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I Am Europe

Mon, 06 May 2013 17:45:00 +0200

The European Year of Citizens offered the Evens Foundation and her partners an opportunity to imagine a concrete response to the call addressed to Europeans for greater participation in the development of the EU. In partnership with 12 European grassroots and civil society organizations from 8 countries, and with the support of the EC’s Europe for Citizens program, we developed the I AM EUROPE project, an investigative quest to explore how to enhance citizens’ involvement in shaping the future of Europe. In line with the philosophy of the foundation the project is built on the knowledge and experience of citizens and organizations engaged in local civic initiatives. Together with these active citizens (250 in total from very diverse origins) we want to explore how they can relate to the European policy level en what inspiration can be found from the local experiences, all to enhance the political participation of the EU citizens. We will also exchange, evaluate and (re)invent participation tools to enlarge citizen influence on EU policymaking.

After a series of working sessions, we will organize a closing event in Brussels that will bring together the citizen participants, invited policymakers, experts and guests to develop concrete ideas for empowering European democracy. The idea of encounters and joint deliberations between different stakeholders is central to the project. The conference will take place in The Egg in Brussels on 22nd June 2013, from 9am to 5.30pm. The conference aims to facilitate a direct and constructive dialogue between citizens, experts and political leaders. Everybody welcome. Registering is only possibly by sending a mail to antwerp@evensfoundation.be.

More information: www.iameurope.eu

Organisation: I AM EUROPE (iEU) is initiated by the Evens Foundation in a partnership with 9 grassroots organizations from eight EU countries: Animafac (FR), Balkan Assist (BG), Buurtschatten (BE), CONFAVC (ES), CeRe (RO), Cesam (SE), Ę (PL), MitOst (DE), Pour La Solidarité (BE).
Our supporting partners are: Notre Europe - Institut Jacques Delors (FR), Schuman Foundation Poland (PL), Fondation Hippocrène (FR), deBuren (BE).

I Am Europe in: Encounters

Guided cycle tour along art projects from Stroom in The Hague

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:22:00 +0100

Together with Stroom Den Haag, deBuren is organising a guided cycle tour through the capital this summer where we'll be visiting a number of exceptional art projects initiated by Stroom. We'll be setting off from the Central Station to the Koekamp opposite to view a work from Honing Bank and then cycle further through the old and new city centre along passing the P. Struycken art gallery to the Zuiderpark where we'll be visiting the Eetbaar Park. As the icing on the cake we'll be pausing at the James Turrell's 'Hemels Gewelf' (Celestial Vault) in the Hague dunes. Michelle Schulkens (Stroom Den Haag) will be our guide.

Organization: deBuren in collaboration with Stroom Den Haag

Guided cycle tour along art projects from Stroom in The Hague in: Guided tours

Book presentation 'Giepswerk' by Giep Hagoort

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:16:00 +0100

On this afternoon, Giep Hagoort is our guest. He presents his overview work Giepswerk and talks to Dorian van der Brempt, director of deBuren. The debate will touch on cultural policy, management and politics. Europe and Flemish-Dutch cooperation are also on the agenda. What is the added value of an intense cultural alliance between Flanders and Holland? Where can that lead to?

Book presentation 'Giepswerk' by Giep Hagoort in: The books

It's the economy, stupid! #8: Paying for unhealthy behaviour

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:11:00 +0100

In the series ‘It's the economy, stupid!', a stimulating theory regarding economics is the central theme each time. This time it's: people living unhealthy lives should pay a higher social security premium. Werner Brouwer, professor in health economy (Erasmus University, Rotterdam) reacts and then undergoes critical questioning by Piet Depuydt (De Tijd).

Organization: deBuren in collaboration with Beursschouwburg

It's the economy, stupid! #8: Paying for unhealthy behaviour in: Debates

Five years 'Luisterpunt'

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:02:00 +0100

Luisterpunt is the Flemish library for people with reading difficulties. The Radio Books and citybooks from deBuren are much sought after for listening. On 14 June deBuren will be celebrating five years' 'Luisterpunt' with a programme of listening to literature in the Vooruit. citybooks authors Annelies Verbeke, Peter Holvoet-Hanssen and Bart Van Loo will be reading aloud and will also enter into discussion with Frieda Van Wijck. This will be followed by a ‘danscafé' with Sacha Van Loo and Geert Maekelberg.

Organization: deBuren and Luisterpunt

Five years 'Luisterpunt' in: The books

'De Literaire Loketten' | As much as is impossible

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:45:00 +0100

‘Failure lends lustre to the attempt / and should be pursued', versified Mark Boog in ‘Empire'. In these times of crisis we turn to poetry to be able, as much as impossible, to tell more than our everyday language can manage. With a rich palette of Flemish and Dutch poets who reach for the impossible but know that failure lends lustre to the attempt, we close the ‘Literary Counters year!

Organization: deBuren and the Flemish Parliament

'De Literaire Loketten' | As much as is impossible in: Debates

Occupied City #4: utopia or dystopia

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:34:00 +0100

Fourth evening in the series Occupied City, about city, art and politics in Amsterdam and distant surroundings. The ideal world, the utopia, is an important point for literature, politics and architecture. How is it possible that urban rebuilding has a utopia in its vision, although in practice often decays in contrary into a dystopia? There will be readings and a poet is sent out into the city.

