the voice: dynamic traditions (summer edition)

7/28/2019 THE VOICE: Dynamic Traditions (Summer Edition)

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International Student Magazine

VOICE

THEIn this issue: New Rector Torfs K in KU Leuven Belgian Burqa Ban Shared Consumption Maasai Culture Shock

Summer 2013 Year 16, Issue 5

Dynamic Traditions

SpecialSECTIO

N:

Summer

Vacation


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2 THE VOICE, Summer 2013

4 orsElectedRector

5 Farewell,RectorWaer

6 AGORALearningCentre

7ANationalBodytoCoordinateErasmus?

8OurempleIsEverywhere9 TeHigherInstituteo

Philosophy

9 IdiomotheMonth:Nigerian

10 Dobrodoli,Hrvatska!Welcome,Croatia!

21CollaborativeConsumption

22Music:BelgianIndieRock23How I Fell in Love with...

Comics

24Hinduism&theManagementGuru

25MaasaiCultureShock

26Interculturalraining

28AngelaMerkel:Tree-Buttoned,Boring,&Basic

29BilingualItaliana,

Ovviamente

29CommentaryGoAbroad,BecomeaStereotype

12WhoPuttheKinKULeuven?

14GettoKnowIslamicEconomics

15SoWhatExactlyAreAmericanValues?

17AlternativeCurrencySystems

18 TeBelgianBurqaBan

19Nationalism:Flandersvs.Catalonia

30IslandHoppinginGreece

31WalkingDowntheStreetoFood

32 Wheels,Wings&TumbsUp

33CommentaryScrewItAll,ImBackpacking!

34MakeYourselUnorgettable

35AnEco-Ethosinourism

36TingstoDoAroundHere

36Yes,Beaches!

Editor-in-ChieoranNguyen,Layout

Editorial eamEvelyneVanHecke,Ed. Secretary, Summer EditorCoriekeBonvanie,News EditorHaiNguyen,Asst. News EditorGabrielaGuevara,Features Editor, Layout Asst.LiminLiang,Asst. Features EditorOdetteRivera,Culture EditorSarahJenkins Asst. Culture Editor, Copy EditorSaraRich,Lead Copy Editor

AndrewHorner,Copy EditorGabrielMartnezMiranda,Photo Editor

Other Contributors to this IssueAggelosVenetisAhmedAlabadelahAlexZamoraAlexandriaSomirsAnneliesRooseCarlaraslaviaFigueroaElissavetLykogianniGijsVandenBroeckIljaPostel

JessikaNilssonJohnNawasKarlijnSasKatiaDemydenkoKhaledKhalaLiesbethSchulpMelissaSmithMichaelA.AkinbolusereNikhilSindhwaniPieterRomboutsSabineDeJaegereSamDonvilSteanoNcolGranada

TomasNoppensWimDehaen

Cover photo by oran Nguyen. Buddhist monk hitsthe beach. Phu Quoc, Vietnam.

Our new website is currently under construction byour Web Designer, Adesoji Adegbulu.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Vesaliusstraat 343000 Leuven

Belgium016 32 33 95

Contents

Wewanttohearromyou!Iyouhaveanycommentsregardingwhatyousee(ordontsee)here,pleasesharethemwithus,andwewillselectsomemessagestopublishinthenextissueoourmagazine.

VOICE Mail

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www.acebook.com/thevoice.loko

SUMMER VACATIONCULTURE

NEWS features


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THE VOICE, Summer 2013 3

DearHEVOICE,

Whiletheendomanysociallivescomescloser,aquestionstartsrais-inginmyhead.Itisaquestionoryou,voiceointernationalstudents,keeperowisdom,masteroreereceptions.WhyisitthateverybodykeepstalkingaboutthelastepisodeoGame o Trones?WhydoIeellikeIammissingsomethingbecauseIonlywatchedepisodesone,two,andeight?

DearHEVOICE,Imtryingtoaskyouevenmore:whatistherelettotalkabout?Whenweremeetinginternationalstudents,weseemtohavenootheroptionthantodiscussHBO-series.Peopleseemtothinkinternationalizationisassimpleasmakingatranslatedversionoourdailyactivities.Praesidiainviteinternationalstudents,maketheactivitiesattrac-tiveorthem,andaskortheappropriateunds.DearHEVOICE,youknowthisisnotinternationalization.Tisisacheapversionointernation-alization.Terealversionointernalizationisonethatisntthatsimpleto

achieve.ItisarealcombinationointernationalstudentsandKULeuvenstudents.Actually,letstakeitupanotch.Notbytakingittothenextlevelitisnotabouteverywomanandchildbutbylookingatthelowerlevel;itisaboutwalkingintoanAsianmathstudentcookingat4inthemorn-ing,peeinginthesink,andhavingthemutualeelingthatthisexperiencewasquitealright.Itis abouthaving theeeling thatpeeing inthesinkisnotastudentchoice,thatismorestudenticalthanleavingacurrysmellat4inthemorning.

