The Cultural Revolution in Flanders

[Goswin_van_Eyck]

The Cultural Revolution in Flanders


If you compare the Flanders of the year 2000 with that of just one and a half centuries before, the only conclusion you can draw is that a real metamorphosis has taken place, a true cultural revolution.

The cultural development of the Flemish population has made rapid progress within just a few generations.The figures are impressive. Around the middle of the 19th century, after Belgium won its independence in 1830, more than half the population over seven years of age was totally illiterate.

In het year 2000 the Flemish are some of the best educated and trained people in the world. Quit a difference to the previous century. In 1999 the Government of Flanders invested more than 6.3 billion euros in Education. This means that 5 % of the Gross Regional Product is spent on Education, the Government's input therefor being just above the average among OECD countries.

Poor Flanders.

It was not until 1842 that Belgium had in place legislation governing Education. Until this first law came into being, education mainly took place in small private schools, where men and women who had not long learned to read themselves taught those who wanted to learn. Any form of compulsory education did not exist. The school desks were built by the pupils and teachers themselves. In the Flemish countryside and in the small towns the bulk of the population had little interest for education and culture. People put all their energies into simply surviving amidst the poverty. The daily bread was far more important than culture. Education and consequently also cultural development were the prerogative of a small minority.

But there was another major problem. Flanders barely had a standard language, spoken and understood by all Flemish people. Indeed the newly founded Belgian state had chosen French as coalescent for the new nation. The French-speakers occupied the best positions. Flemish people who wanted to forge a career for themselves had to embrace the French language when they entered the government administration, the Army, business, teaching, or the Church. The Flemish culture, which had set the tone in Medieval Europe indeed Bruges (Brugge) was then known as the "Venice of the North" seemed doomed. Only a small minority was able to riposte and keep Flanders from cultural downfall.

The Language is the People.

The first advocates of the Flemish culture were faced with a formidable task. The government knew and used only French and the bulk of the Flemish population had no or little interest for culture. Furthermore the Flemish people spoke a local dialect on the whole and the standard language, i.e. Dutch, was only used by a minority. And because the use of languages in accordance with the constitution was free, the general population, who spoke no French, and the civil servants, who spoke no Dutch, were de-facto given equal rights. Knowing the language of the population was no longer mandatory. Flanders had become an underdeveloped region and knowing French had become a pre-requisite for jobs and promotion. The language barrier had given rise to a social gap. In those difficult years a true battle had to be fought for the mere survival of the Dutch language in Belgium. The first to offer resistance to the French-speaking domination formed part of the middle classes, i.e. civil servants, who were obliged to change over to French, the liberal professions, and in particular a large number of teachers, who were brought face to face with the population's cultural destitution on a daily basis. In fact they were almost exclusively "lovers of language", men and women of letters and philologists from Antwerp (Antwerpen) and Ghent (Gent). Despite an understandable mistrust amongst a wide section of the Flemish population, these men and women continued to cultivate the Dutch language and to stimulate Flemish culture. Both the Liberal Jan Frans Willems - the Father of the Flemish Movement - and the priest and university lecturer Jan Baptist David from Leuven played a very active part in defending the Flemish culture. In 1844 they also won a historic victory: the Dutch spoken and written in Flanders became subject to the same rules of spelling and style as the Dutch of the Netherlands. The real danger that Flanders would become a linguistic islet, which carried the risk of being swept from the face of the earth, was thus averted. From 1844 Flanders formed an integral cultural part of the Dutch-speaking world. The language unification between the north and the south was later officially ratified and the "Nederlandse Taalunie" (Dutch Language Union), of which both Flanders and the Netherlands have joint control, was formed. And it is thanks to the "Taalunie" that Flanders and the Netherlands are now in a stronger position to defend the Dutch language and the Dutch-language culture within the European Union.

The establishment of the Liberal foundation the Willemsfonds in 1851 and the Catholic Davidsfonds in 1875 were also of great significance. Later, in 1945, the Socialist Vermeylenfonds was also set up. These foundations organized lectures, theatre productions, and other cultural events for the general public. Books were being published and libraries were opened and as such the Dutch-language and Flemish culture was brought to the masses. Another significant development was that at that time the concept of "Flanders" as a geographic entity and the existence of a Flemish people who lived there as a community was given recognition for the first time. And the many voluntary workers of these organizations were helped in their work by the novel "De Leeuw Van Vlaanderen" (the Flemish lion) by Hendrik Conscience, published in 1838. The book became such a success - it was also being read to those who were illiterate - that Conscience is justifiably said to have taught his people to read. "De Leeuw Van Vlaanderen" also appealed to the romantic cultural nationalism of a slumbering people, who could be awoken from their sleep and whose main hallmark was their language, the soul of the people. Hence the slogan in those days "De Taal is gans het Volk" (The language is the people).

