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november 4, 2015 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

Climate controversy

Talks on Belgium’s climate accord need to be re-opened after politicians weigh in, with the clock ticking down to the Paris summit \4

politics \ p4

BUSiNESS \ p6

innovation \ p7

“A beautiful idea”

Flemish students abandon their classes for a day’s work and donate their salaries to a Nicaraguan co-op

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education \ p9

art & living \ p10

The real deal

Anima Eterna founder Jos Van Immerseel turns 70 this year with a series of concerts featuring his trademark period instruments \ 14

Let’s talk about sex

© Courtesy Channel 4

Goedele Liekens wants better, safer sex for all of us, and she’s not afraid to say so Leo Cendrowicz More articles by Leo \ flanderstoday.eu

Flemish celebrity Goedele Liekens has made waves in Britain with a TV show about improving sex education.

She tells Flanders Today that it’s time for our neighbours to get past the smirks and sniggers and have a meaningful conversation on the subject.

G

oedele Liekens has a reputation. As a sexologist, she’s already assumed to be an expert in all bedroom matters. In her recent British TV documentary, Sex

in Class, she is archly depicted in a short skirt surrounded by schoolchildren. In her chat show, Goedele, she fearlessly probes people’s sex lives. And did we mention that she’s a former Miss Belgium?

Yet Liekens is also serious about sex education, so she’s quick to undercut her media image as a flirty TV cougar.

“You must be very disappointed,” she laughs when asked about it.

She is still a picture of bold glamour, in a wool and leather

jumper, with a silver necklace and dark burgundy fingernails. Speaking over coffee, her hands twist and wave as she works up her case for a better understanding of the birds and the bees.

But first, there is the smirk factor. Does she enjoy seeing people squirm when she delves into sex talk, or pulls vagina cushions out of her handbag? “Yes, it’s fun seeing people get embarrassed,” she says, chuckling, before leaning forward conspiratorially. “But I get embarrassed as well. It’s not very continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Explosion at Doel nuclear plant No danger to public, but questions about reactor safety follow weekend fire Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

E

lectricity provider Electrabel has stressed that an explosion and fire that took place last Saturday evening in the Doel 1 nuclear power plant in Beveren, East Flanders, was “not a nuclear incident”. No-one was injured and, according to the fire service, there was never any danger to employees or residents of the surrounding area.

The incident took place when a transformer exploded. The transformer stands in the open air, and the explosion caused a fire. The Beveren fire brigade were in attendance and quickly had the fire under control.

Doel 1 has been closed since February, which means the fissile material normally contained in the reactor is not present, Electrabel spokesperson Els De Clercq said. Only reactor 4 is still operational.

Doel 3 was closed because of microscopic fissures in the casing, while 1 and 2 were closed at the end of their 40-year working life. Both could be started up again if the federal government decides to change the long-held policy.

Calls for the definitive closure of Doel 1 and 2 came at the weekend from the Dutch municipalities of Woensdrecht and Bergen op Zoom, which lie just across the border from Beveren. Evert Weys of the local party GBWP said the latest incident was just the last in a long line that have raised safety concerns.

The exact cause of the explosion will be investigated, the prosecutor’s office of Dendermonde said, but foul play is ruled out.

Electrabel said it would co-operate with the prosecutor and with the Federal Nuclear Safety Agency, which will also investigate.

Scientology bribery and extortion trial starts in Brussels The trial of the Church of Scientology has begun in Brussels, 18 years after the prosecutor’s office first opened an investigation. Both the Belgian and the European branches of the church, as well as 12 leading executives, face charges of bribery, extortion and unlawful practice of medicine.

The organisation is recognised as a church in the US and the UK but not in Belgium, where it is included in a list of dangerous sects. The investigation started when a number of former members filed complaints.

Eventually, the Brussels-Capital Region’s employment agency, Actiris, filed a complaint, citing the groups job vacancy listings. Applicants were being asked questions that breached privacy laws and, in some cases, the jobs turned out to be unpaid.

The Scientologists deny all charges, which they say are motivated by revenge on the part of former employees. “In every organisation you have people who are disappointed, who resign and who take action to express their discontent,” a spokesperson told De Morgen. The trial, he said, “is our chance to finally reply to the many accusations”.

The entrance to the Church of Scientology in the centre of Brussels

The extent of local membership of the organisation is not known but is thought to be several hundred.

According to a former treasurer, the office in Brussels used to take in €5,000 a month from the sale of books and training courses. The prosecution claims the organisation is entirely commercial in its objectives and extorted funds from its members. \ AH

© LinoWreck/Wikimedia

Doel 1 in operation

Water bus river commuter transport coming to Antwerp Commuters in Antwerp will soon be able to take a boat, known as the waterbus, to work, port alderman Marc Van Peel has announced. Starting in 2016, three lines will operate on the Scheldt river: one linking the left bank with the city centre; one linking the centre with the port area; and one bringing in people from outlying districts to areas in the south, such as Hemmiksem and Schelle.

The city is seeking co-operative agreements with potential partners, including Flemish public transport company De Lijn and national rail authority NMBS to allow waterbus passengers to link public transport services. The project will go ahead in the meantime regardless, Van Peel said.

The city will initially rent five or six boats, which can be used for commuter traffic as well as more recreational river trips. Van Peel said he had been inspired by the example of Rotterdam, which now operates a daily waterbus service from Dordrecht.

The project will cost an estimated €30 million. The money is part of a budget of €170 million set aside by the city for the completion of the Oosterweel road link to close the Antwerp ring road. As that project has been delayed, the funds can be used for other projects, including mobility. The remaining €140 million is being reserved for the time being for Oosterweel. \ AH

Anderlecht mourns football club’s move to new stadium The Anderlecht football club will after all become the tenants of the planned new national stadium to be built by 2020 on what is now Parking C of the Heizel complex in Brussels. Last week the club signed a lease with developers Ghelamco and the city.

Anderlecht had previously withdrawn from talks on the lease, preferring to consider renovations to their existing Constant Vanden Stock stadium (pictured) in the Anderlecht commune. But that option fell through when it was determined how much renovations would cost.

“Naturally, this is emotional news,” said Anderlecht alderwoman Elke Roex. “People know our municipality thanks to the football club. Of course they will still be known as Anderlecht, but it’s a shame they have to leave.”

The commune also received about €1 million a year from the club in local taxes, which covers some of the cost of policing around matches and cleaning up afterwards. “But after they’ve gone we’ll still have to sweep the streets and pay the police,” Roex said.

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© David Edgar/Wikimedia

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99.66%

of cases in which drinking water in Flanders met strict EU norms last year, out of 10,965 samples measured, the Flemish environment agency has reported

The area will also lose income from parking and from the restaurants and cafes around the stadium. “That’s why it’s important to find a new purpose for the stadium site,” she said. “The region has a role to play there because this is a huge building that’s about to become vacant. And 2020 isn’t very far off.”

It is expected Anderlecht will pay rent of €9,950,000 a year for the new stadium, though details have not yet been made public. Construction of the new stadium is expected to begin next spring. \ AH

petrol stations in the BrusselsCapital Region, 92 fewer than in 2007, said the Belgian Federation of Fuel Dealers. The decrease is due to tougher environmental legislation

tonnes of “ugly” vegetables sold instead of binned by Delhaize supermarkets to prevent waste.

Next year the action moves from 16 to more than 50 stores

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of residents of the Brussels-Capital Region are of foreign origin, making it the second most international city in the world, after Dubai (83%) and ahead of Toronto (46%)

jobs saved at Limburg auto-parts supplier SML, thanks to a new contract with Rolls-Royce. SML was one of the main suppliers of Ford Genk before its closure in 2014

november 4, 2015

WEEK in brief The city of Ghent is seeking permission to recruit its own police officers, after federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon gave the go-ahead to a pilot project allowing Antwerp to do the same. The force at present has too few people from Ghent and does not reflect society as it should, said Ghent mayor Daniël Termont, who has asked to make a final selection out of the successful candidates from the federal recruitment procedure.

Women and men usually appear equally in “vox pop” items in news bulletins, but ethnic minorities are under-represented, according to research by the Flemish government’s Media Support office.

The items, which feature members of the public giving their views on a topic, are increasingly used

by TV news outlets, the researchers found. Members of the public speak for an average of 10 seconds each, compared to 18 seconds for experts, politicians and eye witnesses. But only 2.4% of those interviewed are ethnic minorities, who make up 15% of the population as a whole.

The Brussels-Capital Region has approved a proposal to set up a Council for Animal Welfare to provide advice and take part in the creation of animal welfare policy.

The council will be made up of representatives from animal shelters, animal rights organisations, veterinary organisations and scientific experts.

Residents of Flanders renting out their properties through Airbnb will have to register, together with owners of hotels and bed & breakfast establishments, the Flemish parliament’s tourism committee has decided. The register will allow the government a better overview of the tourism sector, as well as checking on whether renters meet the legal requirements on fire safety, insurance and hygiene.

face of flanders The year 2017 will be the high point of the commemoration of the First World War in Flanders, centred on the battle of Passchendaele, which cost so many Allied lives, minister-president Geert Bourgeois told an audience in Calgary last week while on an economic mission to Canada. In the first half of this year, the average number of Canadian visitors to Flanders increased by 72%.

Flanders has designated 44 sites to commemorate the war, with an investment of €15 million.

Leuven has become the first city in Flanders to establish a reporting centre for male victims of domestic violence, the city council has announced. Starting in January, men will be able to arrange to speak with an independent volunteer, in an effort to break down the taboo that prevents many victims from seeking help, according to Leuven’s alderwoman for gender policy.

Plans for a new interactive visitors’ centre in the Flemish parliament building in Brussels have been put on hold, after none of the four respondents to a call for bids managed to meet the conditions. The centre is planned for the Lokettenzaal, where exhibitions used to take place. A new call will now be made in the hope of attracting more suitable bids for the contract.

The 1970s Belgacom tower in the centre of Ghent, often referred to as the city’s ugliest building, will undergo a makeover and be converted into apartments. The renovation includes a new outer shell, giving the building a whole new appearance, according to the architects. The building used to be the headquarters of the post and telegraph agency, later Belgacom, now renamed Proximus. In recent years, it has housed various city administrations.

Flanders has issued its second permit for a Longer Heavier Vehicle (LHV) – more popularly known as a super-truck – to begin operating in the port area of Antwerp this week. The super-truck, the first of which appeared on Flanders’ roads nine months ago, is 25 metres long and weighs 60 tonnes, compared to 19m and 44 tonnes for a standard lorry. The truck belongs to transport company Gilbert De Clercq of Temse in East Flanders. The first LHV travels twice a day from the Leuven district of Heverlee to the port for brewers AB InBev. Detectives have carried out house searches of members of the Aquino family, following reports that two men linked to the family visited the Gasthuisberg hospital in Leuven and photographed the body of a man thought to be one of the killers of Silvio Aquino, one of the brothers at the head of an alleged drugs gang. Silvio was gunned down in August, and the body of one of the men involved was found nearby later. He is thought to have been fatally wounded in the shooting. Several members of the family are currently on trial in Hasselt on trafficking and money laundering charges.

