Israel has an Arab problem, Canada has French separatists and now Belgium seems to be falling apart. From the Washington Times, October 9, 2007.
Stitched from a revolution and secured through compromise, Belgium’s fragile fabric is unraveling and what once seemed impossible, the country’s partition, is suddenly becoming imaginable.
The most immediate cause is a political deadlock among squabbling parties, which have yet to form a government more than three months after general elections.
But the roots of the standoff stretch back decades, nourished by growing language, cultural and economic differences between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south.
“We live in an artificial state,” said Philip Dewinter, head of the far-right Vlaams Belang, or Flemish Block, which seeks a referendum on dissolution leading to an independent Flanders.
“One hundred and seventy-seven years after our creation, we’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t have anything in common anymore,” he continued. “Well, maybe the king [of Belgium], the beer and chocolate. But it would be better for us to split up.”
Many Flemish people appear to agree. A poll released last month found nearly half of them back an independent Flanders.
Belgium’s population of 10.6 million is about 60% Flemish, 36% Walloon and 4% Muslim. Imagine how much more difficult the situation would be if 36% of the people were Muslims. Does the word intifada ring a bell?
