Tag Archives: Brussels

Brussels, Belgium solidarity with Iraqi demonstrators

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This 2018 video is the trailer of the theatre play Bagdad.

The BRussells TRibunal in Belgium invites you:

Pionofabriek
Fortstraat 35
Saint-Gilles
1060 Brussels

11 February 2020
19:30-22:00

We are sure you may have heard something of what’s happening in Iraq right now. Thousands of people protesting in the streets, harsh repression, many dead and wounded, political chaos. But the media and politicians in the West hardly pay attention. Perhaps this has to do with the standard image that the Western media present about the Arab world: inclined towards religious extremism and unable to value human rights and freedom. Or with politicians who quietly support looting the Middle East of its natural resources, without sharing their ethical dilemmas with their voters.

Theatre-maker Enkidu Khaled (Brussels) and writer-activist Chris Keulemans (Amsterdam), who also created the performance Bagdad in 2018, now offer a special programme to give the audience a direct view
of the current revolution in Iraq. With images of the uprisings, stories of eyewitnesses, skype conversations with people who have spent weeks and months demonstrating peacefully at the Freedom Square in Baghdad since last October.

Guests: Muna Al-Jaffal, Noof Assi, Dirk Adriaensens en Tine Danckaers.

Stop Trump-Iran war, Brussels demonstration 25 January

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This 10 January 2020 Associated Press video says about itself:

‘No war with Iran’ demonstrations across U.S.

Demonstrators in dozens of US cities gathered Thursday night to protest the Trump administration‘s killing of an Iranian general and the decision to send thousands of additional soldiers to the Middle East.

The progressive political action committee “MoveOn” organized the national “No War With Iran” protests.

The group previously held rallies against the travel ban and white nationalism.

Protest organizers said the Trump administration has essentially started an illegal war with Iran by assassinating Qassem Soleimani.

Activists carried signs with messages like “Peace Now” while chanting anti-war slogans.

They also heard musicians performing songs with lyrics calling President Trump a liar.

Several speakers also called for the President’s immediate removal from office.

Others called for the US to stop spending money on war and instead invest in health care and the fight against climate change.

Translated from the Belgian peace movement Intal today:

Noi another war in the Middle East!

25/01: Action day – 2 pm Central Station Brussels

Seventeen years after the invasion of Iraq, the world seemed to be heading for another disastrous war in the unstable Middle East. For the time being, a further escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran seems to have been averted, but a small spark may be enough to escalate it. The US American sanctions regime is being further strengthened, and threatening language is still heard from both sides.

The USA plays with fire. The extrajudicial execution of Qasem Soleimani with drone rockets, whatever one thinks about his role and that of Iran in the region, is a war act and a violation of international law. We cannot tolerate that US President Donald Trump is constantly undermining the international legal order. We cannot accept that Belgium and the other member states of the European Union, through their passivity or even support, will ensure that we evolve towards an international system in which only might would be right.

Various organizations, including Intal, ask:

that Belgium and the other Member States of the European Union unambiguously condemn any provocative action and violations of international law and human rights;
that Belgium and the European Union play an active mediation role in achieving sustainable de-escalation with Iran;
that Belgium would in no way make itself complicit – if requested – in acts of war and violations of international law by the USA and other countries in Iraq and Iran, neither individually, nor in a NATO context or through other international coalitions.
that Belgium, as a member of the UN Security Council, should take appropriate initiatives to help restore peace and stability in the region and promote political dialogue, under the auspices of the UN;
that the European Union clearly distance itself from the White House’s attempts to make the nuclear agreement with Iran fail. The EU should further encourage Iran to respect the provisions of the agreement and, in return, refuse to implement the US American sanctions that hit the Iranian people hard, but also help them to bypass and compensate them. In the medium term, the Middle East should become a nuclear-free zone.

We express our solidarity with the Iraqi and Iranian protest movements that fight against foreign interference and strive for sovereignty, democratic rights and social justice in their countries.

On Saturday, January 25, an action day will take place in various places in the world at the request of the US peace movement. In Brussels, too, the peace movement will be on the streets at 2 pm at Brussels Central station. Welcome!

