The market has its virtues but also its shortcomings (Prof. Paul De Grauwe)

De Grauwe: The market has its virtues but also its shortcomings. It rewards people who have success, but those who are not able to keep up, fall through the cracks. Therefore we need an instrument outside of the market to correct that shortcoming: a strong social security. Currently, the danger exist that this social security will be dismantled during this crisis, and that would be catastrophic.

A second shortcoming of the market is the environment. This might even be the biggest problem. Why? Because those who pollute do not get punished. To correct this, again we need a body outside of the market. A political body that is strong enough to umpire and who can resist the pressure of interest groups.

Source: Knack, 4 september 2013

West Flemish Proverbs: Djoos Utendoale

My father is West Flemish. I grew up in Limburg at the opposite side of Flanders and it is as if this geographical distance also reflects in the difference within our spoken dialects. Generally speaking, all non-West Flemish Flemings will act like the Western dialect is completely incomprehensible. For myself, I mostly joke that I was raised bilingually. But no, also for me it requires a big effort to understand the different West Flemish dialects (...and don't even start about asking me for the correct pronunciation...).

Still, both on top of my father's desk and in the living room of my grand parents is a collection of beautifully calligraphed proverbs. Not in regular Dutch or what I would describe as "standardized Flemish", no: real West Flemish proverbs and aphorisms written in pronunciation spelling.

As I understand most of the meaning, it is difficult to translate them without losing some of its poetic value. Still, underneath I present some of the proverbs written by father Joris Declercq, also known as Djoos Utendoale. I was quite shocked to notice that there is no Wikipedia-page dedicated to him, so I will use part of this article to tell about him as well.

Scheet in een fles

image taken from VRT

Een administratief medewerker van het Gentse gerechtsgebouw zit in de voorhechtenis omdat hij zonder toestemming naaktfoto's heeft gemaakt. Is dit openbare zedenschennis? (artikel, video)

Ja, hij had toestemming moeten vragen en ja, sommige mensen zullen wel aanstoot nemen aan naaktmodellen in een juridisch gebouw. Maar moet die man daarvoor in een cel zitten? Nu is men ook aan het bekijken of de modellen zelf vervolgd kunnen worden omdat ze naakt voor een raam poseerden. Ik vind dit hoogst overdreven.

In plaats van te bekijken of dit een zaak van 'openbare zedenschennis' is, zou ik liever de focus zien op de vraag of hij zich al dan niet clandestien toegang heeft verschaft tot de lokalen van het gerechtsgebouw. Is dat niet illegaal gebeurd, dan graag een tik op de vingers en eventueel bekijken of een verdere samenwerking nog wel mogelijk is, maar opgesloten worden??? Belachelijk.


English version:


A clerk of the courthouse in Ghent is locked up in custody because he had made pictures of nude models within the courthouse after closing time. Apparently, the man had had permission of making artistic pictures within the building, but it was not clear that it would be pictures of nude models. Is this really public indecency? The building was empty. (article in Dutch, video)


Yes, he should have been clear that it would be nude photography and yes, some people could be  offended of the fact that there have been naked ladies walking around in the courthouse. But locking the guy up, that is highly exaggerated. At the moment, there is even discussion of prosecuting the models as they have been posing naked in front of a window.


Instead of seeing this case in the light of 'public indecency', the focus should be whether the man has been violating the trust of being an employee of the courthouse. Reprimand him and see whether further employment is still possible, but jail time??? Baloney.

More:

• Teacher fired for being attractive

Ending Aid Dependence

Cover of the book
by Yash Tandon

During my visit to Norway, I followed some classes of International Development Studies. I am very much interested in the topic, also because I have some experience with life in Ghana (both as a volunteer and a business owner).

To me, it is clear that 'aid' as the concept that we understand (or use) it today, is not working.

Good books on this topic are:

• Ending Aid Dependence by Yash Tandon (read online at Google Books)
• Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo

Middle East protests: "Every uprising is different"

Taken from VRT, © Belga

This morning (Wednesday, 11th May 2011), the VRT published a very interesting article written by Wouter Carton, discussing the inconsistent attitudes of superpowers concerning the current uprisings in the Middle East. Here is a translation to English.

For a chronological overview of the protests, ordered by country: clickety.