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Vandemeulebroucke, Martine
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3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Linguistic discrimination in Belgium
The United Nations and the European Commission have pinned down the Flanders region for linguistic 'discrimination'. In several reports published this week, both institutions express concern for the Flemish government's adoption of a 'wooncode', a housing code that reserves access to social housing for tenants who either speak Dutch, or commit to learning the language. For Martine Vandemeulebroucke, "the existence of linguistic discrimination and the emergence of racism between the country's two communities are taboo. And yet it exists. The long crisis ... has radicalised public opinion. The Mrax [Movement against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia] more accustomed to having to defend illegal immigrants or Moroccan and Turkish minorities, is beginning to receive complaints of racism between the Flemish and French speaking communities. ... But this may also be Flemish people who, in certain hospitals need to be bilingual. Is this racial discrimination ? Not far off anyway."
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Belgium
The political crisis wreaks havoc in Belgian couples
Martine Vandemeulebroucke gives a humorous account of the first domestic disputes linked to the political crisis that has been dividing the Flemish and Walloon communities since the elections last June 10th. "The first separations due to the political crisis have been announced. ... The victims ? Mixed couples: French-speaking (Walloons and Brussels inhabitants) and Flemish. Such domestic disputes are usually triggered by this little phrase: 'you, the Flemish/French-speakers/Walloons', which reduces the partner to a representative of his or her linguistic community. We definitely aren't speaking the same language any more. True, these echoes of quarrels and separations don't have the value of polls and all this can seem trifling in the current political context. Apart from on one point: they are a measure among others of how opinions are becoming more radical, in the same way as the action in the political sphere is."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Belgium
The shadow of the far-right is looming over the Belgian elections
On the eve of legislative elections to be held in Belgium on Sunday, June 10th, the editorialist Martine Vandemeulebrouke reminds us that "The French-speaking far-right is above all an unpredictable beast which demands vigilance, because it can wake up when least expected. Has its potential to harm been underestimated in this electoral campaign? Everything is going on as if it didn't count, or hardly counts, anyway. The up side is that even in the Flanders region, we haven't seen democratic parties play the Sarkozy strategy of fishing in muddy waters. There have been no, or few, little quips about immigration, and security. But if the voters have managed to understand what is at stake with employment, the environment and justice it is mostly thanks to the media. Because otherwise, everything has been focused on people, on candidates, as if they were horses to be bet upon. ... So, it will be a pleasant surprise if the far-right is brushed aside on Sunday."
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Belgium
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