OMG! Flanders Announces Independence from Belgium !

**Louis VI the Fat** · 12-14-2006, 21:18

OH. MY. GOD !!! Belgium has ceased to exist!

In a surprise move Flanders has declared itself independent. Even as we speak, there's widespread panic in Belgium as confused masses take to the streets. Flemish nationalists are celebrating nationwide. The king has abdicated in disgust. Foreign ambassadors are frantically trying to contact their capitals...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Not.

Belgians reacted with widespread alarm to news that their country had been split in two - before finding out they had been spoofed.
The Belgian public television station RTBF ran a bogus report saying the Dutch-speaking half of the nation had declared independence.

"It's very bad Orson Welles, in very poor taste," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, referring to the famous director's 1938 radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. That spoof fooled many Americans into believing Martians had invaded.

The French-language TV channel interrupted regular programming with an apparent news report, announcing that Dutch-speaking Flanders had unilaterally declared independence and that Belgium as a nation had ceased to exist.

It showed "live" pictures of cheering crowds holding the Flemish flag, huge traffic jams leading to Brussels airport, and trams stuck at the new "border".
RTBF showed shots of flag-waving independence supporters

The broadcast came amid an apparent growth of separatist sentiment in Flanders. Recent regional elections have shown strong support for the far-right, nationalist Vlaams Belang party, which advocates Flemish independence.

The station's website crashed briefly as alarmed viewers sought more information, and 2,600 calls were made to a telephone number given out during the spoof.

"Our intention was to show Belgian viewers the intensity of the issue of the future of Belgium and the real possibility of Belgium no longer being a country in a few months," Yves Thiran, head of news at RTBF, told the BBC.

He said it introduced people to the debate who would otherwise have ignored it, but he admitted some may have taken it the wrong way.

"We obviously scared many people - maybe more than we expected," he said.

Diplomatic reaction

Some politicians were in on the joke, contributing interviews to the programme with their reactions to the "news". But others were not amused.

The minister for audiovisual affairs for the French-speaking community, Fadila Laanan, said the words "this is fiction" appeared on screen half an hour into the broadcast - at her insistence.

"I find it questionable to use such a tactic, which frightened people unbelievably," she said, adding that a number of people had called her in panic when the "news" broke.

The AFP news agency reported that even some foreign ambassadors in Brussels were taken in, and sent urgent messages back to their respective capitals.

BBC

Brilliant joke, I say.

**Scurvy** · 12-14-2006, 21:22

--> feel sorry for the Belgians that really panicked though

**Keba** · 12-14-2006, 21:24

Fantastic and original. Why, oh why'd they insist on putting 'this is fiction' half an hour into the programme is beyond me, would have been much more fun to leave it running for longer.

Though, in that case, people might begin acting like Flanders really did secede.

**BDC** · 12-14-2006, 22:00

Originally Posted by Keba

Fantastic and original. Why, oh why'd they insist on putting 'this is fiction' half an hour into the programme is beyond me, would have been much more fun to leave it running for longer.

Though, in that case, people might begin acting like Flanders really did secede.

The people were frantically phoning up in the dim hope it was real. :p

**Sardo** · 12-14-2006, 22:52

The worst thing is, if we really had declared independence, I would have learned from a gaming messageboard...

Good joke on the Walloons though.

**AntiochusIII** · 12-14-2006, 23:58

Originally Posted by Sardo

The worst thing is, if we really had declared independence, I would have learned from a gaming messageboard...

By a Frenchman!

Love the joke, it makes fun of people and make them all angry for showing how stupid they are. Mwahaha. I'm in love with misery.

**Kralizec** · 12-14-2006, 22:57

I remember that radio broadcast (read about it, not actually heard it

), some people actually comitted suicide out of fear of what the Martians might do.

In this case it's pretty harmless. Some people just have no sense of humour.

**Sjakihata** · 12-14-2006, 23:46

ceci est une fiction but still great humor. Some Flandern nationalists are angry, they think it was stepping on their toes and ridiculing legitimate Flandern claims. LoL get over yourselves.

**Andres** · 12-15-2006, 00:58

Originally Posted by Sjakihata

. Some Flandern nationalists are angry, they think it was stepping on their toes and ridiculing legitimate Flandern claims.

Well actually there is some truth in that.

We have elections next year. Those elections are necessary to change our constitution and to make some important changes in the organisation of our state. Important negotiations are at hand and they might be decisive for the continuation of our country as a whole. If these negotations would fail, we might split up for real in the long run. Our state is currently in transition towards a real federal state and the current chaotic, abominable structure and organisation needs a change asap.

The "strong support for the extremistic party Vlaams belang" exists for a long time. What is new is the current position of the CD&V towards the "staatshervorming" like it is called. The CD&V, which cannot be considered as an "extremistic" party, but as a Center-right one, made some serious and rather hard statements towards the walloons. Off course, alot of walloons call the CD&V also an extremistic party nowadays, allthough their claims are very reasonable and realistic. Calling the CD&V "extremistic" is ridiculous.

Anyway, the timing for this kind of jokes could have been better.

This "joke" also shows the power of the media and how they can make us believe what they want us to believe (it lasted for more then 10 minutes, before they mentioned it was a joke, only after the walloon minister of media demanded it (RTBF is the official walloon tv-station)). Meanwhile alot of walloons were panicking and reacting with fear, disbelief and even anger. Things would have gotten out of hand very easily if it would have last for another 10 or 15 minutes.

A lot of journalists seem to have ruined their reputation, since they've lost a lot of credibility.

The current climate of our country does not leave many room for this kind of jokes and it was dumb. Very dumb and irresponsable.

**Mithrandir** · 12-15-2006, 01:01

Originally Posted by AndresTheCunning

This "joke" also shows the power of the media and how they can make us believe what they want us to believe

Nice one, I loved all the outraged reactions

**AntiochusIII** · 12-15-2006, 07:12

People hate it when they're shown how gullible they are.

In a way, though, this one is way milder than the Martian one; at least there's a certain grain of truth to it (what is wrong with you Europeans anyway? Bloody separate-everything-because-we-are-slightly-different weirdos). I can't believe some idiots killed themselves over Mars' invasion, though.