Brothers in arms - Thursday 7 July 2016

#424
Erkenningsnummer P708816
APRIL 6, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu
current affairs \ p2
Up and away
Brussels Airport resumed a
limited number of flights at
the weekend following the
terrorist attacks of 22 March
\2
politics \ p4
BUSiNESS \ p6
Teaching
the teachers
innovation \ p7
education \ p9
art & living \ p10
Still number
one
Flemish educators help teachers
in developing countries improve
their courses and bring some of
their ideas back to Flanders
After nearly 40 years and an
internet revolution, Humo’s Rock
Rally competition is still pulling
in the bands – and the fans
\9
\ 13
Brothers in arms
© Courtesy In Flanders Fields Museum
A new exhibition offers tribute to Canada’s involvement in the First World War
Denzil Walton
Follow Denzil on Twitter \ @AllWriteDenz
During the First World War, many Canadian soldiers crossed
the Atlantic to defend Belgium’s freedom, others joined
in search of adventure; but as a new exhibition at the In
Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres shows, a great number of
them paid the ultimate price
T
heodore Linscott Glasgow was born on 25 May
1898 in Montreal, Canada, the eldest son of Robert
and Louise Glasgow. A bright boy, he studied at the
University of Toronto and the Royal Military College in
Kingston.
In August 1916, at the age of 18, Glasgow was recruited by
the British Royal Naval Air Service, the predecessor of the
current Royal Air Force. The following summer, after almost
a year’s training, he was sent with the 10th Squadron to the
Western front in Flanders.
One month later, on 19 August 1917, the young flight sublieutenant was killed in action over Ypres and buried in
Mendinghem Military Cemetery in Poperinge. He was 19
years old.
Glasgow was far from the only young Canadian to lose his
life in Flanders. As the new exhibition at Ypres’ In Flanders
Fields Museum shows, by the time the Armistice was signed,
over 60,000 of his compatriots had been killed during the
course of the First World War.
When Britain went to war on 4 August 1914, all colonies
and dominions of the British Empire, such as Canada, were
automatically at war, too. The man in charge of the Canadian war effort was Sam Hughes, the Minister of Militia and
Defence. He acted quickly and decisively. The day after the
British declaration of war, Hughes announced that Canada
would send an infantry division of 25,000.
Most, but by no means all, Canadians greeted the outbreak
of war with enthusiasm; there was much marching and
singing in the streets. Those who opposed the war largely
stayed silent. Even in Quebec, where pro-British sentiment
was traditionally low, there was little apparent hostility to
the country’s war effort.
Consequently, thousands showed up at their local recruiting
stations eager to “do their bit”. Many of them had been born
in Britain, or had strong emotional ties to the country. The
first contingent was 70% British-born, although many had
lived in Canada for years and considered themselves Canadian.
The percentage of native-born Canadians would increase
throughout the war until, by 1918, more than half of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force would be Canadian-born.
Their reasons for signing up were much the same as those of
continued on page 5
\ CURRENT AFFAIRS
First flights after terrorist
attack resume at airport
Limited flights leaving from and arriving at Brussels Airport this week
Alan Hope
Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT
A
small number of flights resumed from Brussels Airport
on Sunday, the first since the terrorist attacks of 22
March, when two suicide bombers blew themselves
up in the departures hall.
On Sunday, three flights arrived from and departed to Faro,
Turin and Athens. Some 20 departures were scheduled for
Monday as Flanders Today went to press.
The first departure, SN1901 to Faro in Portugal, was assigned
to Magritte, the Brussels Airlines Airbus decorated in tribute to the surrealist artist. The plane was launched to the
public and press one day before the bomb attacks. The flight
(pictured) carried 80 passengers and taxied past a parade of
airport emergency services on take-off.
“After 12 days during which there were no Brussels Airlines
flights from Zaventem, seeing Magritte take to the skies is
Clashes between
protestors and police
in Brussels
Last weekend saw clashes in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek as some 100 local youths
attempted to break up a planned demonstration
by an anti-Islamic group. Police intervened, and 99
people were arrested. Most were later released, but
two men were held after a hit-and-run incident in
which a woman on the street was seriously injured.
The right-wing group had asked permission to
demonstrate, which was refused. The request,
however, caught the attention of local youths. Very
few of the right-wing group members showed up,
and the youths tried to make their way to Beursplein in the centre of the capital, under the impression that the demonstration might be taking place
there, where there is a memorial to the victims
of the 22 March terrorist attacks. Police tried to
prevent them, and clashes ensued.
The violence followed an incident when some
450 football hooligans interrupted a memorial
on Easter Sunday at Beursplein for the victims
of the attacks. Members of the group stepped on
flowers, messages and other items placed by the
hundreds on Beursplein and confronted Muslims
in the crowd.
The group, calling itself “Casuals Against Terrorism”, had gathered in Vilvoorde before travelling on to Brussels. The incident has led to criticism among politicians, with Brussels mayor Yvan
Mayeur claiming that “Flanders is polluting Brussels with its extremism”. \ AH
© Reuters
a first step,” said Bernard Gustin, CEO of Brussels Airlines.
“This is a symbol of Belgium that offers hope, but also shows
Death toll from bombings at 32, prime minister was possible target
The death toll from the 22 March attacks
at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro
station has now reached 32, after four
of the seriously injured victims died in
hospital. All of the dead have now been
identified.
The number of injured is approximately
340. There are more than 90 patients
still in hospitals in Belgium, 55 of them
in intensive care. Thirty victims are in
specialist burns units in Belgium, France
and the US.
There has also been an update on the identities of the three suicide bombers responsible for the two attacks. The second
bomber at the airport is confirmed to have
been Najim Lachraaoui, who blew himself
up together with Ibrahim El Bakraoui. El
Bakraoui’s brother, Khalid, blew himself
up on the metro at Maalbeek. Belgian and
French investigators are also looking for a
new suspect, Naim al-Hamed, whose DNA
was found in the house where the bombs
were made in Schaarbeek.
According to a report in De Tijd, meanwhile, the terrorists were also planning
an attack on the prime minister’s office at
16 Wetstraat or at his official residence on
the nearby Lambermontstraat.
The information, according to the paper,
was obtained from a computer found at
the bombers’ apartment in Schaarbeek,
which contained plans of both the buildings and photos taken from the street. The
30%
employer's contribution to social
security charges from 1 April,
down from 32.4% as part of the
federal government's tax shift. The
contribution will go down further
to 25% in 2018
\2
that we will never forget what happened here.”
Crucial to the decision to restart passenger services was
the agreement reached with unions representing Brussels
Airport police, involving a review of security measures at the
airport after the attacks. The airport is currently only accessible by car or taxi via car park 2. A connection with public
transport will be established as soon as possible, airport
management said.
Cars and passengers will be subject to extra checks, including
a number-plate scan. Only passengers can enter the airport
and must pass through a metal detector before entering the
terminal. Check-in takes place in the connector building.
Passengers are advised to arrive at least three hours before
their flight and to closely follow instructions from security
staff.
© Laurie Dieffembacq/BELGA
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi (left) visits with
Belgian prime minister Charles Michel
prime minister’s spokesperson said additional security measures have been put in
place.
Michel met with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, last week during an
official visit, when Modi laid a wreath at
Maalbeek metro station in memory of the
victims of the attack there, who included
an Indian national. King Filip is due to
make a state visit to India next year, to
mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic
relations between the two countries.
In related news, Dutch police claimed
last week that they had informed their
Belgian counterparts of the criminal and
extremist background of the El Bakraoui
brothers on 17 March, five days before the
suicide bombings.
A tip from the FBI to Dutch authorities was delivered one day earlier, on 16
March, and, according to Dutch justice
minister Ard van der Steur, concerned
“the criminal background of Ibrahim El
Bakraoui and the radical and terrorist
background of his brother Khalid. On 17
March, this was also discussed in a bilateral contact between Dutch and Belgian
police services”.
The director-general of Belgium’s judicial police, Claude Fontaine, denied any
such communication. “On 17 March, a
Dutch colleague visited the federal judicial police. During the visit, various information was given regarding the operation
in Vorst on 15 March,” said Fontaine. “No
mention was made of a message the FBI
may have sent to Dutch police.”
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, meanwhile, said that the FBI had told authorities in his country that, in any case, their
information came from Belgium. “The FBI
told us,” said Rutte that these men were on
the wanted list in Belgium.”
The situation adds to the awkward questions facing federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon, in charge of the police.
Jambon had already faced questions about
a warning Turkey said it had transmitted
to Belgium about suspected terrorist links
in connection with Ibrahim El Bakraoui,
who was turned out of Turkey last year
after travelling there illegally while on
parole in Belgium. Back in Belgium, he
was not returned to prison for breaking
the conditions of his parole. \ AH
111,355
job applicants screened every year
by the National Security Authority for positions requiring security
clearance, including jobs at Brussels Airport. Only 1% of screenings
are negative
tonnes of old electrical and electronic appliances collected in 2015
by Recupel, with an increase of
10% in small appliances and 7% in
large appliances such as washing
machines
37
passengers carried on the inland
network by the national rail authority NMBS in 2015, an increase on
the previous year of 0.9%. Trains
covered a total of 77.9 million kilometres
asylum seekers are the subject of
screenings for possible links to
the Islamic State. According to the
justice ministry, none pose a direct
threat at this time
APRIL 6, 2016
WEEK in brief
Slovakia’s Peter Sagan won the
100th edition of the Ronde van
Vlaanderen, or Tour of Flanders,
road cycle race at the weekend. The
current UCI Road World Champion held off Switzerland’s Fabian
Cancellara, who was hoping for a
record-breaking fourth Flanders
win in his final season. Cancellara
finished second and Flemish rider
Sep Vanmarcke third. Pre-race
favourite Greg Van Avermaet was
forced out with a suspected broken
collarbone following a crash. The
UK’s Lizzie Armitstead won the
women’s edition of the Ronde,
edging out Sweden’s Emma Johansson by a whisker.
Police in Brussels have issued an
appeal to residents and companies to keep recordings from
their security cameras, in case the
images might be useful to the investigation into the March terrorist
attacks. The appeal concerns any
camera that has a view, even partial,
of public streets from the period 15
to 31 March. The images should be
stored but not handed over to police
at this point. Details can be found
on the federal police’s website.
\ tinyurl.com/securityfootage
The number of Belgian chocolatiers has doubled in the last
five years, from 259 at the end
of 2009 to 543 now, according to
figures from the economy ministry. According to NSZ, the union
for the self-employed, many bakers
have retrained to work in chocolate,
which also allows them to escape
night shifts. According to a poll of
chocolatiers, chocolate is becoming more and more popular, especially products without allergens
such as nuts.
New arrivals planning on remaining in Belgium for more than three
months will in future be required to
sign a “newcomer's declaration”
of allegiance to common European values, the federal government has decided. The obligation
does not extend to those with an
automatic right to entry, including EU citizens, asylum seekers and
students. Those who refuse to sign
will be refused entry, and those who
face of flanders
refuse to make a “reasonable effort”
to integrate will not have their residency permit extended. The declaration covers the right to freedom
of expression, assembly, religion
and sexual orientation, as well as
equality of the sexes and opposition
to violence, terrorism and forced
marriage.
Police investigating the baby who
was found dead at a bus stop in
Sint-Genesius-Rode in January
have issued a new call for witnesses.
The infant was found in a shoebox
behind the Elvis Presley bus stop on
Steenweg naar Grote Hut, close to
the border with the Brussels municipality of Ukkel. Any information
can be reported to 0800 30 300.
Nearly half of all female drivers in
Belgium have never had a traffic fine, according to figures from
the motoring association VAB.
That compares to 27% of male drivers. Last year, 15% of all drivers
received a speeding fine. In nine out
of 10 cases, the infraction was determined by a mobile or fixed speed
camera.
People should stop feeding birds
until the start of the winter season
later this year, the bird protection
charity Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen has advised. Entering the
mating season and following a mild
winter, there is now enough food
available in nature. Birds need to
provide their newly hatched chicks
with animal matter, such as worms,
spiders and caterpillars; baby birds
are unable to digest seeds and nuts
from birdfeeders.
