History of the Walloon Movement

The Walloon Movement traces its ancestry to 1856 when literary and folkloric movements based around the began forming. Despite the formation of the Society of Walloon Literature, it was not until around 1880 that a "Walloon and French-speaking defense movement" appeared, following the linguistic laws of the 1870s. The movement asserted the existence of Wallonia and a Walloon identity while maintaining the defense of the French language.

Origins During French control of the Low Countries, linguistic problems arose with the first language laws. «Faisant suite aux études sur la relation entre formation d'une nation et politique linguistique, cet aperçu débute à la fin du dix-huitième siècle, à l'époque où la politique linguistique de la Belgique est devenue un élément du "nation building" français». Els Witte et Harry Van Velthoven, Langue et politique. La situation en Belgique dans une perspective historique, Éd. Balans – VUBPress, Brussels, 1999, p. 13. «Si ces deux périodes se sont donc avérées être des phases transitoires, elles ont cependant laissé des traces dans ce qui devint l'histoire de la Belgique.», Els Witte et Harry Van Velthoven, Langue et politique. La situation en Belgique dans une perspective historique, Éd. Balans — VUB University Press, Bruxelles, 1999, p. 53. After the invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, French revolutionaries began the "francisation" of the country. Under the Old Regime French coexisted with many languages, including Latin and English, but the decree of 2nd Thermidor Year II made French the official language of France and its territories. Walter Prevenier et Thérèse de Hemptinne, La Flandre au Moyen Âge. Un pays de trilinguisme administratif, Actes du XIe Congrès international de diplomatique, Troyes, 2003 html Revolutionary France differentiated between Flemish and Walloon provinces: "It seems the revolutionaries themselves consider the fact French was enough close to the Walloon language so as not to manage Wallonia as Brittany, Corsica, Alsace or Flanders." "Le décret du 8 pluviôse An II (...) ne prévoit pas d'envoyer des instituteurs dans la Wallonie romane (contre l'avis de Grégoire qui souhaitait une campagne linguistique couvrant tout le territoire). Les révolutionnaires eux-mêmes semblent donc considérer que la proximité entre le français et le wallon est suffisamment grande pour ne pas traiter la Wallonie comme la Bretagne, la Corse, l'Alsace ou la Flandre." Astrid Von Busekist, Politique des langues et construction de l'État, Éd. Duculot, Gembloux, 1998, pp. 22–28 The French Consulate and Empire extended the francisation process by requiring all the civil servants of Flanders to become French citizens. Authorities sent members of the French bourgeoisie and clergy to Belgium to replace Belgian elites and moved Belgian elites to France to remove them from their roots and their culture. For example, Flemish seminarians were trained in Paris and Lyon under the direction of Jean-Armand de Roquelaure, the archbishop of Mechelen, a French clerk installed by French authorities. Lorsque Bonaparte devint premier consul (1800–1804), il obligea tous les fonctionnaires de la Flandre à être des «citoyens français». Les évêchés subirent des changements similaires et, graduellement, tout le haut-clergé devint français. L’archevêque de Malines, Jean-Armand de Roquelaure, eut l’idée d’envoyer les séminaristes flamands à Lyon et Paris «pour franciser la Belgique en peu de temps». Cette politique ecclésiastique suscita, on le devine, de nouveaux mécontentements au sein de la population flamande. Puis Bonaparte devint Napoléon 1er (1804–1815). Short translation: Bonaparte forced civil servants of Flanders to become French citizens. The archbishop of Malines sent the Flemish seminarists to Lyon and Paris "in order to Frenchify Belgium in a short times"

After the fall of the French Empire, the Congress of Vienna united the Belgian provinces of the Austrian Netherlands with the former Dutch Republic, forming the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The new ruler of the United Kingdom, William I, gave Dutch the status of "national language" in order to reduce the influence of French ideas. On 15 September 1819, William I decreed Dutch as the official language for justice and governmental administration although he did not prohibit the use of other languages. According to Hervé Hasquin the goal of these policies was the 'cultural homogenization of our regions'. «Les Wallons furent directement touchés par l'extension de la politique de néerlandisation à l'enseignement, et par la consolidation de la frontière linguistique au détriment du français. Le gouvernement voulut répandre la connaissance de la "langue nationale" dans les villes et communes importantes du sud du royaume. La création d'écoles primaires de l'Etat, l'érection de chaires de néerlandais dans les athénées et collèges, ainsi que des subsides attribués aux communes pour payer des instituteurs bilingues, préparaient l'homogénéisation culturelle de nos regions.» Hervé Hasquin, La Wallonie, son histoire, Luc Pire, Bruxelles, 1999, p. 111 William I "believed or feigned to believe that French was introduced into the Walloon provinces only under the pressure of foreign influence." Henri Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, Tome VI, Bruxelles, Lambertin, pp. 298-299. «Le 11 septembre de cette année , un arrêté royal décidait qu'à partir de 1823 la langue nationale (landstaat) serait seule employée par l'administration et pour les plaidoiries, dans les deux Flandres ainsi que dans les provinces d'Anvers, de Limbourg et de Brabant à l'exception de l'arrondissement de Nivelles (...) L'intention du roi apparaissait clairement d'étendre aux provinces wallonnes la loi qui ne s'appliquait encore qu'à la partie flamande du pays (...) Guillaume croyait d'ailleurs ou feignait de croire que le français ne s'y était introduit que sous l'action de l'étranger...» The linguistic barrier "acquired administrative significance for the first time in 1822 with William I's legislation on the use of Dutch in Flemish communes."Kenneth D. McRae, Conflict and Compromise in Multilingual Societies: Belgium, Wilfrid Laurier University Press (1 January 1986), p. 18. William's linguistic policies were one of the contributing factors that led to the Belgian Revolution of 1830 and the linguistic legislation of the first unionist governments.