Wordline has announced that it will compensate retailers affected by a major breakdown in the electronic payments system in September.

Retailers will be excused all transaction costs for the two weeks from 15 to 28 October.

The planned new crematorium in Evere, the second in Brussels after Ukkel, will be designed by the renowned Portuguese architect Edouardo Souto de Moura, who won an open competition. The crematorium will be built on the grounds of the municipal graveyard. Souto de Moura designed the crematorium in Kortrijk. His partner for this project is the young Belgian architect Jean-Christophe Mathen.

OFFSIDE Up in the world Which is the highest toilet in Brussels? It’s a question you’ve probably never asked yourself, but the answer, according to the Atomium, is in the uppermost sphere of that celebrated monument. In the toilets of Brussels Airport you can find posters boasting: “The city’s highest toilets [95m] are in the symbol of Brussels”.

“It’s all intended in a jokey way,” a spokesperson for the Atomium told Het Nieuwsblad. Amusing for sure, but not true. The Atomium toilets are a long way from being the highest in the city. That honour goes to Zuidtoren (pictured) next to the South Station.

That’s not only the tallest building in Brussels, it’s the tallest in the

© Bruno Fahy/BELGA

Rik De Nolf Last week saw the announcement of the departure of Rik De Nolf from a role he has performed for 35 years. As CEO of Roularta Media Group (RMG), he has headed what started as a small publisher but what is today a stable of magazines and half-owner of the Vlaamse Media Maatschappij, now officially known as Medialaan.

Medialaan owns TV channels, radio stations, film distribution and even mobile telephony.

De Nolf was born in Roeselare, West Flanders in 1949, grandson of mayor Joseph and son of Willy, then a lawyer practising in Kortrijk. In 1954, Willy gave up law and took over two local papers and their printer: the weekly Roeselaarse Weekbode and the ad-filled free-sheet called, appropriately, Advertentie.

There soon followed a series of takeovers in West Flanders, including of publications in Izegem, Torhout, Ypres, and eventually across Flanders. They came together in 1979 as De Streekkrant, which still exists today.

De Nolf joined RMG in 1972 as director of magazines, which included the flagship Knack, still

one of the most highly regarded Flemish magazines published today. Soon after his arrival, he launched Trends, a business title also published in French.

The list now is extensive: Knack and Le Vif (its French-speaking counterpart); Trends, Sport/ Voetbal magazine, Focus and Télépro, Royals and Ik ga bouwen, as well as a number of B2B magazines for doctors, pharmacists, designers, health-care professionals, media types and jurists.

The company recently divested itself of its French holdings but continues to hold 50% of Medialaan and, separate from that, 50% of business channel Kanaal Z and local channels Focus TV and WTV, both in West Flanders.

Roularta Printing, meanwhile, is Belgium’s biggest offset printing company.

For what must be a momentous event in the history of the company, De Nolf, 61, had little to say. Asked to confirm that his place as CEO would be taken by son-in-law Xavier Bouckaert, currently director of magazines, De Nolf replied simply: “We will communicate on that subject shortly after the autumn holiday.

There is a board meeting in midNovember.” \ Alan Hope

Flanders Today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the Flemish Region and is financially supported by the Flemish authorities.

© Alan Hope

country, and home to the highest toilet. It’s on the top floor, 140 metres above the ground.

Zuidtoren was built in the early

1960s to house the government’s pension administration and was the tallest building in the EU, until the French built the Tour Montparnasse in 1972. In 1995, Zuidtoren’s glass panel cladding was replaced. It was built around a central core containing stairs, lifts and, of course, sanitation.

The so-called pensions tower is not the only competitor for the Atomium’s title. Rogier tower and the nearby Finance tower are both taller, as is the newly built Up-Site tower on the banks of the canal. That structure, 142m high, dethroned the Brusilia apartment building in Schaarbeek as the tallest residential building in the city. \ AH

The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr 815.088). The editorial team of Flanders Today has full editorial autonomy regarding the content of the newspaper and is responsible for all content, as stipulated in the agreement between Corelio Publishing and the Flemish authorities.

Editor Lisa Bradshaw DEPUTY Editor Sally Tipper CONTRIBUTING Editor Alan Hope sub Editor Linda A Thompson Agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino Art director Paul Van Dooren Prepress Mediahuis AdPro Contributors Rebecca Benoot, Bartosz Brzezi´nski, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Katy Desmond, Andy Furniere, Diana Goodwin, Julie Kavanagh, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Katrien Lindemans, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Daniel Shamaun, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Denzil Walton General manager Hans De Loore Publisher Mediahuis NV

Editorial address Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 467 23 06 editorial@flanderstoday.eu subscriptions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu Advertising 02 467 24 37 advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever Hans De Loore

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\ POLITICS

5TH COLUMN Co-operative federalism

The sixth state reform has given this country’s regions and communities even more competences so that each region can enact policies that better suits its needs.

We have seen this work in the area of housing in the Brussels-Capital Region. Buyers now pay less taxes when purchasing a home, but they lose the tax credit in the years that follow. These rules are distinctly different from those in the Flemish Region.

This type of federalism doesn’t always work, though, as regions or communities can have conflicting interests. This was the case in the discussion about the nuisance caused by airplanes taking off and landing at Brussels Airport.

Contrary to what the name suggests, the airport is located in Flanders, with the planes flying over both the Flemish and Brussels regions, leading to constant clashes between them whenever flights are rerouted.

Co-operative federalism was also hard to achieve when it came down to the Climate Agreement. Climate and energy being regional competences, the agreement was to determine the effort expected of each region to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and the percentage of renewable energy they should produce.

How Belgium’s contribution to the international climate fund should be split among the regions and the division of the profits made from the sale of emission rights were also part of the deal.

When, after six years of negotiations, an agreement was finally reached recently, it was greeted with cheers. Without it, it was believed, Belgium would only embarrass itself at the upcoming Climate Summit in Paris.

The relief was short lived, however, as N-VA immediately made it clear that it would not support it. Flanders’ largest party argued that the agreement put too much of the effort on the federal government’s shoulders. In practice, this means that the Flemish – the largest population group in Belgium – foot most of the bill.

Flanders’ environment minister Joke Schauvliege (CD&V), who was accused of overstepping her mandate, quickly passed the buck to federal energy minister Christine Marghem (MR). In the end, prime minister Charles Michel (MR) could only admit that the agreement was preliminary and will be the object of more negotiations.

In the meantime, the Paris Climate Summit starts on 30 November. \ Anja Otte

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Doubts over climate accord

Greenpeace and politicians criticise Belgium’s proposal ahead of Paris Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he Belgian chapter of Greenpeace has criticised the environment ministers of the three regions and the federal government concerning an agreement on climate change. Details were leaked last week on the share each party will take of the sale of carbon dioxide licences, as well as targets for the production of renewable energy.

The ministers, Greenpeace said in a statement, “believe that climate policy is an Excel spreadsheet where figures can be shuffled about. There is no place for such amateurism at a climate summit.” Referring to the UN conference on climate change due to be held in Paris at the end of this month, Greenpeace said: “We call on the ministers to stay home.”

“The approach to the biggest challenge the planet and humankind are facing deserves better than to be treated as the subject of a political game,” commented Greenpeace spokesperson Joeri Thijs.

Greenpeace is not alone in its criticism: the three governing parties in Flanders are not in agreement with the deal worked out by environment minister Joke Schauvliege in talks with the two other regions and the federal government.

Schauvliege has been asked to re-open talks – a move that could jeopardise the deadline for the Paris summit.

© Wiktor Dabkowski/ZUMA Press/CORBIS

Environment minister Joke Schauvliege has been asked to re-open talks just a month before the Paris Climate Change Conference

Flanders’ largest party, N-VA, is unhappy that Flanders’ share of the income from emissions licences, which govern the amount of carbon dioxide a company may produce, was cut from

an initial proposal of 56% to 50%. The government of Flanders had first demanded 63%, coming down to 56% on condition that it was allowed to use more of its licences within Flanders instead of in developing countries. The party is also critical of the decreased share of renewable energy that Wallonia must produce, from 12.5% to 11.5%.

Minister-president Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) remains hopeful. “This coalition has always been able to come to an understanding,” he said, speaking from Vancouver, Canada, where he is taking part in a trade mission. A statement from federal environment minister Marie-Christine Marghem that the figures made public are not yet finalised would have to be clarified, he said.

“The goal must be to come to a balanced accord with the necessary solidarity between the various governments.”

Meanwhile, the European Commission has criticised the estimates of the capacity of the federal government to carry its share of the burden of the accord as too high. The federal share of the target should be 2%, but after talks with the regions, the government increased that to 2.75%. That includes the production of renewable energy from the hydro-electric station at Coo in Liège province, which the Commission had said cannot be counted.

Fireworks law gets a rethink after 50 years

Brussels government buys Citroen building for €20.5 million

Federal minister for consumer affairs Kris Peeters is reviewing the law on the use of fireworks by members of the public for the first time in 50 years. The review aims, he said, to improve safety for the user in the light of technical changes that have taken place, as well as providing legal security for retailers.

“It is high time a clear line is drawn because the nuisance caused by fireworks has gotten worse in recent years,” Peeters said. “Every year, there are injuries, people are burned or scarred for life, thanks to mishandling or illegal use of professional-level fireworks among friends and family.

We have to do something about it.”

A new law – to come into force in July 2017 – forbids the use of the loudest and most dangerous types of fireworks, in category F3 and higher, by members of the general

The government of the Brussels-Capital Region has concluded the purchase of the Citroen building for the price of €20.5 million. The region intends to create a new museum of contemporary art in the building.

According to minister-president Rudi Vervoort, who closed the sale on Thursday, the museum will open in 2018 or 2019, taking up 15,000 to 18,000 square metres of the former Citroen building on Leopold II-laan, which backs on to the canal at Akenkaai. The rest of the site, which measures 45,000 square metres in total, is earmarked for housing.

“Brussels plays an important role in the contemporary art scene and attracts the attention of collectors from around the world,” Vervoort said. “It is a must for us to have a suitable shop-window here.”

The collection of any future museum, however, remain a mystery. Elke Sleurs is state secretary of science policy, a portfolio that covers the functioning of the Royal Library, the Jubelpark complex and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, among others. She stated earlier this year that the government intends to house its modern art collection in the existing Fine Arts Museum complex on Regentschapsstraat.

That collection went into storage when that section of the complex closed for repairs in 2011. Since then, the Capital-Region has been working on a plan for a new museum. But, according to Sleurs, the federal government’s plan has always been to return the collection to its original home in the Fine Arts Museum.

An alternative is the Art Nouveau collection donated by the GillonCrowet family to the city in lieu of inheritance tax, which is currently housed in the Fin de Siècle Museum on Kunstberg. \ AH

© Gong Bing/Xinhua Press/Corbis

public. Type F2, meanwhile, will not be sold to people younger than 16, and F1 are banned for anyone under 12.

The existing rule that no-one may possess or transport more than one kilogram of Net Explosive Mass – the amount of gunpowder contained in fireworks – remains.

The rules on storage by the trade and on firework displays will be tackled later. \ AH

Constitutional Court upholds euthanasia for minors The Constitutional Court has rejected a motion brought by three organisations against the law that permits euthanasia for minors in Belgium. The court in its ruling did stress the conditions under which euthanasia can take place.

