Flemish Movement Research Articles

‘Perhaps this is not fiction’: The discursive construction of national and regional identities in Belgium’s public television broadcast hoax on Flemish independence

This article sets out to reveal and evaluate the strength and scope of those units of media discourse that are connoted by identity. More specifically, it seeks to demonstrate which discursive strategies the media adopt in the case of a hoax news broadcast that announced ‘the end of Belgium as we know it’ in order to construct and stage the opposition between Walloon region-building (‘Us’) and Flemish nation building (‘Them’). For this purpose, it will focus on lexico-grammatical choices, co-textual deployment of rhetorical devices and socio-referential correlations. Relating these observations to social theory on national identity (specifically, Anderson’s historical materialist approach and Smith’s work on ethnosymbolism), as well as relevant sociopolitical perspectives, will allow for a demonstration of the ways in which discursive strategies exploit the symbiosis between language as a functional means of communication and as the carrier of a shared set of values to construct national and regional identities.

Does Nationalism Trigger Welfare-State Disintegration? Social Policy and Territorial Mobilization in Belgium and Canada

Since the late 1990s a growing number of scholars have explored the relationship between decentralization, nationalism, and social policy development. In this paper we explore the impact of substate nationalism on the territorial integration or disintegration of the welfare state in Belgium and Canada. As argued, although substate nationalist mobilization is intuitively associated with welfare-state disintegration, there is little evidence to support this claim. In Belgium, despite Flemish nationalist pressures, francophone opposition and major constitutional obstacles have prevented the decentralization of the federal social insurance system. In Canada competitive nation building between the federal and Quebec governments has not led to the erosion of social protection. Instead, this logic has favored the creation of a decentralized and asymmetrical welfare state while exacerbating pressures for social policy expansion. In order to explain such contrasted outcomes we draw on the existing scholarship on the role of ideas and of institutions in policy development.

Haunting pasts: time and historicity as constructed by the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo and radical Flemish nationalists

By focusing on the cases of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the radical Flemish nationalists, this article raises the question of how minorities succeed in keeping 'alive' painful fragments of the past, despite being pressured to 'let the wounds heal' or 'bury' the past. To answer this question, we borrow the concept of the 'regime of historicity' from the French historian Francois Hartog. We formulate the thesis that both groups succeeded in keeping their burdened pasts an 'actuality' by contesting the dominant regime of historicity and by developing a competing regime of historicity of their own, in which 'being past' cannot be equated with 'being absent' or 'being passed'. To describe how this is done, we focus on rituals of mourning and commemorations of the dead. After discussing the lugubrious ritual staging of the dead by Flemish nationalists and the Madres' radical denial of death as manifested in the ghostly figure of the desaparecidos, we take on a meta-historical perspective and claim that these attitudes should be interpreted as part of a highly instrumental 'politics of time', instead of being a psychopathology. Moreover, we argue that the alternative chronosophies of these groups challenge the very core of modern academic historiography.

Popular music against extreme right populism

•On 1 October 2006 — one week before the municipal elections — the 0110 concerts ‘for tolerance, against racism, against extremism, against gratuitous violence’ were held in the Belgian cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Charleroi. With these concerts the organizers wanted to make a statement against the extreme right Flemish-nationalist party Vlaams Belang (VB). This article looks at the discourse of the artists organizing and participating in the concerts, and at how this was communicated through the concerts, and asks how the VB reacted to 0110. The key to understanding this discursive struggle is populism. After discussing the VB and earlier anti-racist initiatives in Belgium from the perspective of populism, the article presents the results of a discourse analysis of the external communication of the VB and of the 0110 organization, of press coverage of 0110, and of the live coverage of the concerts. It discusses three issues that were central to the struggle between 0110 and the VB: the relationship between 0110 and (institutionalized) politics, the discourse of tolerance, and the participation of popular artists. •

‘From now on we speak civilized Dutch’: the authors of Flanders, the language of the Netherlands, and the readers of A. Manteau