Why,HEVOICE,owhy,arentthecheapversionandtheexpensiveoneandthesame?Imaskingyou,wouldntitbeeasieriwejustcouldmake,translateouractivities,andinvitethenobleAsianguy?Whentalk-ingtoourinternational/non-internationalellow,wealwaysseemtorelyonthemostmainstreamtopicsthateverhaveexistedsinceAquinasphi-losophyoreligion.Tomaswasquietadrinker,PrinceCharlesoncesaid.Youboreme,youknow,repliedDiana.Stoptalkingmainstreammedi-

evalphilosophy.Shehadapoint.Peopleshouldstoptalkingnonsense.Irealizethisletterlookslikesnonsensetoo,butitisapleaorinternationali-zationnevertheless.Anditisnottheinternationalizationotalkingaboutanincestuousking.ItisnotjustEnglishtranslationsonyoursite.Tisistheinternationalizationoeelingthesamekindoawkwardnesswhenbumpingintoa4inthemorningcurrycookeraswhenyoubumpintoa4inthemorningcurryworstryer.Itisnotinquiringwhichkindocurryheisusing,itisnotnoticingthat4inthemorningisaverypeculiarmomenttoeatcurry.

IthinkIaccidentallyansweredmyownquestion.Wereonebiggroupodrinking,stupid,sexuallyrustratedstudents.TismeanswecantalkaboutmorethanGame o Trones.WehavemoretosharethanthatstupidHBO-product.InternalizationismorethantalkingaboutKhaleesiseggs.

Quinten Evens & Bram VaassenPhilosophy students

Letter to the Editor

June 2013

DearReaders,

Ater a antastic year building HEVOICE into a respected publication, our2012-13 Editorial eam bids you arewellwith this specially curated edition,our mostmulti-culturalissueyetandatruecelebrationodiversity.

Our nal Features theme is Dynamicraditions.What happens to traditions andvalues as they ace new contexts, resistance,andthepressuretochange?WestartathomeanddigintowhattheKinKULeuvenmeanstoday - in other words, into the changingCatholictraditionotheuniversity.Wethen

reocusinternationally.Forone,wendthatthe Islamic economicsystem hasembeddedculturalvaluesinwaysthatmaybeunimagi-nabletothoseonlyamiliarwithconventionalbanking.Aswehadaparticularinterestinre-ligionthisissue,youwillalsondinsightsonBuddhismandHinduisminothersections.

Wearealsocelebratingthesummerthatawaitsaterthelastexam.Whetheryouplanto be on themove or to stay put, we hopeyouwillndsomeinspirationinthesepages.Tereis noreason(weather included)oranuneventulsummer!

Lastly, thank you to all thosewho havecontributedtoHEVOICEthisyear.Ithas

beenalaboroloveorourteam,tosaytheleast, andwewould not have achievedsuchqualitywithoutthesupportothosewehaveinterviewed, ourwriters, photographers, art-ists, editors, the International Oce, andLOKO International. And o course, thankyouorreadingandsharing.

Ithasbeenapleasure.AlexZamora,whohails rom Peru, will serve as the 2013-14Editor-in-Chie,andwewishhimmuchluck.Pleaseemailthevoice@loko.beiyouarein-terestedincontributingorjoiningtheteam.

Enjoyyoursummerandsaetravels!

Best,oran Nguyen

Editor-in-Chie

From the Editor


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On17May,RikorswaselectedasKULeuvensnewrectorinacloseelectionrace,winningthesecondroundagainst Karen Maex with 772 votes to736.Despitewinningtherstroundear-lierthatweek,hisvictorywasnotsecure,asthestudentsrepresentativesseemedtosupportMaexinthenalround.Atertherepresentativesdecidedtonolongervoteasasinglebloc,orswasabletowintheelection.On1August,hewilltakeoceasKULeuvensnewrector.

RikorsisaproessoroCanonLawand a home-grown academic, obtainingthree Masters titles rom KU Leuvenrom1979to1981andaJ.C.D.inCanonLawin1987.Nexttohisacademicwork,he is known or his media appearancesasapresenterohisowninterviewpro-gramme,apanelistinvarioustalkshows,andamemberothejuryinFlandersa-vouritegameshowDeSlimsteMenster

Wereld (TeWorldsSmartestHuman).Duringthepastyears,orshasocusedonhispoliticalcareer, initially trying tolaunchanewpoliticalmovement,buta-terthisprovedunsuccessul,hewaselect-

edsenatororCD&V(FlemishChristianDemocrats)in2010.Heremainedasena-toruntilthisMarch,whenheresignedtorunintherectorelection.

A new rector means a new visionwithin the university that creates spaceor resh ideas andpaves theway or anew direction. ors based his electioncampaignuponseventouchstones.Firstoall,orsdesiresmoreroomorcreativ-itywithintheeldoresearch,awayromrigidrameworks.Second,hearguesoranewoutlookonquality,acriticalreviewo external visitations, and an approachwherenot only researchbut also educa-tionshouldbehonoured.Tird,hewantstosee a shit inthe publishing pressureorresearcherswherequalityshouldpre-vail over quantity.Tis approach shouldespeciallybenetemaleresearcherswhostruggle more with a quantitative ap-proach.Fourth,hewantsapushtobroad-

eneducation.Fith,hewantstoseemoresusbsidiaritywhileretainingahighleveloqualityorthewholeKULeuvenas-sociation.Sixth,orsemphasizestheroleo the university as a beacon o society,

creatinganopen,externalorientationothe institution. And nally, the seventhgoalistopromoteprideintheuniversitythrough transparency and an optimisticandcourageousvision.