The case was filed by Jurileven, Pro Vita and Jongeren voor Leven against the law that came into force in early 2014 that extends the right to euthanasia to those under the age of 18. The court rejected the case but stressed the strict

conditions under which the procedure can be carried out.

An independent child psychiatrist or psychologist must first decide whether the minor in question is fit to make the decision to request euthanasia. Then the advice of a second physician must be confirm that the child is suffering from an incurable condition that is causing intolerable suffering. In the case of adults, this advice is not binding; in the case of children, the court has ruled, the advice is required

for euthanasia to take place.

The court also rejected the organisations’ argument that the law was invalid because it does not specify a minimum age. There are currently no cases pending in which minors are in the process of seeking permission for euthanasia.

In related news, the federal control and evaluation commission for euthanasia has for the first time sent a case file to the federal prosecutor for investigation, chair

Wim Distelmans has announced.

The case concerns a woman in her 80s who was euthanised in June this year, after claiming she could not go on living after the death of her daughter three months earlier.

According to the commission, the conditions for approving euthanasia were not met and the opinion of a second physician was not obtained. The woman’s case was the subject of a documentary on Australian television, which recorded the end of her life. \ AH

\ COVER STORY

november 4, 2015

Let’s talk about sex

Flemish sexologist takes safe-sex message TV viewers in the UK

GOEDELE.BE

continued from page 1

easy to talk about these things.”

Of course, there’s a pay-off in pushing the conversation. “What I enjoy most is when you can find a way to open people up,” Liekens says. “Like if you have a mother who starts off with her arms folded and then she ends up using the word ‘penis’ every five minutes.”

We meet on an auspicious day: Playboy magazine has just announced that it will drop nude pictures from its pages. Liekens relishes the moment, yet also puts it into perspective. “They will keep using erotic pictures; the models just won’t be naked,” she says. “It’s not economically viable anymore: You can find thousands of pictures on the internet. They’ll switch to the more highbrow, like the Victoria’s Secret Angels.”

The move, she feels, reflects the way modern men are avoiding classic pornography. “It’s much more arousing if they have nice bathing suits and lingerie.”

Pornography, once scarce, is now almost ubiquitous, thanks to the internet and smartphones. “Now, everyone has their own computer, boys and girls,” says Liekens.

Porn as sex ed She notes that she is not against pornography per se. In the right context, she says, it can stimulate sex lives, especially if couples watch it together. The problem starts when it creates misconceptions. If men are only seeing very skinny women, “and you keep on using the same pictures to get aroused, you will have real problems if the women in your life are not very thin,” she says.

This is a theme that runs through Sex in Class, the programme that recently ran on Channel 4 in the UK. It followed Liekens as she visited Hollins Technology College, in Accrington, Lancashire, to teach a sex education course to 15- and 16-year-old students.

Liekens is seen asking the children frank questions about their sex lives and their relationships. The influence of pornography was clear, with the teenagers describing unreal scenarios that could only have come from hard-core movies.

“My problem with porn that it’s used by teenagers for information about what sex is about,” Liekens says. “In my programme, all the boys say that the most common way to have sex is that in the end, you come in the girl’s face. I don’t need a lot of research to know where that comes from.”

Pornography, she continues, has filled a gap because sex education is so lacking in Britain, which trails its neighbours. There are other consequences: sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies in the UK are among the highest in western Europe. By contrast, countries like Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium, with liberal and open attitudes towards the subject, have some of the world’s lowest teenage pregnancy rates.

“It’s not that I’m panicking, that young people are ‘monkey see, monkey do’. But the danger is that if we don’t give them a counterbalance, that’s their only information,” Liekens says. “And the girls are just sitting there; they don’t have a voice; they’re not empowered because they have no clue themselves. They will think, ‘These boys, they will know how it’s supposed to be…’ Now, more than ever, we need to provide very good sex education.”

In Sex in Class, Liekens makes some canny suggestions. After the boys say they prefer

© Courtesy Channel 4

Goedele Liekens offered a new take on sex education to English teenagers in her Channel 4 show Sex in Class

girls without pubic hair, she gives them a razor and shaving foam: They are instructed to go home and find out what shaving really means, including the inevitable rash.

“These are not bad boys who want to be perverts,” Liekens says. “On the contrary, they want to be the perfect boyfriend; they want to have a loving relationship. So they think, ‘I’ve looked it up, I know how it works’.”

The broader issue, Liekens argues, is about the damage to personal development. Soci-

people will have sex earlier.

“There is some very good research from Unesco showing that this is not true,” Liekens states. “On the contrary: the more explicit and solid sex education they get, the later they will have sex. They will have fewer partners, and they are less likely to experience harassment or rape.”

Liekens has an unlikely background as a sex education champion. Born in Aarschot, Flemish Brabant, in 1963, she shot to fame

It’s something we all agree is important; it’s a huge part of our lives. What are we so scared of? ety is expected to teach children everything: to be healthy, eat well, be polite … but sex education is strangely lacking in Britain. “It’s something we all agree is important,” she says. “It’s a huge part of our lives. What are we so scared of?”

That also means teaching children, she insists, “about attraction and falling in love.

And boundaries. Touching. If you don’t want to be touched, how do you say it in a nice way?”

Liekens says successful sex education needs three pillars of support: the schools, the parents and the media. It is that last element, she says, that helps counter the misconceptions. The biggest misconception, she says, is that if you teach sex education early, young

when she became Miss Belgium in 1986. It was almost by accident: She was in her final year of a clinical psychology degree when a friend sent a picture of her as a bridesmaid to the contest organisers. A few days later, Liekens received a letter embossed with a golden crown inviting her to take part.

She won, and then took part in the Miss World contest at London’s Royal Albert Hall, meeting future actress Halle Berry. She later became friends with Miss Denmark, future supermodel Helena Christensen, at the Miss Universe pageant in Panama. It was there that she made headlines by refusing to shake hands with the country’s military dictator, General Manuel Noriega.

“I’m the middle of five girls,” she says. “An

ordinary Catholic family, a small village with one priest and a cafe. No way could I ever have done this job if I had not been Miss Belgium.”

But it was her studies that showed where her career lay. “Working with prisoners as a psychologist, I realised how important sex is as a driver for us in life – for good or for bad.

It’s the reason you study, why you get angry, why you go for a run.”

She has written many best-sellers, including 69 Questions About Sex, and made a series of self-help therapy films. And she did TV talk shows for 20 years, often closely copied on Oprah Winfrey’s model. She still has a private practice specialised in relationship therapy.

“Many people think this is about buying handcuffs or doing it in public places, but that’s not it at all. In fact, people who do that are more likely to end up in therapy! You have to find ways to stimulate both the body and the mind.”

Liekens’ celebrity led to her being named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund 15 years ago. She has made a number of documentaries on key related issues: fistula in Nigeria, HIV/Aids in Botswana, refugees in Afghanistan and, most recently, female genital mutilation in Ethiopia.

As for her own sexual fantasies, Liekens is coy. However, she does point to a favourite movie scene, from 1985 Japanese film Tampopo. Tellingly, there is no intercourse.

“It’s where they pass egg yolk from mouth to mouth without letting it break,” she says. “It is so sensual.”

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Air Jetairfly The Brussels-based charter airline is launching services to Rome, Nice, Burgas and Varna, Bulgaria, from Ostend Airport. The company will also connect Antwerp Airport with Ibiza and Split, Croatia, next spring, while additional longhaul flights will connect Brussels Airport with the Dominican Republic and Cancun in Mexico. Some 100 extra staff will be hired as a result.

Banking Belfius The state-owned financial institution is selling its Luxembourg-based affiliate International Wealth Insurer to the Valor group, headquartered in Lichtenstein. Meanwhile, two investment banks have valued Belfius at up to €7.2 billion in the case of a decision by the government to privatise the institution.

Banking BinckBank The Dutch internet bank is threatening to close its local affiliate if the so-called speculation tax to make capital gains inside a six-month period taxable is approved.

Brewing AB InBev The Leuven-based beer group is investing €25 million in its Luxembourg affiliate MouselDiekirch to build a new brewery.

Catering Peter Goossens The Flemish chef, owner of the world-renowned Hof Van Cleve restaurant in East Flanders, is to oversee the menus of passengers flying with Brussels Airlines to Africa and the US.

Energy Nobelwinds The fourth windfarm off the coast of Zeebrugge has secured €655 million in funding and is expected to be operational by late 2017 to supply up to one million households with electricity. Nobelwinds, partly owned by the Colruyt family, will have 150 wind turbines.

Metals Nyrstar The Brussels-based metals mining and smelting group has lost almost 50% of its worth on the stock market following the management’s announcement of a capital increase of €150 million to refinance its debt. The group is suffering from the depressed price of zinc and has decided to close some of its mines.

\6

WeWatt increases capital

Leuven-based maker of cycle desks to sell software technology Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he Leuven-based start-up WeWatt, which develops desks with cycle pedals so users can produce their own energy, has raised €200,000 in venture capital from investors in Germany and Flanders, the company said.

WeWatt, an initiative of former Flemish minister Patricia Ceysens and entrepreneur Katarina Verhaegen, was represented in Canada last week at an economic mission.

The company is known for its pedal desks installed in public places, such as Brussels South Station and Brussels Airport. Users can pedal to produce enough electricity to charge their digital devices. The furniture is also installed in Schiphol and Calgary airports and in Paris’ North Station.

Ceysens was minister for science and innovation from 2007 to 2009 and continues to serve

Mail deliveries resume as court orders postal staff back to work Postal deliveries returned to normal last week, after a week in which unions picketed sorting centres, preventing mail from going out. Earlier in the week, a court issued a ruling ordering unions to lift their pickets at centres in Brussels, Charleroi and Liège.

“That means that people in the sorting centres can get back to work, and we can deliver letters and packages everywhere in Belgium,” said Bpost spokesperson Barbara Van Speybroeck. Unions are protesting at the disappearance of a wage premium for Saturday work and new rules that make hours and postal routes more flexible.

The court order came as a result of a unilateral petition by Bpost for a ruling, a controversial measure that allows the court to make an order against a third party without the third party having to be heard. The Brussels X sorting centre was the first to see the picket lifted, when a bailiff arrived to inform unions of the court’s decision. “It all took place very peacefully,” Van Speybroeck said. “There were no incidents.” \ AH

© Courtesy maligne-intercites.com

WeWatt pedal chargers at Paris’ North Station

as a member of the Flemish parliament for Open VLD. “Our products are being picked up in other countries,” she told Trends magazine.

“Right now there are about 300 WeWatts in 20

countries.”

Earlier in the year, the company increased its capital and also raised its first package of capital from outside investors, two of whom also joined the WeWatt board. “We opted for business angels because we want to attract financial resources but also the experience and advice these people can offer,” Ceysens said. “It’s a matter of smart money.”

WeWatt made €300,000 in sales in 2014 but has no employees. Ceysens and Verhaegen have decided to concentrate on the B2B market. “We have a European patent and intend to sell our technology to companies that want to install it in their own furniture,” Ceysens explained.