Family organisation Kind & Gezin
last year received 654 complaints
relating to child care centres,
down from 804 in 2014 and 860 in
2012, according to figures provided
to parliament by Flemish welfare
minister Jo Vandeurzen. Most
complaints are regarding communication, followed by safety and
staff training.
Federal home affairs minister Jan
Jambon met with US secretary
OFFSIDE
Leo Not Happy
It’s one thing to be half-eaten by a
bear and left by your comrades for
dead; the thing that really annoys
Leonardo DiCaprio, as we know
now, is the state of the planet. So
he was the obvious mascot for a
new campaign against rubbish in
the streets, launched by one Adel
on Instagram.
With his campaign #LeoNotHappy,
Adel, a 25-year-old marketing
student, wants to highlight the
sheer quantity of rubbish lying
around on Brussels streets. Adel
takes photos of the rubbish, always
for homeland security, Jeh Johnson, in Washington, DC, last week,
where he was attending a conference on nuclear safety. Johnson
promised Jambon any help Belgium
might need in tracking down those
responsible for the March bomb
attacks in Brussels. “It is important
that we come together, we collaborate, we share resources and information, and that's part of the reason
we're here today,” Johnson said.
According to De Standaard newspaper, the reason that Daarna, the
Flemish-Moroccan cultural centre –
formerly known as Daarkom – must
move from its home in central Brussels’ Gaité theatre is because the
original rental contract was illegal. Former Flemish culture minister Bert Anciaux signed the contract,
despite negative advice from the
finance ministry and former Flemish budget minister. The contract
commits the government of Flanders to pay the €275,000 annual rent
until 2021. Anciaux’s successor, Sven
Gatz, last month started a search for
a new home for the organisation.
The parents of a young Antwerp
woman who died in 2009 during
an exorcism ceremony – designed
to cure her lesbianism – have been
given harsher sentences on appeal.
Layla Hachichi’s mother and father
had been sentenced to five years
suspended, but the appeal court
sentenced them to three years and
one year to be served in prison. The
so-called exorcist had his prison
sentence of 10 years confirmed.
Hachichi, 18, died after the exorcist
used boiling water and corrosive
chemicals in his treatment.
The City of Brussels has awarded
honorary citizenship to Woltje,
the first marionette to receive the
honour. Woltje is the mascot of the
Royal Theatre of Toone, the puppet
theatre and pub established 50
years ago in a narrow alley near
Grote Markt. It still offers marionette productions of classics from
Shakespeare to Rostand in Brussels dialect. “This traditional and
authentic puppet theatre deserves
a place of honour in our city,” said
Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur.
instagram.com/leonothappy
© Courtesy LeoNotHappy
accompanied – and this where you
see the difference between a mere
activist and a talented marketer –
by a shoebox with DiCapriesque
features pulling a disdainful face.
“I believe in the power of humour
to solve even very negative situations,” Adel told brusselsnieuws.
be. “You don’t get anywhere with
aggression and extreme points of
view. That funny side piques the
curiosity. When I started, I would
see rubbish on the street from time
to time. Now I see it everywhere;
nothing gets past me.
Campaigning turns to action on 23
April, which in Brussels is CleanUp Day. Adel plans a major operation with the blessing of Net Brussel. Point of departure: Beursplein
at noon. \ AH
© Delmi Alvarez/BELGA
Arnaud Feist
Three flights took off from Brussels Airport on Sunday, and
three landed. No-one knows
what might have been going
through the minds of those
passengers, but nobody will
have breathed a sigh of relief like
Arnaud Feist, the CEO of Brussels Airport Company.
For Feist, it was the quiet return
to normality after a nightmare
lasting nearly two weeks.
Nobody who was present that
Tuesday morning at Zaventem
will ever forget the experience.
Feist was in his office in the
Satelliet building at the airport,
and in the days that followed
the two suicide bombings in the
departures hall.
He later wrote an open letter to
airport workers, praising them
for their “superhuman courage”
in tending the injured, helping the emergency services and
leading the ambulant to safety.
“Take the time to work through
all of that,” he advised his staff.
“A team of professionals is ready
if you need them.”
Feist himself would have no time
to reflect and process the shock.
The airport remained closed in
the days that followed, flights
diverted to as far as Lille and
Frankfurt, the company haemorrhaging money. The necessary
forensic investigations had to
be carried out, and the clean-up
happened as quickly as possible,
ready for a major test last Tuesday – one week after the attacks
– to see if the airport could open
even partially.
But then the airport police
stopped everything, refusing
to go back to work until something was done about “mismanagement” of the security situation. All four levels of the
airport building were accessible to anyone, they complained.
Badges were given out without
adequate screening, and serious lapses in security were not
reported to the government.
The federal government and
police unions came to an agreement last Friday, allowing the
airport to re-open by baby
steps, starting on Sunday. “The
passengers will not receive the
quality service they are used to
from us,” Feist warned. “But we
can’t do it any other way. We
are trying to get things back to
normal as quickly as possible.”
\ Alan Hope
Flanders Today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the Flemish
Region and is financially supported by the Flemish authorities.
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 Bartosz Brzeziński
Agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino
Art director Paul Van Dooren
Prepress Mediahuis AdPro
Contributors Rebecca Benoot, Derek
Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Andy Furniere, Lee
Gillette, Diana Goodwin, Clodagh Kinsella,
Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Ian
Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Senne
Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Denzil
Walton
General manager Hans De Loore
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\3
\ POLITICS
5TH COLUMN
A Brussels police reform?
The 22 March bombings have
left this country in shock. The
inability to fathom that such
an atrocity could happen to
us is comparable only to the
Dutroux era.
By the time serial killer Marc
Dutroux was caught in 1996,
girls had been disappearing
for months. Not much attention was given to it, until two
teenagers were found alive in
one of Dutroux’s houses. In the
days that followed, the bodies
of four more girls were found
on his premises.
The then prime minister, JeanLuc Dehaene (CD&V), considered these his darkest days in
politics. He later admitted that
he and his government had
been so involved in getting
Belgium into the eurozone that
they never noticed the failing
police and justice system. After
the events, a parliamentary
committee looked into these
failings, leading to a reform of
the federal police (but not the
justice system).
Will Belgium have a similar
catharsis now? Another parliamentary committee was set up
last week, to investigate how
the terrorist networks responsible for the Paris and Brussels
bombings went undetected.
The outcome, many hope, will
be similar to the reforms facilitated by the Dutroux committee in the late 1990s.
That explains some of the
political nervousness since
the bombings. Whereas prime
minister Charles Michel (MR)
has been widely praised for
his serene and guarded initial
response after the events, the
political debate has heated up
since.
N-VA’s Bart De Wever has
pointed the finger at Philippe
Moureaux (PS), the previous
mayor of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek,
who he holds responsible for
much of what went wrong
in this Brussels municipality. Brussels-City mayor Yvan
Mayeur (PS), meanwhile, has
accused both federal interior
minister Jan Jambon (N-VA)
and Vilvoorde mayor Hans
Bonte (SP.A) of failing to stop
400 football hooligans from
rioting at the memorial site at
the Brussels Beurs.
What all of this will lead to
remains to be seen, but one
thing that is definitely on
the table is the unification of
the six Brussels police zones.
Flemish parties have long been
demanding this for reasons of
efficiency, but Brussels politicians like Moureaux and
Mayeur have always refused.
In any city the size of Brussels, some decentralisation is
needed, they argued. A unified
police, however, would also
result in a loss of power for
these Brussels politicians.
Plenty to be nervous about.
\ Anja Otte
\4
Government gives green light
to vision for Flanders 2050
Ministerial teams to see through long-term priorities for region
Alan Hope
Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT
T
he government of Flanders has approved
its long-term vision for the region,
Visie 2050. The plan was submitted to
stakeholders for consideration last September.
According to the government, Visie 2050
aims to create “a strong, social, open, resilient
and international Flanders” that promotes
wealth and welfare in “a smart, innovative and
sustainable manner”.
The updated version of the plan includes vision
on social policy, labour market and the inclusion of immigrants. It also nominates ministers
who will appoint transition managers and map
out the government’s strategy in various areas.
Environment minister Joke Schauvliege and
finance minister Philippe Muyters will work
together on the transition towards a circular
© Spotter2/Wikimedia
economy that makes more efficient use of materials and energy.
The two will be joined by minister-president
Geert Bourgeois in taking steps towards “industry 4.0” – a more digitalised industry that
includes artificial intelligence, 3D printing,
robotics, and more.
Muyters will also team up with education
minister Hilde Crevits on the subject of lifelong
learning, while Bourgeois joins housing minister Liesbeth Homans on finding smarter ways
of living.
Health care and welfare sees minister Jo
Vandeurzen team up with culture minister Sven
Gatz, while fast and safe mobility will become
the domain of minister Ben Weyts, who will
work with Schauvliege. Finally, minister Annemie Turtelboom will oversee the transition to
sustainable energy.
The next phase of Visie 2050 will work out a
broad plan of approach that will establish a
time-frame and generate public support for the
programme. The plans will also be submitted to
the Flemish Parliament for approval.
Weyts announces €2 billion for
improvements to Brussels Ring
Belgium has too many emergency
departments, says KCE
Large-scale works on the Brussels Ring will begin in 2019 and
cost an estimated €2 billion,
Flemish public works minister
Ben Weyts has announced. The
biggest part of the project is the
creation of parallel lanes over 20
kilometres, splitting local traffic from through traffic, in an
attempt to reduce the number of
lane changes.
There is a fourth lane planned for
the Vilvoorde viaduct, and three
new tramlines will be added, as
well as 41km of cycling infrastructure and green areas.
The main problems with the
Ring are the lack of alternatives
to using a car and the number of
lane changes required, which are
a major factor in the 1,100 accidents that take place on the road
every year. Some 102,000 people
a day use the capital’s Ring Road,
most of which is located in Flanders.
The works include cycle paths, 10
cycle bridges and nine tunnels,
for a total cost of €70 million. The
Belgium has too many accident
and emergency (A&E) departments, according to the Belgian
Health Care Knowledge Centre
(KCE). Some of them should be
closed, the centre has suggested,
and the budget and expertise
spread over a smaller number of
departments.
The agency carried out an inquiry
into the functioning and financing
of A&Es and spoke to representatives of medical staff, hospital
administration and government.
They also looked at how neighbouring countries organise their
systems.
Belgium has an average of 1.24
A&Es for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 0.33 in the
UK and 0.54 in the Netherlands.
Belgians also visit A&E more
often: an average of 290 consultations per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012,
compared to 264 in the UK and 124
in the Netherlands.
“Budget and staff for A&Es
are inadequate in this country
because they have to be shared
new tramlines mean an investment of €500 million, but they will
replace some 20,000 cars on the
Ring every day, Weyts said. The
lines – Brussels to Willebroek,
Brussels to Brussels Airport and
Jette to Brussels Airport – form
the new Brabantnet.
“Flemish Brabant is the beating
heart of the country, but everyone is standing still,” said Weyts,
who was born in Leuven and still
lives in the province. “To move
forward will take spades in the
ground of Flemish Brabant.”
If works stay on schedule, they
will be completed in four years.
The government of Flanders
approved a proposal last week to
simplify the procedure involved
in taking over private property
for public projects. Expropriations will be more limited in this
case than usual, Weyts promised
– “more a question of ground
than homes,” he said. He expects
about 10 homes to be involved in
the expropriation process. \ AH
among too many hospitals,” said
Koen Van den Heede, co-author
of the report. Almost every hospital in Belgium has its own A&E,
which in cities means there is
a concentration of emergency
departments. That proximity of
A&E leads patients to make use of
the departments for complaints
that ought to be dealt with by a
general practitioner (GP), which,
the centre argued, would be faster
and less expensive.
KCE also proposed that remaining A&Es should have a GP practice attached, which could be open
24 hours and handle the simpler
cases. The report did not go into
which departments, or how many,
it thought should close.
