Polarisation
The last couple of weeks, there's government negotiations going on. Big deal, you might think, that's been ongoing in Belgium for over a year now.
Well not quite....in fact the many political parties haven't been in a room gathered around one table since August 2010. That is over a year, so it is a big deal. For an entire year, the king has been appointing negotiators who made their tour of all political parties, getting their point of view, checking where there could be margin, then after many weeks, writing a long report which in all cases have been shot down as a base for negotiation & compromise by one of the major political parties. And then there was a round of blaming for those not accepting the document as a starter to negotiate. And then the king could assign someone from another party to try to do it all over.
Just before our national holiday, just when our king had delivered an unusual , very emotional & upset speech on tv, there was all of a sudden a majority of political parties that could find themselves in a document that would serve as the base of true discussions. The most radical Flemish party in the group threw in a big veto but the others have a sufficient majority to continue. And all of a sudden our national holiday got a breeze of hope.....and the negotiators claimed they had deserved some vacation after all that hard work...Qué? WTF?
Anyway, since the end of August, they are truly negotiating. And the polarisation of all media continues.
I am so sick of political statements, speeches, online forum comments etc that talk about "They" and "We" as in "We should not give in" "It's about time they understand they must obey the law" "We should not let us overrule by their demands" ...
Who are these "they" and "us" anyway? Can these speakers please explain me how "they" wrongly effect their day-to-day life and how "they" giving in would help them forward? In most of these messages I miss and objective analysis of the problem and a matching solution.
Sure the BHV voting district is unconstitutional by the highest courts, but the courts don't command how it should be fixed. So if "they" suggest a national voting district, it is untrue to state that "they" do not obey the law or "they" don't want to negotiate, but that "they" simply give a compromise that "we" do not wish to consider. And if "they" demand more money for Brussels, "we" should not forget that some of "us" live there too and not only "them".
If some regio's would show more corruption or more inefficiency in government spending or ..., we should fight corruption or inefficiency in government spending or ... but I don't always understand how transferring powers to regions and splitting is always an automatic solution. sometimes yes, sometimes no. Not a single party has succeeded in explaining me this?
Anyway, I really miss nuances in all messages and I hate this polarisation. Hopefully the negotiating parties can lift themselves over this all and come to a conclusion so we can finally move forward.
Well not quite....in fact the many political parties haven't been in a room gathered around one table since August 2010. That is over a year, so it is a big deal. For an entire year, the king has been appointing negotiators who made their tour of all political parties, getting their point of view, checking where there could be margin, then after many weeks, writing a long report which in all cases have been shot down as a base for negotiation & compromise by one of the major political parties. And then there was a round of blaming for those not accepting the document as a starter to negotiate. And then the king could assign someone from another party to try to do it all over.
Just before our national holiday, just when our king had delivered an unusual , very emotional & upset speech on tv, there was all of a sudden a majority of political parties that could find themselves in a document that would serve as the base of true discussions. The most radical Flemish party in the group threw in a big veto but the others have a sufficient majority to continue. And all of a sudden our national holiday got a breeze of hope.....and the negotiators claimed they had deserved some vacation after all that hard work...Qué? WTF?
Anyway, since the end of August, they are truly negotiating. And the polarisation of all media continues.
I am so sick of political statements, speeches, online forum comments etc that talk about "They" and "We" as in "We should not give in" "It's about time they understand they must obey the law" "We should not let us overrule by their demands" ...
Who are these "they" and "us" anyway? Can these speakers please explain me how "they" wrongly effect their day-to-day life and how "they" giving in would help them forward? In most of these messages I miss and objective analysis of the problem and a matching solution.
Sure the BHV voting district is unconstitutional by the highest courts, but the courts don't command how it should be fixed. So if "they" suggest a national voting district, it is untrue to state that "they" do not obey the law or "they" don't want to negotiate, but that "they" simply give a compromise that "we" do not wish to consider. And if "they" demand more money for Brussels, "we" should not forget that some of "us" live there too and not only "them".
If some regio's would show more corruption or more inefficiency in government spending or ..., we should fight corruption or inefficiency in government spending or ... but I don't always understand how transferring powers to regions and splitting is always an automatic solution. sometimes yes, sometimes no. Not a single party has succeeded in explaining me this?
Anyway, I really miss nuances in all messages and I hate this polarisation. Hopefully the negotiating parties can lift themselves over this all and come to a conclusion so we can finally move forward.
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