“That would be a solid model for bringing a wide variety of designs to the market using our technology.”

Ethiopian Airline leaves Brussels Airport with loss of “hundreds of jobs” Ethiopian Airlines is moving its cargo operations out of Brussels Airport to Maastricht in the Netherlands because of a continuing dispute between the airports at Brussels and Liège, the company said. The decision, which took effect on 1 November, will lead to the loss of “hundreds of jobs,” according to airport CEO Arnaud Feist.

Federal mobility minister Jacqueline Galant announced two months ago that she would recommend not renewing the traffic rights of Ethiopian because the company, which flies for courier company DHL out of Zaventem, was damaging the business of competitor TNT, which flies out of Liège. Ethiopian chose not to await the results of talks to be held this month, electing to make a pre-emptive move.

The company will operate nine flights a week out of Maastricht, four more than it operated out of Zaventem. “Brussels has lost hundreds of jobs, while Liège gains nothing,” Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts said. “It’s incomprehensible how people can throw such a spanner in the works of the economic growth of Brussels.

When it suits them, they embrace the airport as Bruxelles-National. The rest of the time it’s Zaventem, the Flemish airport. The hypocrisy

has to stop.”

Meanwhile a group of residents of the Flemish periphery of Brussels, who suffer most from noise nuisance from the airport, have defended the continued existence of night flights. “A ban on night flights is not realistic in a 24-hour economy,” said Bart Loones-Franck, who has lived in Berg for 22 years and who has organised a group of sympathisers. “Zaventem is good for more than 40,000 jobs directly and indirectly. That’s more than Liège and Charleroi combined. And these are mainly jobs for low-skilled people – something you never hear mentioned by the groups protesting noise from the airport.”

Last month, the mayors from all 19 of Brussels communes unanimously agreed to a resolution calling for a ban on night flights between 22.00 and 7.00. The motion called for a better spread of cargo and low-cost activities over the regional airports.

The resolution was not supported by the mayors’ colleagues in the periphery. “Scrapping night flights would mean the loss of cargo airport Brucargo, with consequences for employment,” said Machelen mayor JeanPierre De Groef. \ AH

Flemish companies “leave succession too late,” say researchers Many family businesses put off considering how the running of the company is going to pass from the present generation to the next, according to research carried out

by Hasselt University and Antwerp Management School for the Flemish labour ministry.

The government’s Enterprise Agency advises businesses to have a plan in place a minimum of five years before the succession is due to happen. But more than 54% of companies had no plan at the five-year stage, and 17% still had none when the succession was only two years away.

Among the reasons given to researchers were the high cost of taking over a business and the cost of buying out other family members.

Six out of 10 business leaders said advice from experts was useful, but

© Ingimage

the same number also admitted they had consulted too few sources of information on how to go about preparing a succession plan.

One common problem, according to the research, is an unrealistic asking price. Companies should bring in an

external consultant on the company’s worth at an earlier stage of its life-cycle. Sometimes a succession within the family is not possible, said researchers, but in 71% of cases where an outside sale was sought, buyers could not be found. The ques-

tion of bringing together sellers and buyers is a constant problem, the researchers said.

“Any business that has been created with blood, sweat and a penchant for enterprise deserves a decent succession,” said Flemish minister of work, Philippe Muyters said, launching his department’s Week of Business Succession. “This study shows once again that there is still a lot to be done in Flanders on the matter. We want entrepreneurs to take time to consider their succession or the takeover of their companies.”

Muyters has asked for proposals from organisations and stakeholders, he said, “on how best to make business owners aware of the issue, in the hope of having concrete initiatives to present next spring.” \ AH

\ INNOVATION

november 4, 2015

Patients in limbo

week in innovation

Doctors say asylum seekers seldom qualify for medical regularisation

The University of Leuven (KU Leuven) has begun its first three Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). People from anywhere in the world can follow the online courses in English in three subjects: the link between the First World War and modern philosophy, the European Union’s human rights policy and trends in e-psychology. About 15,000 people are currently registered. Their progress is evaluated through questionnaires, discussion forums and peer assessment.

KU Leuven also provides two Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs), which are meant for a more specific target group and require approval.

Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

Under article 9 of the law on foreigners, asylum seekers with a serious medical condition can apply for an extended stay in this country to receive treatment.

But according to a group of concerned doctors, lawyers and social workers, such requests are usually rejected

I

n 2009, a 33-year-old Grace from Tanzania (not her real name) arrived in Brussels. For two years, she had known that she was HIV positive; she contracted the virus after she was sexually abused in her 20s.

In Tanzania, Grace had been given antiretroviral drugs, but because the treatment wasn’t adapted to her particular medical and physical condition, the treatment was ineffective. As a result, she picked up lung tuberculosis.

With the help of a Belgian who lived in Tanzania, Grace made it to Brussels. Doctors here discovered that the HIV virus in her body had become resistant to the medication she had been taking, so they decided to give her different antiretroviral medication as well as stronger Aids drugs. The treatment worked.

In the meantime, Grace had applied for and received a negative response to her request for asylum. In 2013, she submitted a request for a prolonged stay for medical reasons, which was also declined.

A doctor from Brussels’ Immigration Office argued that Grace could also receive the treatment that had proven successful in her home country, so there was no reason she should qualify for what’s known as “medical regularisation”.

Afraid that she would be sent back to Tanzania where she wouldn’t be able to obtain the right medication, Grace went underground and hid for four months in an African church. Luckily, the local clinic that initially treated her was able to track her down to provide her with drug samples.

Grace continues to live in Belgium today, without documentation and well aware that she can be arrested and sent back to Tanzania any time.

For Ilse Kint, a doctor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Grace’s story is an example of the Immigration’s Office decision-making process.

“Unfortunately for Grace, the Immigration Office didn’t perform an individual investigation into the availability and accessibility of her treatment in Tanzania,” she says. “Otherwise, it would have discovered that this particular type of third-line therapy, which

KU Leuven launches free online courses

“Breast reconstructions should be fully refunded”

© Sander de Wilde / Corbis

Grace really needs to keep her Aids under control, isn’t available there. Also, the fact that Grace was ostracised by her family because she had Aids wasn’t taken into account.”

Dr Kint is one of the authors of a position paper that questions the application of the article in Belgian law on foreigners that allows asylum seekers to apply for a residence permit for medical reasons.

Together with other colleagues, immigration lawyers and social workers, Kint criticises the fact that a large majority of article 9 applicants are sent back to their country of origin, where they have

has access to Aids drugs in a country, you had better make sure you belong to that 10%.’ You can imagine how difficult that is for seropositive gays in Africa. The Office just doesn’t take social accessibility into consideration.”

The concerns that have arisen over application of article 9 appear to also be a consequence of staff shortages at the Immigration Office. “They only have one doctor who judges applicants’ medical conditions. Of course, no doctor can know all the peculiarities of every disease and treatment,” says Kint.

Mental problems, she continues,

If nothing changes, they might as well just scrap the article no access to the medical treatment they need.

The list of the experts’ grievances is long: a too-strict interpretation of the disease, superficial analyses of the applicants’ situation and no possibilities for recourse. Kint, who specialises in treating HIV and Aids, knows of refugees who were able to completely recover in Belgium thanks to third-line treatment, only to be sent back to their countries with no certainty about their medical future.

“I know of a man from Chechnya who had recovered very well during his six-month stay here.

But the Immigration Office argued that because the Aids drugs and the medical assistance he needed were available in Moscow, he had no right to an orange card,”she says, referring to the medical regularisation slip. “What that means is: ‘If only 10% of the population

also play a role in the applicants’ overall health. “They’ve often suffered a lot before they arrived in Belgium, but the Immigration Office cannot take these conditions into consideration under the current practical application of article 9. If nothing changes, they might as well just scrap the article.”

In the position paper, Céline Verbrouck of the Belgian Human Rights League argues that the Immigration Office is not basing its decisions on medical need. “Some decisions are, for the most part, based on legal rather than medical grounds,” she writes, “and it very much looks like they are written without consultation with the applicant.”

According to Geert De Vulder of the Immigration Office, the position paper is “teeming with unsupported accusations, half-truths and other tall tales. The medi-

cal evaluation is done by a doctor who consults his colleagues regularly, and these colleagues aren’t civil servants. Moreover, it’s not the doctor who decides, but the competent official. And yes, he takes into account all the elements in the applicants’ dossier, so also the non-medical elements as well.”

De Vulder also stresses that the Immigration Office doesn’t have an automatic procedure to assess the availability and accessibility of a specific treatment in a particular country. “If this information were to determine the decision, without consideration of the individual situation of the applicant, it would immediately be revoked by the appeals office.”

Finally, De Vulder says that applicants do receive explanations if their requests are denied. “Every decision and every medical advice mentions the sources on which that decision or advice is supported.

That’s a legal obligation,” he says.

Data from the Immigration Office show that the number of article 9 applications has greatly decreased in recent years. In 2011, nearly 40,000 people applied, which resulted in almost 10,000 of the applicants receiving a positive response. In 2014, there were fewer than 20,000 applicants, with 1,500 people receiving the permit.

“So we’re handing out much fewer orange cards these days,” says De Vulder “simply because of a sharp decrease in the number of applicants”.

Dr Kint says she’s used to getting this kind of response from the Immigration Office. “In 2014, we met with them to talk about some specific cases,” but, she claims, they weren’t taken seriously.

The federal ombudsman, in the meantime, is looking into the situation.

Breast reconstruction following cancer treatment or a preventative removal should be fully refunded, according to Flemish radio host Ann Reymen of MNM in an open letter to federal health minister Maggie De Block. Reymen had her breasts removed because she has the hereditary breast cancer gene, which carries a 45 to 90% chance of getting breast cancer. She had her breasts reconstructed using her own tissue, which costs €2,000 to €4,000 per breast. Not all mutualities reimburse the cost. A surgery with breast implants, however, is always fully refunded. De Block pointed out that the cost variables are due to some surgeons charging premiums on top of hospital charges.

Federal medical insurance agency Riziv is currently negotiating with surgeons to limit the costs.

Simultaneous PET and MR images at KU Leuven At the University Hospital Leuven, doctors can now use a scanner that carries out MR and PET scans simultaneously. It’s the first such medical device in Belgium. Doctors will use the “superscanner” to diagnose and follow up cancer patients and carry out studies on the formation and consequences of brain disorders, tumours and heart defects.

MR scans are ideal to record images of soft tissues; PET scans are more suitable to visualise chemical or molecular activity. The combination of the technique should result in a faster and more accurate diagnosis. The scanner in Leuven is the fifth of its kind in Europe. Doctors and researchers from across Flanders will have access to the device. \ Andy Furniere

\7

Your dailY news

Sign up now for our daily and weekly newsletters with local headlines, events and features, tailor-made for expats in Belgium Subscribe for free at www.thebulletin.be

\ EDUCATION

november 4, 2015

Southern comfort

week in education

Young workers around Flanders bridge North-South divide for Zuiddag Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

ZUIDDAG.BE

I

t’s a Thursday morning in the port of Ghent. Outside, it’s grey and rainy; inside, John Deconinck, the Port Commander Office co-ordinator, says a few words about his work to students from one of the many secondary schools in Ghent who are about to contribute a day’s work.