Federal health minister Maggie
De Block, herself a GP, agreed that
something has to be done about
the A&E situation. The recent
terrorist attacks, she said, “showed
that a well-organised, high performance emergency service has
enormous value. But that’s not an
answer to overcapacity.” \ AH
Bourgeois honours Red Cross rapid response volunteers
Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois paid
tribute last week to volunteers with the Flemish Red Cross who took part in the emergency
response to the 22 March terrorist attacks at
Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station. He
also honoured those who worked to help the city
recover afterwards.
Among the first to respond to both bombing sites
was the Red Cross’ Rapid Intervention Team,
which responded together with 30 ambulances to
transport the injured to area hospitals.
The Red Cross, together with the army, provided
beds, sanitary supplies and blankets to some 1,300
people stranded at the airport, who had been taken
into temporary shelter at barracks in Vilvoorde
and Leuven. Teams of volunteers looked after the
disoriented and frightened victims, many of who
were foreign travellers. Members of the Red Cross
© Laurie Dieffembacq/BELGA
Youth provided activities for the children.
Specially trained volunteers staffed emergency
telephone numbers, handling queries from
distressed relatives, while others carried out interviews with family members to make identification of victims easier. Others organised the transport of bodies from inside the airport to the Leuven
University Hospital.
Bourgeois will meet some 400 volunteers in the
Red Cross building Sango in Mechelen this afternoon to thank them personally and talk to them
about their experiences.
In related news, last week’s friendly match between
the Red Devils and Portugal in Leiria included a
tribute to the victims of the attacks. During the
singing of the national anthems, the players stood
in mixed ranks, wearing shirts with the message:
“In memory of all victims Brussels, 22.03.2016”.
Fans carried banners reading “Ik ben Brussel” and
waved Belgian flags.
The Portuguese sports daily A Bola devoted its
front page to the colours of the Belgian flag, with
the message “Today we are also Belgians”. The
match had originally been planned for Brussels but
was switched to Leiria following the attacks. \ AH
\ COVER STORY
APRIL 6, 2016
Brothers in arms
Canada in Flanders tells the story of arduous journey and ultimate sacrifice
INFLANDERSFIELDS.BE
continued from page 1
soldiers from the UK or anywhere
else. Many Canadians were
shocked by Germany’s brutal invasion of Belgium. Others saw war as
a romantic adventure, an opportunity to escape the monotony of
work – or the economic recession
that Canada was experiencing.
Recruits were given basic training
at the hastily built camp at Valcartier, Quebec. Only two months after
the outbreak of war, on 3 October 1914, the first 32,000-strong
contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force sailed for the UK.
The journey across the Atlantic took two weeks. After arriving
at Plymouth, the soldiers disembarked and boarded trains for
Salisbury Plain in the southwest
of England. Here, the Canadians
trained for four months, most of
it in terrible mud, as England was
experiencing one of its wettest
winters in decades. Little did
they know that this was nothing compared to the mud of Flanders in which they would soon be
mired.
The haste to send forces had unfortunate consequences. The soldiers’
boots, for instance, proved unable
to withstand the UK’s wet weather.
“Our nice soft Canadian brown
shoes quickly took on the appearance of soggy moccasins,” recalled
William Peden of the 8th Battalion.
Backpacks were dumped because
they were uncomfortable and
could not carry enough ammunition. The trucks brought over were
scrapped because spares could not
be found. The horse-drawn wagons
were found to be too flimsy.
Re-equipped with British Army’s
equipment, by February 1915 the
Canadian Expeditionary Force –
organised into combat formations,
the largest of which was the Canadian Corps – had taken up positions along the Western front in
France and Belgium. They were
soon called into action.
In April 1915, the 1st Canadian Division fought in the Second Battle
of Ypres. The outnumbered Canadians faced not only the German
guns but also a newly released
weapon: chlorine gas. Ypres was
the site of the first mass use of this
chemical as a battlefield agent.
Lieutenant-Colonel
George
Nasmith, a Canadian chemist charged with testing drinking
water, was the first to identify the
cloud of greenish-yellow gas rolling towards the Canadian positions. He told the men around him
to urinate on their cotton handkerchiefs and hold them over their
noses. It wasn’t particularly effective, but it was probably better
than nothing.
As the battle progressed, a third of
the force – 6,000 soldiers – were
killed, wounded or captured. But
the Canadians kept the Germans
from breaking through.
© Courtesy In Flanders Fields Museum
St Julien Canadian Memorial, also known as the Brooding Soldier, at Vancouver Corner, Ypres Salient
By October 1916, with the Canadian government ensuring a
steady stream of soldiers crossing
the Atlantic, the Canadian Corps
had grown to four infantry divisions supported by strong artillery,
cavalry, engineers and auxiliary
forces. There was a total of more
than 80,000 men.
In the autumn of 1917, LieutenantGeneral Sir Arthur Currie led the
Canadian Corps during the Battle
of Passchendaele. Canadian troops
played a key role in the battle,
although they suffered huge losses:
16,000 killed or wounded.
“Of all the battlefields in which
Canadians fought during this
war, Passchendaele was by far the
worst,” writes John Marteinson in
his illustrated history of the Canadian Army, We Stand on Guard.
Canadian men and women served
in many different capacities during
the First World War. Members of
the Canadian Forestry Corps cut
timber; Canadian railway troops
operated light railway networks
immediately behind the lines;
medical units and Canadian Nursing Sisters served on the Western
Front.
Canadian airmen – like Theodore
Glasgow – distinguished themselves serving in British air forces,
as fighter and reconnaissance
pilots, aerial observers, mechanics
and flight instructors.
By the end of the war, some 619,000
Canadians had enlisted in the
Canadian Expeditionary Force
for service overseas. This was an
enormous contribution from a
country of just under 8 million
in 1914. Approximately 7% of the
total population of Canada was
in uniform at some point during
the conflict, and hundreds of
thousands of additional Canadians worked on the home front in
support of the war effort.
ern front.
But the final casualty figures make
stark reading. Out of over 600,000
who enlisted in the Canadian
Expeditionary Force, more than
60,000 were killed and 172,000
wounded.
On the occasion of the commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the Battles of Mount Sorrel
and Hill 62 (2-13 June 1916), the
Our nice soft Canadian brown
shoes quickly took on the
appearance of soggy moccasins
While initially consisting mostly
of white British-born Canadians, the Canadian Expeditionary
Force also included other cultural
groups: aboriginals of the First
Nations, black Canadians and
Americans, and even West Indians
from the island of Bermuda.
Canadians were in the forefront
of the Allied advance that finally
defeated Germany. By the end of
the war, Canadian soldiers had
come to be regarded as exceptional fighters. Both Allied and
German military commanders
considered the Canadian Corps
as one of the most effective Allied
military formations on the West-
exhibition Canada in Flanders in
Ypres examines how Canada in
Flanders – as well as Flanders in
Canada – lives on in many ways
100 years on.
The exhibition traces the lives and
deaths of a number of Canadian
soldiers during the First World
War. Their stories are backed up by
a wealth of original material. These
include hopeful letters written
to fearful parents and emotional
notes scribbled to anguished
sweethearts on picture postcards
Until 3 July
of Ypres, but also cigarette packs
with trading cards that would have
been swapped during card games
in the trenches.
There are Brodie helmets with
holes drilled in them to carry cap
badges, and gas masks that make
you wonder whether or not they
were put on in time. You can also
find fascinating aerial photos,
monochrome snaps of desolation and despair, as well as hastily
drawn sketches and painstakingly
composed poems.
Canada in Flanders wouldn’t be
complete without a profile of the
war’s most famous Canadian –
John McCrae, writer of the wellknown poem “In Flanders Fields”,
which led to the adoption of the
poppy as a symbol of Remembrance Day.
But McCrae does not outshine
other Canadian writers who served
in and wrote about the war in Flanders and who remained undeservedly in his shadow: Robert Service,
Frank Prewett, Harry Amoss, Frank
S Brown and Robert Stanley Weir.
And if you look carefully, you
might find a poem written not by
a soldier, but by a soldier’s mother:
“At Mendinghem near Provan, NW
of Ypres”.
It’s attributed to Louise C Glasgow,
mother of young Theodore.
In Flanders Fields Museum
Grote Markt 34, Ypres
\5
\ BUSINESS
week in
business
Air Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines has drawn
up plans for an immediate
return to Brussels Airport
as soon as it is ready to open
again after the attacks of 22
March. Priority will go to
long-haul flights to Africa
and North America, spokesperson Geert Sciot said.
Meanwhile, Ryanair said it
would fly out of Charleroi
until at least 7 April.
Cinemas Kinepolis
Cinema chain Kinepolis must sell off two cinemas belonging to Utopolis
in order for its takeover of
Utpolis to be approved by
competition authorities. The
cinemas, in Mechelen and
Aarschot, need to be sold
to prevent the new group
becoming too dominant.
Fitness Basic Fit
The Basic Fit chain is
the latest to sign on to
consumer affairs minister
Kris Peeters’ code of conduct
for fitness centres, bringing
the number to 320 out of a
total of 800 in the country.
The code covers matters
like automatic prolonging
of membership and the ability to rescind a contract on
medical advice.
Hotels BHA
The Brussels Hotel Association has called for the
government to take urgent
measures as hotel occupancy in Brussels dropped
below 20% during the Easter
holidays, following the
terrorist attacks and the
closure of Brussels Airport.
Retail Metro
Germany’s Metro group,
parent company of Makro
and Media Markt, is to split
in two, the company said.
Metro will continue to operate wholesale and food
activities, including Makro,
while consumer electronics
– Media Markt and Saturn –
will be hived off under a new
company.
Temping
Accent Jobs
Management at the temp
agency has succeeded in
convincing its staff not to
stand in union elections. As
the deadline for nominations
passed, no-one from Accent
had put their name forward,
earning each member of the
company’s 800-strong workforce a new smartphone and
an extra day’s holiday.
\6
€47 million fund to bring top
scientists to Flanders
Odysseus programme to establish 25 research groups for five years
Andy Furniere
More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu
T
he Flemish Fund for Scientific Research
is investing €47.5 million to attract top
international scientists to Flanders.
Through the Odysseus programme, 25
researchers will receive substantial funding for
five years.
The scientists will start working at one of the five
Flemish universities from 1 October. The largest
budget was allocated to Indian-American microbiologist Kodi Ravichandran, who receives €7.5
million to swap the University of Virginia in the
US for Ghent University (UGent). Italian medical scientist Andrea Cerutti gets €6.2 million to
come to UGent, after working at the Mount Sinai
School of Medicine in New York.
In total, 25 researchers of seven nationalities will
come to Flanders. Fifteen are Belgians returning after a stint abroad. Among them are medical scientist Annelies van Rie, who will move
from the University of North Carolina in the US
to Antwerp University, and physicist Mounem
Mouazen Abdul, who moves from Cranfield
University in the UK to UGent.
Ten researchers go to the University of Leuven,
six to UGent and five to the Free University of
Brussels (VUB). The universities of Antwerp and
Hasselt each welcome two new scientists.
The funding will be used to set up research
groups led by the scientists. In total, the investment will create jobs for 134 extra researchers.
University of Virginia’s chair of microbiology and immunology,
Kodi Ravichandran, will spend the next five years in Ghent
Zeebrugge loses major Far East
container service
Pop-up initiatives to take over
vacant shops in Antwerp
The port of Zeebrugge has lost one of the most important Far East
container shipping services in the world, according to the trade magazine Flows. As a result, the port is left with only one such service.
According to Flows, Zeebrugge was dropped out of the shipping loop of
AEX1/AEC1/FAL8 Service. This particular loop, which is made up of preset routes for container ships, is serviced by the United Arab Shipping
Company, which includes some of the largest ships in the world, each
capable of carrying close to 20,000 containers.
Ships that are on their way to Zeebrugge will be handled at APM Terminals; the last of them is scheduled to arrive at the port on 6 May. The next
container ship destined for Belgium was set to begin loading last week in
Qingdao, China, but from then on the shipping schedules show no more
arrivals at Zeebrugge.
According to Flows, Zeebrugge has been dropped from the loop because
of insufficiently large volumes. The port now retains only one service
from the Far East, the FAL1. \ AH
On 16 April, a group of start-ups
is taking over eight vacant shops
on Bredabaan in Antwerp’s Merksem district. The team of 14 entrepreneurs will spend the next 11
weeks trying out concepts on
one of the city’s busiest shopping
streets.
