De Gordel (Dutch for "the belt") is a highly political cycling and walking event around Brussels, Belgium. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Cycling is the use of Bicycles or - less commonly - Unicycles Tricycles Quadricycles and other similar wheeled Human powered vehicles Walking (also called ambulation) is the main form of Animal Locomotion on land, distinguished from Running and crawling Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The event is organised by the Flemish Community, with the help of the Bloso, each year on the first Sunday of September. Flanders (Vlaanderen Flandre Flandern is a geographical region located in parts of present day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Bloso is the shortened name for the Belgian Flemish Sports agency It is meant as a symbolic assertion that the municipalities involved are part of Flanders. It also expresses the solidarity of the entire Flemish community (nation) with the Flemings living in these places.
While opinion on the event varies, many French-speakers see this as a political move by the Flemish Community and those who choose to take part (including Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in 2005) in order to reaffirm their belief that the area covered by the event is a purely Flemish. This is a list of Prime Ministers of Belgium, known regionally as Premier Ministre in French, Eerste Minister in Dutch, (ɣi vəɾˈɦɔfstɑt (b Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt, 11 April 1953 in Dendermonde, Belgium) is a Belgian politician municipal In 2006, Minister-President of Flanders Yves Leterme said: "The Gordel is a pleasant way to say that we want to keep the villages around Brussels Flemish. The Minister-President of Flanders is the Head of government of the Flemish region and community which is a federal state of Belgium. Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (born 6 October 1960 is a Belgian politician a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party ( CD&V) "[1]
So close to Brussels, and passing through several Dutch-speaking towns with French-speaking majorities in some areas, this event gains wide television coverage through news reports and serves as a very visual reminder that linguistic and political divisions among neighbouring regions and even neighbours themselves can often run deep in the area immediately surrounding Brussels.
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Incidents
De Gordel has fallen victim to sabotage actions several times in the past. During the 2006 event, local police caught a French-speaking nationalistic lawyer and another person throwing thumbtacks on the road. [2]
See also
- Municipalities with language facilities
- Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
- Halle Vilvoorde Komite, or Haviko
- Orange Walk
References
- ^ Wind and rain disturb de Gordel - report on De Gordel 2006 from vrtnieuws. The municipalities with language facilities, occasionally called municipalities with linguistic facilities or shortly municipalities with facilities ( Dutch “Brussels judicial Arrondissement” redirects here Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (often abbreviated as BHV) is a Belgian electoral Orange Walks are a series of parades held annually by members of the Orange Order during the summer in Northern Ireland, to a lesser extent in Scotland net
- ^ article about the sabotage in 2006 - from standaard. be (in Dutch)
External links
- Official page, in Dutch
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