Inhis letter to the voters,Rikorswrote,avoteormeisavoteorarectorwithanexplicitsocialcommitmentandadeepappreciationoreachindividual.Forarectorwithmoralcourageandresiliencetowardssocietyatlarge.Forsomeonewho,armedwitharichpoliticalexperience,iswell equipped to vigorously deend theuniversityexternally,whileinternallybe-ingaconciliatorandbridgebuilder.Heexpresslycommittedhimseltoacademicreedomandpromisedsel-criticism.

HE VOICE welcomes our newrectorandaskshimtotakeintoaccountthe increasing international student andresearch populations in his policies. o

createmoreopportunitiesorintegrationbetween the internationalsandtheBel-gians,tobuildacoherentuniversitycom-munity,andtolistentoourvoices.Goodluck,Rectorors!

NEWS

RikTorfsElectedRector

By Corieke Bonvanie

International

Europe

Belgium

Leuven

LEUVEN

Rik Torfs, KU Leuvens new rector takes ofce 1 August, 2013.

Photo by Gabriel Martinez Miranda


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NoFourmoreyearsorrectorMarkWaer.LastFriday, the rector magnicus oKULeuvensaid goodbye andthankyouateragalanightinaulaPieterDeSomer. Apor-traitothe proessor with theimpeccablehaircut.

Mark Waer took ocein2009,atertheneg-ativeevaluationorectorMarcVervenne. A turbulent period,theormerrectoracknowledg-es,buthewasalsoasupporteroWaer.

Were good riends. Iwasnt vengeul, I actuallyhelped to restore the peace.Ourteampresentedsomegoodresults ater our years; Mark

completed and continued thiswork. I never interered, butwe were always on speakingterms.Wethinkthesame,weact the same.Tesewere ourgreat years, or him and orme, Vervenne claims. Waermanagedtorestorethebalanceopower.Hemadesurethatinthe uture, the rectors will beevaluatedinademocraticway.

Bram Smits, ormerLOKO-president and there-orerepresentiveoallstudentsinLeuven, callsWaer a greatguy: He was always ready to

talkwithstudentsorshowupateventsiyouaskedhimto.Lastsummer,heevenattentedtheadundumwaveoRadioScorpioattheOudeMarktanddrank the rst beer. Inmeet-ings,hewasagreatchairman.

Hetookaccountothequestionsandneedsothestudentsandmadesurehisteamovicerectorsdidtoo,saysSmits.

Mark is warm, intelligent, and ap-proachable. In meetings, he is knownorhisno-nonsense approach.Hewontdiscussorhoursandhours,hewantsre-sults,completesVervenne.

Terectorandhis teamhave to rec-ognizeallacademicworkandkeeptheirsta enthusiastic. Tis requires a lot oskill.OnEducationalPolicyandStudentAairs,vicerectorsLudoMelisandine

Baelmansprovedtobegreatassets.Bael-mans has great respect or Waer, stat-ing,Itwasgreatworkingwithhim.Hetook control o a complex organization,displayingsingular vision andwillpower.Markknowswhathewantsandtriedtoaccomplishhisgoalsbyhearingeveryoneout. He delegated, gave condence andeedbacktous,andwecouldalwaysreach

andevencriticizehim.

hereweresomeroughtimes:theuniversityred a researcherwhoprotested against genetically modied

organisms in her ree time. Idont knowhow Iwouldhavehandled that, but at all times,arectorhastomakeharddeci-sionsandtakeeverythingunderconsideration, says Vervenne.Criticism is part o academiclie.Wheredoesacademicree-domendandreedomospeechstart?Tedebateisthekeytosuccess.

Tisdebateisstillgoingon,conrms Smits: Tese peopledestroyed other scientists ex-periments. I thinkWaermadehisdecisionaterlistingallprosand cons; there was nothingmorehecoulddo.

Baelmans agrees, In theend,integrityandethicsarethebaseoscience.Itwasatough

call,butMarkhandledthiscaseasagoodcrisismanager.Waerwanted todiscussthe

emancipationotheuniversity.Here-openedthedebateabouttheK(orCatholic,inDutchkatholiek) in KU Leuven. Hewantedtotalkabouthowinde-pendentauniversityshouldbe,explainsBaelmans.

WaerwasntabletosimpliytheadministrationatKULeu-ven, but nobody blames him.Tepeoplewetalkedtoagreedontheactthathewasagreatrepresentativeoouralmama-

ter. I particularly loved theway he speeched, especiallywhen he insulted somebody.Hedidthisinsuchwaythathisobjectolaughterwouldlaughwithhim,smilesSmits.

Waeralwaysmadeclearthathewantedtoserveonlyoneterm.Hewasevenaskedtoreconsider,buthedidnt. I understand him completely;the position o rector magnicusisverydemanding, says Vervenne. You donthavemuchoaprivatelie,theworkingdaysarelong...Intheselastyearsbe-

oreheretires,Iunderstandhewantstogetbackinhislaboratoryanddosomeresearch.Actually,heneverlethislab.Andeverybodyssurehelldosomemoregreatthingsinthenearuture.

