culture, subculture and counterculture - Facultatea de Litere

WALLOON AND FLEMISH PARADIGMS OF THE BELGIAN
CULTURAL IDENTITY
CARMEN ANDREI, IOANA MOHOR-IVAN
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Romania
Preliminaries
Since 1830, the year when Belgium proclaimed its independence, the driving
thesis of its political establishment has maintained that the Walloon and Flemish
mentalities can be dissolved in a cultural melting-pot in order to establish a
common Belgian identity, coalesced around the same national symbols. In order
to insert the young nation within the collective imaginary, the historiographers
of the 19 th century attempted to demonstrate the official existence of a
geographical and ethnic entity, known, since ancient times, as Belgica romana,
reverting to the authority of Julius Caesar’s de Bello Gallico (52 B.C.) which
had called the Belgians “the bravest amongst the Gaels” (Beaufils 2003: 19).
Nevertheless, during the interwar period, when Belgium is coveted by the great
European powers, this myth of ancient bravery gives way to a prudent
diplomacy.
At the birth of the modern Belgian state, when the Francophone
Ascendancy was in control of its major institutions, the continuing existence of a
dying Flemish culture ranked close to an impossibility. And yet, the Flemish
Movement, including renowned intellectuals of the time, strove to bring back to
life a mythic Flanders. From this moment onwards, aware of the absolute need to
fight for their linguistic survival, the Flemish have regained many of their former
rights, so that nowadays, in the first decade of the 21 st century, the conflicts
between the Walloons and the Flemish are disputed in the open, either within
Belgium’s institutions or in the street. In the background of the present violent
disputes, there can be discerned an overwhelming fear – fear of being
undermined by the formerly majority party. Flanders has turned into a conqueror
and is not hiding its intention of enlarging its territory, through political or
economic maneuvering. Flanders demands independence and does not hesitate
to utter, through the voice of its political extremists, “Let Belgium break up!”
Even the slogan of its right-wing nationalist party claims that “Our people
should come first!” – “Eigen Volk Eerst!”(Bailly 2005) The Flemish are ready to
renounce the common welfare benefits (i.e. health insurance, pensions, state
allowances, dole benefits, etc.) because they consider the members of the other
group to be lazy and profiteering. On the other hand, the Walloons cannot
forgive the Flemish for cooperating with the Germans during the Second World
War in order to achieve the autonomy of Flanders. But the problem of such
cultural differences is much more complex, and anthropologists consider that
along with the north-south dichotomy, another split, between the east and the
west, should also be acknowledged. As Jules Destrée was writing to the King in
210