by justin stares
Journalist Justin Stares describes the country where he has lived since 2004 in a series of essays on politics, economics, culture, the royal family, terrorism, Covid, collaboration and the viciously complex ethno-linguistic tussle that has brought the country to the brink of dissolution.
Welcome to This Is Belgium
What makes belgium tick?
Place Flagey, Brussels and the iconic ‘steamboat’ building that was saved from demolition in the 1990s.
CHAPTERS
DEFINITIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS P4
ONE: DOES BELGIUM ACTUALLY EXIST? P8
TWO: MISSING MYTHS P14
THREE: COLLABORATORS ‘HAD THEIR REASONS’ P23
FOUR: I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT P33
FIVE: DRIFTING RIGHT, DRIFTING LEFT P50
SIX: THE MONGREL DOG P59
SEVEN: THE FLEMISH ECONOMIC MIRACLE P72
EIGHT: A LA RECHERCHE D’UN TEMPS PERDU P74
NINE: BRUSSELS: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS P84
TEN: TERRORISTS FILL POWER VACUUM P87
ELEVEN: IN SEARCH OF LOVE P92
TWELVE: MY COMPUTER THINKS I’M ALLOCHTOON P100
THIRTEEN: COVID P110
FOURTEEN: WHAT CONSTITUTES A HAPPY ENDING? P116
AFTERWORD P127
END NOTES P128
The Celtic warrior Ambiorix, depicted here in a drawing based on his statue in Tongeren, does not have the same mythical status in Belgium that his cousin Vercingetorix enjoys in France.
About justin
Like all foreign correspondents, Justin Stares came to Brussels in 2004 to report from the European Union capital. But unlike many, he took an interest in the country where he lived: its people, its culture, its politics, its history and the unique role played by language. Frustrated by the refusal of mainstream publications to take Belgium seriously, he began to compile notes with a view to writing this, one of the few contemporary analyses of a country in a dramatic state of flux.