Wall Street weapons company CEOs cash in on Iran war danger. Share traders know that a war with Iran would mean more lucrative contracts for US weapons-makers, says SARAH ANDERSON: here.

War and the quest for profits are intrinsically linked: here.

No to Trump-Iran war, Brussels demonstration

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This 18 June 2019 video from congresswoman and Democratic party presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard in the USA says about itself:

Stop Trump from waging illegal Iran war

Here we go again! The US sending more troops to the Middle East for what will be disastrous war with Iran. To prevent Trump and future presidents from waging war illegally (without Congress approval) we must sign my No More Presidential Wars Act.

On Thursday 27 June 2019, there will be a demonstration in Brussels, Belgium against the plans of the United States Trump administration to start a war on Iran.
It will be at 5pm at the United States embassy, Regentlaan 27, 1000 Brussel.

Among the organisations calling for the demonstration are CNAPD, intal, Pax Christi Vlaanderen, Viva Salud, Vrede vzw, Aardewerk, Hand in Hand vluchtelingenwerking Gent.

As the British Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that a second UK destroyer, the HMS Duncan, had arrived in the Persian Gulf, calls were escalating across the European ruling elite to deploy a European naval flotilla or “eurofleet” in the Persian Gulf to threaten Iran: here.

German government and Greens promote military mission in Persian Gulf: here.

No more blackface in Brussels, Belgium

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A noiraud in Brussels, Belgium

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

No more blackface make-up for Brussels ‘noirauds’ [‘darkies’]

A Brussels tradition to collect money for charities in blackface is going to change. From now on the ‘noirauds’ will take to the streets in the colours of the Belgian flag.

Since 1876, the city’s celebrities have been collecting money every year in blackface. They supposedly represent ‘African noblemen’, because the conquest of Africa at that time [by Belgian King Leopold II] appealed to the imagination.

Recently the tradition came under fire, just like Zwarte Piet in the Netherlands. In 2015 there was even an international fuss when [Foreign Affairs] Minister Didier Reynders took part in the custom.

Many critics made a connection with the colonial past of Belgium and pointed to the atrocities in Congo. The minister did not see the problem …

Evolution

The noirauds organization sees it differently nowadays. “The mission is jeopardized by the fuss about our appearance, which is why we want to evolve”, says a spokesperson. “A new look fits the spirit of the times.”

The next collection campaign of the ‘noirauds’ will be held from 14 to 17 March. Then the new colours will also be seen for the first time.

Brussels climate march with Greta Thunberg

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This 21 February 2019 French language video is about the pro-climate march of striking students today in Brussels, Belgium, with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

This video is about Greta Thunberg‘s speech at the Brussels climate demonstration today.

This 21 February 2019 video says about itself:

Greta Thunberg: “We want politicians to listen to the scientists”

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was in Brussels on Thursday (21 February) to take part in one of the climate school strikes that have taken place every week in Belgium since December.

Before joining the march, the Swedish activist was invited to make a speech in front of the Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an EU consultative body representing civil society organisations. And as usual, she didn’t mince her words.

“We know that most politicians don’t want to talk to us,” Thunberg said from the outset. “Good. We don’t want to talk to them either,” she told a roomful of EU policymakers, which also included Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission.

“We want them to talk to the scientists instead. Listen to them. Because we are just repeating what they are saying and have been saying for decades,” she continued. “We want you to follow the Paris Agreement and the IPCC reports. We don’t have any other demands. Just unite behind the science – that is our demand.”

Student climate strike in Brussels, with Greta Thunberg

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This 21 February 2019 video says about itself:

Greta Thunberg to join thousands in Brussels for today’s “School Strike for Climate”

Week after week, students are taking Thursdays off school to march for climate action and they are not backing down. Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who started the movement, will be in Brussels later today to march with the activists.

This 21 February 2019 video says about itself:

Greta Thunberg to EU’s Juncker: “We started to clean up your mess, stop sweeping mess under carpet”

16 years old climate activist Greta Thunberg has given a rousing speech at an EU event in Brussels. The teenager opened a European Commission event in front of President Jean-Claude Juncker where she told politicians to stop ‘sweeping their mess under the carpet for our generation to clean up’.