Organization: Perdu in collaboration with deBuren

Occupied City #4: utopia or dystopia in: Debates

Hegel and the current vision of the world #3

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:27:00 +0100

In modern times, the social and political power of Christianity was broken. Does this explain the putting aside of the Christian logic of the sacrifice? Hegel investigates the continued effect of the spirit of Christianity in our secular times. In the phenomenology of the spirit he appears to present the dialectics as the modern variant of the age-old logic of sacrifice. Dr. Laurens ten Kate (University of Utrecht) rereads Hegel and raises the theory that the topicality of his way of thinking lies exactly in the secularisation of the sacrifice.

Organization: Het zoekend hert and deBuren

Hegel and the current vision of the world #3 in: Lectures

Frits van Oostrom: 'Wereld in woorden'

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:11:00 +0100

Frits van Oostrom, professor at the UU, won both the AKO prize for Literature as well as the Spinoza prize. His new book Wereld in woorden (World in words) was recently published, the sequel to Stemmen op schrift (Voices in writing). Wereld in woorden opens a totally new window on the illustrious fourteenth century: the century of the plague as well as the century of major creativity in the Low Countries as is apparent from the literature from this period.

Organization: deBuren in collaboration with KANTL and the Dutch Embassy

Frits van Oostrom: 'Wereld in woorden' in: Debates

Enough about you, let's get back to me! #4

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:04:00 +0100

Private individuals and SMEs pay more and more for their energy. At the same time they're less and less sure of their supply. Whether closing a nuclear power plant is really a conscious, ethical choice or a necessity because of faults, the alternatives are still not adequate enough. Can we still trust privately-owned energy companies? Or should the government step in? And in what way? Chaired by Dirk Barrez (DeWereldMorgen), Nic Balthazar (Sing for the Climate) and Bart Martens (sp.a) discuss the matter.

Organization: deBuren, DeWereldMorgen.be and Toneelhuis

Enough about you, let's get back to me! #4 in: Debates

MO*Lecture: Sunita Narain (Antwerp)

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:58:00 +0100

Climate summits have become a yearly fixture, on top of an Earth Summit on Sustainable Development every decade, international conferences on biodiversity and many, many other conferences, agreements and promises to lessen the pressures on our global environment. The reason is simple: environmental problems don't stop at national borders, nor are they restricted to electoral cycles. The multiplication of conferences, though, does not seem to be succesful at reaching enforceable agreements. The failure of Copenhagen in 2009 was just the most visible illustration of that impotence.

Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in India , puts it this way: 'The fundamental conviction of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 was the existence of common but differentiated responsibilities. The bigger effort that was asked from the rich nations, had an economic rationale: the rich and most polluting economies had to come forward first, as they created much of the problem that had to be solved. If the idea would have been translated into enforceable international rules, and the West would have maintained those rules in its own behavior, then I'm sure that emerging countries like China and India would have taken up their responsibilities by now. Instead, we are20 years on and we are still debating about who should move first to save the planet. The main culprit, to my understanding, is the USA, that has been refusing and continues to refuse to do their part.'

After Sunita Narain's keynote, Artur Runge-Metzger (EU's leader of delegation at climate talks) and Wendel Trio (director of Climate Action Network - Europe) will discuss steps Europe will, should or could take to make global governance for environment viable again. They will focus on restoring confidence with partners from the South, that international negotiations can and should work to the benefit of the poor.

Sunita Narain is director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in India , where she has been working for more than 30 years on the relation between ecology and development. She is one of the most authoritative voices from the Global South when it comes to global debates about environment and climate. She started as co-author of the acclaimed series The State of India's Environment. One of the most widely discussed and influential publications Sunita authored together with Anil Agarwal, was Dying Wisdom (1997), in which she documents India's growing water crisis, and describes in detail the wide variety of existing alternatives for urban and rural areas. In 2012 she published Excreta Matters, on the horrible state of India's sanitary provisions, and the impact on drinking water and public health.

Artur Runge-Metzger is director of DG Clima of the European Commission and is head of the EU-delegation in international climate negotiations. The EU has disappointed some countries lately, but is still looked upon as a crucial partner for the Global South to produce a new and comprehensive agreement. DG Clima's ambition is to turn Europe into a low-carbon economy, with a reduction of carbon emiossions of 80 percent by 2050.

Wendel Trio is the director of CAN-Europe. He works for the organization since September 2011. Trio is responsible for the overall management of the organization, including coordination of the political work, ensuring high level human resource management, adequate fundraising, overseeing the communications strategy and promoting the further development of the network. He also leads the overall strategic thinking and takes on high level political representation. His previous jobs include working for the European Alliance with Indigenous Peoples, Oxfam in Belgium, Greenpeace Belgium, and Greenpeace International.

This lecture is organized in cooperation with Argus, milieupunt of KBC and Cera.

MO*lectures are an initiative of MO* and the Vlaams-Nederlands Huis deBuren. Partners are Kaaitheater, Beursschouwburg, Vooruit and Zuidcafé - De Roma.

