History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 291

A DIFFERENT STORY: France and Flemish- France The Flemish Regional Alliance of France reports that from this year on the Lille Academy, a cornerstone of the educational system in a region of northern France with a population of 4 million, will discontinue its training of Dutch language teachers. Instead and with what irony, the exotic language of the newly arrived immigrants, mainly of North African Arab descent, will be taught. One and a half millennia ago, while the Saxons were engaged upon the great migration westward across the North Sea to post-Roman Britain, so the Flemish tribe advanced west along the Channel coast into Gallia, sweeping down upon the decaying Roman garrisons. Twelve centuries later some of the land they won was annexed by France. After the Revolution of 1789 the Flemish language had its official status removed in la Grande Nation. But no problem today, you would think. We are surely past such petty nationalisms in the modern Europe of nations, of which France is the spiritual leader. There is, don’t forget, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages which explicitly seeks to promote and protect historical regional and minority languages and excludes from protection the languages of recent immigrants to France. Flemish is unquestionably one of the native languages of France (see in the north). And just along the coast in Belgium and Netherlands, Dutch is spoken by twenty million prosperous people. Bilingualism is surely no threat and would be a great economical advantage to the Flemish of France. There were some grounds for hope that Paris thought so, too. Back in April 2001 the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, formally admitted that for more than two centuries French governments had repressed regional languages. He even announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. This hope has turned out to be shortlived, mere lip service paid to the lofty ideal of national diversity. The reality is that for Paris today, just as before, the Frenchification of the North of France can’t go fast enough. The Flemish instruction books of the French Lille Academy will end up on the local flea market. It is exceedingly curious how the French authorities hold to their historical prejudices and see the Flemish-French not in the 291