The start-ups range from children’s clothing to street food to
upcycling second-hand furniture. “There’s been a lot of interest among the entrepreneurs
involved in this project,” said the
project leader, Dette van Zeeland.
“Pop-up Bredabaan has created a
lot of new collaborations.”
WoRkpalace, formerly a Chinese
restaurant known as Wokpalace, is a co-working project. The
five women behind Droom, on
the other hand, offer creative
Two major takeovers
in transport sector
Two major takeovers in the transport sector took place last week:
Genk-based H Essers took over
the West Flanders family firm
Verstraete of Moorslede, and
Antwerp-based Trafuco took over
Alfred Talke Transport Service
(ATTS), the subsidiary of German
group Alfred Talke.
Verstraete is active in the transport of construction materials
as well as transport and installation of machines. The company
employs 65 people and has a
fleet of 56 wagons and 76 trailers.
Annual turnover in recent years
has been around €7 million, with
a profit of €165,000 in 2014. Essers
will take over the fleet and staff.
Verstraete is mainly active in the
west of the country and in northern France, while Essers is principally present in the east of
Belgium, the Netherlands and
Luxembourg. No financial details
of the deal were revealed.
ATTS of Zwijndrecht, meanwhile,
has a fleet of 30 trucks and is
mainly active in the liquid chem-
© Courtesy Droom
workshops, as well as individually designed children’s toys and
clothing. Eveline Van Oystaeyen
will bring old furniture back to
life, while the self-service restaurant Den 2170 will offer healthy
meals. Nearby Café De Ziel resembles a living room.
Van Zeeland hopes at least some
of the entrepreneurs will find a
permanent spot in the area. \ AH
Lorry drivers having problems
with road toll equipment
© Jimmy/Flickr Commons
icals market in western Europe.
The acquisition is the first for
Trafuco since a capital injection
last year, and the arrival of venture
capital fund Down2Earth, but it
will not be the last, according to
founder Marc Van den Broeck.
“We aim to double the group
within five years,” he said. “We
are looking for interested parties
with whom we can achieve economies of scale.”
ATTS has 40 employees and
turnover of €7 million in 2014,
but losses that year of €328,000.
The acquisition brings Trafuco’s employees up to 265, with
215 wagons and turnover of €35
million. \ AH
New road tolls for goods vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes came
into force on Belgium’s roads last week, as six out of 10 lorry operators
were experiencing problems with the equipment required, according to
a survey carried out by the transport industry federation Febetra.
The main problem concerns the On-Board Units (OBUs) – the computers
installed in each truck that calculate the number of kilometres travelled
on Belgian roads and how much toll is owed. Users complain that OBUs
have a tendency to stop working abruptly. There are also complaints that
the call centre of Satellic, the company that runs the system, is not accessible. Some users report spending 40 minutes on hold trying to report
a problem.
Febetra spokesperson Isabelle De Maegt has called for the problems to
be sorted out urgently. “We cannot have a situation where transporters
who have done everything possible to follow the rules find themselves
being fined after 1 April because the system has broken down,” she said.
According to Satellic, the defective OBUs require a software update,
which can be applied automatically, without the need for the unit to be
replaced. According to Satellic CEO Rudolf Pospichil, of the 2,000 OBUs
that have been reported defective, 90% have already been fixed.
The first day of the toll saw long lines of trucks queuing at border crossings from the Netherlands at Meer, Mol-Postel and Maasmechelen, with
foreign truckers anxious to buy one of the OBUs being sold from vending
machines, in an effort to avoid a fine of up to €1,000. \ AH
\ INNOVATION
APRIL 6, 2016
Fear no more
week in
innovation
Nurses to give
unsupervised
vaccinations
KU Leuven launches study to find a cure for phobias
Andy Furniere
More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu
I
s there a pill that can impact
the power of our fears? It may
sound like science fiction, but
researchers at the University of
Leuven (KU Leuven) are working
to make it happen in the not-toodistant future.
If the study WipeOutFear proves
successful, many common ailments
both physical and psychological –
like vertigo, addiction and depression – could be treated with just a
single pill, says psychology professor Tom Beckers, who heads up the
project.
Until the beginning of the 21st
century, crucial life experiences
were thought to leave permanent
– and stable – memory traces in
the brain, which could later evoke
certain emotional reactions, like
anxiety, if people were to undergo a
relatively similar experience.
Scientists eventually discovered
that memories could degrade over
time as other memories interfered
with them. But they still believed
that some of the traces in the brain
had to remain unchanged.
This theory was ultimately
disproven by research carried out
at New York University in 2000.
Through tests on rats, researchers
discovered that memory traces – or
engrams – can be altered by strong
antibiotics.
“The rats would receive an electric
shock when they were put in a cage,
and they would exhibit anxiety
the next time they were placed in
there,” explains Beckers. “But when
they were administered a strong
antibiotic, the rats became insensitive to the experience, as if the
memory of the pain had gone away.”
The reasoning was that the antibiotic had affected protein synthesis, essential to the formation of
memory traces. But because of its
toxic characteristics, the drugs
© Ingimage
could not be used on human
subjects, so the New York researchers had to look for an alternative.
They found it a few years later –
in the form of the beta blocker
propranolol, a pill commonly used
to treat high blood pressure. In
2009, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) took the research a step
further through innovative tests on
people. Beckers, who obtained his
PhD from KU Leuven in 2002 and
joined UvA in 2008, was involved in
the experiments.
The Dutch researchers confirmed
the effect of the beta blocker on
anxiety. The team administered
an electric shock to their subjects
while showing them a photo of a
spider; they eventually became
conditioned to be frightened by
the picture even in the absence of
a shock.
The subjects who received a beta
blocker were no longer startled by
the photos; those who got a placebo
were.
The team of researchers then tested
the effects of the beta blocker on
people suffering from arachnophobia, a fear of spiders. What
they found was remarkable: The
beta blocker not only helped the
research participants become
more courageous in the presence
of spiders, but some of them even
went as far as to approach the
spiders. In surveys taken later, the
participants clearly indicated that
they felt less afraid.
According to Becker, however,
the tests did not prove that the
memory of the scary experience –
either that of the electric shocks
or of seeing a hairy spider – could
disappear altogether. Instead, he
explains, the findings revealed
that the beta blockers may have
an effect on the specific part of the
brain that is responsible for maintaining the emotional elements of
each memory, separate from where
the factual elements are stored.
Similar experiments were later
conducted on people with psychological traumas and smoking addictions. But “while you would expect
that smokers could be helped if
you adjusted the emotional memories associated with a pack of cigarettes,” Beckers says, that didn’t
happen. Instead, all subsequent
experiments failed to repeat the
results of the Dutch study.
That didn’t discourage Beckers,
who returned to KU Leuven in 2010.
To put the memory research back
on track, the professor and his team
will now examine in detail the basic
mechanisms involved in altering
our memories. The WipeOutFear
project has received a grant of €2
million for five years from the EU.
Among other things, the researchers suspect that an element of
surprise may play an important
role. In the arachnophobia test,
for example, the participants were
first misled into believing that
they would do an experiment with
spiders, but they just got a beta
blocker that day instead.
“We think that the experience of
anticipating something frightening
and then being surprised makes
the memory traces unstable and
thus more susceptible to changes,”
Beckers explains.
If the results of WipeOutFear meet
the expectations and confirm
the effectiveness of beta blockers, the findings could fundamentally change the field of psychiatry. According to Beckers, taking
just one pill could help people with
all kinds of phobias, anxiety disorders, addictions and depression.
“It could work in all cases where
emotional memories play a role
and thus significantly improve
people’s lives,” he says.
The drugs, he adds, could even help
people overcome a breakup or the
death of a loved one ‒ to a certain
extent. “Mourning experiences
enrich our personalities,” Beckers
says. “So the medication should
only be given to people who cannot
cope with the sadness and don’t see
a way out anymore.”
But the possibilities may also lead
to questions of ethics. As Beckers
warns: “We wouldn’t want to see
pills used by criminals or soldiers
who committed war crimes to clear
their conscience.”
Q&A
UZLEUVEN.BE
Greet Van den Berghe, head of the paediatric intensive care unit at
Leuven University Hospital, has co-ordinated a study that shows that
administering little to no nutrition to children in the ICU helps them
recover faster
No food for up to a week sounds
a little dangerous…
And yet our research has shown
that during the first week in the
intensive care unit receiving little
to no nutrition helps critically
ill children recover much faster
than if they were to be given food
intravenously. During our study,
when little to no enteral feeding
was provided, children had less
severe infections, and there were
fewer cases of kidney and liver
failure. We also didn’t need to
administer as much mechanical
ventilation, and the children had
to spend less time in the ICU and
from shock and trauma to lifethreatening complications after
heart surgery.
in the hospital overall.
What’s the explanation?
We think that the underlying
mechanisms relate to the impact
of fasting on the repair of cell
damage that accumulates when
one is seriously ill. Fasting also
has a positive effect on white
blood cells, making them more
capable of killing invading microorganisms.
Who were the subjects of your
study?
The children ranged from newborn
babies to 17-year-olds, but nearly
© Courtesy UZ Leuven
half of them were younger than
one year old. We wanted the study
to have broad applicability, so we
included patients who suffer from
all kinds of illnesses. These ranged
Will more ICUs adopt your
approach?
The three participating intensive
care centres have already implemented the new feeding strategy in their practice. But the list
of benefits goes further: artificial
feeding can be expensive, so our
strategy is not only clinically effective, it is also highly cost-effective.
And on average the duration of stay
in the intensive care unit has been
reduced from nine to six days, and
the duration of hospital stay from
21 to 17 days. That’s significant. So
yes, I expect more ICUs will implement our approach. \ Interview by
Senne Starckx
Nurses are to be allowed
to administer vaccinations
without the supervision of a
doctor from 9 April, health
minister Maggie De Block has
announced. The vaccinations
must still be prescribed by a
doctor, but vaccinations will
be able to be better organised
within government services
like family agency Kind en
Gezin, where until now only
doctors were allowed to vaccinate babies and children. In
the run-up to the annual flu
season, home nurses will be
allowed to administer vaccinations, as long as they have
access to a doctor in the case
of complications. De Block
said that she hopes that the
change in the legislation “will
have a positive influence on
the number of vaccinations
among the population”.
New app for non-Dutch
speaking patients
Flemish family agency Kind
en Gezin is collaborating with
Ghent University to develop
a multilingual app that will
facilitate the communication between nurses and nonDutch speakers. According
to the agency, communication between nurses and nonDutch speaking patients can
be problematic and require
gestures and visual tools.
Thanks to the app, patients
will also be able to communicate emotions and, if necessary, request the help of an
interpreter. The first version
of the app focuses on potty
training, and, for people who
cannot read, the app will
include a spoken variant. In
the near future, it will also be
expanded by topics related
to raising younger children,
including feeding and vaccination.
Survey looks at impact
of terrorist attacks
Scientists at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) have
launched a survey to measure the impact of the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport
and Maalbeek metro station
on the health of the population. The survey will focus on
residents’ physical and mental
condition following the
attacks, particularly feelings
of anxiety. It will also measure
the extent to which respondents express these emotions.
The goal of the study is to get
a comprehensive overview
of the impact of terrorism to
ensure that proper measures
are taken to limit the impact
and negative consequences
on public health following any
future incidents. \ AF
\ wellbeing.brussels
\7
\ EDUCATION
APRIL 6, 2016
Teaching the teachers
week in
education
Flemish educators exchange advice with teachers in developing countries
Andy Furniere
More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu
VVOB.BE
Since the 1980s, the non-profit VVOB has
been sending Flemish teachers to developing
countries to help create educational
programmes with real-life benefits for local
students. And the advice works both ways.
A
t any given time, educators across
Flanders are travelling abroad – be it to
Congo, Suriname or Vietnam – to provide
assistance and advice to locals about best
practices in education. But it’s not a one-way
street. The Flemish education sector also profits
from the experience gained by VVOB abroad.