Greta, from Sweden, defended the hundreds of thousands of children who took part in global school strikes saying: ‘If you say we are wasting valuable lesson time, let me remind you, our political leaders have wasted decades through denial and inaction and since our time is running out we have started to take action.’

Today, Greta Thunberg is joining Belgian students who are skipping classes for the seventh Thursday in a row to march through Brussels to draw more attention to fighting climate change. The 16-year-old Thunberg said youngsters are being forced to skip school and protest because adults are not addressing climate issues quickly enough.

She told the European Economic and Social Committee plenary session that “we are school striking because we have done our homework” on the dangers facing the Earth. Thunberg has become her generation’s voice on climate change after inspiring students around the world to go on strike to express their anger and angst over global warming.

This video is called Climate activist Greta Thunberg’s press conference in Brussels (21st February 2019).

This Dutch tweet is about Groningen city students on strike for the climate today.

This Dutch tweet is about Nijmegen city students on strike for the climate today.

The Australian government has confirmed the extinction of a small rodent native to a tiny spit of sand in the northernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef ― the first known mammal lost to human-caused climate change.

Scientists say the colors of the world’s oceans will intensify by the end of the century due to climate change, threatening the marine ecosystem from the bottom up.

Greta Thunberg at Belgium pro-climate strike tomorrow

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Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws, 20 February 2019, reports that 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has arrived in Brussels, Belgium.

Tomorrow, Thursday she will participate in a march by striking Belgian pro-climate students. It will start at 1pm at the Brussels North railway station; and will finish at the southern railway station.

TRUMP CLIMATE PICK DOESN’T BELIEVE IN SCIENCE William Happer, Trump’s reported pick to lead a new panel on climate change, is a science denier with a history of controversial comments. [HuffPost]

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to Brussels demonstration

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This 24 February 2019 video says about itself:

Some 35,000 Belgian school children skipped classes on Thursday to protest global warming and pollution in one of Brussels’ biggest ever student protests, vowing to miss school once a week until the Belgian government takes action.

Students banging drums and carrying signs decrying global warming gathered around the European Parliament, in what Brussels police said was an unprecedented turnout for a student protest in the Belgian capital, also home to European Union institutions.

Translated from Belgian daily De Morgen today:

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (16) will come along to Brussels demonstration next week [Thursday 21 February]

The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (16), who became famous worldwide for striking week after week against climate change, will come to the Brussels climate march next week to join the protest. Anuna De Wever of Youth for Climate recently announced this.

Next week the climate action will not take place in Namur, as communicated first, but again in Brussels. The reason for this is a special guest: Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who is the source of inspiration for the Belgian climate truants, will come to the demonstration.

“Of course we are very satisfied with her arrival”, says Anuna De Wever. “She ultimately lies at the basis of the movement.” With the arrival of Thunberg, Youth for Climate hopes for a big turnout.

Greta Thunberg became famous all over the world for skipping school to go to the parliament building in Stockholm every Friday to demand a better climate policy. She inspired thousands of students from all over the world to do the same, including the Belgian girls Kyra Gantois and Anuna De Wever, who have been mobilizing multitudes of students for climate marches in Brussels for 6 weeks in a row.

Thunberg was previously invited to the World Economic Forum where she addressed the world leaders and called for a more ambitious climate policy. “I want you to feel the fear I feel every day, and to take action, as if something is on fire somewhere, because that is the case,” said Thunberg. “We still have a small chance to stop greenhouse gas emissions and save a lot of people on our planet from a lot of suffering.”

The Swedish girl then also on Twitter mentioned the success of an earlier edition of “truancy for the climate” in Brussels. “A Belgian journalist just told me that 35,000 students play truant in Brussels. Heroes!” she said. Now she will join such a climate demonstration herself.

The Belgian student‘s sign, top left of twis tweet, says, translated from French: if the climate would be a bank, then it would have been saved already.

Biggest ever pro-climate demonstration in Brussels, Belgium

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This Dutch language video is about the 17 January 2019 high school striking students march in Brussels, Belgium. Then, there were over 12,000 demonstrators.

A week later it was over 35,000 striking demonstrators.