Photo by Rob Stevens

Farewell, Rector Mark Waer

LEUVEN

By Pieter Rombouts

Mak Waer, KU Leuvens departing rector.


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On18April,theLearningCentreoKULeuvenopened.Itsname?AGORA!

What is AGORA?AGORAis alearningcentreinLeu-

ven where students or sta memberso KULeuvencancome (alone or in agroup) to study, meet, discuss, work, ororganize presentations. Its open, socialatmosphere is refected in the name othecentre:AGORAmeansmarketplaceinGreek.Te agora is the placewherepeopletraditionallycometogethertoex-changegoods,inormation,andexpertise.TisistheessenceoAGORA.It isnotalibrary,anditisnotastudyplace.Itisastudentcoeeplaceandmuchmore.Itisthemarketplaceorknowledgeorstu-dentsinLeuven.

Where and when?TeLearning centre is located at E.

VanEvenstraat4,at the locationo theormerPharmaceuticsInstitute.

OneotheattractiveeaturesoAG-ORA is its extensive opening hours; itwillbeopen363daysayearandupto16

hoursaday.Tecentreisopenrom8amto 12am romMonday throughTurs-dayandrom9amto7pmonFridayandweekends, aswellasduring the summerperiodandonholidays.

What does it oer?Te centre has three types

ostudyareas:social,silent,andgroup. On the ground foor,there is the social study area.Tisareaisanopenzonewherestudents can work in groups.Tere is also a social meetingroom accompanied by a coeecorner and wall screens where,among other things, the newsothedayispresentedinbothDutchandEnglish.

Also on the buildingsrst foor, thesilentstudyareaoerstwobigroomsorindividualstudy. It isworthmentioningthatinoneothetworooms, theorigi-nalurnitureothePharmaceuticsschoolhas been preserved and complementedwithnewelementsourniture,creatingaplacewherethepastmeetstheutureinaharmonicway.

Te third type o study area is thegroupstudyarea.Tisareaislocatedontheourthfoorwith5book-in-advancemeeting rooms on each foor. In total,thereare20meetingrooms,including13group study rooms, 2 conerence rooms,

2 presentation rooms, 2 video editingrooms,and1videoconerenceroom.Te centre oers wireless internet

connection, copy, and printing services,butthosewithmoreadvancedtechnolog-

icalneedswillbegladtoknowthattheIserviceotheuniversity(ICS)hasbeenmoved to the buildingwhereAGORAissituated.Inparticular,thePCandtheplotterserviceotheICSareprovidedto students atAGORA, with computerrepair and poster printing services alsoavailable.

Tebuildingandthewayitwasreno-vatedhaveresultedina very stimulatingenvironmenttostudy,work,andsocial-ize. AGORA is located in an energy-ecientbuildingwithdierenttypesourniture thatenhancecreativity in themostpleasantway.

A nice extra during the spring andsummer holidays is the garden wherestudentshavetheopportunitytogrababookortheirlaptopandstudyunderthesun.

The New AGORA Learning Centre

By Elissavet Lykogianni

LEUVEN

A marketplace for knowledge opens in Leuven

Photos by Evelyne Van Hecke

AGORA Learning Centre before opening day,

waiting for the rst students to arrive.


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Silent Study Room at AGORA Learning Centre.

HEVOICE,April/May2013 7

Originally written in Dutch by Jens Cardinaels, Translated by Liesbeth Schulp

From the Newsroom of Flemish Student Newspaper,Veto

Anational body to coor-dinate Erasmus is desir-able, says Christo VanMol, Univer-sity oAntwerp, who claims that morecan be done to get local and oreignstudents to interact. National bod-ies should ensure that Erasmus stu-dentsarenotgroupedtogetherabroad.

Erasmus agreements should bemade with the assistance o na-

tionalbodies, says ChristoVanMol, aPhDstudentinSociologyattheUniver-sity oAntwerp, who conducts researchonErasmus students. Universitieshavetomaketheagreements,buttheyshouldbe assisted by a coordinating nationalbodyinthis.Tisway,outgoingstudentscanbespreadmoreecientlyacrossthehost country, whichwould improve theinteractions between native and oreignstudents.ManyBelgianuniversitiessendstudentstoValencia,orexample,creat-ing a large concentration o Belgiansthere.Puttingamaximumquotainplace

oreachhostuniversityisagoodidea.Bart De Moor, vice rector o In-ternational Policy at KULeuven, disa-grees. KU Leuven does not want toplace her international policy in the

hands o a central body. We wantto make independent agreementswith partners o our own choice.

Lecture GroupsTereisalsoworktobedonewithre-

gardtostudenthousing,accordingtoVanMol:Foreignstudentswholivetogetherwithlocalstudentsona smallscalehavemore easy access to local student lie.A valid point, agrees DeMoor. OurResidence Management and the hous-ingservicearetryingtomixstudentsandimprove diversity.Tis ismore diculttoachieveontheprivatemarket.Manyowners are not inclined to rent to or-eigners.Wetrytodealwiththisviain-ormationsessionsorthelandlordsandthroughpoliticalmeans.