Since the 1980s, the non-profit Flemish Association for Development Co-operation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) has been sending Flemish education advisors to developing countries
to improve the quality of lessons in primary and
secondary schools.
Thirty Flemish education experts are currently
working on VVOB programmes in 10 countries
in Africa, Asia and South America. They mainly
provide expertise and training to the local teachers’ education departments, with a team of local
staff and in co-operation with local education
ministries, so that their advice can be integrated
in a structural way in the education systems.
VVOB’s mission has remained fundamentally
unchanged since the late politician Daniël
Coens launched it in 1982: stimulating development by strengthening education. “In the 1980s,
Coens was both minister of education and of
development co-operation, so he fully understood the necessity of quality education in the
development of a country,” explains VVOB director Bart Dewaele. “A good education is essential
to ensuring democratic participation, economic
opportunities and conflict management.”
Throughout the years, VVOB’s methods have
evolved. The number of projects, for instance,
has been reduced significantly in favour of a
more focused approach. Today, VVOB concentrates on three areas: developing quality preschool education, improving lessons in primary
education and optimising technical and professional studies in secondary education in order
to expand job opportunities.
“Flanders is a global frontrunner in fun learning methods for pre-school pupils, with much
attention paid to attitude, diversity and physical
activities,” says Dewaele. “We also have a wealth
of expertise concerning lessons on mathematics and problem-solving techniques in primary
education and concerning the preparation of
students in technical and professional education for the job market.”
VVOB co-operates closely with Flemish higher
education institutions to assemble this expertise. In Flanders, schools and companies are
increasingly joining forces to prepare students
for the work floor, while the potential of this
kind of collaboration is not yet well-known in
many developing countries.
For example, VVOB set up a project in Ecuador
in which companies send technical equipment
and staff to schools, so students in technical
and professional studies can be better trained
for future jobs. Flemish steel wire manufacturer Bekaert works with educators to improve
lessons on metalworking in Ecuador.
VVOB also concentrates its efforts on equal
opportunities in education, which are often
linked to gender issues. In Congo for example, the non-profit is trying to break down the
stereotype that girls shouldn’t study for jobs in,
among other sectors, construction and metalworking. In Suriname, VVOB staff offer ideas
Teaching union
to tackle stress
To improve burnout rates
among teachers, education union ACOD Onderwijs Limburg is setting up a
free series of psychological
sessions. According to the
union, teachers in their 20s
or early 30s are increasingly
vulnerable to burnout. The M
decree, a legislative measure
that moved many children
from special education into
mainstream education, and
the Smartschool communication platform also increase
the pressure on teachers, said
the union. Now, 80 teachers in Limburg can register for a programme aimed
at preventing burnout. The
sessions will focus on helping
teachers to not judge themselves when the pressure gets
too much and to consciously
take care of themselves and
accept their limits.
Reform of teaching
studies approved
© Courtesy VVOB
Secondary school girls in Congo, where Flemish educators have helped to break down gender barriers in education
on making lessons more appealing for teenage
boys, who often drop out to get low-skilled jobs.
In general, the Flemish experts try to make the
lessons more interactive. They suggest more
practical tasks, varied assignments and group
work.
“Ministries abroad are also often inspired by
our policy of giving teachers a lot of responsibility regarding the progress of students,” says
Dewaele. Unlike students in many other regions,
Flemish students in the final year of secondary
school don’t have to pass standardised exams –
created by the government – to get into higher
education.
A good education
is essential to
ensuring democratic
participation and
economic opportunities
Flemish teachers have a lot of autonomy in how
they help students achieve the eindtermen – the
final requirements for pupils to graduate. “This
way, teachers are often more committed,” says
Dewaele.
VVOB, however, realises Flanders can also benefit from its experience abroad and so has set
up the project Scholenbanden (School Links).
Scholenbanden helps schools in Flanders and in
developing countries to organise activities that
focus on learning about each other, from each
other and with each other.
Thirty Flemish schools have established such a
partnership with a school in a developing country. The partnerships serve to enrich the knowledge of students but also of teachers and school
heads.
“We can learn a lot, for example, from the way
schools in Zimbabwe integrate children with
disabilities into regular education, without
many facilities. Among other methods, they let
children assist each other,” explains Dewaele.
“Many schools in developing countries are also
better at involving parents in the running of the
schools, which helps to create a positive environment for youngsters at home.”
School staff in developing countries are also
often remarkably passionate and determined,
says Veerle Cnudde, who has been working for
VVOB for 17 years. “It takes a lot of courage to
teach a class of, say, 50 students every day, in
difficult circumstances and for a low wage,” she
says.
Cnudde will start a new programme in Cambodia next year, following on having participated
in a different programme there four years ago.
She has also worked for VVOB in Chile and
Zambia.
For the next five years, Cnudde will concentrate on improving maths education in primary
schools. The programme has been launched
at the request of the education ministry, she
explains, “because Cambodian youngsters are
scoring badly on mathematics tests compared
to other countries in the region”. Her team
provides advice to teaching educators at workshops and by developing new materials for
them.
“Most of the children in Cambodia go to school,
but many of them can’t read or write at the end
of primary school,” says Cnudde. “Teachers
often have a lack of knowledge about the subject
they are teaching, and they also tend to teach
passively, by just reading the theory out loud in
front of the classroom, for example.”
VVOB will try to help make the lessons in Cambodia more interactive, more rooted in practical
aspects and more linked to the real lives of the
students. “Instead of abstract assignments, you
can link certain exercises to a common activity, like buying food at the market,” explains
Cnudde. VVOB also strives to integrate group
work and will help to provide materials that can
make lessons more fun.
The organisation recently received the assistance of an influential Flemish ambassador:
former European Council president Herman
Van Rompuy. He will use his network to attract
the interest of other EU member states and
perhaps also additional funding. VVOB has in
the past received EU support for certain projects
and receives structural funding from both the
Belgian and Flemish governments.
The Flemish government
has approved the reform of
teaching studies in institutions of higher education.
The reform aims to improve
the image of the teaching
profession and make it easier
for students to transition
from another discipline to
teaching studies. From January 2019, centres for adult
education (CVOs) will not
be accredited to offer the
courses. The government is
also launching the “educative Master’s degree”, which
students can start immediately after graduating from
secondary school. Furthermore, all study programmes
will incorporate more learning material focusing on
social issues. An obligatory
but non-binding entrance
exam is also being introduced.
3% extra marks to
on-time graduates
Ghent University (UGent) is
considering offering students
an extra 3% on their final
results if they complete their
studies within the minimum
period. According to a UGent
spokesperson, some education experts think the education system is too flexible
and measures are necessary
to ensure that students don’t
take too long to finish their
diplomas. The new system
would be introduced in
both Bachelor’s and Master’s
programmes. The system will
not apply to students who
wouldn’t pass their exams
without the extra 3%. The
final decision on the matter
is to be taken in May. Some
experts question the legality
of the procedure. \ AF
\9
\ LIVING
week in
activities
Play Outside Day
An annual event sponsored by
the government of Flanders
and children’s TV stations,
which will go dark for an
afternoon so that kids have
one less reason to stay inside
(parents might want to take
away the smartphones and
tablets). There are outdoor
activities organised in every
province. 13 April 13.00-17.00,
across Flanders; free
\ buitenspeeldag.be
Musical walks
The Merode Festival, a weekend of classical music held
during the Ascension Day
holiday, includes four guided
walks through beautiful countryside and heritage sites,
with stops for performances
and storytelling. Registration required. 5-8 May, across
Flemish Brabant; €12.50
\ merodefestival.be
Floralia Brussels
Held on the grounds of a
castle, this spring flower festival features more than one
million bulbs in bloom – 500
varieties, with a whopping
400 kinds of tulips. Flower
arrangements and decorative
plants are displayed inside
the large greenhouse. Don’t
miss the flower labyrinth, the
restored 14th-century tower
and the azalea and rhododendron garden. 6 April to 6 May
10.00-18.00, Groot-Bijgaarden
Castle, Isidoor Van Beverenstraat 5; €12
\ floralia-brussels.be
Start to Golf
Thinking about taking up
a new sport? How about
golf? (It’ll be a competition
sport at this summer’s Olympic Games for the first time
since 1904.) You can sign up
for a free introductory group
lesson at one of dozens of golf
clubs across Flanders during
this annual event. Registration required. 10 April, across
Flanders; free
\ starttogolf.be
Hares and Rabbits
It might be over for the rest
of us, but Easter is still in full
swing at Nature Education
Centre De Vroente. Kids are
invited to spend the morning
searching for the rabbit families Stamper and Huppel in
the nearby fields and learning all about the animals in
the process. The afternoon is
spent on a game pitting the
bunny families against each
other. 7 April, De Vroente,
Kalmthout (Antwerp province); free
\ devroente.be
\ 10
Movies from home
Pop-up cinema for refugees outgrows its modest roots
Liz Newmark
More articles by Liz \ flanderstoday.eu
CINEMAXIMILIAAN.COM
S
tarting with just a projector
and a screen under a tent in
Brussels’ Maximiliaan Park,
Cinemaximiliaan is expanding its
activities throughout Belgium and
internationally, with sub-groups
emerging in Antwerp, Ghent,
Hasselt and Liège.
Described by its founders, Gawan
Fagard and Gwendolyn Lootens,
as “a pop-up cinema for and with
people on the move”, Cinemaximiliaan travels to remote asylum
centres, offering film screenings, art exhibitions and museum
visits to the centre’s residents. It is
currently hosting, for example, a
show at Hasselt’s Z33 arts centre
featuring 21 artists, including four
refugees.
Fagard, 30, says that film and art
will remain key “because that
makes up our professional background and is also our passion. Now
many volunteers and arts institutions support us”. Projects coming
up include the 2 May premiere of
Syrian film The Emigrants at Bozar,
with a discussion and master class.
Cinemaximiliaan also stars in
next month’s kick-off of the annual
Brussels arts festival Kunstenfestivaldesarts, organising a debate
on Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s
video trilogy Cabaret Crusades.
Later in the month, Cinemaximiliaan hosts “an evening of dance
and music from Syria, Iraq and
Palestine,” says Fagard.
Cinemaximiliaan is particularly
big in Flanders, he continues, with
regular film screenings in asylum
centres in Sint-Niklaas, Ghent,
Lombardsijde, Broechem, Houthalen-Helchteren, Hechtel-Eksel and
Lubbeek.
“From there, many other projects
have emerged, like visiting Ghent’s
contemporary
art
museum
SMAK and taking part in Ghent’s
Courtisane
and
Turnhout’s
MOOOV film festivals,” Fagard
© Courtesy Cinemaximiliaan
says. “We also spearhead educational programmes for schools
and newcomers in Hasselt and
Antwerp.”
The project further collaborates with art house cinemas and
schools, including Zebra cinema
in Hasselt and the OFFOff series
of screenings at Ghent’s school
of arts to make “less mainstream
programme choices,” explains
Fagard. “We’ve discovered that
many newcomers have rarely seen
films from their own countries.
So we’re trying to show Middle
Eastern as well as classic Syrian
films. Evenings include a space for
debate, as these films often talk
about the region’s problems.”
Fagard, an art historian from SintNiklaas, and Ghent visual artist
Lootens, 34, previously collaborated on the Brussels Wolke
project for creatives, which ended
last year. When the refugee crisis
escalated last summer, they
decided to launch Cinemaximiliaan at the camp that sprouted up
in Brussels’ city farm, the Maximiliaan Park.
Starting small, Cinemaximiliaan
now involves a large community of
people dispersed in asylum centres
all over the country. “It is important to keep it fluid, but Cinemaximiliaan can only grow, as unfortunately more and more people
will be forced by the hardships in
some parts of the world to come
here,” says Fagard. “Our activities
will probably shift according to the
ever-changing needs of newcomers.”
People on the run, he continues,
“have often been through very
harsh and difficult conditions
and, once they arrive in Belgium,
waiting for their papers is very
stressful. We aim to give them a
moment to escape this hard reality by watching films or visiting an
exhibition – sharing a good time.
We don’t just work for refugees; we
work with them.”