On the programme: delivering water by boat and maintenance on the fire department’s ship. In exchange for their hard work, the students will be paid a salary that goes to Zuiddag.

Now in its 10th edition, Zuiddag enlists willing young workers to support people in the southern hemisphere. Recently, some 15,000 young people exchanged a day in the classroom for the workplace, with the wages they received going to a project supporting young cocoa farmers in Nicaragua.

Elias Laaroussi, 16, is in his fourth year at the Atheneum in Gentbrugge, and all his classmates are working somewhere in Ghent today. “At first, not everyone was equally enthusiastic about the idea,” he says. “Work is work, right? But when some other students from Nicaragua explained what Zuiddag means, everybody joined in.”

And why did he choose to spend a day working as a sailor? “It seemed exciting,” he says.

That’s also the case for Joys Joos, 17, who’s in her fifth year. “As long as I don’t end up in the water today, everything is good for me.”

For Deconinck, Zuiddag is a great opportunity to give young people a taste of what work on the water means. “Being a sailor is not exactly an every-day profession,” he says. “Many young people have no idea what happens here, and my colleagues are very enthusiastic about talking about their work.”

Judith Massiel Saenz and Joheyring Agvinaga Avaz are also

© Toon Lambrechts

Left to right: Joheyring Agvinaga Avaz, Joys Joos, Elias Laaroussi and Judith Massiel Saenz

impressed. This is the first time either of them have visited a port.

They both come from Nicaragua, and they came to Belgium two weeks ago to talk about their families’ lives as cocoa farmers.

“At the moment I’ve had to stop studying for financial reasons,” says Saenz, 21. “I help at home and on the farm.” Joheyring, 14, has a similar story. “I’m still in high school, but I only go to class on Saturdays. The rest of my time is divided between the household and the farm.”

Both are excited about Zuiddag. “Maybe it’s not so obvious to youngsters here, but this helps us a lot,” says Saenz. “And it’s fantastic to be here.” Along with other young people from Nicaragua, the pair visited several schools to get young Flemish people excited about Zuiddag and in the workplaces where they could spend their day.

Deconinck, meanwhile, is taking

Joys and Elias aboard the ship Jacob van Artevelde, where they will first hoist the flag. The captain looks among his stock of flags, and, sure enough, a moment later the boat is adorned with the blue-and-white flag of Nicaragua, alongside that of Ghent.

This year, Zuiddag is working with La Campesina, a cocoa co-operative in the Matiguás region of Nicaragua that seeks to give young people a future in farming, says Jolien Roelandts, campaign officer at Zuiddag.

“Each year, we start with a specific theme, and from there we look for potential organisations to work with. This year the theme was the world’s food problems,” she says.

“Eventually, we chose La Campesina as our partner in the south, but we’re exploring the issue more broadly. For example, we also offer a curriculum for participating schools about the cocoa trade and the problems concern-

Kristof De Weerdt teaches Flemish Sign Language at the University of Leuven’s campus in Antwerp. Outside of class, he publishes video e-books for deaf children that feature signing in front of the pictures

How has the response been?

A mother of two girls, aged five and

The Free University of Brussels (VUB) was launched on the Brussels stock exchange last Friday. The university has issued bonds and raised about €61 million. A bond is a debt investment in which an investor loans money to an entity, which borrows the funds at an interest rate for a defined period. VUB is the first university in Europe to carry out such an initiative. The institution will use the money to fund infrastructure projects, including more student rooms and a culture centre. Candidateinvestors have to put minimum €250,000 on the table.

The bonds cannot be bought by citizens, only by institutional investors.

Reception classes for pre-school approved

ing food and food production.”

The principle behind Zuiddag is simple, but it’s so much more than working for one day, says Roelandts.

“The people who participate in Zuiddag are showing their commitment,” she says. “At the same time they get the chance to have a taste of what work means.

You can be anything for a day. I find it a beautiful idea because it’s also partly about the development of personal talent.”

Zuiddag also contradicts the cliché that young people today are no longer engaged in society.

“The image of a generation that is only interested in Facebook is wrong,” says Roelandts. “We get as many as 15,000 young people working on Zuiddag. It’s about active citizenship. Learning what problems there are in the world and how you can help work out a solution: that’s what Zuiddag is all about.”

Q&A What inspired you to begin publishing e-books?

I have two hearing children who I read to when they were young. It was difficult because, while hearing parents can put their hearing children on their lap so they can see the pictures, deaf parents such as myself can’t do this because the child needs to see the sign language their parents are producing as well as the pictures.

VUB launched on the stock market

eight, one hearing, one deaf, recently sent me a video message saying that she was watching her two daughters reading my book together on their iPad. Parents tell me their children are impatiently waiting for the next book.

Hearing children also appreciate the books, as they are narrated in Dutch. I went to my son’s school to present my book to a class of 30 hearing children, and they all loved it. All of this motivates me to continue writing.

Are there more projects in the pipeline?

We recently held a storytell-

ing competition in Flemish Sign Language, and we’d like to organise that annually and perhaps include another competition in the festivities programme for the 10-year anniversary of the recognition of Flemish Sign Language.

I also have a new book that will be published in March, about a flower that’s too small to see the world because the grass around her is too high. I have lots of other ideas for books, but the problem is time. My colleagues, Geert Dirickx and Jan Verhoeven, and I invest a lot of our free time in these books; we don’t get paid to create them.

The Flemish parliament has approved a decree through which schools with a growing number of non-Dutch speaking children will receive extra support. The government has allocated €3 million for the initiative. The number of asylum-seekers currently entering Belgium has created a much higher demand for reception classes for nonDutch speaking pupils, known as the Okan programme.

These special classes introduce primary and secondary school students to the Dutch language and education system before mainstreaming them into regular classes. The decree extends Okan classes to pre-school age children. Schools will receive €950 extra for each additional non-Dutch speaking child who enters pre-school by 1 February.

The scheme will be followed up and evaluated at the end of the school year.

Parent group contributes to education reform Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits is involving parents in the planning of the reform of secondary education.

A working group of 24 parents from different backgrounds will come together to discuss the main issues involved in the reform. The parents are discussing what kind of knowledge, skills and attitudes students should possess by graduation and how to ensure that those going on to higher education make the right choice of study discipline. The parents have received extensive information on the main ideas of reform, so they can effectively deliberate. If necessary, education experts can be invited to join them to share their insights.

The reform of secondary education will be carried out in 2018. \ Andy Furniere

\ interview by Samantha Clark

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Canadian Walking Weekend Two days of organised hikes held in commemoration of the liberation of Knokke-Heist at the end of the Second World War. Saturday is the Monument Tour, with a focus on war memorials, and Sunday is the 42nd annual Canadian Liberation Tour between Hoofdplat and Knokke. 7-8 November, Alfred Verweeplein, Knokke, €2-€9 \ wnzb.be

Sint-Martin’s Parade Every year, the city of Genk celebrates its patron saint with a torchlight procession, followed by fire performers, a giant bonfire and fireworks. 7 November, starting at 18.00, Stadsplein 1, Genk, free \ visitgenk.be

Sint-Hubert Festival A hunt, horse and dogthemed festival in honour of the patron saint of hunters. Dune rides for horses and riders, a guided 5km hike for walkers, traditional hunting with horses and hounds, carriage and wagon rides and more. 8 November, 9.00-18.00, across Neerglabbeek (Limburg), free \ meeuwen-gruitrode.be

Belgian Beer Weekend Annual indoor beer festival, featuring over 120 new, unknown and/or hard-to-find Belgian beers.

Purchase a starter’s packet with a commemorative glass, beer guide booklet and drink tokens. 6-8 November, CC Hasselt, Kunstlaan 5, free \ limburgse-biervrienden.be

Ay Ramon! movie Ay Ramon! is the first Flemish Sinterklaas film (they’re usually Dutch) and tells the story of his Spanish helper Ramon, who is taken prisoner along with the Sint’s white horse. Sinterklaas and his friends – including a Zwarte Piet portrayed without blackface – must come to the rescue! In cinemas across Flanders \ paradisofilms.be

Party at BELvue To mark the closing of its permanent collection for renovation work until next summer, the Brussels museum hosts a festival weekend, with live music in the galleries, a fire sale in the museum shop and a free gift for everyone. 7-8 November, Paleizenplein 7, Brussels, free \ belvue.be

\ 10

La dolce vita

Flemish journalist goes back to basics, in life and business Rebecca Benoot More articles by Rebecca \ flanderstoday.eu

thomaseglialtri.com

W

hen his wife stumbled upon her dream house in Italy, Flemish journalist Thomas Siffer initially commuted between their Ghent home and Puglia and, psychologically, between the fast-paced world of media and the laid-back Italian lifestyle.

But after two years, the family took the plunge and moved there permanently. Siffer, who was once editor-in-chief of magazines Menzo and Story, was no stranger to such big adventures.

With his wife and their young daughter, he undertook a three-year sailboat trip around the world in the early 2000s.

In Italy, he quickly found a new project on which to focus his energy. Together with a friend, he created Thomas & gli altri (Thomas and the Others), a small business that specialises in organic and fair trade extra virgin olive oil.

“Puglia is a region with nothing but ancient olive trees, thousands of them,” explains Siffer (pictured). “I also had a few in my garden, and our first harvest was so marvellous that I decided to help a friend and fellow grower.

When I found out how little he was getting for his olives at wholesale price, I was shocked.”

Siffer then suggested making olive oil out of his produce and selling it to his friends back in Belgium. “So I had two reasons to start this project: to help my friend get an honest price for his olives and to let my friends and family finally find out what real olive oil tastes like. Because when I first tasted pure organic extra virgin olive oil, I was blown away.”

With Thomas & gli altri, Siffer goes back to the traditional way of making olive oil. That means that he harvests the youngest and tastiest olives, uses no pesticides or additives, doesn’t over-tend his grove and lets nature decide how bountiful the harvest will be.

He has, moreover, surrounded himself with a team of dedicated growers who also want to bypass the food industry and sell directly to consumers. The olive oil is available exclusively through his website and currently only ships to Belgium.

Over the past few years, Siffer explains, he gradually realised that the food industry is fooling consumers; it is impossible, he says, to

No crap: Thomas Siffer’s organic, fair trade olive oil only ships to Belgium

produce organic extra virgin olive oil at supermarket prices. “I started doing some research and discovered that they mix it with all sorts of crap, like palm oil or expired Greek olive oil.

They simply use chemicals to change the taste.

So there’s a lot of fraud when it comes to cheap olive oil.”

He’s convinced now, more than ever, he says, “that we have to support small and local producers if we want to be sure of the quality of the product and help them get fair prices for their hard work.”

Siffer describes it as a vicious circle. Because consumers prefer cheap products, farmers get less money for their produce, which in turn makes it more likely they will use additives and

pesticides to keep costs down. “You get what you pay for, so if people are willing to spend that little extra, they’ll get better food,” he says.

“When it comes to production, I saw that the farmers in this region were forced to cut costs and use pesticides the past few years to make sure they had a reasonable crop to sell.”

At €87.50 for a five-litre can, Siffer’s premium quality olive oil is indeed not cheap. But according to Siffer, it’s the real deal. “We do everything ourselves. We pick the olives, press them, package the oil, and that’s it – pure craftsmanship. I also do the distribution and logistics.”

He even designed the company’s logo, while his wife labels the cans. Talk about a family business.

BITE From medieval to modern, the long journey of a wondrous grain spelt.be

From the outside, Speltboetiek in Antwerp’s Berchem neighbourhood looks like any other health food store. But step inside, and you will meet a very remarkable woman – Saint Hildegard van Bingen.

A 12th-century German abbess, Hildegard is best known today for her liturgical music. But she also had a scientific interest in diet. In one of her books, Hildegard lists the holistic health benefits of a huge variety of foods.

According to St Hildegard, the key to good health is spelt, a grain that shares many properties with wheat but is higher in fibre and lower in gluten.

She described it as a “wonder grain” and recommended spelt as the basis of a good diet.

When Cristel De Meulder, an Antwerp-based classical soprano, became seriously ill in the early 1990s, she came across Hildegard’s writings.

Determined to recover, De Meulder decided to focus her diet around spelt.

With few suppliers in Belgium, she sourced the grain from Germany and soon began supplying

grown significantly as doctors have recommended we eat less gluten and more fibre. Spelt can be used whole like rice, or ground into flour.

It is also easy to digest due to its relatively weak gluten and retains many fatty acids, which are good for a healthy nervous system.

Your turn

friends. That small-scale operation has grown into the Speltboetiek that is today run by De Meulder’s son, Stefaan Mattys.

Speltboetiek stocks more than just spelt, though.

In fact, all the products on sale are derived from fruits and vegetables recommended by St Hildegard. That means chestnuts, quinces and mulberries, as well as a huge variety of spelt pasta and baked goods.

Over the past few years, demand for spelt has

To get the best out of spelt, Mattys recommends this easy bread recipe: Make a “sponge” by mixing 500g of spelt flour, 4 dl cool water, a teaspoon of honey and 5g of dry yeast together to form a firm dough. Leave for 12 hours to rise.

Place 500g of spelt flour, 20g of salt, and 200g of warm water in a bowl. Add the fermented sponge and knead slowly until a soft dough forms. Rest until the dough doubles in size (about 90 minutes).

Divide the dough in two and place each half into a bread tin. Let it double in size again (about 45 minutes) and bake at 200°C ( fan) for about 25 minutes. \ Dan Smith

november 4, 2015

A belated thank-you

Ghent revisits Dutch chapter in city’s history with year-long celebration Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

stad.gent/gent-kleurt-oranje

F

landers and the Netherlands share the same language, but for many people they otherwise have little else in common. At first sight, at least.

Flanders and the Netherlands in fact share a long, complex history, and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands account for an important, if short-lived, chapter in that history. The Flemish-Dutch affair began in 1815, leading to a year full of political drama.

Napoleon was close to being defeated at the time, and the European political powers that be redrew the entire geopolitical map at a congress in Vienna. Among the attendees was William I, the new king of the Netherlands.

And he was keen on the southern provinces, which is now present-day Belgium.

Britain backed the Dutch king’s idea as it believed that such a large kingdom would serve as a strong buffer between France and then Prussia. But before the parties were able to reach an agreement, Napoleon made a surprise comeback and began his improbable march that would end in his defeat at Waterloo that same year.

Napoleon’s defeat made King William’s reign over Belgium and Luxemburg official.

But the residents of the southern provinces were not happy under Dutch reign.

The cultural differences between the Catholic south and Protestant north were huge, while language issues bred tensions, as did the perception that King William’s economic policies favoured the northern provinces.

In August of 1830, the opera La muette de Portici was staged at a theatre in Brussels.

The nationalist Italian opera touched off a nerve, so much so that riots broke out. King William’s response was clumsy, and the riots soon turned into a full-on revolt.

When France threatened to intervene, Britain forced the Dutch king to reach a compromise with the rebellious provinces. With that, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was dead and gone after just 15 years, and Belgium was born. It would take until 1848 to settle the dispute over the Limburg province at both countries’ borders.

Still, the City of Ghent has reason to be fond of King William’s short reign. The Dutch monarch founded Ghent University and ordered the construction of a canal between

© Michiel Hendryckx

A new statue of King William, waiting to be bronzed, part of a series of photos by Michiel Hendryckx featured in The Lost Kingdom exhibition

Ghent and Terneuzen. Without these achievements, Ghent would never have become what it is today, a city that occupies an important place in the region’s higher education and economic landscape.

If you ask the city, it’s high time for a rehabilitation of King William, who has traditionally been seen mostly as an oppressor. The city is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands with Gent kleurt oranje (Ghent Goes Orange), a year-long programme of exhibitions, theatre and musical performances across the city. Orange, of course, was (and still is) the colour of the Dutch royal family.

For visitors who want to experience the tangible legacy of King William, Ghent devised a trail along a number of well-known and more obscure monuments, all linked to the House

of Orange chapter in the city’s history. Among the stops are the remains of the military fortress at Citadelpark, constructed at the command of the king, together with a number of university buildings, as well as a Protestant church the king had built at Brabantdam.

But at the heart of the cultural commemoration are two exhibitions that have just opened and will run until the spring of 2016. For those looking to learn more about the reign of King William I and why things never worked out between the Dutch and us, The Lost Kingdom at the STAM city museum is a must.

The exhibition includes a number of historical pieces on loan from the Netherlands, and it paints a balanced picture of the 15 years under Dutch rule. The exhibition also includes a series by Flemish photographer Michiel Hendryckx that explores traces left

behind in the local landscape by the Dutch.

Meanwhile, Design Museum Ghent spotlights the contradictions between the Netherlands and Belgium. In the exhibition Design Derby BE / NL, the museum focuses on 200 years of design in Belgium and the Netherlands and explores such tensions as ornate Belgian art deco vs Dutch sleekness, Belgian craftsmanship vs Dutch conceptual design and surrealism vs soberness.

Overall, the programme of the commemoration year makes two things loud and clear: Ghent owes much more to King William than is typically acknowledged, and we have more in common with the Dutch than we might like to admit.

Time to get to know our northern neighbours a little better. And you can start right here in Ghent.

50 weekends in Flanders: Hip coffee bars in Antwerp Flanders Today has launched an e-book with ideas for how to spend a year’s worth of weekends. Visit our website to get your free copy of 50 Weekends in Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestions every week here, too.

The port of Antwerp handles more coffee than anywhere else in the world, with 250,000 tonnes of beans stacked in warehouses to be shipped across Europe. But these days more of it is staying in Antwerp as coffee houses spring up across the city.

CAFFENATION Rob Berghmans changed the coffee culture in Antwerp when he opened

this relaxed urban coffee bar in 2003. He roasts his beans in a big old-style roaster and sells them to coffee shops across town, including Broer Bretel and Coffee & Vinyl.

More than 10 years on, Caffenation is still one of the best spots in town for good coffee. \ caffenation.be

NORMO Here is a friendly espresso bar where art school students rub shoulders with old ladies who drop in with their dogs. The interior is the familiar ramshackle Antwerp mix of brick walls, vintage armchairs and heaps of art magazines. Owner Jens Oris roasts his coffee in the shop using beans from sustaina-

TINYURL.COM/50WEEKENDS

BUCHBAR Kim Hertogs became famous in Flanders for roles in TV crime series such as Code 37. Now she has opened a coffee bar and bookstore decorated in a cool Nordic style. The coffee comes from Normo, but the cakes are homemade.

ble farms. The narrow pavement terrace sometimes catches the sun in the afternoon.

\ normocoffee.be

BROER BRETEL This is a great little coffee bar close to the MAS museum in the Eilandje district. It has two small rooms furnished in 1950s vintage style, with leatherette sofas, old books and an antique radio. Cool jazz plays in the background as the friendly baristas (pictured) create sophisticated coffees using Caffenation beans. \ broerbretel.be

KOLONEL KOFFIE Kobe Van Gaveren opened this friendly coffee bar three years ago

in an old street near the river. He was inspired by the coffee culture of Australia, so the atmosphere is informal, with vintage tables and chairs dotted around. The coffee comes straight from Caffenation’s roasters.

NELLIE’S COFFEEBAR Kees and Natalie run a smart new coffee bar on the windswept Oudevaartplaats. They make slow drip coffee using sophisticated Japanese brewing equipment. It takes a long time to brew, but the coffee is sublime. \ nellies.be

\ kolonelkoffie.be

\ 11

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november 4, 2015

A sign of the times

Flemish new wave band Arbeid Adelt! return after more than two decades Christophe Verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

BEURSSCHOUWBURG.BE

“I

’m a poetry addict, but I hate poetry in song lyrics,” reveals Marcel Vanthilt, the singer in Arbeid Adelt! “People baring their heart or pondering life’s existence: Keep those revelations in your living room. Love is not an interesting subject, unless you tackle it really differently.”

Vanthilt is the lead singer of Arbeid Adelt!, which has a new album out two decades after the last one. “‘50,000 Hi-Hats’ is a love song,” he continues. “I’m singing that my heart is pumping like a drill, and it sounds like 100,000 bass drums and 50,000 hi-hats. I prefer that to ‘I love you, my darling. Listen how my trumpet is blasting for you’.”

“50,000 Hi-Hats” is one of the 11 gems on Slik (Swallow), the awesome comeback album of Arbeid Adelt! (which means “Work Makes You Noble!” Granted, it sounds much better in Dutch).

For the past 20 years, Vanthilt has mainly been known as the host of various Flemish TV shows. If you’re old enough, you might have seen him on MTV Europe, where he was a VJ between 1987 and 1990.

But let’s go back a decade further.

The old continent was struggling with an economic crisis, there were few job prospects for young people, and the Cold War was raging, culminating in the installation of cruise missiles on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

This climate gave way to bleak music called new wave. While the UK had Joy Division, The Cure and Depeche Mode, Flanders fostered some highly interesting new wave bands of its own at the start of the 1980s.

One of them was Arbeid Adelt!

Alongside Vanthilt, it consisted

lives.”

Vanthilt: “We kept playing live afterwards. And indeed, part of the audience were old enough to have seen us 35 years before, but the rest were much younger. That was nice to see.”

It’s a sign of the times, he believes.

“Loads of bands of our generation are active again. New Order have just released a new album, The Human League are on the road again. Maybe it’s because it’s our last chance, because we’re

sive. “At that time, we sounded the way we did because we couldn’t do better: the technology was very limited,” explains Vanthilt. “When we made our first album, we didn’t have samples, electronic rhythms weren’t pre-set. Today, young people really like this rudimentary sound. Now the technology gives you the ability to do everything.”

But everything is too much, they admit. “The trick is leaving things out,” says Vavroelen.

We decided we needed new songs. We didn’t want to get by on the old material

© Kris De Smedt

From left: Luc Van Acker, Jan Vanroelen and Marcel Vanthilt are back on stage as Arbeid Adelt!

of keyboardist Jan Vanroelen and guitarist Luc Van Acker. The Brussels threesome had a short-lived career: one mini- and one fulllength album. Songs like “Lekker westers” (Nicely Western) and “De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen” (The Day the Sun Didn’t Shine Anymore) became instant classics. The combination of simple but efficient electronics, edgy guitars and absurd lyrics hadn’t been heard in Flan-

ders before.

After a few years, they called it a day. The band reunited briefly at the beginning of the 1990s and produced one more album, but after that it seemed their story had been told. Until 2010, when Arbeid Adelt! were asked to perform at the Flemish new wave festival Sinner’s Day. “In front of 10,000 people!” says Vanroelen. “That was the day I realised we were a part of people’s

almost retirement age. And part of our audience is still alive! We also attract younger generations who seem to be extremely openminded.”

The three asked themselves if they wanted to continue playing shows. Since they really enjoyed it, the question was easy enough to answer. “But we also decided that we needed new songs,” Vanthilt explains. “We didn’t want to get by on the old material.” It resulted in Slik, a musical fragmentation bomb with seemingly unlimited power.

While not copying it, the album isn’t that far from how they sounded more than 30 years ago.

It’s mainly just a bit more aggres-

11 November

Exhibition shows how local artists took Pop art to heart Over half a century ago, artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein challenged the dominance of abstract expressionism with bright colours and branded imagery borrowed from postwar America’s thriving consumer culture. Their newly minted Pop art would take the art world by storm.

Now, in 2015, several major retrospective exhibitions are putting the movement into historical perspective. London’s Tate Modern is currently hosting The World Goes Pop, which documents the form’s global reach and political implications. Here in Brussels, Pop Art in Belgium catalogues the local contribution to this quintessentially postmodern style. The ING-sponsored exhibition collects more than 140 pieces by Belgian and international artists.

The Belgians came relatively late to the Pop art game but were enthusiastic converts.

London’s seminal artist collective the Inde-

Evelyne Axell’s “Ice Cream 2”, 1967

pendent Group and a loose-knit gang of New York painters had pioneered Pop in the 1950s, making it an international sensation by the early 1960s. The Belgian connection was made

by American artist George Segal, whose 1963 solo exhibition in Paris became legendary in Brussels. It was there that Belgian collectors and critics fell in love with the genre.

Pop Art in Belgium fittingly opens with one of the pieces that started it all: Segal’s sprawling life-size plaster sculpture “Lovers on a Bench”. The work announces several key points of the Pop programme, above all the return to representational art after decades of mystifying abstraction. Segal’s subjects were recognisable people, not expressionist blobs on canvas.

Another related Pop principle is fidelity to everyday experience. You won’t find epic tableaux in the Pop canon; it rather reflects the mundane realities of life in contemporary Western society. Hence the form’s penchant for pirating consumer culture (a trait that took an almost pathological turn with Pop’s golden child, Warhol).

“The sound of the words I sing matters a lot,” says Vanthilt at one point. “They don’t have to mean anything.” But don’t get him wrong; they sometimes do. In “Mediterranée” (Mediterranean) he tackles the current refugee crisis in a very original way, and “Apparaat” (Appliances) is about our (self-created) dependence on devices and other machines.

Vanroelen: “People personify their machines. When their television is broken, they say: he doesn’t work anymore.”

Van Acker, who arrives at the last moment, chips in: “In the old days you just gave things a smack.

That’s not even possible anymore with the modern sets.”

Beursschouwburg

Auguste Ortsstraat 20, Brussels

tinyurl.com/popartinbelgium

It wasn’t just collectors and critics who picked up the gauntlet dropped by Segal.

Brussels-born artist Marcel Broodthaers was among the Belgians who returned from Paris with a mandate to make Pop art themselves.

Although he had heretofore considered poetry his calling, Broodthaers reinvented himself as a visual artist and earned a reputation as a giant of Belgian Pop art. His work figures prominently in the exhibition.

Pop Art in Belgium reveals the years between 1963 and 1970 as a crucible of creativity, with Belgian artists appropriating the AngloAmerican Pop aesthetic and adapting it to local realities. \ Georgio Valentino

Until 14 February ING Cultural Centre Koningsplein 6, Brussels

\ 13

\ ARTS

week in arts & CULTURE Goddelijke monster to get American remake The TV één 10-part series Het goddelijke monster (The Divine Monster) will get an American remake, according to its local producer, Eyeworks Film & TV Drama. The Flemish TV series, which aired on één in 2011, was based on the trilogy of books by author Tom Lanoye. The epic story follows the rich and politically connected De Schrijver family of Kortrijk, as the main character – plagued by bad luck – accidently shoots her husband on a hunting trip. Fraught with tragedy, the story covers many social issues, including marriages of convenience, closeted gay identities and even a shooting by the infamous Brabant Killers. The American version will see the Vega family play out the parts in Miami.

€1 million in subsidy for Meldert Castle Heritage minister Geert Bourgeoishas announced a grant of €1,046,000 for the restoration of Meldert Castle in Hoegaarden, Flemish Brabant. The neo-Gothic castle dates from 1845 and is home to Sint-Jans College.

The building complex, including the orangerie, was listed as a protected monument in 1993. Part of the park is designated a nature reserve.

Bourgeois also announced a restoration grant of nearly €300,000 for the railway bridge over Koolmijnlaan in Beringen, Limburg. The beam bridge originally linked the mine site with the coal transport area on the canal. After restoration, the bridge will form part of a walking and cycling route.

Pieter Van Hees to direct American film Flemish film director Pieter Van Hees will travel to the US to make a movie about the 19th-century Borden murders, which will star Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don’t Cry, American Horror Story) as the infamous Lizzie Borden. Van Hees is a TV and film director responsible for the thrillers Linkeroever, Dirty Mind and the recent Waste Land. Lizzie Borden is a legendary figure in American history, thought to be responsible for the deaths of her father and stepmother, who were brutally murdered with an axe in their home in the state of Massachusetts in 1892. The movie’s producers are in talks with actor Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame to play the part of the Bordens’ maid.

\ 14

One man, many pianos Bruges says happy birthday to inimitable composer Jos van Immerseel Ian Mundell More articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

animaeterna.be

Jos van Immerseel believes that music should be played on instruments that are appropriate to composer’s time and practice. Over a decades-long career, he has managed to both spread this gospel and surround himself with a community of musicians who share a similar passion for authentic performance.

B

ruges is celebrating the 70th birthday of pianist and conductor Jos van Immerseel, whose Anima Eterna orchestra has been resident at the city’s Concertgebouw since 2003.

But the object of all this attention is not exactly playing along.

“The birthday is a marketing thing; it’s nothing to do with me,” he says. “I feel like a boy of 35!”

And when it comes to the music, he has a similar boyish enthusiasm.

Van Immerseel has built his career on an insistence that music should be played on instruments appropriate to the time and practice of the composer. That goes for early music and the baroque, through the classical and Romantic periods, right up to the composers of the 20th century.

There is no better way to hear why this matters than to visit the place van Immerseel keeps his pianos. “It’s not a collection in the sense of a museum; these are simply my instruments,” he says. “Normally, everything is in perfect working order, and I take them with me for concerts and recordings.”

The instruments – pianos and harpsichords, plus a celeste, a clavichord and a 1958 Hammond organ – are housed in a barn-like building on the outskirts of a village in East Flanders, close to the Dutch border. Only half an hour from Bruges, it’s still quiet and secluded.

“All the instruments are of different types, different models, from different regions and different times,” he goes on. “Most are originals that have been restored, and five are facsimiles.”

The need for this range of instruments becomes apparent when he starts to play. First he sits at a facsimile of an Italian harpsichord from the end of the 17th century and plays a few phrases. “It has fantastic basses, very long, but the treble is not so interesting. It’s a little bit dry.”

“A falsification” Then he moves to a facsimile of a German harpsichord from the beginning of the 18th century, modelled on the kind of instrument that Johann Sebastian Bach played, and repeats the phrases.

“The basses are shorter and not so powerful, while the treble is longer, and more singing.

They are more in balance.”

Music intended for one kind of harpsichord sounds wrong if played on the other. “Every instrument has its good sides and its limits.”

Referring to the French composer, he says: “As Francis Poulenc writes in his journal, a composer can only compose for what he knows.”

The same applies to the piano, as he demonstrates with Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique. First he plays part of it on an instrument from the composer’s period, before crossing the room to sit at a later model. “It’s a marvellous piano, but from about 100 years later. And if I play the same notes, it doesn’t sound good.”

The sound is too heavy, too dense. So he removes some of the notes from the phrase and then plays it in a slightly different manner, and the sound returns to that of the first piano. “If I play Beethoven on this instrument, ultimately,

© Alex Vanhee

Seventy years young: Jos Van Immerseel leads Anima Eterna in a series of special concerts this month

I’m obliged to change the music; otherwise it sounds bad.”

The problem is that many pianists don’t take such variations into account and play the music strictly as it is written. “It’s a falsification,” van Immerseel says. “There is too much respect for the paper, and not enough for the idea.”

Van Immerseel was an early convert to the cause of appropriate instruments, thanks to an education that combined organ and piano studies.

Organs from different periods and regions have significant differences, so that it is often technically impossible to play music composed for one instrument on another.

“In the organ course, all the lessons were full of information on instruments and their styles, but in the piano class there was never one word.

Everything was played on the same instrument,” he recalls. “I was shocked by this contradiction, and I started to visit collections and to look at instruments.”

The more he played, the more he felt the differences between pianos. There was no going back.

He went on to study the harpsichord and began to play with like-minded musicians. “That was the beginning of the idea to make an orchestra specialised in this movement,” he says.

Anima Eterna was established in 1987 as a period orchestra and a laboratory for new approaches to the repertoire. It has no permanent members, but draws on a community of musicians who share van Immerseel’s passion for research and authentic performance.

At first it was difficult to find the right people. “In 1990 we recorded all of Mozart’s piano concertos, and I had one very good bassoon player.

I remember thinking: ‘I hope that my good

bassoon is never ill, because there is nobody else.’ Now, I have a list of 30 bassoon players. The evolution over the past 30 years is enormous.”

The orchestra is just back from a three-week tour of Mexico, where it performed all of Beethoven’s symphonies. Next, it turns its attention to Franz Schubert, with a whole day devoted to the Austrian composer in Bruges on 8 November. This is a highlight of the birthday celebrations, with instrumental and vocal chamber music in the afternoon, and his Symphony in C in the evening.

Anima Eterna will also be playing Schubert in Brussels, Hasselt and Antwerp throughout November, before touring in France and Germany. Meanwhile, a Schubert boxed set features among its new CDs, along with a compilation of French orchestral music and a live recording of Janácˇek’s Sinfonietta and Dvorˇák’s From the New World symphony.

New projects for 2016 include a programme of music with a “gypsy” flavour by Maurice Ravel, Manuel de Falla and George Enescu, which will tour in March. This will be followed by a complete George Gershwin programme, played with period American instruments. “That will be quite different from the way people usually play his music today,” says van Immerseel.

This will mean tracking down another piano. “I know of two instruments that are available, one in Belgium and one in France, a Baldwin and an American Steinway from 1920,” he says, clearly already keen to get his fingers on the keys.

6-12 November Across Flanders and Brussels

\ AGENDA

november 4, 2015

When in Rome…

Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum Until 3 April

Gallo-Roman Museum, Tongeren GALLOROMEINSMUSEUM.BE

T

hanks to Russell Crowe, everyone knows what a gladiator is, but if you want to know how a real gladiator lived and died in ancient Rome, be sure to check out Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren.