Subjugated to the linguistic and literary norms of the Netherlands and, at the same time, confined to the borders of the multilingual state of Belgium, Flemish authors have always had to struggle hard to legitimize their cultural identity. After the Second World War, however, Flemish literature suffered from an existential crisis due to the fact that a small but prominent part of the Flemish Movement had collaborated with the German occupiers. Publishers therefore had to explore new ways in which to turn Flemish literature into a commercially and artistically successful commodity in Flanders and the Netherlands. Introducing a theoretical framework that was conceived of by Pierre Bourdieu and further elaborated on by Pascale Casanova in The World Republic of Letters, this article will discuss and interpret the ways in which Flemish publishers have edited, designed, and marketed literary texts, and explore the positive and negative effects which strategies of assimilation and differentiation have had on the reception of those texts. The reading practices engaged in by literary gatekeepers, both in Belgium and in the Netherlands, are shown to have been a profoundly influential force in the history of Flemish literature.

'Ambtenaren in dienst van de vijand'. De bestraffing van het activisme in de Belgische rijksadministratie (1918-1921)

Stijn De Wilde en Frederik Verleden ‘Civil Servants working for the Enemy’. The Repression of ‘Activism’ in the Belgian Civil Service (1918-1921)During the First World War, radical Flemish nationalists or ‘activists’ collaborated with Germany in order to obtain Flemish self-rule or even independence. In the aftermath of the war, the Belgian government prosecuted those who participated in the German Flamenpolitik. The repression of activism has led to many controversies, as the Flemish Movement considered it a harsh, anti-Flemish purge. Little is known about the repression of activists in the Belgian civil service. Yet, the scission of the Belgian civil service in a separate Flemish and Walloon branch was the most disputed measure of the German authorities and many civil servants were involved in one way or another. As it turned out, the administrative post-war purge was much larger than the criminal prosecution of activism. However, it would be a biased judgment to dismiss the administrative purge as an anti-Flemish operation as Walloon civil servants who had collaborated were also prosecuted. The repression of activism’was, however, burdened by the deficiencies typical of transitional justice: inadequate legal or administrative procedures, political interference, and infringements of the principles of a fair trial.

Economic nationalism in Flanders before the Second World War

ABSTRACT. In this article the author makes the claim that economic nationalist ideas had their origins in the Flemish Movement before the First World War and were further developed in the interwar period. This is an important modification of the classical view that Flemish nationalism before the Second World War was mainly focused on the linguistic and cultural situation in Belgium. Central to this contribution is the view of economic nationalism as an ideology using social and economic means for nationalistic purposes, although there are variations in the degree to which economy and nationalism are tools or purpose. In any case there was not much consistency, because there were different views on what constituted the interests of the ‘Flemish nation’, and which social and economic principles should be adopted. In addition, a movement that did not show much unity could not construct a homogeneous social‐economic agenda.

De gemeenteraadsverkiezingen van 8 oktober 2006

The 2006 local elections in Belgium were the first one organised after the transfer of the local authorities competences from the federal to the regional level. This means by consequence that the different regions have as well the competence in designing the institutional framework of local government as the competence of changing electoral rules. The same elections were also the first ones after drastic reforms in the national political landscape (eg., the democratic Flemish nationalist party split in different groups, nearly all the parties changed their name and particularly in the Flemish part of the country, different kinds of alliances between parties emerged).All over the country, the Christian democrats made progress and the ecologists suffered a declining trend. For the other parties, results depend from one region to another.In the Flemish part of the country, the socialists and the extreme right wing joined the Christian democrats as winners of the elections. The other parties lost votes. This was particularly the case for the liberals and ecologists (the winners of the 2000 local elections). Liberals are however the winners in the Walloon part of the country, together with again the Christian democrats. In this region, socialists and ecologists were set back. In the Brussels region, we noticed progress for socialists and Christian democrats and declining figures for liberals and ecologists.Analyses of political competition, number of groups in local councils and single party majorities point out that the fragmentation of local politics is not growing. The local political landscape seems to be more stable in the Walloons compared with the Flemish region.

