To set the stage for everyone else let me explain. You see our country has several major people groups. There are the Dutch speaking Flemish people to the North (where we live), the French speaking Walloons to the south, and a skiff of German speaking Belgians on the eastern border. Each of these groups in fact have their own parliament in the Belgium government! Nonetheless, there is some animosity between the Flemish people and the Walloons. You see the economy of the northern part of the country here is booming (with midlevel manufacturing and service industry) whereas the southern part of the country could be considered economically stagnat, at best. In fact there is a great deal of unemployment in the southern region. Belgium is also a socialist form of government which means everyone pays in excess of 50% of their income to taxes so they can have free healthcare, retirement, etc. So the Flemish people don't like having to pay extra in taxes to compensate for the Walloons perceived (or actual) laziness. This has caused problems.....a problem that is setting up to be like Quebec continued attempt to succeed from Canada...yet I believe far less mature.
The problem came last night when Belgian TV News stations broke regular programing (we don't have a working TV) to air breaking news that the "Flemish parliament has unilaterally declared the independence of Flanders (where we live)" from the Belgium government! Moreover, they showed video of enthusiastic Flemish activists, political interviews, and even footage of the Belgium monarch fleeing the country on plane!! eeeek...however after 1/2 hour of the program stated that their 'breaking news' was infact fiction. It was all just a hoax...today as I write this Belgium is infact still a unified country. Suffice it to say it has gotten a lot of Belgium people, the government, the embassies, neighboring countries, and the EU in an uproar. The TV stations claimed that they were trying to bring an undercurrent issue to the surface. However their program, which was akin to Orson Welles' radio broadcast 'War of the Worlds', may have not been the best form to highlight the issue.
Nonetheless, all is still well here in Belgium...we'll see in the coming days what is to come of all this shenanigans.
Oooh...and for those that know we were supposed to get our internet turned off tomorrow but due to some not entirely understood reasons by our ISP we will have internet until January 17th. God definitely provided for us in a totally unexpected and greatly appreciated manner. Woo Hooo!!
The Belgium flag:
The flag of Flanders:
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