Holding of general elections and subsequent formation of the government, sometimes coalitions, is just a routine matter and a normal course of life in the countries of Western Europe. But not so in the case of Belgium, the country considered and called to be the ‘capital of Europe’ since it provides headquarters for the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The last general elections held in June 2010 in this tiny country of about 10 million people made bigger and eye-catching headlines in the world media, not for any ‘landside victory’ but because of a split mandate, a mandate that threatens to split the country highlighted by world media with such headlines as “Separatists claim victory in Belgian elections”. These developments have generated extraordinary interest in this part of the world as many regions and people are encountering a similar problem.
Belgium, situated between France and Holland, is a bilingual country comprising the French-speaking Wallonia people and Flemish-speaking Flanders. For many years the emphasis on linguistic identity has been on the rise and recently quite vociferous voices have been heard for the dissolution of Belgium and creation of a separate country for the Flemish-speaking people of Dutch origin. The New Flemish Alliance, the party advocating a separate country, has emerged as the largest party, not only in Flanders but also in the country as a whole. This has given an exceeding impetus to the demands for the parting of ways between Flanders and Wallonia.
Pakistan was created by conjoining different people with their own distinct identity based on history, language and culture. After the creation of the new country, these people — Bengali, Sindhi, Baloch, etc — started demanding recognition of their identity and asked for the promotion of their culture and language. In response, the state organs used the force of the gun and state intellectuals used the force of the pen to suppress such demands and instead promoted and imposed a ‘single identity, single language and single culture’. This ‘strategy’ created a strong reaction that manifested itself in the shape of mass movements for the ‘restoration’ of different identities.
One of these movements — the Bengali — culminated in the ‘split’ of Pakistan and creation of a new country Bangladesh, while the Sindhi and Baloch movements are getting fiercer with the passage of time.
Opponents of these movements, including rulers and some intellectuals, ‘democrats’ and ‘peace activists’ have been forwarding different arguments; some of them just the repetition of old rhetoric and some new inventions. One such oft-repeated argument has been that “only feudals, reactionaries, anti-progress and anti-development people pursue the path of a separate identity”. One of the newfound arguments is that “the world has progressed so fast and so far that the question of a separate identity is a thing of the past, no more relevant in the current scenario”, and that “the borders separating different identities are vanishing”. In this regard the case of the EU is forwarded as a ready reference.
The case of Belgium provides aproper answer to these arguments and should prove to be an eye-opener for all concerned. Being one of the smallest, in land mass and population, countries of not only Europe but also the whole world, Belgium is one of the most highly industrialised countries of Europe. The headquarters of the world’s biggest alliance, NATO, are situated here. And the most important and the most relevant of all is the point that Brussels, the capital of Belgium, provides the seat of the EU, which is exemplified as a model for ‘unification’, especially that of South Asia.
That despite all these qualities and qualifications Belgium is experiencing the stresses and strains of separate identities based on language, reminds us that the progress of human society is influenced by the forces of nature and not by the wishes of certain human beings and has to pass through some unavoidable steps and stages, a separate national identity based on language and culture being one of these unavoidable(s).
If followed with sincerity, this natural path of progress might lead to greater human unity. On the other hand, artificial efforts made to bypass this natural process may result in disunity and dissension, even disintegration, as there are no short cuts in history. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia is ample testimony to the end result of such man-made efforts to divert the course of history.
The writer is chairman of Jeay Sindh Mahaz