Manifesto for Walloon culture

Signed by 75 prominent figures from the artistic, journalistic, and academic communities of Wallonia, the manifesto aimed to promote Walloon culture and identity.

On the other hand, the novels are intended to obtain literary recognition by exploiting the exoticism of this milieu [...] In his writings, Masson manages to convey the ambivalent attitude of educated Francophone Belgium: regional varieties of French are felt to have positive affective features but lack sophistication.

Home of the EU Commission, Capital of Belgium and bastion of pan-Belgian nationalism since 1830, Brussels tends to be contemptuous of Walloon and Flemish identities, which are considered too particularistic in the context of the European integration.

Brussels pan-Belgian nationalism has professed moral superiority and has often conceived of itself as the path toward a more universal belonging, in a perspective similar to Trudeau's vision...According to Michael Keating, John Loughlin, and Kris Deschouwer in 2003: The "single French culture" is still the official discourse, and is defended by the French community authorities (...) The Walloon movement of today, supported by a small number of intellectual elites, defends very much the typical Walloon difference, but has not been able to mobilize for it.

It’s the argument of the “French-speaking Nation” defended at the time by the president of the PRL, Jean Gol, and others who blamed the regionalists of “falling back on" a Walloon identity.

And Pierre Bouillon wrote in Le Soir 6 March 2010 that the Walloon identity refers mainly to tourism, unemployment and bribery in Charleroi.

[15] It seems that the dispute between Brussels and Wallonia about this issue remains as for instance Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia, Tome I wrote it for some years: 'A Walloon identity is also emerging that exhibits at the political level the still mainly hidden tension between French-speaking Brussels and Wallonia' [16] On the contrary, it seems to Paul Piret, journalist at La Libre Belgique, a debate on the concept 'Identity' is good about political citizenship, roots, collective project and even pride.