there to here
Brussels identities from A to Z
Flanders
Wendy Van Wynsberghe – master in Germanic languages, sound artist and musician under the stage name Remork – settled in Brussels in 1999, after having lived in Ghent, Antwerp and Liverpool. “But here is where I feel really at home, in this city that belongs to no one and to everyone, and where everyone is a minority.” Wendy works at Arts Lab Constant, a non-profit organisation dedicated to developing radio, electronic music and database projects, under free licensing schemes. “Every day, I speak three languages, and sometimes four. Which makes me less of a Fleming and more of a “Frusseleer”, if you like: a Brusseleer with Flemish roots, but first and foremost a Brusseleer.”
12 www.thebulletin.be December 10 2009
012_013_there to here.indd 12
8/12/2009 13:32:32
Again, there are economic reasons behind this. Anyway, as a Dutch speaker, I feel privileged in Brussels: I belong to a small language group, but I nonetheless have access to many possibilities. There are lots of cultural events in my native tongue, there is a very good Dutch-language library, and we have bilingual government agencies. You won’t hear me complaining. Of course, I do sort of convey the culture and mentality of Flanders, even though it’s been a long time since I lived there. Those typically Flemish hang-ups... Don’t flaunt yourself! Don’t think too highly of yourself! What’s positive about that is that I always keep both feet firmly on the ground. But on the other hand, many Flemings lack the necessary bravado to sell themselves. As diverse, culturally rich and varied Brussels is, as hopeless its politicians are. They can’t even manage to have a cycle path properly laid out. There really is no policy to speak of here! Hopefully this will change one day, even though, on the other hand, this very incoherence is also what makes Brussels Brussels... In the ten years that I’ve lived here, I’ve seen the city change a lot. When I first arrived, there were still a lot more vacant buildings in the centre – now these are fancy neighbourhoods. There has also been a sharp rise in the number of poor and asylum-seekers, while simultaneously the presence of affluent Eurocrats has become ever more visible. I have nothing against Eurocrats, but Europe also attracts many poor, and the chasm between rich and poor should be on top of every politician’s agenda. But up until now they are in denial – many asylum-seekers living in the Klein Kasteeltje don’t have any prospect whatsoever of regularisation and are left to their own devices. Yet they are Brusseleers as well and we should take better care of them. Look, I love this city, but I’m not blind to its defects. And there are quite a few of them...
“Most people here at one point just washed ashore: they are ‘bastards’ like the symbol of the city, the Zinneke”
Interview by Veerle Devos & Kristof Dams Image by Veerle Devos
SHUTTERSTOCK
I
n the other Belgian cities where I lived, they went “you’re not from around here” as soon as I opened my mouth. I come from Oostkamp, near Bruges in West Flanders and you can tell that by my accent. In Brussels, you don’t get that reaction, because no one is “from here”. Most people here at one point just washed ashore: they are “bastards”, just like the symbol of the city: the streetdog Zinneke. Only four out of ten people living in Brussels are of Belgian descent, making this a very mixed city. That’s the way I like it. In some areas of Brussels, you only have to take a short walk to hear more than five languages being spoken. In Saint-Gilles, for instance, you will hear French, Portuguese, English, Arabic and sometimes even a spot of Dutch. I live in the Molenbeek Maritime area, which all outsiders think is a ghetto. Whereas the only thing the people who live there really have in common, is that none of them is made of money. It’s not really true that I can’t speak my own language in Brussels. As I’ve said, I speak three to four languages every day, and Dutch is one of them. Dutch also plays an important part in Brussels’ cultural life. But I don’t attach any importance to being Flemish – that’s just an ideological construction, anyway. The Flemish national holiday on July 11, for instance, refers to the Battle of the Golden Spurs which took place on that day in 1302. But contrary to what our school textbooks told us, this wasn’t at all a battle between Flemings and Francophones: it was a clash between the upcoming class of the bourgeoisie and the ruling gentry. Still, even today, this battle forms the bedrock of the entire Flemish nationalist story... It was that whole nationalist situation in Flanders that pushed me towards Brussels: I was completely fed up with this discourse. It’s really simple, actually: the reason why, for a long time, the majority in Brussels spoke French was that it was economically rewarding to do so – it had nothing to do with being Flemish, Walloon or from Brussels. Today you see English gaining ground, and more and more people are studying Dutch too.
f...
In praise o
The Atomium: a fantastic building, one of the few to escape the wrecking ball – even though it was never meant to stay up, as it was built specifically for the 1958 World’s Fair. But recently it has been beautifully refurbished. Many people don’t believe that it’s actually a building, that you can enter it and have dinner in one of its balls. It’s also a typically Belgian building, it evokes the Belgium of yore, of my youth, with the nine balls representing nine provinces. Now, of course, we have 10 provinces and Belgium has... well, changed a lot. So I send visitors to the Atomium because of that typically Belgian story. Les gens que j’aime, 15-17 Rue du Midi/Zuidstraat: a new, small bar to my liking: cigarette-free, very laid-back, with portraits of the royal family and frumpy furniture, very friendly service, internet, soft music: an ideal place for me to chat, ponder, or have a meeting over a cup of coffee. A funny thing is that they bake real granny’s waffles here – but as often as not, as soon as they plug in their waffle iron, the electricity cuts out. ELAK, at 29 Rue des Fabriques/ Fabrieksstraat, right near our Arts Lab Constant. This electronics store is where I get all of my gear. They have literally everything here – truly a paradise! And it’s an old-school store: the customer is king and the service is outstanding. As I work a lot with computers, but equally with, say, soldering irons, they are a guiding force in my daily work. December 10 2009 w w w. t h eb u l l e t i n . b e 13
012_013_there to here.indd 13
8/12/2009 13:32:33