Secessionist wave sweeps Belgium

The Flemish language is almost the same as Dutch. Religious conflicts separated Flemings from themore Calvinistic Holland. This Flemish speaking area was later combined with Wallonia an area of French speakers outnumbering Flemings. The combined area became Belgium. Leopold of Germany was made the new king of Belgium. The new Belgian flag was consequently a German flag. Leopold was a Francophile and made French the official language. Wallonia was richer because of coal mining and industry. Gradually, Flemings out populated Walloons and demanded and got equal language rights. Industry also moved to the North. The Flemish area is now more populous, richer, more conservative, and more religious than Wallonia. Flemings are tired of redistributing their wealth to Wallonia. Also, French speaking politicians have encouraged the immigration of North Africans to boost their polling numbers. Brussels, in the Flemish area, is consequently less than half Flemish.

"I think that there is no French-speaking minority in Flanders; there are immigrants who have to adapt. We ask the Moroccans and the Turks to do that. We don't say to them 'There's a lot of you, so Arabic will become an official language.' That's crazy."

"in a democracy, everyone should have the right to express his opinion, even if it's an opinion I detest. And I always prefer to get my information first hand than to get it in a filtered way."

Bart De Wever the N-VA President http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/face-flanders-16 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_De_Wever