Additionally, Van Mol nds thatoreignstudentsotenendupinlecturegroupslackinginopportunitiesorinter-action. Teyare oten put into groupswithoutanylocalstudentsorarerequiredtotakecoursesromdierentyears.Asa

result,theyareneverinthesamelecturegroupsoranextendedperiodotime.Aproblemthatisnoteasilyremedied,says DeMoor. Erasmus students havetakendierentcoursesthanFlemishstu-

dentsintheirpreviousyearsostudy.Itisthereoreimpossibletosimplyletthemjoinatacertainstage.ailoredstudypro-grams are oten required.We have alsodrawn up a proposition or structuredmobility:halotheMastersstudentsinPhysicsromLeuvenwould,orinstance,change places with hal theMasters inPhysicsromUppsala,Sweden, creatinga group consisting o twenty Belgiansand twenty Swedes in both countries.Tiswaywecouldoermorestudentsanexperienceabroadthatisinterculturalinitsel.Moreover,thequalityothestudyprogramswouldincreasebecauselectur-erswouldhavetoadapttooneanotheronaninternationallevel.

MorecoursesinEnglishisnotaso-lutionorVanMol.NotmanyFlemishstudentswouldbekeenonthoselectures.English lectureswouldnotgenerate anongoinginteractionanyway.Telanguagebarrierishuge.Foreignerswhoonlystayor one semester have great dicultiesmakingcontacts.Studentswhostayora

yearand learnthe languagend iteasiertogetintouchwithlocalstudentsdur-ingthesecondsemester.However,takinglessons in a small language like Dutchis not easy in Spain, Italy, or Poland.

A National Body to Coordinate Erasmus?

Why study and work at AGORA?AGORA is not a library, and it is

notjustaplacetostudy.Itisaplacethatstimulates knowledge sharing and in-novation,thataimstoenhancecreativestudying.

AtAGORA,a studentcan walk aday o studying through the dierentareasothecentre.Studyinthesocialarea,drinkacoeeorhaveasandwich,

takesometimetostudyquietlyinthesilentstudyarea,prepareameeting,andstudyorwork ingroups in ameetingroom.Studentsarereetodecidewhenandhowtostudyandworkduringtheday,andevenwellintothenight.

In my university in Spain, I am a student representative. I think the student representation in Leuven is quiteunique. The associations here also offer you a social life, cheaper books, academic events, and more. I will take some

of these student representation ideas and traditions with me to Spain.

~Spanish Erasmus student, Bachelor in Philosophy


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Our Temple Is Everywhere

By Gijs Van den Broeck

IyouvisitedPangaeathissemester,youmight have noticed a remark-ablescene:ayoungAsianguydressedinbrightorangeBuddhistrobes.MeetHornKen, probably KU Leuvens only Bud-dhistmonkstudent.WhatisaBuddhistmonk doing here at KU Leuven? youareallprobablywondering.Shouldnthebemeditatinginhistemple?Well,weaskedhimourselves.

HornisanErasmusMundusstu-dent and ollows the PECSprogramme atKULeuven. Back home,Hornisaninternationalrelationsstudent.Why?Hornsmiles.BecauseIlikepoli-tics.AndbecauseinCambodia,welackdiplomaticrelations,andwehardlyhaveanyknowledgeointernationalrelations.Tis,ocourse,hassomethingtodowith

Cambodian history. Under the reign oPol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime,many o the countrys intellectualsweremurderedinthegenocide.

But is it not strange or amonk to

study and travel aroundthe world? When West-erners think o monks,theythinkopeoplewhohavelettheworldbehindandvowedtostayintheirmonastery or the rest otheirlives.Hornexplainsto us that this stereotypedoesnotapplytoCambo-dianBuddhism:InCam-bodia,Buddhismplaysanimportant role in society.Idontneedtobeapoli-ticianbut,ocourse,Bud-dhism can oer peaceulconfict-resolution.

He admits that it isunusual oraCambodianmonktotraveltheworld.ImightbetherstCam-bodian in the ErasmusMundus programme. Butwhyshouldwemonksstayinourtemple?Weshouldlearn rom the other

world.We cannot ignoreglobalizationandWesternpower.

Being a monk study-ing abroad also comeswithsomeinconveniences,though. Because o mystudies,Idonothavethetime topray ormeditate,while in my temple inCambodia,wepraycollec-tively.However,thisisnot

aninsurmountableproblem.Wedonotneedtogotothetemple.Ourtempleiseverywhere,ourtempleisinourmind.WearenotlikeMuslimswhoprayoutloud.Youcanpraybasicallyeverywhere.

SowhatistheretolearnoraBud-dhist rom thisWestern world, with itsspoiled,greedyconsumers,who seemtodisregard Buddhist virtues suchas non-attachment?In2015,the10nationsothe ASEANwill open their borders toeachother.Europeisagreatexampleorthis. Dierent nationalities can live to-getherpeaceullyhere.WhynottheninAsia? He concludes, In Buddhism wecare or others because they are humanbeings.WedonotcarewhetheryouareEuropeanorAsianorAmerican.

Te stereotype that Westerners are

more materialistic does not always ringtrue either. Asians nowadays are veryinfuenced by theWest. YoungCambo-diansallwanttohavelaptops,Facebook,andiPadsaswell.Tereisadierencein

mentalityhowever:Peopleherearemoreindividualistic.InCambodia,westillhavea sense o community. We still eel weneedtotakecareoouramily.Whenweare18,westillstayathome.InEurope,people leavehome at 18 and rent theirownapartment.

