Category talk:Flemish activists

July 2006

I believe there is a problem with this category. In Flanders, the phrase "Flemish activist" has a very specific meaning, which is very much more narrow than "activist with Flemish nationality". It's more something like "someone who devoted his life to Flemish independence". We could say that Jan Frans Willems or Rodenbach fall under this description, but certainly not Philip Dewinter or Karel Dillen.

A second problem is, that in an international context, which Wikipedia is, the "Flemish nationality" doesn't really exist. For a non-Belgian, Philip Dewinter or Guido Gezelle are Belgian.

I propose to move this Category:Flemish activists to Category:Belgian activists, which is what it is meant to be : Activists by nationality.

Beneath this "national" category, we then can create categories like "Flemish independance activists", "Equal rights activists", etc.

What do you think ? --LucVerhelst 08:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The use of the word nationality here has to be taken in terms of the desired nationality, not that of the occupying forces. Hence the usage of Taiwanese activists not Chinese activists; Uyghur activists not Chinese activists; and Tamil activists not Sri Lankan activists. Obviously this current usage produces more specific categories. I would oppose changing Flemish activists to Belgian activists. It is just not as descriptive. I agree that the category is not just for an activist who happens to be Flemish, but I dispute that the term "Flemish activists " is used just in the narrow sense suggested. A Google search of the phrase will quickly dispel that illusion. Lastly, given the relatively few members of the category, I see no need to create a slew of subcategories. Bejnar 18:01, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, yes, I see what you mean. I overlooked the Tamil, Uyghur and Northern Irish activists categories.

--LucVerhelst 19:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)