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België

[photo Peter Forret, also seen on Monuments]

Judging from what can be read in numerous foreign media, you might think our little country is falling apart. Well, it's not. And if I can help it, it won't. And I am not alone in this opinion... Bert at One Agency, for example, posted this message today:

"I, and many people in Belgium with me, are frustrated with the fact that our politicians and the traditional media have created the impression that people in the North and South of our miniscule country hate each other. This blog wants to prove the opposite: www.ilovebelgians.be.
Go check it out and share the love. Power to the people!"

Note: for those of you out there who had doubts whether "België" is even a song title, here's the proof it is:

By the way: it's  a song by Het Goede Doel, a Dutch band, in which they express their thoughts on moving from Holland to another country, Belgium being the best option they can think of. And if even the Dutch feel this way...

Note: Unfortunately, the English translation of the song was "Luxemburg (Is there life on Pluto?)" Also, the song is said to refer to the Utrecht café België on the Oudegracht, famous for its many different kinds of beer. Which sort of puts this thought a bit into a different perspective, I guess. :-D

A cancer for the cure

Could it be this simple: scientists have found a cure for cancer, but since there is no money to be made from it, they do not research it any further?

Well, that is basically what this guy is telling us, and what Piet apparently has picked up on. Let's hope they are right and that the pressure of free media can create a breakthrough. But what if these scientists are wrong? Or worse: what if this is just a big hoax?

Will the 'collective intelligence' of the web in its 2.0 state reveal the truth? Or will it be proved that the World Wide Web is just "a vessel of quasi-religious longing" like Nicholas Carr once stated? I am curious...

300 seconds

L'Alliance pour la Planète (a French alliance of environmental groups) has launched an appeal to give this planet a 5 minutes' break: on 1 February between 7.55 and 8.00 pm Paris time (you can check here what that means for you local timezone).

To quote the Alliance: "It is not about saving 5 minutes of electricity, but about drawing the attention of all citizens, media and politicians to the waste of energy and the urgency of taking action. 5 minutes for the planete: it doesn't take long, it costs nothing and it will show the candidates for the Presidency (France is electing a new President in a couple of months) that climat change is an important subject in the political debate."

I, for one, will try to join the action (if I don't forget and miss the 5-minute time span). I do wonder, however, what will happen if everybody switches their lights back on at 8?

Rule Flandria

[photo]

Can you believe that? I leave the country for just one day (not even an entire day) and when I get back, I have to hear that Belgium no longer exists and the Flemish parliament has declared independence. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure you'll find plenty of info and comments here.

I'm not going to add to the discussion too much, apart from this: if anything, the RTBF have not brought about a discussion on the defederalisation of the Belgian state, but on the boundaries of serious journalism today. And as far as I am concerned: they crossed it big time.

Strange folk, those Americans (6)

[photo via Kami's Flickr photostream]

I had promised to tell you more about meeting up with Kami Huyse the other week. Actually, I'm glad she has already done the bigger part of that job. Saves me some time to cut to the chase, the political chase, that is.

Like Kami also mentioned, we talked, amongst other things, about politics, both in the US and in Europe. And what struck me the most is the fact that there is apparently a huge gap between what we think we know about each other's situation and reality. Especially on my behalf - after all, Kami's husband is Belgian so I am sure she probably has the advantage of a "bicultural" family.

Anyway: my idea of the US being a relatively monolithic block (the Easy Rider feeling: you can ride/drive from the East to the West coast and still eat the same burgers, speak the same language, stay in the same kind of motels,...) has changed more than I had expected. I knew, of course, that the US is a bunch of States united into a larger union, but that the differences between the different units were that big, did come as a surprise. A comparison which touched base as far as I was concerned, was that Texas was a bit like France: since they are bigger than their neighbours, they tend to consider themselves as more important too. On the other hand: I have always suspected George Dubya to have Napoleon-like traits.

Anyway: our conversation was too long and interesting to sum up in a blog post, so I'll just be antisocial with this social medium and keep the rest of our conversation to ourselves. Which reminds me: we also had some interesting discussions about Second Life and about the potential reach of social media. As you might know, I am a bit of a sceptic. And the news that 1/5 of the Belgian population has never even been online, which also got picked up by Philippe Borremans, does not make me any less...

Fortunately, there are still Belgians (even when living in Finland), like Piet, who have discovered social media and who are using them really well. I couldn't resist borrowing this little piece of footage from his blog; after all, it is completely in the spirit of this post:

And while we're at it - just one for the road:

Strange folk, those Americans (5)

While I'm still getting round to sorting out my online backlog, the world hasn't stopped turning. Today, for example, is election day in the US of A. I had an interesting conversation about politics in the US with Kami Huyse while she was over in Belgium to visit her in-laws last week, but more about that later. For now, let me suffise in pointing you to this piece of promotional footage for Gorilla Political Marketing. Don't ask...

[via]

Body language

Vlaams Belang, Flanders' extreme right party did not get the victory it had counted on in the local elections last Sunday. Many of us had hoped so, but only few had dared to predict it. OK, they won (sometimes quite significantly) in certain rural areas, but only because they had not been present there yet in earlier local elections. One of their main goals, however - to gain even more votes in bigger towns and cities - was not achieved (especially in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent).

[foto]

And despite their claiming a victory, the facts are what they are: some 90,000 people in Flanders did no longer vote for Vlaams Belang (in comparison to the regional elections of 2004). And you know what: I am sure the party's big shots know it too. Their non-verbal communication on election night said it all. Let the process of pushing them back even further begin...

A remarkable televsion appearance on election night was also made by Michel Daerden, minister in the Walloon regional government, who had already - quite clearly - celebrated his election victory in Ans. Even if you do not speak French, here also, the non-verbal part of his communication makes clear the drinks were plenty...

Note: the photo above was not taken on election night, but is quite similar to some of the scenes that could be seen on tv. One of those scenes (Dewinter's "victory speech") can be watched here, if you have the patience to wait a minute or so (click 'Televideo').