Separatism in Belgium

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21812, 18 June 1936, Page 10

Separatism in Belgium

The recrudescence, since the Belgian elections, of the movement for the separation of Flanders from Belgium seems one more blow to the tottering structure of European security. As a buffer State, Belgium is scarcely less important than Austria, so that any movement likely to result in her elimination from the map of Europe must intimately concern Great Britain, France, and Germany, The problem of the Flemings is made all the more difficult by the fact that it is not the problem of a racial minority. Actually, the Flemings outnumber the Walloons, or French-speaking Belgians, and, by reason of their higher birth-rate, this numerical superiority is likely to increase. The French ascendancy, which dates from the Napoleonic conquest and the establishment of French revolutionary institutions, is largely an economic and political ascendancy. The Flemings are mainly manual workers and small traders. The Walloons control most of the great industrial enterprises; they have a monopoly of official posts; and until 1898 they were strong enough to withhold the franchise from the Flemings. The movement for a measure of Flemish autonomy, both political and cultural, dates from the middle of last century and has made slow but steady progress. A century ago Flemish was merely a peasant dialect without a literature; Belgian culture was exclusively French; and French was the language of the schools and the law courts. To-day the country is virtually bi-lingual; there is a Flemish university; Flemish is the language of the schools of Flanders; and on’y in administration does French retain its supremacy. On the political side, the aims of the Flemish autonomists are less certain and their methods somewhat dubious. In 1917, when the Belgian" Government had moved to Havre, the Flemish Activists, under the leadership of Dr. Borms, attempted to establish an independent Flanders under the protection of the German Emperor. Dr. Borms was in gaol until 1928, and since his liberation the demands of the Flemish people have become more exacting and more political. The National Socialist revolution in Germany has damped the enthusiasm of those who looked to the establishment of an independent Flanders under German protection; and the present tendency is to seek the patronage of the Dutch. Nevertheless, Germany still finds it worth while to subsidise Flemish separatists, both because any movement which weakens Belgium weakens France and also because the Belgian Government, in attempting to appease the Flemings, is being driven into measures of administrative decentralisation which give greater scope to the activities of the substantial German minority in Belgium.