Un retard incitatif. La culture flamande moderne et l'héritage d'August Vermeylen

Despite the critical distance young Flemish intellectuals feel towards the Flemish Movement, their ideas and ambitions are clearly marked by the agenda of one of the Movement’s leaders, August Vermeylen. For more than a hundred years Flemish emancipation has progressed thanks to the support from writers who are concerned with the position of Flemish culture within Europe.

Le décret Suykerbuyk et l'enjeu de l'amnistie

Résumé L’enjeu historique et politique de la question de l’amnistie en Belgique ne peut se comprendre qu’à la lumière d’une analyse de faits qui remontent à l’après première guerre mondiale. Au lendemain de celle-ci, une partie du mouvement flamand cesse de considérer la Belgique comme le seul cadre possible et s’inscrit de plus en plus radicalement dans une identité flamande anti-belge. À la faveur des années 1930, cette identité se drape en plus de pans nationalistes et fascistes. Les événements de la seconde guerre ne font que consolider cet engagement. Du côté francophone, il y a dès lors une assimilation de fait entre mouvement flamand et collaboration avec l’occupant, ce qui permet de jeter un large discrédit sur toute revendication flamande. Mais ce patriotisme belge francophone perd peu à peu de sa vigueur au fur et à mesure que la structure même de l’État belge est remise en cause. C’est dès lors au nom de l’antifascisme qu’est refusé tout geste d’amnistie, une revendication portée par le seul monde politique nationaliste et catholique flamand. Mais cette revendication a peu de chances d’aboutir y compris dans un seul cadre flamand à l’heure où le retour du spectre d’une extrême droite politiquement très présente oblige l’ensemble de la classe politique à se profiler plus que jamais en ardents défenseurs de la démocratie.

Dom Arnoldus Smits (1914-2005)

Dom Arnoldus Smits (1914-2005). Historian of the break up of the Low Countries and biographer of Modest Van AsscheArnold Smits, who had a Dutch Pan-Netherlandic background, became a Flemish nationalist Benedictine monk at the abbey of Saint Peter of Steenbrugge near Bruges. He was also a historian, renowned for his four-part study 1830 and the break up of the Low Countries and for his biography of the Flemish nationalist abbot Dom Modestus Van Assche.Romain Vanlandschoot describes the chequered life and career of Smits and also takes this opportunity to depict the abbey: it was not only scientifically renowned for editing Corpus Christianorum, the study of the authentic texts by early Christian authors, but it was also a location where during a significant part of the 20th century the different tendencies within Flemish nationalism confronted each other.

Jules Spincemaille (1882-1954) en de Vlaamse beweging

Jules Spincemaille (1882-1954) and the Flemish movementThe life and career of lawyer, civil servant and publicist Jules Spincemaille (1882-1954), as told by Bruno Daems, could be described as a human tragedy. Spincemaile was prominently involved in the ‘activism’ during WWI and afterwards in the circle of Flemish (-nationalist) refugees in Holland and also in attempts to unify the Flemish nationalists during the 1930’s. He nevertheless failed to become a leader in the Flemish movement, perhaps because of his recurrent health problems ànd persistent lack of trust in the decisions made around him.

Sub‐state nationalism and the left–right divide: critical junctures in the formation of nationalist labour movements in Belgium*

Abstract. Despite their similar political agendas, sub‐state nationalist movements in the industrialised West align themselves on different positions along the left–right spectrum. Through an analysis of Belgian sub‐state nationalist movements, this article proposes an explanation for this phenomenon by focusing on critical junctures. In particular, the focus is on the difference between Walloon and Flemish nationalist labour movements. Walloon nationalism has historically been led by socialist trade unions, while Catholic trade unions form a core part of the Flemish nationalist movement. The article seeks to explain this pattern by analysing the critical political alliances formed during the introduction of universal suffrage. The elections of 1894 established socialists as the dominant force in Wallonia and Catholics as dominant in Flanders. The emerging pillarised social structure ensured the reinforcement of the initial choices.

