Statement for Freedom

Love - Speak – Create

As important elections loom in Belgium and across Europe, and as political radicalism is on the rise, La Monnaie, Forbidden Colours, Rainbow House Brussels and Visit.Brussels unite to defend LGBTQI+ human rights against intolerance and violence, and to reassert the importance of freedom of expression and creation.

As part of Brussels Pride Week 2024, which will mark the 19th anniversary of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, we invite you on 13 May to a discussion between political representatives and committed artists focusing on the defence of rights of expression and LGBTQI+ rights and on the preservation of European democratic values.

Programme

• 19.00 > 19.30
  Doors open
   
• 19.30 > 19.45
  Welcome
  
  Peter de Caluwe (General Director of La Monnaie) and Hadja Lahbib (Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade, and the Federal Cultural Institutions)
   
• 19.45 > 20.30
  Panel: Europe, an LGBTQI+ freedom zone?

  
  With: Petra De Sutter (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Civil Service, Public Enterprises, Telecommunications and Postal Services), Sophie In ‘t Veld (Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe Group), Gilles Verstraeten (Member of the Brussels Parliament for NVA), Pascal Smet (Faction leader Vooruit, Brussels Parliament), Krystian Lada (Director and librettist), Jaouad Alloul (multidisciplinary artist and entrepreneur), Saskia De Coster (author)
  Moderators: Jan Ducheyne (Partij voor de Poëzie en Dichters van wacht) & Laurence Vielle (Actress and National Poetess)

• 20.30 > 20.35
  Interlude: presentation opera Nid d’Oiseaux
  Theatre collectif Het Geluid (Gable and Romy Roelofsen)
   
• 20.35 > 21.15 

  Panel: Is freedom of expression at risk in Europe?

  With: Marie-Colline Leroy (Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities), Benjamin Dalle (Minister for Media, Youth and Brussels in the Flemish government), Victoriæ Defraigne (Activist for the representation and visibility of transgender people in Brussels), Sophie Rohonyi (Member of Federal Parliament, DéFI), Alexandra Ana (Doctor in Political Studies and Sociology, ULB),  and Antoine Pickels (Author, curator: Festivals Trouble / (Pas si) Fragile!)
  Moderators: Jan Ducheyne (Partij voor de Poëzie & Dichters van wacht) & Laurence Vielle (Actress and National Poetess)

• 21.15 > 21.30
  Conclusion
  Forbidden Colours
   
• 21.30 > 21.35
  Musical moment
  Chœur Cassandra Koor