In the future, he says, “we hope
the people who took part in our
programmes can help others to
find their way, and that, in 10 years’
time, Cinemaximiliaan will be a
big family”.
With an ever-changing team
involving many volunteers, Cinemaximiliaan have always wanted
to stay “as non-bureaucratic as
possible,” Fagard says. But after
nearly six months without institutional or financial support, it has
now become an official non-profit
organisation, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign and funding
from foundations like the Goethe
Institute.
“We are looking into finding
more structured funding to keep
the platform financially healthy,”
Fagard concludes, adding hopefully: “Ideas, information and help
are always welcome.”
BITE
Ginius gin wins gold medal in San Francisco
Ginius, a gin made in West Flanders,
just won a gold medal at the San
Francisco World Spirits Competition as Best Gin. It is the second gin
developed by Frederik Van Duuren
in the unlikely setting of Oostduinkerke, a district of Koksijde,
on the Flemish coast. The distiller
calls it “the herbal little brother of
Duingin”, his first spirit.
Ginius is made with nine botanicals: grapefruit and lime for a fresh
citrus touch; lavender for floral
notes; black pepper for warmth,
angelica root for dryness and bay for
complexity. The recipe also includes
iris, cardamom and, of course, juniper. Because of the high concentration of volatile essential oils, the
spirit goes cloudy when ice is
added.
Van Duuren was delighted to
get the news from San Francisco. “Duingin was
already a dream come
true – my very own
craft spirit made with
ingredients from this
area. Now that Ginius
has proved to be to
appeal to the taste
of the people in San
Francisco, it’s beyond
my wildest dreams.”
The San Francisco
World Spirits Competition, launched in
2000, attracts more
than 1,000 entries a year from
distillers across the globe and
calls itself the “most respected
and influential spirits competition in the world”.
While the name of
Ginius might point
modestly to Van
Duuren’s skill as a
taste-maker,
the
name of Duingin puts
its home firmly at
the coast and in the
duinen (dunes). The
main flavour note of
that gin is the berry
of the sea buckthorn
(Hippophae
rhamnooides), a plant that
© Courtesy Ginius
ginginius.be
grows all over the dunes – incidentally helping to hold the sandy
barriers together against wind and
water.
The berries bring a pronounced
bitter taste, they are balanced by a
mix of botanicals, including cardamom, iris, lavender, angelica and
juniper.
Caution: The Duingin is 43% alcohol;
the little green baby Ginius packs a
serious 50%. To serve, Van Duuren
recommends a Britvic Indian tonic,
Schweppes Orange Blossom Lavender or Fever Tree Indian tonic, one
part gin to two parts mixer. Add ice
(more is more), lime zest and one
mint leaf (less is more) and serve.
\ Alan Hope
APRIL 6, 2016
Conflict management
An Jacobs on the British sense of humour and work that never gets boring
Sally Tipper
Follow Sally on Twitter \ @sallybtipper
In the second instalment of our series on
Flemish people living and working in the UK,
we talk to An Jacobs, who’s a lecturer at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
explain it.”
This genuine interest in international affairs
and security issues is key to her job. But,
Jacobs points out, it’s probably just as important to understand what the military is all
about and to develop both working relationships with military colleagues and positive
interactions with the cadets.
Cadets who are accepted to Sandhurst have
an extremely tough programme ahead of
them. “They get physical training, military
tactics, academic subjects, exercises and so
on, all mixed up and often on the same days,”
says Jacobs. “The officer cadets are extremely
tired, but they’re eager to learn, and have a
good sense of humour, which I appreciate. I
really admire them for what they do.”
T
he journey from Limburg to south-east
England isn’t an especially long one,
but An Jacobs from Genk did it the long
way round.
Her route has taken in a music degree, a spot
of performing arts, working for a think-tank
in Switzerland and as a political advisor to the
EU mission in Kosovo. And for the past two
years, she’s been a senior lecturer at the Royal
Military Academy Sandhurst, that most British of institutions.
“My first degree was in music, and I tried
teaching and performing arts for a while,” she
says of her early academic career. Then, while
working towards a degree in European studies and international relations in Maastricht,
she discovered a real interest in foreign policy
and security.
A job with the Centre for Security Studies
in Zurich followed, where she carried out
research into European security and defence
policy, and EU-Africa relations. It was during
her two years in Kosovo that she met her British partner.
“The agreement was that we both would find a
job either in Belgium or in England, and then
this position came up,” she says, referring to
Sandhurst. “But I didn’t think I was going to
be successful, applying to work at such a British institution. Now I love it.”
Is it unusual for foreigners to be taken on
there? “Historically, staff have mainly been
British, and they’re still the majority, of
course,” she explains, “but since I’ve joined
we’ve had quite a few other foreigners, and it’s
becoming a bit of a mix. In my department
particularly, though that might be down to
the nature of what we teach. It’s interesting
for our subjects to have people from different
places.”
The department she’s referring to is Defence
and International Affairs, and it covers international relations, security policy, armed
conflict, terrorism, counter-terrorism, insurgencies and more.
“It’s really about understanding current world
Whenever I switch
on the telly, my work
is always there
From studying music to lecturing cadets: An Jacobs from Genk works for the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
conflicts, their causes and consequences, and
which actors are involved,” she explains. The
British army has been heavily engaged in
the most challenging recent conflicts, which
makes teaching the officers a rewarding job.
“We give the cadets a framework for their
deployment,” she says, “to help them understand the operational context and the world
they’re operating in.”
That’s a world that’s never out of the news,
not least in the light of last month’s terrorist
attacks in Brussels. “It’s current, it’s immediate, and that’s one of the things I love about
the job,” says Jacobs. “I have to be constantly
following what’s happening in the world, in a
substantial amount of depth, which is what
keeps it fresh for me. In a lot of academic jobs
you teach the same thing over and over again,
and it can get a bit boring. Whereas I get paid
to study what’s changing in the world and
50 weekends in Flanders: City trip to Ypres
Flanders Today has launched an e-book
with ideas for how to spend a year’s worth
of weekends. Visit the link mentioned to
the right to get your copy of 50 Weekends in
Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestions every week here, too.
soldiers whose bodies vanished in the Ypres
battlefields. It is not even all of them. There
are a further 35,000 names on a wall at Tyne
Cot cemetery and still more on other monuments, making a total of 102,000 bodies that
were never recovered.
It’s hard to forget the First World War when
you spend a weekend in Ypres. The town is full
of reminders of the four-year global conflict,
from the quiet cemetery overlooking the
town moat to the revamped war museum in
the cloth hall. But Ypres is changing from a
town of memories to a place where you can
also sleep and eat in style.
\ toerisme-ieper.be
Stop for coffee at ’T BINNENHUYS 1772
A secret romantic cafe (pictured) is hidden
at the back of this rambling interior design
store located in an 18th-century townhouse.
Furnished with an old leather sofas, antique
lamps and faded photographs, it offers a
place to while away an hour with coffee
and cake sitting next to the old iron stove.
Gustave De Stuersstraat 8
Look at MENIN GATE
Nothing prepares you for the Menin Gate.
This huge limestone arch on the edge of the
old town is carved with the names of 54,896
Eat at SOUVENIR
This stylish restaurant with a modern Scandinavian interior of white walls and pale wood
is not like Ypres at all. The young Icelandic
This isn’t Jacobs’ first time living in England;
she also did her PhD in Manchester. Having
lived in both north and south, has she noticed
a divide? “It’s very different, but I was also at
different stages in my life and career,” she says.
“Being a student in Manchester was great: I
met some fun people, enjoyed the music
scene, and it was a really terrific experience.
For the life I had, Manchester was perfect, but
for the life I have now, I think Hampshire is
ideal.”
It’s a lovely part of the world, she says: London
on the doorstep, the south coast not far away
and plenty of nice countryside and small
market towns nearby. “I love living here,
and I find that the Brits have a great sense of
humour,” she says. “I sometimes forget that
I’m not from here, I just get on with life.”
Asked what she does in her free time, she
laughs. “Free time? I work! Whenever I switch
on the telly, my work is always there. I always
end up thinking, ‘Oh, I really need to read up
on that, I’m not sure I know enough about it’.”
TINYURL.COM/50WEEKENDS
filled with religious statues, paintings of
the Virgin and faded LP covers. The beer list
is not long, but it includes some fine local
bottles like Sint-Bernardus 12 and Omer.
The friendly owner attracts young musicians, teenagers drinking mojitos and tourists who have strayed here from the main
square. ’d Hondtstraat 18
chef Vilhjalmur Sigurdarson used to work
in the kitchens of In De Wulf in Dranouter,
where he learned to create sublime dishes
using the simplest local ingredients. He
cooks with meat from small West Flanders
farms, vegetables grown in the region and
the freshest fish from the North Sea.
\ souvenir-restaurant.be
Drink at DE 12 APOSTELS
This relaxed spot sports a dark red interior
Stay at MAIN STREET HOTEL
This cool hotel occupies a red brick building
with a small courtyard at the back. It is an
odd, fun place crammed with vintage ornaments and old photographs. The six guest
rooms are decorated with vintage wallpaper and antique bathtubs. The breakfast
menu rounds off a delightfully surprising
stay with fried black pudding served with
onions and apples. \ Derek Blyth
\ mainstreet-hotel.be
\ 11
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Newsletter marketing Newcomer half page.indd 1
19/05/15 10:38
Hey you.
Yes, you, with the smartphone.
There is an app for Flanders Today, you know, which makes it super easy
to keep up with daily news and features anywhere at any time on your
smartphone or tablet
There are 2 easy ways to download the app: visit www.fl
www.flanderstoday.eu
anderstoday.eu
and click on “Download the Flanders Today app” or go straight to your app
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erence
CHECK OUT OUR COOL-LOOKING,
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O
CTLY T
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HIS
If you download the pdf, it looks just like the paper you’re holding
in your hand (but your fingers
fingers won’t get all black)
Did we mention that the Flanders Today app is free?
It’s free.
\ ARTS
APRIL 6, 2016
Long live the Rock Rally
week in arts
& CULTURE
Biennial rock and pop competition still relevant after all these years
Christophe Verbiest
More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu
humo.be/rock-rally
I
f they wanted to, a new rock band in
Flanders could sign up for a rock contest
every month. OK, I’m exaggerating; but only
slightly.
There are plenty of band competitions in Flanders, but the original one is still the most influential. The biennial Rock Rally is organised by
the weekly magazine Humo. Previous winners
like Das Pop, Goose and The Van Jets have
become household names in Flanders and have
healthy careers abroad.
The next edition – on 10 April in Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique – is the 20th. Since the first
edition, in 1978, the music world has undergone
massive changes. For starters, at the end of the
1970s, Humo was one of the very few popular
publications in Flanders to regularly cover rock
music. In those internetless days, information
was scarce, so Humo’s pages were thoroughly
scrutinised by music fans.
Flanders also counted few radio stations focussing on contemporary rock. Now this music
forms the backbone of several stations. And
of course, in this day and age, anyone with the
slightest ambition to play live can promote
themselves on various social media platforms.
Is there still the need for a music competition if
you can launch your career with a catchy video
on YouTube?
Apparently there is: 876 bands registered for
this year’s Rock Rally. Jurgen Beckers, a Humo
rock scribe for nearly two decades, is one of the
two people who listened to all those demos sent
in by the aspiring candidates. It took them two
weeks to get through them all.
“Sometimes you know after 30 seconds that
you can skip a song,” he admits. “Even so, we
still check out the other songs on the demo.”
Exactly 100 bands were chosen to perform at 10
preselections across Flanders. A jury narrowed
them down to 20. These competed at two semifinals, in Ghent and Antwerp. From there, 10
made it to the final.
Flanders has seen a rise in rock competitions,
but none has become as successful as the Rock
Rally. Beckers, who’s performing jury duties for
the ninth time – a record – says that the Rally’s
strength is its simplicity. “All the other competitions have a more complicated formula, which,
in the end, waters down the essence. Our
approach is simple: The best band wins.”
The rules haven’t changed in 38 years: At each
stage of the competition, the selected artists
have to play three songs. During the semi-final,
one of those has to be a cover. That’s it.
