why is minority linguistic group proved to be more powerful than the majority group in Belgium?
Answers
Answer:
The population of Belgium is divided into three linguistic communities. In the north the Flemings, who constitute more than half of Belgium’s population, speak Flemish, which is equivalent to Dutch (sometimes called Netherlandic). In the south the French-speaking Walloons make up about one-third of the country’s population. About one-tenth of the people are completely bilingual, but a majority have some knowledge of both French and Flemish
Answer:
Belgium is a small country in Europe,
smaller in area than the state of
Haryana. It has borders with France,
the Netherlands, Germany and
Luxembourg. It has a population of a
little over one crore, about half the
population of Haryana. The ETHNIC
composition of this small country is
very complex. Of the country’s total
population, 59 per cent lives in the
Flemish region and speaks Dutch
language. Another 40 per cent people
live in the Wallonia region and speak
French. Remaining one per cent of the
Belgians speak German. In the capital
city Brussels, 80 per cent people speak
French while 20 per cent are Dutchspeaking.
The minority French-speaking
community was relatively rich and
powerful. This was resented by the
Dutch-speaking community who got
the benefit of economic development
and education much later. This led to
tensions between the Dutch-speaking
and French-speaking communities
during the 1950s and 1960s. The
tension between the two communities
was more acute in Brussels. Brussels
presented a special problem: the
Dutch-speaking people constituted a
majority in the country, but a
minority in the capital.
Let us compare this to the
situation in another country. Sri
Lanka is an island nation, just a few
kilometres off the southern coast of
Tamil Nadu. It has about two crore
people, about the same as in Haryana.
Like other nations in the South Asia
region, Sri Lanka has a diverse
population. The major social groups
are the Sinhala-speakers (74 per cent)
and the Tamil-speakers (18 per cent).
Among Tamils there are two subgroups. Tamil natives of the country
are called ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ (13 per cent).
The rest, whose forefathers came from
India as plantation workers during
colonial period, are called ‘Indian Tamils’.
As you can see from the map, Sri Lankan
Tamils are concentrated in the north and
east of the country. Most of the Sinhalaspeaking people are Buddhists, while
most of the Tamils are Hindus or
Muslims. There are about 7 per cent
Christians, who are both Tamil
and Sinhala.
Just imagine what could happen
in situations like this. In Belgium, the
Dutch community could take
advantage of its numeric majority and
force its will on the French and
German-speaking population. This
would push the conflict among
communities further. This could lead
to a very messy partition of the
country; both the sides would claim
control over Brussels. In Sri Lanka, the
Sinhala community enjoyed an even
bigger majority and could impose its
will on the entire country. Now, let us
look at what happened in both these
countrie
Explanation: