Internet Memes

"Belgium doesn’t exist", the no-government world record, language-war jokes, and the homegrown online humour of a small bilingual country.

Part of Belgium

17 moments in this segment.

1. 1950-01-01 — Frietkot Nationalism. The frietkot/friterie as the truest national institution — more uniting than any flag.
2. 1987-01-01 — Jeanneke & Het Zinneke. Manneken Pis’ lesser-known peeing companions — a girl and a dog — completing Brussels’ irreverent trio.
3. 2010-01-01 — The Language War (FR vs NL). Flemish vs Walloon language tension, endlessly memed — from road-sign jokes to BHV.
4. 2011-01-01 — No Government for 589 Days. Belgium’s 2010–11 world record without a federal government became the country’s defining self-deprecating meme.
5. 2012-01-01 — Student-City Brussels. The "kot" (student digs) and the bilingual chaos of studying in Brussels — a homegrown online genre.
6. 2014-01-01 — "Het is Bert!". A tiny, deadpan Flemish clip that took on a meme life of its own.
7. 2014-01-01 — "I Am Aware" (JCVD meme). Van Damme’s cosmic interview quotes became a global text-overlay meme format.
8. 2014-01-01 — "Belgium Doesn’t Exist". The long-running online joke that Belgium is a fictional country invented by cartographers.
9. 2015-01-01 — Brussels Bureaucracy Jokes. The maze of EU and Belgian institutions — a bottomless well of "it’s complicated" memes.
10. 2015-01-01 — Belgian Weather. The "it’s always grey and raining" national in-joke; the eternal Belgian small-talk topic.
11. 2016-01-01 — The Belgian Flag Memes. The black-yellow-red tricolore endlessly recaptioned in Euro-politics and football memes.
12. 2017-01-01 — Paul Van Himst Buys a Hotdog. A surreal little football-legend moment that became a beloved Flemish in-joke.
13. 2017-01-01 — "They’re Belgian, Not French!". The eternal online crusade to reclaim "French" fries as Belgian — a patriotic meme staple.
14. 2020-01-01 — Marc Coucke — "Franke Teut". The self-made entrepreneur on his own bluntness — a much-quoted Flemish-businessman meme.
15. 2020-01-01 — Belgische Internetgekkies. A compilation of homegrown Belgian internet weirdness — the local meme canon in one place.
16. 2022-01-01 — Conner Rousseau — "Ik zou mij schamen". The young Vooruit leader’s scolding "I’d be ashamed, pipo" line became an instant Flemish reaction meme.
17. 2024-01-01 — Bart De Wever — "Do You Speak English?". The N-VA leader fielding an awkward English question — endlessly clipped and remixed online.