Language legislation.

Thanks to this first generation of "lovers of language" the foundations were slowly but surely being laid for the revival of het Flemish culture. Without its language, Flanders would in fact have become part of the French-speaking culture. These "lovers of language" had therefore not just saved the Dutch language in Flanders but had also generated the necessary conditions for the preservation of the Flemish culture. Their successors went one step further and thanks to their efforts the first language laws came into being at the end of the 19th century. The execution of two Flemish workers, who did not understand French and were therefore hardly able to follow the proceeedings at their trial, had the effect of mobilizing the people. In 1880 there were calls in Flanders for the festivities for the 50th anniversary of Belgium's independence to be boycotted and in 1887 the Belgian King, King Leopold, was subject to heavy criticsm when he spoke only French at the Flemish Breydelfeesten in Bruges. The following year Dutch was spoken for the first time in the Belgian Parliament. In 1898 the law of equality (Gelijkheidswet) was a true milestone in Flanders's evolution. In this law, Dutch was officially recognized as a national language in Belgium for the first time. French could still be used in Flanders, but the official monolingual French-speaking Belgium was no more. And this formed the basis for the further process of establishing unilingualism in the Belgian regions. After the First World War the Flemish Socialist Camille Huysmans launched the concept of cultural autonomy as a solution to the Belgian problem of nationality. Each community, the Flemish as well as the French-speaking community, had to be able to develop its own cultural policy without interference from the other. In 1962-1963 the linguistic border was finally officially established and in 1970 cultural autonomy was also laid down in the Constitution. In 1993 Belgium became a federal state. The State of Flanders now has fully autonomous powers with regard to Language and Culture. Dutch is the official language in Flanders. The Flemish people are now in a position themselves to protect and develop their cultural identity. This means that Flanders has come an incredibly long way since Belgium's independence in 1830. Even in their wildest dreams the 19th century "lovers of language" could not have imagined such a spectacular result.

Democratization of culture.

The cultural emancipation and revival of Flanders would not have been possible without a well-developed education system. It is no coincidence that Culture and Education are the two most important spheres over which the Communities in Belgium have jurisdiction. Without education there is no culture and vice versa. The introduction of the regional language throughout the education system was a gradual process and it was not until 1930 that university education was offered in Dutch. The battle for Flanders to have its own "Flemish" institute of higher education was fraught with difficulty but was buoyed up by all main political movements in Flanders, i.e. the Christian Democrats, Socialists and Liberals. The introduction of the regional language in education also gave great impetus to the democratization of culture. Indeed it is a well-established fact that interest for culture increases in line with the degree of education and training. Less spectacular but certainly as effective was the steady development of public libraries and cultural centres in Flanders. The threshold for an active cultural experience was not only lowered by the use of the regional language, but also by bringing this experience as close to the people as possible. Thanks to education and the new libraries and cultural centres, the three major cultural foundations, the Catholic Davidsfonds, the Socialist Vermeylenfonds, and the Liberal Willemsfonds, were better able to make all forms of culture available to everyone. However, these three organizations are just some of the many associations in Flanders that contribute to the development of hundreds of thousands of people. Flanders remains true to that rich tradition of voluntary work. It was after all thanks to those first voluntary workers that the Flemish culture was able to survive.

Being Flemish without complexes.

Since the end of the Second Worl War and the signing of the School Pact in 1958, the young people of Flanders now have a wide range of study and training opportunities open to them. As a result of the 1972 Cultural Pact, all preparation and implementation of the cultural policy is guided by representative movements, and philosophical trends. The Government of Flanders has since translated these principles into its own Flemish Cultural Pact. Tolerance and openness form an integral part of culture. A study carried out in 1998 shows that pupils in their last year of secondary education are more tolerant than the Flemish population in general. This is renewed proof that better education and training leads to openness towards other cultures.

Flemish youngsters have come to consider it as perfectly normal to be able to enjoy and make the most of their cultural identity in their own region. In the year 2000 they no longer need to act or react defensively and win their own rights. In that sence they are taking full advantage of the efforts made by their ancestors. The fact the Flemish youngsters are able without complexes to enjoy and make the most of their own culture and embrace other cultures is the best proof that a true cultural revolution has indeed taken place in the Flanders. The 19th century Flemish protagonists can be proud of the results their work has produced. It is thanks to them that in the intellectual and cultural sphere - besides its material and socio-economic progress - Flanders is no longer "Poor Flanders". In fact quite to the contrary.
Flanders 46 - June 2000

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