“When internet and social media became
Delta Crash
Britpop rules when Delta Crash
are around. After being eliminated in the preselections in 2014,
they should be happy they made it
to the final this year
Dirk.
This foursome combines the
lamest band name with some of
Ghent city council has
approved a proposal to name
part of Walpoortstraat after the
late theatre director Romain
Deconinck. The new Deconinckplein is a small square in
front of Minardschouwburg,
the theatre where he produced
his greatest successes. The
building’s front steps are
already home to a statue of
Deconinck, considered one of
the leading figures in Flemish
popular theatre, who died in
1994.
Strip shop B-Gevaar
saved by auction
Brussels’ only Dutch-language
comic strip shop, B-Gevaar,
on Greepstraat in the centre,
has been saved from closure,
thanks to an auction organised
to raise funds. Eric Deneyer,
the shop’s owner, put out the
word that he was experiencing financial problems and
received hundreds of donations of original drawings to
sell, including work by Marc
Sleen (Nero), Charel Cambré
(Amoras) and Marvano (The
Forever War). Some of the
drawings were rareties, such
as the first original page from
Amoras ever to be sold. The
auction took place at the weekend and raised €25,000. The
online auction house Catawiki
also donated its commission to
B-Gevaar, which celebrates its
25th anniversary this year.
Who’s going to win the Rock Rally? Our money’s on Rewind
Productions (above) or Billie Rodney (right)
more important,” Beckers says, “I feared that
we would be forced to change the formula. But
in the end, there was no need for that. Only our
coverage has changed.” Because of the weekly
magazine’s deadline bands used to have to
wait 10 days before they could read what the
jury thought of them. Now those comments are
published online the next day.
Another element that explains the broad appeal
of the Rock Rally is its diversity. A singer-songwriter or a metal band, a Beatlesque quartet or
a hip-hop posse: If they’re good, they all stand
the same chance of being a finalist.
But what is the jury looking for? Explaining
that is like dancing to architecture, Beckers
says with a smile, referring to a famous quote
about music critics. “We’re just looking for the
best band. For me personally, the best winners
of the Rock Rally, like The Hickey Underworld
or Steak Number Eight, all had a strong physical impact on me.”
Only when it’s absolutely impossible for the
jury to choose between two acts do non-musical aspects come into play. “In 2004, we placed
The Van Jets and Absynthe Minded on the
same level. They both would have been worthy
winners, but we decided to give the former the
first prize because Absynthe Minded had just
released their debut album. We thought they
would be more motivated by placing them
behind The Van Jets. But it’s very rare that we
resort to this kind of argument.”
\ b-gevaar.com
Six nominations for
Bevergem in TV awards
10 April, from 15.00
Ancienne Belgique
Anspachlaan 110, Brussels
Rock Rally 2016: The 10 finalists
Billie Rodney
The voice of singer Bie Van Landeghem elevates the slow-burning
dramatic songs of band Billie
Rodney to a higher level. Outsiders for the podium
Ghent names square
after Romain Deconinck
the best songs of the final. Though
their grungy sound might be
considered too out-dated for the
highest trophy
frøwst
A grumbling voice, a dreampop atmosphere, some 1980s
remnants and a wink to The
Kinks. No, I have no idea why
they’re in the final. Nor what their
name means
Equal Idiots
Young trashy drum & guitar duo
that seem to be more influenced
by the Flemish duo The Black
Box Revelation than The White
Stripes. Likeable but limited
Kasablanka
Did New Romanticism come into
vogue again overnight? Thought
so. Kasablanka – more Duran
Duran than The Beatles – should
be very, very, very happy they
made it to the final
milpool
Edgy guitar rock hesitating
between a very young R.E.M. and
ditto The Church. Podium is only
in sight if the jury goes nostalgic
Portland
Trio that delivers lo-fi with an electronic side. Charming but slightly
immature
Rewind Productions
Three 16-year-old rappers from
Leuven who bring some colour to
the Rock Rally. A hip-hop group
have never got to the podium
before. Will it a be a first this year?
Whispering Sons
Five-piece with a new wave fixation (The Sisters of Mercy meets Joy
Division) and an impressive frontwoman. Ready for the podium
Canvas’ eight-episode comedydrama Bevergem has earned
the most nominations of any
programme for the annual
Flemish TV awards, with
six. Bevergem is the story of
stand-up comedian Freddy De
Vadder, who rents an apartment over a pub in the fictitious West Flemish town only
to find that the residents are
even more bizarre than he is.
Created and directed by Flemish actor Gilles Coulier, the
dark comedy series was a huge
hit for Canvas last year. Nominations for Bevergem include
Piet De Praitere for Best Actor,
Ann Tuts for Best Actress and
Best Comedy Series.
Police series T., starring Koen
De Bouw (Broer) as a crimesolving Antwerp professor,
earned four nominations,
including Best Script and
Best Actor for De Bouw. Other
nominations include The Team
and Vermist as Best Drama
and De slimste mens ter wereld
and K3 zoekt K3 for Best Entertainment. The ceremony will
be broadcast live on 23 April
from the Plopsa Theater in De
Panne.
\ vlaamsetelevisiesterren.be
\ 13
\ ARTS
The forgotten avant-gardist
Ghent exhibition showcases the unique work of the largely ignored Marthe Donas
Ian Mundell
follow Ian on Twitter \ @IanMundell
An exhibition in Ghent’s Museum
of Fine Arts offers a look at the
work of Marthe Donas, the only
Belgian woman to make it big
in the international avant-garde
movement.
M
arthe Donas was an
unusual figure, a Flemish
woman who made a
name for herself in the Parisian
avant-garde following the First
World War. Only the name she
made – Tour Donas – was a mask,
calculated to hide her gender in
a world with no time for female
painters.
How she won her reputation as an
artist, and then lost it, are explored
in the new exhibition Donas:
The Belgian Avant-Gardist at the
Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent.
Donas was born into a wealthy
Antwerp family in 1885. She was
allowed to indulge her artistic leanings up to a point, but her strict
father forbade her from enrolling
at the city’s art academy. A spectacular accident in 1912 – she fell
through a glass roof while watching
King Albert’s entry into Antwerp –
made her reassess her situation.
She broke off a marriage engagement, went to the academy and
began studying art in earnest.
The German bombardment of
Antwerp in 1914 drove the family
to the Netherlands, with Donas and
one of her sisters later going on to
Dublin. There she continued to
study, eventually joining the workshop of stained-glass artist Sarah
Purser, an important figure in the
artistic life of the city.
The Easter Rising in 1916 prompted
another move, to live with a Flemish family in Eastbourne on the
south coast of England. This isolation would not last long. Despite
the war, boats were still running to
Dieppe, and Donas was able to slip
away to Paris, where she resumed
her work.
There she encountered paintings
by Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani, but it was the lesser-known
André Lhote who made the greatest
impression. His work combined the
novelty of Cubism with the traditions of the Italian Renaissance.
“It stays very figurative, very easy,
but full of colour,” observes Peter
Pauwels, curator of the Ghent exhibition.
Donas studied with Lhote for two
months in 1917 and started to
produce Cubist work of her own.
Then that summer in Nice, she met
the Ukrainian sculptor Alexander
Archipenko, at the time considered
an important innovator in Cubist
sculpture. They became lovers and
shared a studio.
Archipenko’s interest in conjuring
movement out of abstract shapes is
mirrored in Donas’ paintings from
1917 and 1918, while the materials he used inspired her to create
remarkable metallic effects with
her paint. But Lhote’s Renaissance
themes and vibrant colours also
persist, giving Donas a powerful
individual style.
The couple returned to Paris in
1918, and the following year Archipenko began energetically promoting his partner’s work. Told by
friends that she was too much of
an artist to keep a woman’s name,
she was now signing her paintings
Tour Donas. The cryptic first name
was inspired by Purser’s workshop
in Dublin, An Tur Gloine, or the
Tower of Glass.
This subterfuge is ironic given how
feminine Donas’ work can be. She
worked with fabrics and had a
subtlety of line that many of her
male contemporaries lacked. This
is most apparent in a striking series
of Cubist pencil drawings that put
the emphasis on women’s faces
and clothes rather than on their
anatomy. “I think she is at her most
original in these drawings,” says
Pauwels.
By 1920, Donas and Archipenko
were growing apart, and another
set of influences took hold, this
time the geometric abstraction
of Piet Mondrian and Theo Van
Doesburg (currently the subject of
MSKGENT.BE
© Private Collection (Courtesy Roberto Polo Gallery, Brussels)
“The Picture Book” by Marthe Donas, 1917-18
a retrospective at Bozar in Brussels). Following their lead, her
images became flatter and increasingly abstract, but the themes and
the colours of her Cubist period
persisted.
By this time, Donas was receiving a
good deal of attention, appearing in
group and solo exhibitions across
Europe. But this recognition did
not mean commercial success, and
by 1921 she had run out of money.
Gravely ill, she had little choice but
to return to her family in Antwerp.
This was the beginning of a run of
bad luck, and bad choices, that put
an end to her international career.
In 1922 she married Henri Franke,
who was studying philosophy at
the Sorbonne and seemed to offer
a way back to Paris. It worked for
a while, but she continued to be
Until 5 June
unwell, and he failed, or lost interest, in his academic career.
In 1923 the couple retreated from
Paris to Ittre, a village in Walloon
Brabant. “They lived with Henri’s
mother and two aunts, who were
into art but not that kind of art,”
Pauwels explains. This is borne
out in the stylised sketches Donas
made of the Walloon landscape,
which would evolve into more
conventional paintings for the
sitting room wall.
Cut off from both the Parisian and
Belgian avant-gardists, Donas set
aside her research in abstraction
and took inspiration from nature.
As the years passed, she tentatively
made connections with the Brussels art world, eventually moving
to the city. In 1928, as part of the
Assaut group, she once more exhibited in Paris.
This return was to be short-lived. In
1930, at the age of 45, she became
pregnant, which, on top of the family’s continuing financial difficulties,
put an end to her career as an artist.
When she picked up her brushes
again in 1947, it was to paint in a
different style. “There are some
good things, but also some very
bad things,” says Pauwels, who has
limited the exhibition to the first,
international phase of her career.
When interest in the Paris avantgarde revived in the 1960s, Donas
was overlooked. Her short career
and lack of commercial success
meant that few works were in
circulation. Some disappeared in
Germany during the war, while
others vanished closer to home as
the artist recycled her canvases.
The other problem with Donas is
that her influences are plain to
see. “She didn’t invent anything,”
Pauwels concedes, “but she never
copies. She looks, she reads, she
thinks and then she puts something of her own into each painting.”
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
Fernand Scribedreef 1
More visual arts this month
The Crystal Ship
The Van Beers Affair
Riddle of the Burial Grounds
The Crystal Ship is a new event in Ostend,
with 16 Belgian and international street
artists invited to decorate the city’s walls
and other public spaces. Giant murals
(pictured) started going up on 28 March,
created by the likes of Roa, Fintan Magee,
Faith47 and Robert Montgomery. There are
also installations, including work by Brussels-based miniature sculptor Isaac Cordal
and Italy’s Biancoshock. Completion of the
works on 10 April will be marked with a
street party.
Lier celebrates one of its most colourful
sons in The Van Beers Affair: Master Painter
or Conman? at the Municipal Museum. Jan
Van Beers started out in Antwerp painting scenes from history, but switched to
portraits and romantic genre painting
when he moved to Paris around 1880. Scandal followed an accusation that his precise
miniatures were painted over photographs,
a slur he turned into a marketing coup.
Until 5 March 2017
Taking a cue from the underground
disposal of radioactive waste, the Riddle of
the Burial Grounds at Extra City in Antwerp
collects artworks that explore the friction
between human, atomic and geological
time. Topics addressed by 22 contemporary
artists include man-made ruins and excavations, wastelands and wildernesses, the
rituals of burial and how to leave messages
for the future. Until 17 July
\ thecrystalship.org
\ 14
\ bruegelland.be
\ extracitykunsthal.org
\ AGENDA
APRIL 6, 2016
Disturbing chronicle of obsession
Taking Off: Henry My Neighbour
FoMu Antwerpen
Until 5 June
fotomuseum.be
M
ariken Wessels is an
installation artist and
photographer, but her
new show Taking Off: Henry My
Neighbour at Antwerp’s photography
museum is a collection of hundreds
of photos taken by someone else.
