybe also german but honestly nobody cares :-) )
the funny part is that a small country like belgium has 6 parliaments and governments: federal, flemish-speaking and region, french-speaking, german-speaking, walloon region, brussels region.

since the flemish want more autonomy, they're probably gonna have to give something in return. and one of the main things the walloon politicians are asking, is the expansion of brussels. which means that some municipalities of the region flanders would become municipalities of the region brussels, call it an annexation. and now this is really important because it's exactly the two municipalities right in between Brussels and Wallonia that they're talking about. the french call it "le corridor". so the picture is a very unfortunate mistake, because it's an essential point in the whole debate.

@fred: good point, sadly i have to disagree, why? because they already did that about 30 years ago! the problem is that more and more french-speaking people came to live in Flanders, of which many are not willing to do the effort to speak dutch (with the neighbours, at the bakery, while filling in the tax forms, or in a court,...). to me it's quite obvious that when you move to another country or region, you learn the official language.
when you speak dutch you realise that learning other languages is like a key to the world, so you try to learn english, french, spanish, chinese,... apparently many of the french-speaking think that they don't have to learn any other language. so often when there are 9 flemish and 1 walloon in a room, then everyone speaks french.

#54501

tweaker

vrijdag, 23 november, 2007 - 01:23

 

@ Fred

Same goes for you... you have no idea!

#54386

Fred

woensdag, 21 november, 2007 - 22:00

 

Hey ! I know ! How about doing a detailed survey of who lives where and speaks what language, and then we can decide how to treat the inhabitants appropriately ? How about it ? A data driven approach based on reality ? Up for it ?

#54181

tweaker

dinsdag, 20 november, 2007 - 00:06

 

"Look tweaker, even if I don't understand anything about your country, what's the problem?"

The problem? Your rants about something you don't understand... suppose that's clear enough.

#54120

Just some guy

maandag, 19 november, 2007 - 14:38

 

Look tweaker, even if I don't understand anything about your country, what's the problem?
The only thing you're telling me is that I don't understand anything. No argument, no discussion, no attempt of an explanation. What should I make of it?

I can only notice that nobody here wants to acknowledge that the mistakes done in the report benefit (or disadvantage) both sides. Why is that? However those "details" are important to you, you do not even begin to acknowledge how "important" they can be for the other side. Everything seems to be "obvious" to you. Well, sorry to rain on your parade, but no, for a non-Belgian eye, it is not obvious.

In fact, the only thing you have convinced me of, is that journalists and the press (be they from Euronews or the IHT, the NY Times, you name it) are actually doing an admirable but ungrateful job of reporting on the situation.

NOTE: I only came here doing a Google search in english. Had you written in dutch, the blog wouldn't have appeared in the results, and you wouldn't have to read the stupid rants of someone who doesn't get anything. Wouldn't it be nice and refreshing?
As for me, I'm usually not that interested in conspiracy theories, so bye-bye.

#53998

tweaker

zondag, 18 november, 2007 - 01:30

 

@ Just some guy

I never even insinuated an intellectual disability from your behalf. That's what you want to make out of it!

Every single argument you posted here clearly proves you absolutely have no idea of what's going on in this country... otherwise you would have totally understood why those 'details' are so important.

And if you don't see why... well, that's just another proof.

You are only trying to argue about something you don't know about so I don't feel like taking this any further with you.

#53875

LVB

zaterdag, 17 november, 2007 - 04:34

 

Second video is French now, thanks for letting me know that there was an error.

#53874

Just some guy

zaterdag, 17 november, 2007 - 04:11

 

Luc, thanks for having taken the time to try to understand what I'm saying, even if obviously you disagree. It's refreshing, in comparison with the previous poster "tweaker" who could only suppose that I'm too dumb to get what happens in Belgium.

Let's be clear: I agree there's a mistake and the dark brown area should not border Wallonia.It's a mistake in favor of french-speakers, because Brussels looks like it borders Wallonia.
However there's another mistake: the 3D thick line is delimitating regions (or maybe linguistic communities), with an unmistakable shadow putting Flanders "above" Wallonia (and BHV is floating above Flanders, but without the thick line). There should be another 3D thick line around Brussels-Capital, administrately and linguistically independent of either Flanders or Wallonia. It's a mistake in favor of dutch-speakers, because Brussels looks like it's in Flanders.

So you see, you can interpret the map very differently if you're Flemish or if you're Walloon. That's why I'm convinced it's not such a big deal.
In the end, maybe you're right and there's been some political meddling. But we're both only guessing here. I cannot prove that I'm right, but neither can you. Only I am not Belgian so I'm emotionally detached from the question.

