COMMUNITIES AND REGIONS
Belgium is a small country in Europe, smaller in area than the state of Haryana. It has borders with France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg. It has a population of a little over one crore, about half the population of Haryana. The ETHNIC composition of this small country is very complex. Of the country’s total population, 59 percent lives in the Flemish region and speaks the Dutch language. Another 40 percent of people live in the Wallonia region and speak French. Remaining one percent of the Belgians speak German. In the capital city Brussels, 80 percent of people speak French while 20 percent are Dutch-speaking.
The minority French-speaking community was relatively rich and powerful. This was resented by the Dutch-speaking community who got the benefit of economic development and education much later. This led to tensions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities during the 1950s and 1960s. The tension between the two communities was more acute in Brussels. Brussels presented a special problem: the Dutch-speaking people constituted a majority in the country, but a minority in the capital.
Communities and regions of Belgium
Let us compare this to the situation in another country. Sri Lanka is an island nation, just a few kilometres off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu. It has about two crore people, about the same as in Haryana. Like other nations in the South Asia region, Sri Lanka has a diverse population. The major social groups are the Sinhala-speakers (74 percent) and the Tamil-speakers (18 percent). Among Tamils, there are two subgroups. Tamil natives of the country are called ‘SriLankanTamils’(13 percent). The rest, whose forefathers came from India as plantation workers during the colonial period, are called ‘Indian Tamils’. As you can see from the map, Sri Lankan Tamils are concentrated in the north and east of the country. Most of the Sinhala- speaking people are Buddhists, while most of the Tamils are Hindus or Muslims. There are about 7 percent Christians, who are both Tamil and Sinhala.
Just imagine what could happen in situations like this. In Belgium, the Dutch community could take advantage of its numeric majority and force its will on the French and German-speaking population. This would push the conflict among communities further. This could lead to a very messy partition of the country; both sides would claim control over Brussels. In Sri Lanka, the Sinhala community enjoyed an even bigger majority and could impose its will on the entire country. Now, let us look at what happened in both these countries.
Activity:
Look at the maps of Belgium and Sri Lanka. In which region, do you find a concentration of different communities?
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
MAJORITARIANISM IN SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948. The leaders of the Sinhala community sought to secure dominance over the government by virtue of their majority. As a result, the democratically elected government adopted a series of MAJORITARIAN measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.
In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, thus disregarding Tamil. The governments followed preferential policies that favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs. A new constitution stipulated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism.
All these government measures, coming one after the other, gradually increased the feeling of alienation among the Sri Lankan Tamils. They felt that none of the major political parties led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders was sensitive to their language and culture. They felt that the constitution and government policies denied them equal political rights, discriminated against them in getting jobs and other opportunities, and ignored their interests. As a result, relations between the Sinhala and Tamil communities strained over time.
The Sri Lankan Tamils launched parties and struggles for the recognition of Tamil as an official language, for regional autonomy, and equality of opportunity in securing education and jobs. But their demand for more autonomy to provinces populated by the Tamils was repeatedly denied. By the 1980s several political organisations were formed demanding an independent Tamil Eelam (state) in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
The distrust between the two communities turned into widespread conflict. It soon turned into a CIVIL WAR. As a result, thousands of people of both communities have been killed. Many families were forced to leave the country as refugees and many more lost their livelihoods. You have read (Chapter 1 of Economics textbook, Class X) about Sri Lanka’s excellent record of economic development, education and health. But the civil war has caused a terrible setback to the social, cultural, and economic life of the country. It ended in 2009.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
ACCOMMODATION IN BELGIUM
The Belgian leaders took a different path. They recognised the existence of regional differences and cultural diversities. Between 1970 and 1993, they amended their constitution four times so as to work out an arrangement that would enable everyone to live together within the same country. The arrangement they worked out is different from any other country and is very innovative. Here are some of the elements of the Belgian model.
* Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government. Some special laws require the support of the majority of members from each linguistic group. Thus, no single community can make decisions unilaterally.
* Many powers of the central government have been given to state governments of the two regions of the country. The state governments are not subordinate to the Central Government.
* Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation. The French-speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the Central Government.
* Apart from the Central and the State Government, there is a third kind of government. This ‘community government’ is elected by people belonging to one language community – Dutch, French, and German-speaking – no matter where they live. This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues.
The photograph here is of a street address in Belgium. You will notice that place names and directions in two languages – French and Dutch.
You might find the Belgian model very complicated. It indeed is very complicated, even for people living in Belgium. But these arrangements have worked well so far. They helped to avoid civic strife between the two major communities and a possible division of the country on linguistic lines. When many countries of Europe came together to form the European Union, Brussels was chosen as its headquarters.
European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.
What do we learn from these two stories of Belgium and Sri Lanka? Both are democracies. Yet, they dealt with the question of power-sharing differently. In Belgium, the leaders have realised that the unity of the country is possible only by respecting the feelings and interests of different communities and regions. Such a realisation resulted in mutually acceptable arrangements for sharing power. Sri Lanka shows us a contrasting example. It shows us that if a majority community wants to force its dominance over others and refuses to share power, it can undermine the unity of the country.
Activity:
Read any newspaper for one week and make clippings of news related to ongoing conflicts or wars. A group of five students could pool their clippings together and do the following:
1. Classify these conflicts by their location (your state, India, outside India).
2. Find out the cause of each of these conflicts. How many of these are related to power-sharing disputes?
3. Which of these conflicts could be resolved by working out power-sharing arrangements?
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK