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Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#161

Post by 317070 »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #118
317070 wrote: post #14

This is so ironic. There is already a movie (Rien a Declarer / Nothing to declare) whose main premise is a guy spending his nights slightly moving the border between France and Belgium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MljTh0kws (This extract is French only unfortunately :( ) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piQPaxlZWu4 (With English subtitles) But, as someone who grew up less than 100 meters from this borde…

Just by curiosity, i grew up in Alveringem ( Belgium, about 30 minutes from Dunkerque. Next to the French border) and still regularly go to Hondschote ( water :p ). Where did you grew up and are you still regularly there? Ps. If it's near, here's something unique about the neighborhood: https://www.google.com/amp/s/sniperinmahwah.wordpress.com/20...

I grew up in Warneton/Waasten, but I live in London these days.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#162

Post by sangnoir »

berkes wrote: post #99
yrgulation wrote: post #77

I cant' help but rejoice that europe's borders (at least within the eu) are a mere stone. Not too long ago moving that stone might have led to war, now it leads to jokes.

A related story is the border between Belgium and the Netherlands that was recently moved[1]. Not because some war was imminent, but because of very practical reasons: Belgian police could only reach that piece of Belgium by boat; so "exchanging it with NL" was the easiest, because the Dutch police could just drive there. It makes me happy to see that we're down to "practical exchanges of land" from centuries of war…

What are the logistics regarding nationality and property within the exchanged land? Are the inhabitants now dutch, or Belgians who now own Dutch property?

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#163

Post by ghaff »

markvdb wrote: post #115
smnrchrds wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Benoît Poelvoorde It looks like a very French first name and a very Dutch last name. Is that common in Belgium? Is there a significant overlap between the linguistic communities of Belgium?

I initially started writing half an encyclopedia here, but I scrapped that. Some random bits: - There's rather limited contact between the linguistic communities of Belgium. - Knowledge of nl is generally extremely limited in Wallonia. I have a feeling it's improving a bit, even if nl is not obligatory in education there. - Knowledge of fr is clearly worsening with the youngest generation in Flanders, even if fr is o…

In a prior life (i.e. 25 years or so ago), I was in Brussels for a work event where there were various speeches. The way it worked is that you either spoke English or you spoke alternating French/Flemish.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#164

Post by garmaine »

sangnoir wrote: post #162
berkes wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A related story is the border between Belgium and the Netherlands that was recently moved[1]. Not because some war was imminent, but because of very practical reasons: Belgian police could only reach that piece of Belgium by boat; so "exchanging it with NL" was the easiest, because the Dutch police could just drive there. It makes me happy to see that we're down to "practical exchanges of land" from centuries of war…

What are the logistics regarding nationality and property within the exchanged land? Are the inhabitants now dutch, or Belgians who now own Dutch property?

I don’t know about this case, but typically this is uninhabited, unimproved land that is exchanged.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#165

Post by js2 »

South Carolina and North Carolina didn't manage to get their border recorded accurately until a few years ago. After re-surveying, there were 1400 parcels impacted.

https://www.wistv.com/story/13784677/dispute-over-north-caro...

https://hutchenslawfirm.com/blog/creditors-rights/north-and-...

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#166

Post by kazen44 »

stereo wrote: post #155
BitwiseFool wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also feel like the "real" border is a line in a GIS database. Sure, the stone is supposed to be the border based on a 19th century treaty but we all know a 21st century government is not going to actually treat the stone's placement as the official border.

The real border is in the treaty. They describe geographical features that have sometimes moved ("the river x"), don't exist anymore ("the big oak tree") or take a lot of time to rediscover ("the field belonging to the widow soandso"). The stone is often only near the border - if the border is a path in a forest, you're not going to plonk it down in the middle of the path. The gis database for administrative boundari…

some borders are also based on really, really old treaties in europe. A lot of borders in regards to provinces are based on old counties and baronies for example. Baarle-hertog/baarle-nassau being a famous example of the inconvenice it results in.

Prior to world war 2, this was also the case inside germany, considering many Lander still had lands all over the place (especially prussia) which made governance a hassle.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#167

Post by kazen44 »

capableweb wrote: post #84
wincy wrote: post #54

Wow, as a US citizen looking at the France/Belgium border [0] I can’t imagine what it’d be like for a disagreement with your next door neighbor to become an international incident. I suppose it’s probably just no big deal. [0] https://goo.gl/maps/cPbAY3DxQNhUy2SZ9

Most of the people in Europe are war-weary since wars have been had in their front-yard, as compared to some other countries who only fight on foreign soil but still seem aggressive. So I would think it's easier to keep peace with your neighbors.

Also, digging up world war 1 and 2 bombs and artillery shell from our literal front and backyards serves as a reminder aswell.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#168

Post by kazen44 »

foepys wrote: post #128
yalogin wrote: post #83

It looks like the farmer's land spreads across the border. How is that possible? Or at the very least his land goes all the way to the border line. Either way, in today's age when the line can digitally recorded, why do we need the stone? Both countries know where the line goes through. Could they not just ignore that one stone and let the farmer do his work? I was hoping they would just ignore it, instead I see that…

> How is that possible? May I introduce you to the town of Baarle-Hertog? A town that is not only split between the Netherlands and Belgium but inside the Netherlands with Belgium owning most of the town with Dutch fragments inside it. Some houses have a Dutch as well as a Belgian address. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog

Also, if i remember correctly, they share common services too. (things like garbage, police, fire brigade etc).

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#169

Post by gerdesj »

gryn wrote: post #130
csours wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I was the only one confused but "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" means 'It Happened Near Your Home'. The movie was released in English as "Man Bites Dog"

it's very common to give unrelated titles to films when translating them, for some reason. some times the 'local' title for films that are in English get another unrelated English title.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_bites_dog is a fictitious newspaper headline. However I'm pretty sure I've seen it used, tongue in cheek.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#170

Post by kazen44 »

StavrosK wrote: post #22

Must be nice to have neighbours that aren't threatening to go to war if your borders change.

mind you, this was not the case in Europe for a better part of it's history.[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Europe [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Europaea

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