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For other uses, see Flemings (disambiguation).

Flemings
(Vlamingen)

File:Flemish region colours.png The Flemish community / region of Belgium
Regions with significant populations
Belgium	6,200,000
Languages
Dutch
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic or Atheist/Non-religious
Related ethnic groups
Afrikaners, Dutchmen, Frisians.

The Flemings or Flemish (Template:Lang-nl) are the inhabitants of Flanders (the northern half of Belgium). The population of Flanders is about 6 million people (the majority of all Belgians). They are one of the three main cultural groups (together with the Walloons and Germanophone Belgians) that live in Belgium and the only one to speak Dutch natively.

Origins and Culture

The idea of a Flemish identity emerged at the end of the 19th century and caught on around the beginning of the 20th century which tried to create awareness among the Dutch-speaking Belgians for their own language and culture. Before this, the Flemish were almost completely focussed on their Francophone countrymen.

Before this awareness, and for some groups till this day, the Flemings were regarded as forming a part of the Dutch people, with Flemish merely indicating the county or region one was from) hence the Dutch and Flemish share many cultural features, the most obvious being the same language: Dutch.

Language

The official language of Flanders is Dutch (at the Belgian -federal- level at par with French, and to a lesser extent German; the linguistic legislation is complex and politically extremely sensitive). The local dialects are diverse. All but one (East Flemish) of the Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are crossborder dialects which means they're also spoken in the Netherlands.

Since World War II, the influence of radio, television, and with more people moving out of their region of birth, the use of the original dialects tends to decrease. Differences between the regional dialects erode and new types of intermediate dialects appear, including a non-standardized mix of standard Dutch with 'cleaned-up' dialect. This is often called 'tussentaal' ('language-in-between') or, derogatorily, 'verkavelingsvlaams' (speech as where Flemish people from diverse locations and dialects become neighbours in a newly built-up out of town quarter). In Brussels, the local dialect is heavily influenced by French, both in pronunciation, as in vocabulary. Only a small number (c. 150,000) of the inhabitants of French Flanders can speak or understand Dutch or the local dialect.

Religion

Approximately 75% of the Flemish people are by baptism assumed Roman Catholic, though a still diminishing minority of less than 8% attends Mass on a regular basis. Nearly half of all the inhabitants of Flanders are Agnostic or Atheist as well as Orthodox, Jewish, Protestant, Islamic and other minorities among other ethnic groups. A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, showed 55% chose to call themselves religious, 36% believe that God created the world. (See also Religion in Belgium.)

Flemish separatism

The confrontational nature of Flemish politics is related to the communal tension between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia. These ultimately resulted in the federalisation of Belgium, and the Flemish movement includes secessionist tendencies and groups. Functions continue to devolve away from the Belgian state to the institutional regions and communities.

Until the 1960s the Belgian state was Francophone. Not only the Walloons were Francophone but also the nobility, since Burgundian times, and the Flemish bourgeoisie since the early 19th century. Use of French was mandatory in all aspects of public life: government, the courts, academia, and industry. Until the 1930s, for example, the Flemish majority was educated only in French; courts were conducted in French (with notorious examples of Flemish peasants tried and judged in a language they did not comprehend). During the First World War there were tensions between Flemish soldiers and French speaking officers. Since the falling-off of its traditional coal mining and steel industries at the beginning of the 60', Wallonia, the French-speaking southern half of Belgium, which was the leading economic force in Belgium and the strongest contributor to its wealth, is become more and more subsidized by the more economically robust Flemish north, an issue that remains unresolved.

Within the Flemish Movement, the demand for outright independence grew stronger in the last decades. There are two political parties strongly advocating secession from Belgium: the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (New Flemish Alliance) and the Vlaams Belang. This last party is considered by all other Flemish political parties to be far right. Its identification of the Flemings as a separate 'people' (Template:Lang-nl) is controversial. It associates that claim with rejection of a Belgian national identity, and describes itself as a Flemish nationalist party, seeking a separate and sovereign state for the Flemish people, which is claimed to be a nation, and to have its own national identity. It seeks the dissolution of Belgium. The viewpoints of the Vlaams Belang are not shared by Flemish mainstream parties, and with the French Community parties they formed a cordon sanitaire - not forming a coalition or cooperating at any level of government with Vlaams Belang.

The Flemish are recognized as a "community" by Belgium's institutional creation of a separate Flemish Community (not an administrative region). The term "Belgian people" is also in use, but Article 33 of the Belgian Constitution states that power derives from the "nation" rather than from the "people".

References

1. [The CIA World Factbook estimates that 58% of Belgians are Flemish.
2. Mainly the descendants of Dutch colonists in South Africa, speak Afrikaans a Dutch semi-creol.
3. Share language and origin with the Flemish, live adjacent to the Flemish.
4. Are bilingually Dutch, largely intertwined history and also possessing Germanic heritage.
5. Dutch/Flemish in the North of France (Hugo Ryckeboer) University of Ghent, Department of Dutch Linguistics
6. Inquiry by 'Vepec', 'Vereniging voor Promotie en Communicatie' (Organisation for Promotion and Communication), published in Knack magazine 22 November2006 p.14 .
7. For example Vlaams Belang, states that the "Flemish people' have a right to self-determination: De Vlaamse onafhankelijkheid is een principekwestie voor het Vlaams Belang. Het Vlaamse volk kan en moet zijn recht op zelfbeschikking uitoefenen. Party Programme, .
8. Party Programme : Het Vlaams Belang is een Vlaams-nationalistische partij. Voor ons is het zelfbeschikkingsrecht der volkeren fundamenteel. De soevereiniteit van een natie moet van het volk zelf uitgaan. Elk volk heeft het recht zijn toekomst in te richten zoals het dat wil, bij voorkeur in een eigen staat. Wij vinden dat de identiteit van ons volk, van élk volk, zo waardevol is dat een nationale identiteit speciale bescherming moet genieten.
9. Party Programme : Vlaanderen moet Europa voorbereiden op een vreedzame opdeling van België. Vlaanderen moet Europa warm maken voor een uitdagend en dynamisch project, voor de komst van een nieuwe, moderne staat in het hart van Europa.
10. La Constitution Belge,

See also

• Flanders
• Flemish Region
• Flemish Community
• De Vlaamse Leeuw

• Ethnic groups in Europe
• Flanders
• West Germanic peoples