As Josephine Baker sang, I can say me too I have two loves: my home country, Belgium and my adopted country (and one I lived the longest ....), Tunisia.
And oddly, the same year, 2010, both are restless political upheavals that change completely the life of these nations
course, there are big differences between the two events.
For Tunisia, crushed for years under a dictatorship and police binding cruel and looting of its economic wealth by a mafia family and unrestrained, the sudden revolt (but long-simmering among youth without a future and desperate to be left out of the company) has issued a dictator and a wall of silence that prevented them from speaking and living.
And if, as in any revolution, the price was sometimes very heavy and has led to some collateral damage (destruction and looting and other excesses), the result is happy and hopeful for a better future : democracy, right to speech, pluralism, wealth redistribution, etc. ....)
It will take "patience, labor, blood and tears" (in the words of Winston Churchill during the war 40 / 45) to rebuild, move forward and regain its dignity.
But the Tunisian youth and the middle class of this small country is sufficiently mature, educated and courageous to do so.
Anyway, I trust them and believe it ..... By
cons for my native country, Belgium which I remain very committed and in which plunge my roots, I am unfortunately far less optimistic ...
Since June 2010, the date of parliamentary elections after the fall of the government mainly because of language issues and the plethora of parties that want to make any concessions, the country has the "sad and ridiculous" record (over 7 months) nation without legitimate government that works better or worse at the option of fruitless discussions and hopeless ...... (And rather more harm than good!)
We talk about regionalization, split, cut hairs, you pay an incalculable number of ministers and parliamentarians who "eat up the nose" all day long, that do not advance one step, but rather retreating, unwilling to make any concessions.
The people, workers, in short almost all Belgians have to suffer in one way or another, this situation adds to the global economic crisis ....
I am not talking about the haves and other large fortunes who continue to get rich on the backs of others ....
In addition, Belgium became the laughingstock of other countries that have more and more difficult to understand the situation! And we own the Belgians have a lot of trouble our way through this mess and explain!
But the majority do not want a separation of the North (Flemish) and southern (French): what the people want is a united Belgium advances, progresses and becomes again what it was after the World War II: A European ones leading countries in the industrial, economic and social development.
short, a small country by size but big in its way of life, is a trilingual country but who could practice the art of compromise between different communities, and seems to have misplaced the recipe!
Well, I'll stop there but I had to speak and I put down what I saw in the Belgian side's frustration and anxiety but also the hope of the Tunisian side. Be
straddling two countries, two cultures, two families is both a source of enrichment but also anxieties and questions .....
