Belgian Youth Group Uniforms

Figure 1.--The Belgian boys belong to the VNJ which would like to see Flanders separate from Belgium.

The primary Belgian youth group is the Scouts. The Scouts were founded in Belgian soon after they appeared in Britain. The grew steadily and their prestige was enhanced by their role in World War I. Scouts dominated the youth movement after the War. After the NAZI invasion and occupation, Scouting was banned. The authorized collaborationist group organized a group similar to the Hiltler youth. A similar group was organized in Flanders where Hitler Youth groups had bee organized for the Germans living there. Aftter liberation, the Scouts quickly reorganized. There are now several Scout associations in Belgium. The VNJ is popular among some Flemish boys and promotes independence from Belgium.

Organizations

Belgium is somewhat fifferent than many European countries in that Scouting is not the dominant youth group. The major Belgian youth groups have been the Scouts and a variety of nationalist groups, some of which have religious foundation. The VNJ is a particularly important nationlist group. The most important is Chiro which has a Catholic character. Some of the youth groups have begun to reassess their religious foundation. This proably reflects the essentially de Christinization of Europe, a process that became pronounced in the late 19th century.

Belgian Scouts

I have no information on early Belgian Scouting, but assume groups began to form at about the same time as in France. I have no information on how Belgian Scouting fared during World War I (1914-18). The Germans occupied almost all of the country for most of the War. I believe the Scouts were the most popular boys' youth group during the inter-war years and that there were several different associations, but have little information at this time.

Belgian Nationalist Groups

There have been uniformed youth groups sponsored by political parties. This has been especially true of right-wing parties and Flemish nationalist groups. Belgium is in many ways really two countries, composed of one group Germanic in origin and the other French. The politics of Belgium has evolved around this difference as has been reflected in the formation of youth groups.

Chiro

Chiro is a difficult group to categorize. It has a program similar to Scouting. It might be considered a nationalist group because it is largely a Belgian youth orgnization. And its Catholic character might categorize it as more of a religious group.

Linguistic Division

Many of the Belgian youth groups are divided along linguistic grounds between the French speaking Waloons and Dutch-speaking Flemis.

Flanders

Belgium is a combination of Dutch-speaking Flemish and French-speaking Waloons. Their association since modern Belgium was created after the Napoleonic Wars has been an unseasy. The younth organzations in Belgium have often followed the linguistic divide. Some basic infornation is available on the youth organizations in Flanders.

Walonia

Funding

A reader provides some information about funding youth groups in Belgium. "I think there's certainly a good view in the explanation of funding of Belgian youth-activities. But of course it's more complicated than that. I don't believe it's possible in Belgian law not to finance specific associations while others do get finances. I think everyone can be sure that when one group has political majority, they will guard their likely minded youth-groups. However this limited since the local Youth-Councils have to divide the funds at their disposal with dividing-systems based on quality (for example the number of specific courses followed by leaders), member-numbers, contact time,… But (I already mentioned this) the town councils of course will more easily approve with a system that gives their like-minded groups." [De Lobel]

Importance

The relative importance of the various groups have changed over time. A Belgian reader provides us an assessment of the relative importance in 2007. "It's good that the scale of this movement is made clear. In Flanders, 250 000 people are member of a youth-movement. Chiro takes the largest part with 100,000 members. 'Scouts en Gidsen Vlaanderen' has about 72,000 members and FOS Open Scouting only 8,000. So that makes about 80,000 Flemish Scouts. The three Scout-association in the French Community have a combined 80,000 members." [De Lobel]

Cooperation

There are varying degrees of cooperation between the various Belgian youth groups. A reader tells us, "There's of course competition between Scouts and Chiro, but they also can work together on certain projects, both on local and national level. An important annual event in Belgium is the Day of Youth--Dag van de Jeugdbeweging. About 250,000 Chiro members and Scouts participate." [De Lobel]

Uniforms

A reader provides us some basic information about Belgin youth group uniforms in the early 21st century. "About uniform; I get the impression most Chiro wear uniforms, much more in comparison with scouts in Flanders. Blue, beige and red, the colours of Chiro, are able to get recognition in our streets (if that's a way of expressing myself). They don't wear neckerchiefs (=scarfs) like scouts, but the leaders do wear a coloured rope with a whistle. (it's very typical, if one wears only this rope, I will immediately know he's a Chiro-leader) I'm always impressed by Chiro-members' determination to wear short skirts or shorts. Far less scouts still do so. Even in the two largest scout-groups I know (a 300members-VVKSM -and a 200 members-FOS-group) lots of people don't even have scout-shorts. (I believe the VVKSM-group is able to be representative for VVKSM, but the FOS-group isn't for FOS)" Chiro and Flemish Scouts don't have different uniforms for the various age groups. VVKSM and FOS both have one uniform, although VVKSM does have a destinctive uniform for the youngest age-group (kapoentjes). Instead of a longsleeved shirt, they wear a green sweater with the right badges on it. VVKSM-Seascouts also have a different uniforms -- a navy-blue sweater. Dutch scouts and at least one of the French associations, have different coloured uniforms for the various age-groups." [De Lobel]

Linguistic Background

The religious, ethnic, and lingyustic divisions in Europe can be quite complicated. American readers in particular may want to vonsult the HBC discussion of the linguistic division in Belgium for background information.

Sources

De Lobel, Frederik. E-mail message, January 9, 2008.