Are you planning to put the french-speaking broadcast instead of the duplicate english one? You know, so we can compare by ourselves. Actually, a german version would be welcome as well :-)

#53868

LVB

zaterdag, 17 november, 2007 - 00:13

 

@Just some guy: "minor mistake in computer graphics"????

No, because this mistake is touching the core of the problem with BHV and the "facilities". This is not some random error by coincidence, it is an error resulting from a twisted view in the minds of the francophones: that the 6 "communes à facilités" are not an integral part of Flanders.

I don't suspect Euronews of broadcasting disinformation on purpose, but they were probably misinformed by politicians pretending that the "périphérie bruxelloise" is a part of the Brussels Region.

#53862

Just some guy

zaterdag, 17 november, 2007 - 00:00

 

I really don't see how you can infer anything about my knowledge of your country from what I've written. I was only saying that I see no more mistakes in this report as in any typical news report, be it on Euronews or anywhere else. In fact, I found it balanced and quite well done, especially for a 2 minute report about a complicated situation.
In essence, I was just saying that to a foreigner's eye, the rest of the blog post about minor mistakes in computer graphics was nitpicking. I'm sure there's not much more to it than time pressure before broadcast.

But if you want to see more than that to it, despite common sense, don't worry, the rest of the world can also live quite well with your paranoïa!
In fact, the only thing the world is wondering is (if they care at all), what is Flanders waiting for? When are you finally going to declare your independence and get over with it? The Baltic states did it in 1991 with the Red Army on their soil, so what are you afraid of?

#53741

tweaker

donderdag, 15 november, 2007 - 22:17

 

@ Just some guy

Apparently you have no clue about what's going on in this country. But we can live with that, it's as complicated as it can get.

touchy? yes!
bitching? you have absolutely no idea!

#53734

Just some guy

donderdag, 15 november, 2007 - 21:35

 

Aren't you a bit touchy about the supposed border between the Hal-Vilvoorde district and Flanders ? In fact, when I look at the map, I would swear if I didn't know better that Brussels is officially in Flanders (look at the thick 3D line). Yeah, they made a mistake about the Brussels-Capital Region bordering Wallonia, but I bet it's just a honest mistake. Like the one you did in including the english speaking broadcast twice when you announce the 2nd one as french-speaking. And if you look at the map right above, it's clear that Brussels is an enclave in Flanders.
And I sure don't see what the difference is between the french and english version as you transcripted them, they both make the same "mistake" (I would say simplification), only the french one is more specific about the number of people affected.

In the end, bitching about small mistakes on broadcast TV only shows how touchy Flanders has become. I really don't see why Euronews, or for that matter The Economist or the Guardian (just 2 examples I found around while trying to find articles about this matter), would favor one side over the other in their reports.

It would be like Belgian french-speakers bitching about Google putting only the dutch names on their maps of the Brussels region where there should be both due to it being a bilingual region.

#53613

tweaker

woensdag, 14 november, 2007 - 21:05

 

@ Nicolas

:)

neither do I
but that's soon to change... since flemish people are intellectually capable of learning other languages (dixit Leterme) this shouldn't be a problem

#53575

Nicolas

woensdag, 14 november, 2007 - 14:30

 

Good for you, Tweaker!

#53511

tweaker

dinsdag, 13 november, 2007 - 23:15

 

@ Nicolas

Are we lucky to hear that!

#53196

El joe

zondag, 11 november, 2007 - 21:46

 

Ola Senor Gerret Sex, aqui hablamos ingles !

#53007

gerrit six

zaterdag, 10 november, 2007 - 07:28

 

Beste Luc,

All lof voor de manier waarop je het buitenland tegen alle clichés in het mogelijks ware verhaal probeert te schetsen.
Ik bekijk het steeds meer als een vaudeville en 'onuitlegbaar', welke moeite je ook doet. Ik twijfel nog altijd tussen het parti pris en de domheid/zelfcensuur/opportunisme van sommige nieuwsduiders. Ik weet dat ik door mijn ebay-actie en columns de verdenking op mij geladen heb een unionist te wezen. Wie goed leest ontdekt dat het niet zo is. Ik heb het geslacht van de engelen niet, maar zeker niet de comfortabele zekerheid dat het of een unitaire staat is of een onafhankelijk Vlaanderen.
Ik blijf je lezen.

#52994

tweaker

zaterdag, 10 november, 2007 - 02:01

 

this petition is getting more rediculous every day, with the current evolution
they should probably start thinking about a petition to reunite belgium, they're going to need it very soon!