VUB Students report on the LC Legal History Peak Event on Minority Rights

Day one: quiet before the storm? Not in Paris!

Day two: peak of the Peak Event

Et si un jour elle se sépare et qu'on ait à choisir un camp
Ce serait le pire des cauchemars, tout ça pour une histoire de langue
J'ai vécu mes plus belles histoires en français et en flamand

After a lovely meet and greet with the other students in a picturesque French restaurant, morning arrived very quickly and it was time to present… the peak of the Peak Event!

To kick off the presentations, we started with a condensed overview of Belgium’s complicated language history. When did the Dutch-speaking get a voice in their own language? The Equality Law of 1898, establishing that legislation should be ratified and published in both French and Dutch, was only the first step towards a more equal position in society for the Dutch-speaking ‘Brusseleirs’. But the French-speaking population felt threatened by the new legislation, and often refused to execute the new laws…

In our presentations, we provided different perspectives on this conflict by looking at the issue through the eyes of some principal actors at the time. Roger Nols was the French-speaking mayor of one of Brussels’ municipalities with very controversial views on the new language legislation and Marie Popelin the exemplification of the struggle Dutch-speaking women in Brussels had to go through. The case of higher education in Brussels, with two monolingual universities, is in some ways the best example of the love-hate relationship French and Dutch speaking citizens have.

The language issue was never far away uring our stay in Paris. English was the lingua franca used between the students, but the topic of multilingualism was often discussed. We noticed a big difference in our education systems, with some being taught other languages very early on, whilst for others learning a second or third language is not a requirement. Of course culture also has a big influence; in Belgium we have three languages (Dutch, French and German), although once outside Brussels we tend to communicate in the language of the region we are in. Our Catalan friends on the other hand were constantly alternating between Catalan and Spanish. Slovenia seems to take up some kind of in-between position, with different (smaller) minorities present in the country. France and the UK can at first sight be regarded as mainly monolingual, but discussing this with our fellow students taught us that Breton, Corsican, Welsh or Gaelic (to name just a few) should not be overlooked. Duly noted!

Language was a reappearing topic within the different presentations as well. The Belgian case was a clear example of linguistic minorities, but the Catalan and Slovene case studies also touched upon the subject. We continued our discussions on “elites being minorities” and “comparing collaboration in France and Belgium” in a more informal setting, resulting in some very interesting conversations.

We were impressed when one of the students from Barcelona told us about the long and difficult road she has to conquer in order to become a judge. The content and difficulty of the final exam really shocked us, the expectation to know everything about anything sounded surreal to us. Especially when in Belgium, when starting your masters you choose a field to specialize in. 

When discussing the cost of education with the students of Warwick and Ljubljana, we were all surprised about the huge differences between the countries. Whilst higher education in Slovenia is free (to a certain degree), this totally contrasts with the high student loans the British students will have at the end of their degree.

Day three: talking the talk, walking the walk

Après la visite du musée, il était temps pour la délégation bruxelloise de chausser ses chaussures de marche et de commencer à explorer Paris. Lors d'une promenade dans les septième et sixième arrondissements, la première chose à voir était l'Hôtel des Invalides depuis l'Esplanade. En passant par le cœur du pouvoir législatif français, l'Assemblée Nationale, nous nous sommes ensuite dirigés vers le quartier universitaire avec une visite de Sciences Po et de l'Université de Paris. Nous avons ensuite pris la direction du sud-est pour nous rendre au Palais du Luxembourg, où se trouvent les "reins" de la législature : le Sénat. En passant devant les impressionnants bâtiments de la Sorbonne, nous avons jeté un autre coup d'œil au Panthéon, pour terminer notre visite dans le Quartier Latin avec une vue sur la Seine. Notre deuxième journée à Paris s'est terminée comme elle avait commencé : dans un endroit qui ferait la une des journaux. Une semaine plus tard à la Fontaine St-Michel, où tout était si calme à l'époque, une grande manifestation pro-Ukraine aura lieu. Une fois de plus, la langue et les minorités sont au centre de l’attention …
 

Ah, Paris…

Although the soft seats of the Thalys felt particularly comfortable after our trek through the city (including final sprint to catch our train), we left Paris with slight reluctance. It really is a beautiful and enjoyable city, but to us the wonderful interactions with students from all over Europe really were the highlights of our stay. One last time, we followed in Angèle’s footsteps as the rainy skyline of Brussels appeared on the horizon: 

Paris m'appelle quand je veux rentrer chez moi
Quand le ciel gris et la pluie me manquent, je vais mieux quand j'te vois
Les villes sont belles, mais moi je ne pense qu'à toi
Quand mon pays et ma ville me manquent, moi je ne t'oublie pas