MO*Lecture: Sunita Narain (Antwerp) in: Lectures

MO*Lecture: Sunita Narain (Ghent)

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:42:00 +0100

Our planet is under unseen ecological pressure from climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the exhaustion ,of vital natural resources. The first victims of that expanding global ecological disaster, are the hundreds of millions poor, who depend on nature for their incomes and survival. But do they also hold the answer to the crisis?

Sunita Narain, an eminent Indian ecological expert and activist, makes a clear distinction between 'an ecology of the poor' and 'an ecology of the rich'. The latter, she says, is the kind of ecological conscience that is focused on getting rid of the consequences of wasteful production and consumption, but refuses to change that economy at the root. 'The demand for sustainable growth for the poor is no longer a whisper from the South, it has become a scream that is getting louder by the day. Today it might still by a chaotic noise, but by working hard from the grassroots up, this will become a crucial dialogue about real plans for a sustainable and just world in the future', said Sunita Narain in an interview in MO* (december 2012).

After Sunita Narain's keynote, Dutch philosopher Marius de Geus will give his point of view on the question how the North can move towards an economy of enough, an economy that would create space for the poor of this world to protect their environment while at the same time grow out of their poverty.

Sunita Narain is director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in India , where she has been working for more than 30 years on the relation between ecology and development. She is one of the most authoritative voices from the Global South when it comes to global debates about environment and climate. She started as co-author of the acclaimed series The State of India's Environment. One of the most widely discussed and influential publications Sunita authored toghether with Anil Agarwal, was Dying Wisdom (1997), in which she documents India's growing water crisis, and describes in detail the wide variety of existing anternatives for urban and rural areas. In 2012 she published Excreta Matters, on the horrible state of India's sanitary provisions, and the impact on drinking water and public health.

Marius de Geus is a philosopher and professor of political sciences at the University of Leiden, Netherlands. He specializes in environmental philosophy and ecological thinking. He published about the value of ecological utopias, but has been focusing lately on the consequences of a consumer society on climate, and on sustainable mays of living.

MO*lectures are an initiative of MO* and the Vlaams-Nederlands Huis deBuren. Partners are Kaaitheater, Beursschouwburg, Vooruit and Zuidcafé - De Roma.

MO*Lecture: Sunita Narain (Ghent) in: Debates

Mediacaf� #13: Crowdfunding. A remedy at last?

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:31:00 +0100

Alternative financing methods of (investigative) journalism have been in vogue for some time. Just as crowdfunding, a business model whereby the public are involved in the funding of a project. But do we have to take that gamble? Is crowdfunding perhaps the remedy we've waited for? A debate with Arnold van Bruggen (The Sochi Project), Jan Beddegenoodts (The Taste of Freedom), Lin Delcour (VRT, Koppen) and Bieke Purnelle (DeWereldMorgen.be).

Organization: deBuren, Fonds Pascal Decroos, Mediakritiek.be and VVOJ in collaboration with Rits Café and with the support of VVJ

Mediacaf� #13: Crowdfunding. A remedy at last? in: Debates

The Pop-Up City Live

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:09:00 +0100

´The city´ lives. Everywhere you look, new initiatives are shooting up like mushrooms. In The Pop-Up City blog the city is in a broad sense the main factor: attention has been drawn to urban culture, art, trends, architecture ... In the framework of the citybooks photo exhibition, we are bringing The Pop-Up City to life on the stage. citybooks and blog meet each other during an interactive evening. We'll be blogging at high speed all over the city. From column to online city excursion, from literary travel report to impression of images of Christian Binder, David Bocking, Sander Buyck, Lisa Van Damme, Andrea Galiazzo, Martijn van de Griendt, Kakha Kakhiani, Dadang Pribadi, Pieter-Jan De Pue, Maciej Rukasz, Sophie Smith, Frosina Stojkovska and Lea Titz.

Read more about citybooks on www.citybooks.eu

Organization: deBuren in collaboration with de Brakke Grond and The Pop-Up City

The Pop-Up City Live in: The books

IM: Christine Van Broeckhoven

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0100

Who doesn't dream of being present at their own funeral? Molecular biologist Christine Van Broeckhoven is an internationally respected Alzheimer specialist. How will this authority on the human mind want to be remembered? During an intimate, yet public conversation, Anna Luyten talks with her about life, work and ... dying. Preceding this conversation there will be an In Memorium read out, especially written for this occasion.

Organization: deBuren and Vrijstaat O.

IM: Christine Van Broeckhoven in: Encounters

Can I book you? (Ostend)

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:51:00 +0100

After Antwerp and Brussels our book train's next destination is Ostend. During short, intimate conversations you'll meet your fellow passengers in a refreshing way. Who read what and why? The book that you'll take along with you that day will lead to conversations with other literature enthusiasts. Katrijn Van Bouwel, our conductor, is on hand to make sure that the book journey runs smoothly. Martin Heylen is our guest. Are you coming along with us?

Organization: deBuren in collaboration with Vrijstaat O. and Bibliotheek Kris Lambert

Can I book you? (Ostend) in: The books