The adaptation of the extreme right''s discourse

The Vlaams Blok is one of the most successful of the extreme right-wing parties in Europe. The growth of the party was partly due to its populist rhetoric on race and security, and its anti-establishment rhetoric. Indeed, over the years, the party has prioritized the immigration issue, which has yielded electoral rewards, and sidelined the Flemish question. Further, the Vlaams Blok has filtered, softened and rewritten strongly-worded ideological texts in order to broaden its electoral appeal, and consolidate its gains. The recent transformation of the Vlaams Blok into Vlaams Belang may be seen as a further step in the party’s attempt to become a right-conservative people’s party. It is another indication of an attempt to get away from the party’s image as being on the extreme of the right wing and the historical legacy of collaboration, and radical Flemish nationalism. However, the moderation of the Vlaams Blok’s language over the years is not only the result of electoral strategy. While enjoying steady growing electoral support, the party has remained isolated on the Belgian political scene. The traditional parties reacted to the extreme right’s success with a total exclusion of the party. This situation led far-right leaders to modify their strategies, positions and rhetoric, and to try to demonstrate that the Vlaams Blok is capable of assuming power responsibly. Similar trends in the moderation and adaptation of the party’s rhetoric can be seen in other successful extreme right-wing parties. In France, the Front National (FN) has of late presented itself as a party of good governance. In Austria, the Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (FPO) significantly moderated its program and, as a consequence, dovetailed with the mainstream of Austrian politics in 1999. Ascension to government forced the party to review further its themes, tone and style. And in Italy, the Alleanza Nazionale (AN) developed a program in line with those of moderate European right-wing parties after it entered Berlusconi’s 1994 government.

Gender, the extreme right and Flemish nationalist women's organisations in interwar Belgium

. This paper deals with the two main interwar Flemish nationalist women's organisations of the extreme right in Belgium: the Katholieke Vlaamsche meisjesbeweging (Catholic Flemish Girls' Movement) and the Vlaamsch-Nationaal Vrouwenverbond (Flemish National Women's League). Drawing on Karen Offen's distinction between ‘relational’ and ‘individualist’ feminism it is argued that they were not uniformly anti-feminist: they drew on a ‘relational’ tradition to justify women's public and political participation. Women were attracted to these organisations which appeared to denigrate their rights, because in neither were they treated as mere objects of discourse. They actively engaged in the production of a nationalist discourse of their own, they felt empowered and had opportunities for agency. Their public adherence to the values of motherhood and married life did not imply private ascription to them. Finally, the impact of the ‘pillarisation’ (verzuiling) of Belgian society on Flemish nationalist gender views is looked into, and compared to other European countries.

The Making of the (Issues of the) Vlaams Blok

In Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, one of the strongest extreme right parties of Europe thrives: the Vlaams Blok (the Flemish Bloc). The basic question of this article is straightforward: Do the Flemish media contribute to the success of the Vlaams Blok by emphasizing the themes of the party? The theoretical argument is twofold: agenda setting by the media and issue ownership by parties. The issues the Vlaams Blok owns are determined using two sources: its electoral manifestoes and its electorate's motivations to vote for the party. This leads to four issues: Flemish nationalism, immigrant topics, antipolitics issues, and crime-related themes. Using a vast media data set covering three newspapers and two TV stations and stretching over 10 years (1991-2000), we examine to what extent these issues were covered. The analysis shows that especially immigrant topics and crime receive extensive and growing media attention, and time series analysis shows that this rise parallels the electoral growth of the Vlaams Blok. The media could be considered co-responsible for the Vlaams Blok's upsurge.