You enter the exhibition through
a very small room that is covered
from floor to ceiling with mostly
black-and-white images of Martha,
a middle-aged woman, in various
states of undress. The room’s claustrophobic feel reflects that of the
photographs, each of which was
taken by Martha’s husband, Henry,
an electrician, in the bedroom of
their New York home between 1984
and 1986.
CONCERT
Diamanda Galás
Little changes except for Martha’s
‘erotic’ poses, many of which seem
reluctant, at best. The state of the
plants in a stand by the bed offer
the only clue to the passage of time.
After 25 months of being photographed in this way, Martha finally
gathered the resolve to visit the
little room her husband used as a
studio to classify the photographs.
There she found nearly 5,500 images
of herself.
Shocked and ashamed, she immediately began to throw the photographs onto the street. She left
Henry shortly thereafter. Henry
saved as many photographs as he
could, cut them up to form collages
and then created clay figurines
get tic
20 April, 20.15
kets n
ow
Handelsbeurs, Ghent
HANDELSBEURS.BE
Diamanda Galas celebrates a lifetime of cutting-edge art and advocacy in the solo performance
Death Will Come and Have Your
Eyes. The Greek-American singer
paid her dues as an Aids activist
in 1980s California before cementing her status as a cult artist with
a series of albums and multidisciplinary collaborations aiming
to bridge the divide between the
popular and the avant-garde. Her
experiments with the blues and
folk music from the Near East
have led audiences into uncharted,
sometimes uncomfortable, sonic
territory. Decades later her practice remains as politically charged
as it is musically adventurous.
using the photos as source material.
He then disappeared into the woods
to practise his survivalist skills,
which goes some way towards
describing his psychological state
in general. No-one ever heard from
him again.
Wessels was Henry’s neighbour for
a time in New York, and the entire
archive was eventually entrusted to
her. Was it Henry’s obsession with
photography, or with Martha, that
drove him to take so many images
of her? It’s a question that intrigues
Wessels to this day: “I think it shows
that we never quite know what
is going on behind closed doors.”
\ Dan Smith
Brussels
Kurbasy & Les Divas Dugazon: Three young musicians
from Ukraine and Belgium
sing a cappella, with influences ranging from Brazilian
samba to jazz, klezmer and
Gypsy. 9 April 20.00, Muziek
Publique, Molière - Naamsepoortgalerij, Bolwerksquare 3
\ muziekpublique.be
PERFORMANCE
Hasselt
Monchichi: Contemporary
dance by Company Wang
Ramirez, a Korean-Catalan duo performing “living
poetry”, with thoughtful
images and humorous familyfriendly skits about immigration and cultural diversity (ages 12 and up). 7 April
20.00, Cultuurcentrum Hasselt,
Kunstlaan 5
\ ccha.be
VISUAL ARTS
Andres Serrano: Uncensored Photographs
Until 21 August
CONCERT
Royal Museum of Fine Arts,
Brussels
FINE-ARTS-MUSEUM.BE
American artist Andres Serrano
brings his provocative brand of
photography to Brussels. Serrano’s irreverent, decades-long
exploration of religion and excrement has earned him a reputation as an enfant terrible of the
art world. Uncensored Photographs is a retrospective of his
entire career, including controversial works that have in the
past been banned, vandalised
or otherwise attacked. This
exhibition proves that freedom
can’t be censored. The museum
does warn, however, that “some
images may be disturbing” and
are quarantined in a separate
room. \ GV
VISUAL ARTS
Aalst
Belgian Solutions: Works by
David Helbich, featuring the
many absurd, funny, clever,
smart and 'typically Belgian'
solutions to daily survival
discovered by the photographer across the country. Until
8 May, CC De Werf, Molenstraat 51
\ ccdewerf.be
Across Flanders
Slow Art Day: Annual worldwide art initiative encouraging people to visit participating museums and galleries
to look at the art slowly, on
their own, and then meet up
to discuss the experience. 9
April in Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent
\ slowartday.com
\ Georgio Valentino
FESTIVAL
FESTIVAL
FILM
Balkan Trafik
Night of Experimental Film
14-17 April
The music festival Balkan Trafik
throws a tin anniversary party
with a guest list that spans the
entire continent. The festival was
inaugurated in 2007 as a means of
opening a dialogue between Brussels and the Balkans. Organisers sought above all to challenge
the perennial stereotype of south-
Bozar, Brussels
BALKANTRAFIK.COM
east Europe as a “powder keg”
and to showcase instead its diversity. So for the past decade Balkan
Trafik has shown us the cream of
the region’s cultural crop, with a
focus on music and film. The offerings are traditional, contemporary and everything in-between.
\ GV
15 April, 19.00
Art Cinema OFFoff ’s annual Night
of Experimental Film meditates on
the past, present and future of avantgarde cinema. In addition to reaching into the archives to recover seminal celluloid artefacts like Japanese
novelist Yukio Mishima’s only film
Yukoku (1966) and American performance artist Carolee Schneemann’s
Ypres
019, Ghent
019-GHENT.ORG
sexually explicit Fuses (1965), the
event promotes 10 contemporary
filmmakers under the aegis of the
Young Vagrants Selection. Archival films are accompanied by live
soundtracks performed by European musicians. The night ends with
a DJ set and dance party. \ GV
De Gevleugelde Stad Ieper
(Ypres, City with Wings):
Ostensibly an event where
street theatre artists can
promote their acts to local
and international scouts, it’s
also open to the public for
three days of non-stop openair acts in and around the city.
8-10 April, across Ypres
\ gevleugeldestad.com
FAMILY
Knokke-Heist
Paaspeddel: Discover the
nature between Sluis and
Damme on a stand-up paddle
board, with surprises scattered along the way. 10 April
14.00 departing from Sluis
(NL); registration via Surfers
Paradise, Knokke-Heist
\ surfersparadise.be
\ 15
\ BACKPAGE
APRIL 6, 2016
Talking Dutch
A bird in the cam
Derek Blyth
More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu
T
hey already have huge
viewing figures in the US
and the Netherlands. Now
bird nest webcams are being
introduced to Flanders. But not
everyone agrees that it is a good
idea to turn a bird’s nest into a
reality TV show.
The webcam debate was sparked
off locally following the installation of a webcam in the tower
of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw church in
Sint-Niklaas, East Flanders. Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen laat u
binnenkort via een webcamstream
live getuige zijn van een broedend
koppel slechtvalken – Flanders
Bird Protection will allow you to
watch a brooding pair of peregrine
falcons via a live stream (pictured).
Mooi toch, die rauwe, echte natuur?
– Lovely, isn’t it, that raw, authentic nature? reported De Standaard.
The bird protection society in the
Netherlands already has at least 10
cameras pointed into birds’ nests
across the country. Volg de populaire vogelsoap – Follow the popular bird soap, it says on the website,
where it posts clips with catchy
captions like Man verleidt vrouw
met visje – Male seduces female
with fish.
CONNECT WITH US
It might not ever get as tense as
Big Brother, but Dutch academic
Nienke Endenburg believes it is
becoming a new form of reality TV.
Je gaat meeleven met de personages
– You sympathise with the personalities, ontwikkelt favorieten – pick
your favourites.
The only problem is that nature
can be a little too brutal for some
people. Slechtvalken leggen gemiddeld drie tot vier eieren – Peregrine
falcons lay an average of three to
four eggs, explains Jan Rodts of
Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen.
Wanneer er een tekort aan voedsel
is – When there is a shortage of
food, de kans bestaat dat een jong
en zwak kuiken als voedsel gaat
dienen voor zijn oudere broers en
zussen – there’s a serious possibility that a weak, young chick will be
sacrificed to feed its older brothers
and sisters.
slechtvalken-sint-niklaas.be
When this happened to a webcam
bird family in the US, people
became very angry. Mensen die
naar de webcambeelden keken
– People who were watching
the webcam images, noemden
de vogel Momzilla – called the
parent Momzilla, naar het monster
Godzilla – after the monster
Godzilla. Iemand móést Momzilla
stoppen – Someone has to stop
Momzilla, was the cry.
And there is another problem that
arises when you point a webcam
at a bird’s nest. Naar je buurvrouw
kijk je niet met de verrekijker – You
don’t spy on the woman next door
with your binoculars, dus waarom
zou je wel stiekelm de godganse dag
naar binnen mogen gluren in een
vogelnestje? – so what on earth are
you doing spending the whole day
peering into a bird’s nest? asked
the Dutch writer Midas Dekkers
in a recent article in De Volkskrant.
Ook dieren hebben recht op een
privéleven – Animals have the right
to a private life, too, he argued.
It’s probably not going to stop
people peering into that nest in
the Sint-Niklaas tower. But they
should at least be warned that
there will be blood.
Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday
Poll
In response to: School principals want to abolish tenure system
Susanne De Witte: There should be some provision made
where tenure can be ended for underperforming teachers
but I would like to see rewarded the teachers who work hard
for their students.
In response to: New Belgian Academy helps explain country’s
shared history
Eric Becker: I live in Belgium but I’m American. I find Belgium
to be incredibly fascinating. There’s nothing else like it 
In response to: West Flanders’ Ginius wins gold medal in San
Francisco
Peter O’Reilly: It is on my list now as I drink my way through
the gins of Flanders.
Paul Lewis @paullewismoney
When I was in Ghent cyclists, pedestrians, cars all shared
space peacefully with no aggression. Model to follow?
Flugella @flugella
Hubby off on train to Leuven again 😢. Small person and
Mummy consoling themselves with cake
Stephanie Verhaegen @bookfever11
On my way to the zoo with my little brother and mom.
🐨 🐒🐘🐧#FamilyTime #Zoo #Antwerp
LIKE US
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the last word
Should the city of Ghent open up frietkot locations to the highest bidder even if
it means kicking out long-time owners?
a. No, totally unfair! Some of these people have been in place for decades, and they should be allowed
to stay
44%
b. It’s unfortunate, but yes. Public property has to be put out to tender, otherwise it could lead to
corruption
56%
Although no-one wants to say
goodbye to their local frietkot server, there’s a majority in
favour of making the competition for a licence to operate a
caravan or stand selling fries on
public property in Ghent truly
democratic.
In the past, a sitting tenant of
VoiceS of
flanders today
a friet caravan on city property
was allowed to outbid the highest bidder by 5% to hold on to
the concession. This year the rule
has changed so that the highest
bidder gets the spot.
It’s unfortunate for someone to
lose their spot, perhaps after
many years, but it’s not unfair,
says the city. The old system was
the one that was unfair, both
making a mockery of the idea
of an open tender and encouraging bid inflation, with some
of the more popular locations
going for astronomic prices of up
to €25,000, compared to average
bids of €3,300.
Ready for take-off
Spoiled for choice
“There were staff members and
security personnel everywhere.
They were very helpful. There was
certainly no sense of danger.”
“The fruit and vegetable sector
has been relatively conservative for decades. But now innovation has really taken hold. Ten
years ago there were eight kinds
of salad in the supermarket, now
there are 38. Eight years ago there
were 10 types of tomato. Now
there are 65.”
Former Miss Belgium Tanja Dexters
was one of the first passengers to
fly out of Brussels Airport when it
re-opened on Sunday
TV hero
“There were nerdy scenes, some
of the ideas were a bit far-fetched,
and the production was here and
there ramshackle. But I’m proud
of it.”
Richard Dean Anderson, better
known as McGyver, was in Ghent at
the weekend for the science fiction
fair FACTS
Filip Fontaine of the fruit and
vegetable auction BelOrta
Practice makes perfect
“Last year I had to keep on getting
off. I hope this year I can make it
over all of the climbs.”
Yoshiyuki Ogajin of Japan travelled
9,400 kilometres to cycle in the
amateur division of the Ronde van
Vlaanderen at the weekend
5ELNGFR*bbgbcg+[L\E
\ 16