This video is about that 24 January 2019 demonstration in Brussels.

So is this video.

And today, 27 January 2019, there was the biggest pro-climate demonstration ever in Brussels: over 70,000 people! Not just students this time; all age groups.

This 27 January 2019 video shows many pro-climate demonstrators arriving in Brussels, in spite of the rain. The Belgian railways had trouble transporting so many people to Brussels.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Some 70,000 people participated in the climate march through the streets of Brussels. In Belgium there are regularly demonstrations demanding climate measures, but never have so many people joined them. The organization counted on 30,000 people.

The fact that many more people have come to Brussels shows, according to the organization, that many Belgians believe that the government is not taking the climate problem seriously.

On Thursday, 35,000 high school students marched through the Belgian capital to draw attention to climate change. There was a lot of criticism because supposedly for the pupils it was just truancy.

According to NOS correspondent Thomas Spekschoor, many pupils were marching again today. “They wanted to show that they really mean it and that the strike was primarily meant to attract extra attention.

On banners, the demonstrators, eg, criticized the Flemish Minister for the Environment Joke Schauvliege, who does not participate in the march: ‘Joke is a joke’ [in English], writes one of the demonstrators.

Ms Schauvliege belongs to the conservative ‘Christian Democrat’ party.

This video from France calls for a pro-climate march in La Rochelle city. With the slogan also seen in self-made signs in Brussels today: ‘Let us change the system; not the climate’.

This video is about an 18 January 2019 pro-climate march of 10,000 striking students in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This video shows a September 2018 pro-climate march in Marrakech, Morocco.

Belgian students pro-climate strike growing

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This 24 January 2019 video is called Brussels Climate Protests – 32,000 secondary students – Brussels, Belgium 24/01/2019.

32,000 is too low an estimate for this movement today. Which started with 4,000 striking students, then first grew to over 12,500 last week.

According to this French language Euronews video today, it was 35,000.

Dutch NOS TV correspondents Tijn Sadée and Bijou van der Borst report today (translated):

Climate truants break record: 35,000 students demonstrate in Brussels

“Tous ensemble!” [All together!] More than 35,000 climate truants shout it in Brussels. They break their record. It is the third Thursday in a row that pupils take to the streets to demand a more ambitious climate policy. Last week they were 12,500. This time, more and more French-speaking students are joining [the first two demonstrations were mainly Dutch speakers].

The movement does not seem to stop anymore. Now it is mainly high school students, but the higher education students will also come next week. In Belgium, universities and higher professional education institutions now have examinations. The higher education students now still stay at home to study, but they have already announced that they would be present next week.

“I prefer men with a small ecological footprint”, “There is no economy on a dead planet“, the most creative slogans pass by in the march, which once again moves from the Central Station to the European Union District.

School managements do not know what to do with the movement. Some punish severely, others come to the conclusion that punishment does not work. “Pupils want penalties for this, it’s about the rebellious action, and when schools legalize it is no longer a protest”, says Johanna VandenBussche, a teacher from Ghent.

Detention

At the gate of the Royal Atheneum Etterbeek the school management counts the demonstrators. Around three hundred pupils will have detention after Wednesday afternoon between 13.00 and 15.00. “We support the climate action, but not the one today, and they miss the same lesson every Thursday”, says Sophie Allein, deputy director of the school.

With hands in their pockets, older people look from the sidewalk to the chanting demonstrators. They nod with understanding and guilt. They are the generation that the young people protest against.

“Do you blame me and my generation?” asks NOS correspondent Tijn Sadée. “No, you did not notice it, right?” says a student.

Most people of Mr Sadée’s generation indeed did not know. However, Shell and other Big Oil corporations then already knew a lot about climate change; and covered it up.

See also here.

Over 3400 Belgian scientists support striking pro-climate students: here.

This 17 January 2019 video says about itself:

STUDENTS STRIKE AROUND THE GLOBE. STUDENTS STRIKE FOR CLIMATE ACTION.

This video from England is called Oxford Climate Strike January 2019.

TECH GIANTS PUSHING CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL EVENT Google, Facebook, and Microsoft sponsored a conference that promoted climate change denial to young libertarians. [HuffPost]