It’s July 21, independence day in Belgium, [live TV video] a tiny kingdom by the sea that basically never existed. It’s raining, as usual. There’s still no federal government. It has taken a couple of years, but the Dutch and the French speaking Belgian communities are both finally living on entirely different planets.
An imported king who speaks a language that’s not mine will go on national TV and read a boring speech about “finding new ways of living together”. Tomorrow he will board a private jet, fly off for 2m to the Mediterranean with his Italian born wife, trying to get away from a country that couldn’t care less about its national independence day. Let’s drink another ‘Belgian’ Stella and try to find someone who can fake being “proud to be Belgian” :-) [Confused about Belgian crisis news? So am I: check out my best posts on Belgium right here]
Just in case you’re the last Belgian patriot: the National Anthem, in Dutch/French/German (watch the Belgian Royals and have a laugh)
This blog is not affiliated with or endorsed by the city of Antwerp, Belgium.
I remember being in Italy over the forth of July and was so excited all day waiting to see what they would do to celebrate…my husband had to break it to me that he didn’t really think they would be celebrating. I was so bummed, I was expecting all these great fireworks and nothing. Sometimes it is hard being blonde!
So, was will there be a great celebration tonight? Fireworks, drinking and dancing in the streets?
[Blog author: "I love blondes Peace
You know, being Dutch speaking in a bilingual Dutch/French country, myself and most of my friends/family already celebrated on the 11th, the "Independence Day" for the [Wikipedia] Dutch-speaking majority in Belgium. There will be fireworks, but only the (virtually 95% French speaking) capital of Brussels will see any dancing in the streets. Belgium’s a totally artificial country, with the north speaking Dutch (like in neighboring Holland) and the south French (like in adjacent France). If you like history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium. At 60°F with poring rain, I will be watching some TV, in English 
BTW: Princes Marie-Christine exiled herself to Las Vegas, USA, during the 80’s and is still living there. She might be your neighbor. “]
Comment by Peace — July 21, 2008 @ 3:30 am
Happy Independence Day, Peter! However, I can see you are saddened and distressed by your country’s image and situation right now. That’s something I can certainly identify with at the moment. I hope the rain subsides for at least a bit–even if it is your country’s status quo weather condition.
[Blog author: " I guess the rain are "Belgium's tears" today. But we're kind of used to living in this most unusual kingdom by the sea Shirley. Did you know that it was not until 1967 that an official Dutch version of the Constitution was accepted? I speak 4 languages and have close French speaking friends, but whenever I visit Brussels it feels like I'm on a foreign vacation. The whole state of this artificial union is kind of shaky, but nobody I know feels personally involved. Let's drink another Belgian beer
"]
Comment by Shirley — July 21, 2008 @ 4:49 am
Tssssk, July 21st is not our independence day! :p That’s the October 4th. On 21.07.1831 Leopold I took his oath of office.
[Blog author: "You're obviously 100% correct Benjamin. Must make sure to inform our king!
"]
Comment by Benjamin — July 21, 2008 @ 7:38 am
It’s such a bizarre situation. Just this morning in Paris on France Inter they were talking about the rise of nationalism there and the linguistic divide. Do you think the two halves will split? I remember last year there was even talk of Wallonia becoming part of France… It’s so strange to see this happening. I’m very curious to see how it will all turn out. If it’s ever resolved, that is.
[Blog author: "Well, I was raised in Dutch Pam, so obviously I'm convinced the French speaking media are lying through their teeth. But France (given the fact that the country speaks French too
) is also strongly biased and will not refrain from broadcasting blatant lies. Just envisage this pretty picture: you're visiting Paris, being a French speaking national. 95% of your own capital's population would not speak or assist you in your own language. Impossible? (In France, Belgium's predicament would cause another 'French revolution', really) No, that's the current, unacceptable linguistic/social status-quo situation in Belgium: Brussels is a 95% French speaking, arrogant capital of a country where the majority speaks Dutch. But splitting is no option: Brussels is located right in Dutch speaking territory. Besides, virtually nobody wants to physically split Belgium. It's a linguistic/economical power struggle.
Most Dutch speaking Belgians did not appreciate the manipulative/biased French comments like the ones appearing in Le Monde.
(Quotes in French, from Le Monde [France] July 19th):
‘Avant sa récente reculade, le leader chrétien-démocrate flamand semblait vouloir démontrer qu’il était capable d’endosser le costume de premier ministre fédéral. Il avait enfin proposé une discussion plus sereine, débarrassée des exigences de calendrier et de contenu. Il s’était rendu compte qu’il n’aboutirait à rien si la Flandre continuait à user, à l’égard des francophones, de menaces comme celles qui, il y a quelques mois, se traduisirent par un vote “bloc contre bloc”, Flandre unanime - extrême droite incluse - contre minorité francophone. Cette dernière fut contrainte d’accepter la loi du nombre lors d’un vote sur le thème, hautement symbolique, de la scission du dernier arrondissement bilingue de Belgique, le désormais célèbre Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde.’ [LOL, pure biased manipulation of reality.]
‘Cette Flandre-là - qui ne résume cependant pas la diversité d’une région multiple - cache aussi sous des alibis de “bonne gouvernance” un programme non exempt d’égoïsme’. [Great, now the Dutch speaking majority are 'a bunch of egoists'. Way to go, 'Le Monde'. "]
Comment by Pamela — July 21, 2008 @ 8:30 am
Oh, Peter, how badly do you know your own history. The 21st of July isn’t nearly as glorious a day as the 4th of July, Independence Day, to which you are referring. The 21st of July represents the day our first king was inaugurated. That was in the yea 1831. We didn’t even started fighting for our indepence yet on the 21st of July, 1830. Our Dutch masters still had good hopes of controlling this teeny bit of land. They clearly didn’t hear a word of the opera which would set us, Belgians, free.