The new exhibition is the result of a unique collaboration between the award-winning Limburg museum and the Colosseum in Rome. More than 200 objects from museums all over Europe bring the gladiator to life, along with interactive installations, video, models and dioramas.

One of the objects on loan is an urn with an memorial inscription in honour of the famed gladiator Marcus Ulpius Felix. According to historians, he was a star of the arena, comparable to modern footballers and other top athletes. And he was a member of the Tungri tribe from the area around modern-day

© Courtesy Gallo-Roman Museum

Tongeren, then known as Atuatuca Tungrorum. The oldest city in Belgium still boasts

remnants of its Roman walls.

The director of the Colosseum, Rosella Rea, approached the Gallo-Roman Museum about developing a major exhibition along the lines of the museum’s previous successful shows about the Vikings and Etruscans. It’s the first time the Colosseum has organised an exhibition like this abroad. After Tongeren, it will travel to Denmark and the Netherlands.

The climax of the exhibition is a darkened room where visitors are transported back in time to experience what it must have been like for a gladiator to enter the arena as the throngs of spectators cheered him on.

For children, there’s an interactive audio tour that tells the story of a fictional gladiator who guides them through the exhibition. Creative workshops allow kids to make gladiator helmets or decorate a Roman cup. \ Diana Goodwin

VISUAL ARTS

Baloji

Pom’ Po Pon Po Pon Pon Pom Pon

After five years of touring the world with his languid raps, afro beats and sweaty funk and soul, one of Belgium’s premier rap artists is finally coming home. After Hotel Impala (2008), still one of the finest local rap records ever made, and Kinshasa Succursala two years later, a reinterpretation of his debut

Botanique, Brussels botanique.be

album with Kinshasa musicians, Congolese-born Baloji appears to have finally overcome his protracted writer’s block to give us new songs.

He’ll present his new EP, 64 Bits & Malachite, released just last week, at this upcoming gig in Brussels – the only local show announced so far. \ Linda A Thompson

Bozar Night

Gala Nocturna

Bozar’s popular late-night, electronica-oriented music fest returns with a special edition linked to Europalia Turkey. The world-premiere performance Débruit & Istanbul promises to be the highlight of the programme.

Europalia organised a 10-day Istanbul residency for French producer Débruit (pictured), who soaked up the sights and sounds and now reflects them in a cross-cultural live show. Other performers include British house DJ Julio Bashmore, Scottish electro sextet Golden Teacher and American novelty act The Space Lady. Expect to be entertained until the wee hours. \ GV

Bozar, Brussels Bozar.BE

MIDDELHEIMMUSEUM.BE

Antwerp’s open-air sculpture museum unveils a new exhibition of contemporary installations by famed artists from Belgium and abroad. The show is inspired by avant-garde Italian artist Piero Manzoni’s site-specific 1961 installation “Socle du Monde”, which announced that the world was a work of art and that human-made work should accommodate itself by hook or crook to this phenomenal frame. Middelheim’s curators raided the museum’s permanent collection and scanned the international horizon for pieces that share Manzoni’s progressive vision. Featured works reflect the spacious surroundings while at the same time subverting expectations. \ Georgio Valentino

PARTY

10 November, 20.00

Middelheim Museum, Antwerp

Until 27 March

EVENT

Brussels Cassandra Wilson: The American jazz vocalist and two-time Grammy award winner from Mississippi presents Coming Forth by Day, a tribute to Billie Holiday. 11 November 20.00, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ bozar.be

VISUAL ARTS Brussels Noelle Koning: Paintings by the Brussels artist, made up of scraps of juxtaposing, overlapping and seemingly dilating forms in a prism of colours. Until 24 November, Galerie Pierre Hallet, Ernest Allardstraat 33 \ galeriepierrehallet.com

FESTIVAL Brussels

CONCERT 11 November

CONCERT

\ 11-mm.be

Schiev: Music festival featuring a broad range of avantgarde pop music by an eclectic line-up of Belgian and international artists not shy about pushing the boundaries of musical innovation.

5-8 November, Beursschouwburg, Auguste Ortsstraat \ schiev.com

FAMILY Bruges © Lieven Segers

get tic

5 March, from 20.00 Gala Nocturna is everyone’s favourite excuse to play dress-up.

Hundreds of Victorian-inspired revellers gather annually at this dark romantic ball, founded a decade ago in Antwerp and recently relocated to Ghent. This 10th edition is being held for the first time in the hallowed halls of the Augustijnenklooster. The ancient religious sanctuary is a fitting venue for this gothic shindig with a theme this year of the Age of Redemption. Whether or not they repent like Saint Augustine himself, one suspects that galagoers will focus less on the redemption than its necessary prelude: transgression. Buy tickets now to get an early-bird special. \ GV

11mm goes Brussels: First edition of the film festival all about football, featuring documentaries, features and shorts, with football as the overarching theme, plus readings, kid’s entertainment and an after-party. 6-7 November, Den Dam, Waversesteenweg 1741

kets n ow

Krikrak: Several Bruges cultural venues open their doors for this family festival, featuring theatre, music, tours, open rehearsals, workshops and an after-party, suitable for all ages. 4-8 November, across the city \ krikrak.be

Augustijnenklooster, Ghent GALA-NOCTURNA.COM

PERFORMANCE Antwerp van Manen/Cherkaoui: The Royal Ballet of Flanders’ season premiere is a mix of pieces from three decades, including new artistic director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s first production, Fall. As hoped, the contemporary choreographer has married the modern and the traditional, bathing the stage in rich, ever-changing colours and billowing curtains. Don’t miss it. Until 10 November, Opera Antwerpen; 18 November CC Hasselt; 18 December De Spil Roeselare \ operaballet.be

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november 4, 2015

Talking Dutch Do you speak Bevergems?

In response to Shortening the food chain, one neighbour at a time Lisa Marie Troch: Yes! This sounds awesome! I live in the fields and often wonder why I can't buy or know where to buy all of this food I'm surrounded by :)

Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

E

veryone’s talking about it. Or at least everyone in Flanders. It’s a new TV series called Bevergem, and if you haven’t watched it then you’re missing out on what might be the biggest cultural event in Flanders since the Van Eyck brothers painted the Ghent Altarpiece.

I even saw the series advertised on the paper place mats in a Chinese restaurant in Brussels. Hier ’t receptje van Martine van Bevergem – Here is Martine from Bevergem’s recipe, it said. Ton ku je ’t vanoavond zelve hreedmoaken – So you can make it for yourself this evening.

If you haven’t watched Bevergem, then you need to know that it’s set in a fictional village where everyone speaks with a strong West Flanders accent. The series has to have subtitles in Dutch so that the rest of Flanders can follow what’s being said. In spite of the language barrier, it’s become a mega hit across the land.

Het succesverhaal van dit najaar is de Canvas-reeks Bevergem – The Canvas series Bevergem has turned out to be the big success story of the autumn season, De Morgen

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In response to Anderlecht mourns football club’s move to new stadium Ian Tinsley: That's a pity. I liked the old ground, it had atmosphere.

© De Wereldvrede

reported recently, goed voor meer dan 600.000 kijkers – attracting more than 600,000 viewers.

Americans might not be impressed with those figures, but that’s one in six of the entire population of Flanders watching a programme that most people can barely understand.

The popularity was down to several factors, the article said, including het herkenbare dorpsgevoel – the recognisable village atmosphere, and het plat (en voor velen onbegrijpelijk) West-Vlaams – the thick (and for many people incomprehensible) West Flanders dialect.

You might have thought the thick regional dialect would have put people off. But West Flemish dialect has recently become a cult thing. Het West-Vlaams is

hipper dan ooit – The West Flanders dialect is hipper than ever, we are told, door het success van muziekacts als Het Zesde Metaal – thanks to the success of bands such as Het Zesde Metaal, en de Eén-serie Eigen kweek – and the channel Eén series Eigen kweek.

It’s become so hip that Het Nieuwsblad recently published an article on West Flemish dialect for dummies. It told you, for example, how to pronounce the sentence – Mijn vrouw blijft thuis – My wife is staying at home, which in West Flemish dialect becomes mien wuuf bluuft thuus.

So I guess we’re all going to have to learn how to speak West Flemish if we want to understand what everyone is talking about.

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Poll

a. Of course, they are as important for very young children to get started to learn the language as for older pupils

50% b. Yes, but only after they've been here a few months. Otherwise, it's too much transition all at once

50% c. No, it's too early for them. They've been through enough and should be left with their parents until they're five

0% in the Flemish education system, help pupils new to the region to get used to going to school here and to the language. Primary and secondary school students go through a few months or a year of Okan until they are ready for the regular education system. Now the programme has been extended – temporarily at least

– to pre-school age children.

Of course you weren’t all in absolute agreement with the timing: Half of you said the sooner the better; the other half thought the little ones could use a little respite first. As it turns out, both sides are right: Places will be created, but the scheme is not compulsory.

\ Next week's question: The Doel nuclear power plant was hit by an explosion and a fire last weekend, while the question of its re-opening has still to be decided by the government. Is this the end of Doel?

Log on to the Flanders Today website at www.flanderstoday.eu and click on VOTE!

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In response to Train strikes cost NMBS €10 million over last year Harry Van Acker: From my experience as a frequent traveller, I’ve noticed that in just a few short years, prices have gone way up, and the service is now not only considerably less reliable and more uncomfortable , it’s also out-dated.

Matthew Porter @MattPorter_PDC You never know what you'll get in a new country but the mix of fans in Hasselt has been great and deserves the star-studded line-up tomorrow.

Julie Kagawa @Jkagawa The Antwerp book fair was awesome. Thanks for coming to see me, everyone Kristien Kellens @kristienkellens Sometimes I go for a walk just to observe this beautiful city #leuven

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the last word

Should the government extend Flanders' special reception classes to pre-school age children of asylum-seekers?

We like to think of it as the power of Flanders Today. All of you voted in favour of extending reception classes to pre-school age refugee children to help them get a head start on school.

And before the counting was even closed, the government had decided to do just that.

Reception classes, known as Okan

VoiceS of flanders today

On the chin

Starving artists

“If you’ve shaved off your beard but still have a beard on your picture, that’s an offence. We could write you a ticket. But in practice, we leave it at a warning.”

“I could count on the fingers of one hand the Flemish writers who make a living from their books. The average sale of a Flemish book is 1,000 copies.”

Dirk Claes, chief of police in the Bilzen-Hoeselt-Riemst zone of Limburg, warns drivers who experiment with their facial hair (the reverse is also true)

Publisher André Van Halewyck sets off for his last Boekenbeurs before retiring

Under pressure

“In the coming days, we’ll be sending someone to the hairdresser so that in the final on Friday we have two blondes, two brunettes and two redheads, and one from each hair colour will join the new K3.”

“Only those who really want it can make it through here.”

Laura Baaijens, director of what may be the toughest primary school in Flanders – the Prins Dries in Antwerp, which prepares children for the Royal Ballet School

Musical hairs

Studio 100 boss Geert Verhulst on the selection criteria for the new singing group

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