Discord Consensus

The chapter is divided into three sections. ‘Camille Cools and the
founding of the Gazette van Detroit’ takes a brief look at the founder of
the Gazette and attempts to situate the newspaper among the other ethnic
dailies and weeklies of the early twentieth century. Significantly,
the section aims to contextualise the ideological leanings and positions
the newspaper was to adopt with respect to language. ‘Language
and style’ gives an overview of the more salient stylistic and linguistic
characteristics of the early Gazette and shows how these relate to its
Flemish immigrant readership of the time. In particular, the section
hopes to demonstrate the relationship between the newspaper’s populism
and its targeted audience. Finally, ‘Language attitudes’ analyses
the Gazette’s stance on issues pertaining to the Flemish language,
both in Belgium and in North America. Together, the three sections
presents a picture of a populist Flemish nationalist diasporic newspaper,
which took a very specific position on the Belgian language
question, a position very much shaped by events in both the homeland
and America.
For both brevity and ease of reading, quotations in the original
Flemish or Dutch are provided only in English translation in the main
text. The original quotations, mostly from the Gazette but also from other
Flemish and Dutch ethnic weeklies, are reproduced in the endnotes.
Camille Cools and the founding of the
Gazette van Detroit
Camille Cools was born in Moorslede, West Flanders, in 1874. About fifteen
years later, in 1889, he emigrated with his parents and siblings and
settled in Detroit, a city with a growing Belgian (mainly Flemish) community,
but which was still overshadowed by Moline, Illinois, then the
most popular Belgian (also mostly Flemish) centre in the United States.
He became a successful business man in the City, as Detroit was then
called, starting a furniture company in 1905, Cools & Co. Furniture.
As an adult, highly aware of the many difficulties, financial, social
but also linguistic, that confronted the Flemish immigrants in Detroit
and its surrounding areas, Cools became increasingly involved in community
organisations. He became a Board Member of the Belgian-​
American Century Club no. 1, a charitable organisation whose goal it
was to enlist at least one hundred members who would assist each other
financially and otherwise in case of death or other needy circumstances.
Also, concerned over the fact that Belgian diplomats stationed in the
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DISCORD AND CONSENSUS IN THE LOW COUNTRIES, 1700–​2000