[Blog author: "You know Manic, let's just have a Belgian beer, before we all get confused by our glorious history
"]
Comment by Manictastic — July 21, 2008 @ 10:59 am
Through complete coincidence I just bought a twelve pack of Stella, woo.
[Blog author: "Ever since Belgian Inbev bought US Bud/Anheuser-Busch, we're related Van
Have fun with the Stella! "]
Comment by furiousball — July 21, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
I am so confused! Alas, it doesn’t take much these days
Enjoy the day, regardless. Wish the weather was better for you.
[Blog author: "We laughed a lot, watching the royals get wet while they kept on smiling, trying to pretend they were worth their generous annual Belgian state dotation. It will finally get warmer in Belgium: 80-85°F next Friday! I'm not sure what confused you though
"]
Comment by Granola-grrrl — July 21, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
Um, yeah, Peter darling, could you send me some of that rain민석 We are now in water conservation mode here on the Cape. It is kinda scary.
[Blog author: "I noticed Claudia, but there are thunderstorms with some rainfall coming up: http://www.capecodonline.com. Still appears really hot compared to the rainy Belgian summer of 2008"]
Comment by Claudia — July 21, 2008 @ 10:05 pm
waving my wee belgian flag over here…
[Blog author: "Great Veronica: I was looking all over the place: you must be the last Belgian patriot !
"]
Comment by V-Grrrl — July 22, 2008 @ 1:32 am
Well, Happy uhm…pseudo-Independence Day? (Based on he comments here.) I had forgotten that Belgium was kinda thrown together. That said, would you ever consider paying your energy bills this way?
http://flandersnews.be/cm/de.redactie.english/news/080719_coin_protest_Antwerp
Toss back a Stella, or whatever soothes your soul and enjoy the day as best you can.
[Bloga author: "Indeed, Belgium's a rather artificial, slightly explosive result of mixing different languages, cultures and more importantly, different social classes. The Dutch are rightfully angry about what happened in/around Brussels, where the French just keep on being defiantly mono-lingual. We're stuck at present politically. Stalemate.
I noticed the "pay your power bill with 1 cent coins" stunt: Electrabel (owned by French power group Suez.com) is a ruthless company with no service. I'd do the same.
The sun finally came through and my electrician should be arriving today, after waiting for 5d, so I'm all excited
"]
Comment by Mr. Nighttime — July 22, 2008 @ 1:57 am
Thanks for your comments on my site, and I loved the U-Tube Video, just hysterical. Was the singer looking down to check her lyrics? and did that one old lady about tip over? You were so right! I can’t imagine any 4th of July celebration being so serious. I didn’t see one beer or hotdog, let alone any sparklers.
[Blog author: "My Pleasure Brenda. Yes, the singer was looking for the lyrics (three languages gets confusing) and the old lady virtually tipping over is the 80yo former queen. The Belgian royals are kind of 'stuffy', with only the wife of the King's son presenting a 24/24 smile
And indeed, they're no fun anymore: scandals, children out of wedlock, financial abuse: you name it, our royals are in to it (except for the 'being fun' part) "]
Comment by Brenda — July 22, 2008 @ 3:46 am
It gets even worse when you start to consider regional accents within Flanders. This is the only country I know where they subtitle people in the same language that they are speaking!
Here’s a suggestion, lets make English the official language (& upset everybody equally)….
Stuart
[Blog author: "You know Stuart, this need for subtitling due to regional dialect is actually more common than most people assume, but not very visible as we're not exposed to it. I have quite a few French speaking friends, but whenever I hear someone from French speaking Canada I get that "say what?" feeling. The same goes for the French spoken in Southern France compared to what you can hear in Paris.
I like your suggestion: let's all start using English (eh, Southern US? Maybe an Irish accent?) and upset everybody equally
But seriously, Belgium will not "split" (Brussels is a stumbling block), but I haven't got a clue anymore how a stable form of federal government can still be achieved with both the Dutch and the French speaking Belgians really playing hardball..."]
Comment by Stuart — July 22, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
BTW, thanks for that link to the Belgian-English news sight. I enjoy reading other European countries news agencies, so many of which have English versions. Of course, the French seem to be the lone holdouts, for the most part…
[Blog author: "My pleasure. Belgium is a tiny country and being multilingual is must, especially with large neighbors like England, France and Germany. Yes, many of the French believe they still are in command of an empire
I once stayed in the jungle (as a tourist, in a very basic camp) on Tioman Island (South China sea, near Malaysia/Singapore) with my previous partner who was an expat. Some French tourist approached me, immediately starting of the conversation in French (yes, right in the middle of the South China Sea 
). Their English was really poor, basically, they only spoke French. I would not feel at ease if I were to speak Dutch only. "]
Comment by Mr. Nighttime — July 23, 2008 @ 12:23 am
Peter–Even our small town newspaper did an editorial about Belgium’s situation the other day (I laughed out loud when I saw it, because I couldn’t believe it!) … saying there is a benefit to a common language. Wanted to send it to you, but haven’t found it online.
The added video is a nice touch. She did a great job. I recognized some French and German words, but Dutch, well I knew it was Dutch, but that was about it!
[Blog author: "We laugh out loud too Shirley, especially when someone suggests a 'common language'
The singer in this video is Jo Lemaire, a well-respected and experienced voice. It's not simple performing a national anthem with only a piano to back you up. German and Dutch are very close: you can check the link at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages. English/Dutch are related too, but not as close as German/Dutch. French is not related to Dutch/German/English at all, but some words will sound familiar due to previous exposure."]
Comment by Shirley — July 24, 2008 @ 4:27 am