The 4.7 tonne tree was chosen based on several criteria, such as: it had to be at least 20 meters high and located near a road which would make the transportation more feasible. As it comes from a PEFS certified forest, forest of the western Hertogenwald in Membach, that means it has been managed sustainably.

This year the Christmas Tree will be decorated using the colors of the Finland flag, which will be the guest of honor of this 18th edition of the Winter Pleasures (Plaisirs d’Hiver).

The tree will be placed on the Grand Place on Thursday morning at 06.00.

The post A four-and-a-half tonne Christmas tree will decorate the Grand Place appeared first on Brussels Express.

“I feel torn about my relationship with the West,” said Iraqi writer, Hassan Blasim, on Wednesday, February 14th at Bozar Centre for Fine Arts. “The US for instance, they supported Saddam Hussein for so many years, they created havoc after the invasion in 2003, and then they bombed ISIS. This creates a contradiction of feelings within me. Can you imagine that, seeing someone as both perpetrator and saviour at the same time?”

“In Finland, it’s the same,” he went on. “I went there because I wanted to survive, and they were kind; they let me stay. But then I hear the way some people behave towards refugees, and I think, Do they really understand Iraq, or do they just watch the news for five minutes and think the worst about refugees? This is the kind of contradiction I was talking about. Perhaps the kind of contradiction an artist needs to explore and try to reveal to the reader.”

The event was organized by Bozar in conjunction with the Finnish Cultural Institute in Brussels, City Books DeBuren, the Mahmoud Darwish Chair, and the Jurgen Maas Publishers. Blasim was interviewed by fiction writer and journalist Annelies Verbeke, and one of the topics discussed was the power of literature, how a writer can unearth the pain, the ecstasy and grief, the joy of someone living miles away. It travels beyond walls and borders. A question that he is often asked is: What is the difference between Finland and Iraq?

“It’s very simple, I tell them. In Iraq I feel depressed, bored and scared. In Finland I feel depressed, bored and angry. That’s it, that’s the difference. Two shared emotions, one different. And so a fundamental question I ask myself, and that we should all ask is: Why do people like me, a refugee, feel angry in Finland? If politicians took the time to try understand that, then we would have a different outlook in Europe.”

After trying to make a film ―The Wounded Camera― in the Kurdish region of Iraq, he faced danger and was forced to flee the country. It took him four years to walk from Bagdad to Helsinki. Blasim talked about the trauma refugees experience in their home countries, the hardships that force them to leave, and of the difficulties they experience upon arrival in Europe. “My case is different,” he said. “I studied film, I read a lot about European history and art so I’m no stranger to the culture here. But imagine someone who comes from the country side. They suffer a lot.”

Over the years, Blasim has received dozens and dozens of hate letters from Arab countries. You have become like everyone there, they write. Your mind has become wicked like theirs. But after living for more than ten years in Finland, the hate mail has started to arrive from a different place altogether. “’Go back to your country. What are you doing here if you don’t like it?‘ These are the kinds of things I get. But my child was born in Finland, I worry about the future here and so I have a stake, a responsibility. Nobody wants his or her child to suffer from racism. That’s why I feel it’s my duty to be observant, to question what’s going on. If receiving hate mail is the cost for being critical, I’m willing to bear the brunt of it.”

The post « I feel torn about my relationship with the West » said Hassan Blasim at Bozar appeared first on Brussels Express.

As you know, spending time in a sauna is a tradition in the Nordic countries, especially in Finland. Many people in whole Europe enjoy as well this activity, but they often do not have access to an affordable place in their neighbourhood.

If you are then looking for a sauna to have fun sometimes, good point! A new sauna might open in Brussels soon, and might be close to your place. As summer can be quite rainy and cold in Belgium, you should have a look at the launching event that will be held in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Anna Omena has been working on a public sauna project in Brussels for about one year, after she participated in the Déclic Tour 2016, run by Déclic en Perspectives. Brussels Express met with the organisation’s founders in April, which aims to support young entrepreneurs who want to build a project involved in the social economy. Since its launch, some projects have already emerged, such as Demain en main.

“I initially had the idea to be involved in the social entrepreneurship and to build up a project that was in line with my values: ecology, solidarity and well-being”, explained Anna. While she was walking in the Sonian forest with a friend, they started dreaming about a sauna by the pond (if the pond was swimmable) and then she thought she should actually build her own sauna in an eco-friendly and social way. “As a French-Finnish citizen, sauna is fully part of my life. After I taking part in the Déclic Tour, I really started believing in the project even if it was ambitious”, she added.

How would it work? Her idea is to run an eco-friendly and enjoyable sauna in Brussels near to its users. A sauna however requires lots of energy and it could be hard to achieve a very sustainable project. “I would like to work with renewable energy, which is quite a big deal if you live in a city. I first thought about using wood, but it also induces pollution. I am therefore working on a project to work with electric power and this is why I try to find a well-ranked company or cooperative involved in eco-friendly energy”, she continued. “It is not only about energy, it is indeed also about isolation, water use and storage. You need to take many aspects into account if you aim to make your footprint as low as possible”, she added. The sauna that will be set up on Thursday and Friday will work with wood, but if the experience is successful, Anna could work on a dossier to be supported by the Brussels public authorities and then to work with eco-friendly energy and elements.

On the social aspect, Anna has plans on a long-term perspective. She indeed would like to build a sauna in a fixed place and to involve the citizens in the neighbourhood. “I would like to involve both the users and the people who work on the project. I also aim to create a community around the sauna as well as a participative process for the decision making in the community”, she concluded.

The launch event will then take place this Thursday at Centre culturel Jacques Franck in Saint-Gilles, from 5.00 to 9.30 pm. Other surprises are waiting for you from 9:30 to 11:30 pm. If you pop down there, you will also have the opportunity to taste Finnish smoked salmon served with a potato salad. As the Finnish sauna users are also used to swimming in frozen lakes once out, a pool will be installed (the Belgian way!).

The sauna will stay there for two days. As Anna aims at making this project a reality as well as experiencing it before applying for public support, she is working on other events by the end of the year.

For this first event, the price is based on a voluntary basis. You also can rent some towels there in case you forget to take one from home.

If you are interested in this event, you will find all the information here.

The post Je peux pas, j’ai sauna-piscine! appeared first on Brussels Express.