Other acetsodailylie, likehealthandsaety,arealsosurprisingoraCambo-dianinEurope.WhenIcamehere,IwasshockedwhenIsawsomanypeople,evenyoungpeople,drinkingandsmokingalot.InCambodiatherearemanyNGOsthattrytokeeppeopleromdrinkingalcoholandsmokingcigarettes.All theseNGOsinCambodiaaresponsoredbyWestern-ers.ButWesternersthemselvesdrinkandsmokealot!ButnoteverythingisworseinEurope:WesternEuropeisreallysaetotravel.WhenIwasinParis,Isawalotopeoplewalkingaroundatmidnight.InAsia,there is no such thing.Wedonotwalkaroundatnight.Westayathome!

EnoughaboutbeingaBuddhistmonkinEurope.WhatdoesbeingaBuddhistmonkmeanoitsownaccord?Whydid

Hornwanttobecomeamonk?Iam26now.WhenIwas13,Ididnothavethepurposetobecomeamonk.Butthenmyriends becamemonks, and Iwanted toaswell.Anothermainreasonwaseduca-tion.Icannotaordprivateschools.ButasamonkIcanstudyorree.InCam-bodiayourparentsalsoencourageyoutobecomeamonkoracoupleoyearswhenyou are a teenager.You can learn a lotromtheteachingsotheBuddha.Un-likeChristianmonks,Cambodianmonksdonottakelie-longvows.MostCam-bodiansbecomeamonkoracoupleoyears.Tentheywanttohaveagirlriendandenjoydrinking.Wedonotencouragethemtoleave,buttheyarereetodoso.

So what valuable teachings o theBuddhahashealreadylearned?Bud-dhateachesyouthatyouaretheowneroyoursel.hatistheteachingIlikethemost.Icanpenmydestinybymy-sel;noonecanhaveme.InWesternre-ligions,however,peopleseeGodastheowneroeverything.SoisBuddhismactuallyareligion?hereisawholede-bateonthisquestion,buttoHorn,itisnot.Wedonotbelieveinspiritualbeings.Wedonotbelieveinsomethingwedontsee.Buddhismis notareligion,but a teachingo a real humanbeing

andhisnameisSiddharthaGautama.Ionestillclaimsittobeareligion,thenBuddhism is a pro-human religion,sinceeachhumanbeingisownerohisowndestiny.

LEUVEN

Interview with Horn Ken, student and Buddhist monk from Cambodia

Photo by Alex Zamora

Horn Ken.


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heHigher Institute o Philoso-phy(HogerInstituutvoorWijs-begeerte, HIW) is a very internationalaculty.AullEnglishprogramme(romBachelorto PhD)meansthat37.9%othe students at the aculty are interna-tionals,and54dierentnationalitiescanbecounted.Tenumbero internationalstudentsleadstothechallengeoencour-aginginteractions between internationaland Flemish students. Tus the HIWstartedtheprojectBridging the Gapinthehope onding a solutionto a dicultproblemorallacultiesatKULeuven.

Gap-bridging initiativesTe aculty came up with curricular

initiatives to support students in over-coming language problems within thecurriculum. In student surveys held bytheHIW,languagecameorwardasanimportantbarrier tomixing thestudentbody.TeWritingLabisanexampleoovercomingthisbarrier.IntheLab,stu-dents can get tips rom native speakerson academic English writing. In addi-

tiontotheLab,theHIWorganizedtherstWritingWeekinAGORAinApril.NeilSimons,educationrepresentativeoLOKOInternational,seesgreatpotentialin theWritingLab andWritingWeek,andorlaunchingtheminotheracultiesbecause somany students strugglewithacademicEnglish.

HIWalso tookadditional measures,suchastheonlineWritingLaband theeachingaSeminarManual.Inaddition

to such curricular initiatives, there werealso extracurricular initiatives.Tese in-cludedatailoredBuddyProgramme,themerging o NFK (Nieuwe FilososcheKring)andIPSA(InternationalPhiloso-hy Student Association), the DebateClub,andtheGraduateStudentConer-ence.TeHIWiscountingonthecoop-eration oNFK, thephilosophy studentassociation,orthesuccessorsttwoini-tiatives.Withthreenon-Dutch-speakinginternational students in the prsidium(the group that leadsa student associa-tion),NFKistheonlyinternationalac-ultarystudentassociationinLeuven.Pre-viously,therewasNFKorFlemingsandIPSAorinternationals,butnowtheyareconjoined.Teprojectwillbeurtherde-velopedover thenext academicyear,andotheracultiesareconsideringthestartosimilarinitiatives.

