Sixteen experts are working on the decolonization of public space in Brussels. The sixteen were selected after an open call.
Anthropologist Bambi Ceuppens (AfricaMuseum), writer Lucas Catherine (The decolonization trail) and artist Laura Nsengiyumva, known for her act as a black and female Sinterklaas, are three of the sixteen experts who will sit in the Brussels working group on decolonization. The sixteen will consider the decolonization debate in the public space, such as street names and statues. The first meeting will take place in mid-November. In a good year, the expert group will come out with a report.
Remarkable: the working group was set up by the urban.brussels regional agency following an open call. Anyone who wanted to could apply. The 16-member working group was then selected from 84 candidates. ‘We wanted the decolonization debate to be conducted by the wider society and to make any decisions from the bottom up,’ explains Reine Nkiambote. She is the spokesperson for Pascal Smet (SP.A), Brussels State Secretary for Heritage and Urban Planning. ‘The agency looked at the diversity in the composition of the group, but candidates were mainly selected on the basis of their expertise in heritage, colonial history or their affinity with the Congolese, Rwandan or Burundian diaspora.’
Leopold II-tunnel
Pascal Smet himself says that the expert group ‘wants to help think about a common future for Brussels by recognizing our colonial past and especially the mistakes. There are colonial references that must be erased, but certainly should not be forgotten. ‘
The worldwide protests around ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) in our country mainly translated into the debate about colonial statues. The equestrian statue of Leopold II on the Throne Place in Brussels is regularly defaced. A petition to remove the statues in the capital garnered nearly 85,000 signatures in no time (DS June 3). Even before the big BLM protests, Brussels Minister of Mobility Elke Van Den Brandt (Groen) already decided in March that the Leopold II tunnel needed a new name, preferably one for a woman. At the end of last month, Flemish Minister of Internal Administration Bart Somers (Open VLD) came up with a manual on how local authorities can deal with disputed street names and statues in their municipality. (DS October 24).
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