Manifesto For Walloon Culture - Belgian Context

Belgian Context

"For years, Francophone Belgian elites defended the principle that there were no difference between French culture in Belgium and in France. Confronted with a unified Flemish community, the idea of a unified French culture, still referring to the big partner in the south though stressing the Belgian context now, had to be valid for both Walloons and Francophone Bruxellois, so excluding a separate Walloon culture.". On the political plan, the Belgian Constitution revised in 1971 was a compromise between federalism with two (Flanders-Wallonia) and federalism with three (Flanders-Wallonia-Brussels). The former was more a response to the Flemings' wishes (two major cultural communities); the latter corresponded more to the Walloons' wishes (three economic regions). Flemings would rapidly merge the two institutions, Community and Region. It was easier for them because there are more or less two hundred thousand Flemings in Brussels in front of six million Flemings in Flanders. But there are almost one million French-speaking inhabitants in Brussels in front of only 3,5 million Walloons.

Such bicephalous institutions (Community and Region), which should contribute to the construction of Wallonia, in fact do it ill service. The territories and interests of these two institutions do not entirely overlap and their interests are not always convergent. To undertake an economic recovery, the Walloon region can neither use cultural leverage nor count on symbolic capital. Its institutional duality is not suited to clarify the symbolic landscape of a Wallonia suffering from a failure to understand itself. In 1983 and 2003, two Walloon Manifestos put their finger on the problem... unsuccessfully, for the French Community of Belgium benefits from the support of the French-speaking Belgian cultural establishment. —