Eects o the extracurricular activitiesNFKismakingagreateorttoin-

cludeinternational students in theirac-tivities.Ienjoyedthemalot.Iyouwant

tobepartotheFlemishcommunity,itsvery easyatour aculty, saysDavidEs-pinel (Erasmus student rom Madrid,BachelorinPhilosophy).NFKorganizeseveryactivityasbilingual.Itheeventishardtoorganizebilingually,thentheyor-ganizeitrstinEnglish,laterinDutch,or the otherway around. In the BuddyProgramme,NFKmakessurethateveryinternationalphilosophystudentwhore-questsabuddygetsabuddyromwithin

theaculty.Tisreciprocationisnotguar-anteedinotheraculties,eventhoughithe buddyis romthe same aculty, therelationship has a much greater chancetosucceed.Davidtesties,Someomyinternational philosophy riends have abuddy,andtheyreallyopeneduptotheFlemingsbecauseotheirbuddy.

Elien Joos, Prses (President) oNFK,says,Inthebeginning,itwashardtoengageinternationalstudentsinNFK.But ater two years, its getting better,mostlybecausewehavemoreknowledgenow in howwe can reach out to themthanwehadlastyear.Itbecamenormalorustoworklikethis.Terearestillstudentswhowedontreach,butothersdontmissanyoourevents.Buttherearemoreinternationalstudentsparticipatingthanlastyear.

TenumberoFlemishstudentstak-ing English-language courses is on therise.AccordingtoElien,BecauseothecontactthatFlemingshavewithinterna-tionalsinouractivities,theybecomemoreopentowardstheEnglishcourses.Italso

workstheotherwayaround:internation-alsendupwithFlemishstudentsatouractivities ater meeting in class. BothDavidandElienthinkthemeasureshavehadpositiveeectsandthattheyshouldcontinue to be urther developed andimproved. It takes time, but wenoticeapositiveevolution,saysElien.Tegapdidntdisappearmagically,butitseemstobebeingbridged,slowlybutsurely,attheHIW.

The Higher Institute of Philosophy

LEUVEN

By Evelyne Van Hecke

Bridging the gap between Flemish and international students

Idiom of

the Month:

Nigerian

The Southwest region of Nigeria is home tothe Yoruba dialect, which is riddled with awealth of wisdom and innumerable maxims.

Ko seni to mo omo po bi eni to lomo/Koseni to mo omo po bi olomo.This saying re-ects the folly of judging other peoples deeds,even if they seem inappropriate. What if one re-sponds to this scenario by saying, Dont judgeme, you cant handle half of what I have dealtwith. There is a reason I do what I do, and thereis a reason I am who I am. A persons misfortuneshould not be used against him because we areall prone to human vulnerability.

There is a similar saying that states, It is onlythe person wearing the shoe who knows whereit aches. In other words, only the person expe-riencing a situation can tell how difcult it is and

what it entails, no matter how hard other peopletry to put themselves in his shoes. This adage inYoruba is eni ti o ba wo bata (re), lo le so ibitio n takoko.

By Michael A. Akinbolusere

Photo by Irene Becker


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Dobro doli, Hrvatska! Welcome, Croatia!

By Corieke Bonvanie

On1July,theEuropeanUnionwillwelcome Croatia as its newestmember.TeBalkancountrywillbecomethe 28th Member State to the Union.

AlongwithoverourmillionnewEuro-peancitizens, theCroatsbring anotherlanguageintotheEU:Croatianwillberecognizedasthe24thociallanguageotheUnion,creatingevenmorejobsatthealreadylargetranslationdepartmentinLuxembourg. InBrussels, theEuro-pean institutions will also make roomornewemployeesromCroatia.WhiletwelvenewCroatianmembershavebeenaddedto theEuropeanParliament,duetothelegalconstraintonthenumberoMembersoEuropeanParliament,othercountrieswillhavetogiveupseatsatertheJune2014electionstollnomorethan750seats(plustheEPPresident).

TishascausedquiteastirwiththeotherMemberStates,althoughanagreementseemstohavebeenreached.

With the accession o Croatia, theEU has now expanded its territory totheWestern Balkans.TeBalkans andtheEuropeanUnion,however,havehada rocky history. During the 1990s, thetroubled region painully exposed theshortcomings o the early days o theEUs deence policy though a series oailures on theEU side. Currently, theEUstillcarriesoutseveralcivilianmis-sionsintheregionanditspresenceisnotalwayswell-receivedbythepeople.

Additionally,theEU and theWest-ernBalkancountrieshavesignedstabi-lization and association agreements tobuildastableandprosperousregion.Im-portantintheseagreementsarehumanrights, democracy and the rule o law,goodregionalrelations,andcooperationwiththeInternationalCriminalribunalor theormerYugoslavia (ICY).TelastissuehassparkedcontroversyinallBalkancountries,asthepeopleandtheICY dier in opinions as to who isguilty owarcrimes. Also, these coun-trieseelthattheircapacitytodealwiththeirownwarcriminalsismarginalized.Currently,outotheveothercountries

thathavesignedthestabilizationandas-sociation agreement, only one countryis currently anEU candidate member:the ormerYugoslavRepublic oMac-edonia.However,therearenosignsthat

thecountrywillbecomeamemberanytimesoon,inpartduetothedisputewithGreeceoverthenameMacedonia,whichisalsoaregioninnorthernGreece.