LABOR HISTORY SYMPOSIUM

LABOR HISTORY SYMPOSIUM

1302-2002. De Guldensporenslag en zijn nagalm in de moderne tijd

J.F. Verbruggen, R. Falter, 1302. Opstand in Vlaanderen; M. de Bruijn, Ch. Broer, I. Stroucken, Volc te voet. Gevolgen van de Guldensporenslag voor de opkomst van de burgerij in de Noordelijke Nederlanden; P. Trio, D. Heirbaut, D. van den Auweele, Omtrent 1302; R.C. van Caenegem, 1302. Feiten en mythen van de Guldensporenslag; G.H. Nörtemann, Im Spiegelkabinett der Historie. Der Mythos der Schlacht von Kortrijk und die Erfindung Flanderns im 19. Jahrhundert; C. Billen, 1302 Revisité. 1302 Herbekeken1302-2002. The Battle of the Golden Spurs and its impact on modern timesThe commemoration, in 2002, of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of the Golden Spurs at Courtray has generated a stream of new books and articles. They shed new light on two quite different aspects of this memorable event which took place on 11 July 1302: First, the transformation of the battle into a veritable lieu de mémoire; second, the interpretation of the event itself through a more sophisticated explanation of its underlying causes and wider impact, as well as alternative views about the military action that took place. What makes the first aspect so very fascinating is the fact that the myth of 1302 eventually turned into a battlefield itself, where Flemish and Belgian nationalists sat face-to-face, and where three of the overarching ideologies of the nineteenth century — Liberalism, Christian denominationalism, and Socialism — collided. The pacifying tendency among most Belgian national politicians and professional historians, as well as the gradual appropriation of the myth of 1302 by Flemish nationalists, hampered and complicated its transformation into a collective ‘place of remembrance’ acceptable to all Belgians. One conclusion regarding the second aspect is that recent authors have great difficulty escaping the dominant models of interpretation of Moke/Pirenne in the social and economic field, and Verbruggen in the field of military tactics.

‘That is not my ambition’: A forgotten chapter in the history of the Flemish Movement and postwar leftist cultural circles

In the early 1980s Humo's iconic rock Journalist Marc Mijlemans went to Dublin and was amazed to learn of the nationalism of U2's The Edge. In the autumn of 2003, Frank Vandenbroucke (socialist Minister of Labour in Belgium's federal government) was equally surprised when journalists suggested that his recent political fight with his Walloon counterparts might earn him an honorary place in the Flemish Movement: ‘That is not my ambition’ he said, and laughed. Since the early 1970s Flemish nationalism and progressive, trendy or cool behaviour have seemed mutually exclusive. In my paper, I argue that an increasingly ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’ culture nevertheless promotes ideals and ambitions crucial to the Flemish Movement. I will use the work of Johan Anthierens as a case study, but Humo, Herman de Coninck and Tom Lanoye provide other cases in point.

Militaire collaboratie in België tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog

Military collaboration in Belgium during World War II, Bruno de WeverFinding concrete information about military collaboration in the countries occupied by Germany during WWII is not easy because of the masses of apologetic and purely military literature. Good quality, scholarly publications are not available. This article presents a survey of Belgium. The country had 42,000 military collaborators, but there was no 'Belgian' military collaboration as such because, for political reasons only, Walloon and Flemish (para) military organizations were formed. The Walloon military collaboration served the ambitions of the Rex-leader, Léon Degrelle. He pushed the Walloon Legion into the Waffen-SS and made the Rexist paramilitary organizations part of the SS-complex. In Flanders, military collaboration was dominated by the rivalry between the Flemish-nationalist Flemish National League (VNV) and the GreaterGermanic and SS-orientated German-Flemish Labour organization. After the incorporation of the Flemish Legion into the Waffen-SS, the VNV gambled on the paramilitary organizations under its supposed political control. It lost its influence with the integration of these organizations into the German Army and the Waffen-SS.