The young Belgian government officially recognized only the French language, though the Constitution allowed for the free use of all languages. In the 1840s the Flemish Movement appeared in response to the Belgian government's recognition of French as the official language. The Walloon Movement developed subsequently as a reaction to the claims of the Flemish Movement.

1880–1898: Opposition to official recognition of Dutch Born in Flanders and in Brussels, a French-speaking movement was set up within civil servant circles to combat the introduction of Dutch as the language of administration. For the first Walloon militants the recognition of Dutch meant job losses, the infantilisation of the culture, and an attack on national unity. Jeannine Lothe, Les débuts du Mouvement wallon, in La Wallonie, Le Pays et les Hommes, t. 2 (Dir. H. Hasquin), Renaissance du livre, Brussels, 1976, p. 192 In 1877 the first political Walloon association, the Walloon League of Ixelles, was formed. In 1883 the Walloon Beehive in Anvers, whose motto is "Walloon I am, Belgian first and foremost", was founded.«Wallon suis, Belge avant tout» André Méan, La Belgique de papa: 1970, le commencement de la fin, Éd. De Boeck Université, Brussels, 1993, p. 30 The Walloon movement developed rapidly in the south but was mostly confined to the bourgeoisie. The liberal leading elements of the bourgeoisie consider the Flemish Movement as a machination proposing to keep the Dutch-speaking provinces under the heel of religion. Arnaud Pirotte disagreed with the notion that the Walloon movement started with the Walloon reaction to the success of the Flemish Movement.Arnaud Pirottte, L'apport des courants régionalistes et dialectaux au mouvement wallon. Collège Erasme, Louvain-la-neuve, 1997, p.311. French: 'À l'origine de cette étude on trouve une hypothèse : le mouvement wallon naissant, tout imprégné qu'il soit des luttes antiflamingantes du temps, ne coïncide pas entièrement avec les réactions wallonnes aux premiers succès du mouvement flamand. Bien plus riche, il ne peut être réduit à ces seuls aspects polémiques.'

The first members of the Walloon Movement promoted neither federalism nor separatism. Their rhetoric was confined to defending Belgium and the use of the French language. For the early Walloon Movement, the daily use of the French language was considered the cement holding the country together:

The emerging Walloon Movement thus fits in a Belgian perspective as its contours and especially its linguistic identity was defined for this State in 1830. It regards the acquisition of the French language as a form of adhesion to Belgium and to the great principles of freedom in the Constitution. «Le mouvement wallon naissant s'inscrit donc dans une perspective belge telle qu'ont été définis les contours et surtout l'identité linguistique de cet État en 1830. Il considère l'acquisition de la langue française comme une forme d'adhésion à la Belgique et aux grands principes de liberté dans la Constitution.» Chantal Kesteloot, Mouvement Wallon et identité nationale, Courrier Hebdomadaire du CRISP, No. 1392, 1993, p14.

During this period a variety of Walloon leagues fought against the use of Dutch as the official language. The most prominent was the Society of Walloon Propaganda, which was founded on 23 February 1888 by lawyer Édouard Termonia. The Society had three goals: to defend the acquired rights of the Walloon agents in civil service; to defend the French language and culture; and to unify the varied Walloon leagues of Brussels under a common banner. The Society organized the first Walloon congresses in Brussels in July 1890, in Namur in December 1891, in Liège in November 1892, and in Mons in November 1893. Yves Quairiaux writes that at the Mons congress delegates from Walloon provinces were in the minority and the assembly voted in favor of teaching Dutch in French-speaking provinces. The first congresses were unpopular, especially in southern Belgium, and the first members of the Walloon Movement were so disorganized that the fifth congress (to be held in 1894) was cancelled. In 1895 the Society of Walloon Propaganda asked deputies to leave an assembly when a French-speaking orator presented a speech in Dutch.La Meuse, 21 March 1895, p. 1 In 1896, when the Coremans-De Vriendt law was first proposed, the Society of Walloon Propaganda and the Walloon League of Ixelles began a protest campaign. They sent petitions signed by communal administrations and members of the bar to the Senate. The first article of the Coremans-De Vriendt law declares that "the laws are voted, sanctioned, promulgated and published in French language and Dutch language". The law reminded the Walloon Movement that their privileges were endangered by the recognition of Dutch as an official language for administration and justice.

1898–1914: Political creation of Wallonia 1898–1904: Political awakening