What all Western Balkan countrieshaveincommonisthattheirwaytoEUcandidate status is long and dicult.Te process took eight years or Croa-tia rom the time oapplication tothesigning o the accession treaty. In thisprocess,therstbighurdletojumpwascompliancewiththeICYtondandextradite those accusedby the tribunal.Te tribunal pressured Croatia into lo-catingGeneralAnteGotovina,whowas

eventuallyoundoneneriein2005andlaterextradited.In2011,theICYsen-tencedhimto24yearsinprison.How-ever,manyCroatiansbelievedinthein-nocenceothegeneral,andjustoneyearaterhissentencing,itwasproventhathewasindeednotguilty,muchtothede-lightohispeople.

Te second hurdle was the borderdispute with neighbour Slovenia overland and sea sovereignty. Due to thesedisputes,SloveniahadblockedCroatianaccessionoralongtime.Toughno-nalagreementhasyetbeenreached,Slo-veniahasstoppedblockingCroatiasEUmembership,andthetwocountrieshaveagreedtointernationalarbitration.

Evenstill,withaccessionjustaroundthe corner, the European Commissionhassomeconcerns.Corruptionisoneothem,illustratedbythearrestoormer

Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanadar,whowas revealed tohave accepted over5million in bribes rom anAustrianbankandaHungarianenergycompany.Along with corruption,tackling human

tracking is another issue on whichCroatianeedstostepupitsgame.

TeCroatianpeopleseemtoapproveotheupcomingEUmembershipwith

66%othepopulationvotinginavouro membership last January. Tereore,itmaycomeasasurprisethat,accord-ingtothelatestreportsoEurobarom-eter,theEUsocialpublicopinionsur-vey, 59% oCroatians tend not to trusttheEU,and78%oEuropeansdonottrusttheCroatiangovernment.Tislackotrustexplainswhy,onthedayotherst European Parliament elections inCroatia,only43%othepublicturnedouttovote.YetthisturnoutmatchestheaverageortheEUasawholeduringthelast European Parliament elections in2009.SoperhapsonecanconcludethattheCroatiancitizenscareaslittleabout

EuropeanpoliticsasdootherEuropeancitizens.All27EUMemberStateshaverati-

edandapprovedtheaccessionoCroa-tia.Oneissuedoesremain,thatis,allow-ingworkersromthenewmemberstatesto work in other European states. ForRomaniansandBulgarians,theborderswillopensoon,causingearamongsomeparts o the European population thatthesenewcitizenswilltakeoverthejobso other Europeans, a sentiment espe-ciallyplayedoutbythepopulistparties.Croatiansseemtoacethesamesuspect-edproblems,asseveralcountriesbordersorworkerswillremainclosedaterJuly.Onlytimeandpatiencewillprovideaso-lutionorthisissue.

Overall, Croatians take pride intheirprogresssincetheBalkanWarsothe1990sandthattheyaretherstotheWesternBalkanstobecomeanEUmember. Tis sentiment was expressedbytheCroatianambassadortoBelgium,Luxemburg,andtheEU,Dr.MarioNo-bilo,duringhisvisitthisspringwithstu-dentsoKULeuvensMasteroEuro-peanStudies.

IthasbeenalongroadorCroatiatowards its EUmembership; enteringatthistimeoeconomiccrisiswillnot

be easy either. he European ship islostastowhichdirectionitissailingatthemoment,butatleasttheCroatiansseem optimistic and open to a Euro-peanuture.

EUROPE

Balkan country to become the 28th member of the European Union in July


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Dynamic Traditions

In todays era o globalization, where intense international mobility and the constant presenceo media are a normality, evolution and change have acquired a whole new dynamic. It isin this vigorous context that traditions are heavily contested. raditions, those world views and

rituals shared by social groups, have always been exposed to change and evolution, but in our era,

such changes have become more abrupt and extreme. Shis in traditions and values have awak-

ened various reactions within diering social groups. No matter what the position and aim o these

groups might be, whether the radical resistance to change or the anxious embracing o it, traditions

are unstoppably being defned and redefned. Tey revolve and evolve. In our Features section this

month, we use our own dierent perspectives to explore what happens when traditions are exposed

to international contexts.

FEATURESFEATURES

Photo used under creative commons from A SynCarryn on Traditions Amend & King157 Oakland Yards.


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Many internationals arriving atKULeuvenhavethrowncuriouslooksatthecrosseshanginginmanyotheclassrooms.Youmightalsohaveheardthattherewasabigdebategoingontwoyearsago onwhetherornottodropKULeuvens K. What does the K inKU

Leuvenstillstandorintodayssecular-izedandglobalizedworld?HowCatholicisouruniversity?

HE VOICE spoke with threedierentgenerationsonthetopic.TomasintVeld(23)isastudentophys-icsandparticipatedactivelyinthedebateon the K in the last two years. LievenBoeve(47)isthedeanotheFacultyoTeologyandReligiousStudiesandobvi-ouslywasanimportantvoiceintheKde-bateaswell.Andlastbutnotleast,MarcVervenne (64) is ormer rector o KULeuvenandatheologianaswell.

ItisremarkablethattherearesomanycrosseshanginginKULeuvensbuildings.ItisevenmoreremarkablethatFlemishstudentshardlyevennoticethem.Cathol-icisminFlandersseemstobesomethingremarkable.

Boeve: Flanders is no longer theChristianregionitusedtobe.Peoplecallthisseculariszation,butIpreerthetermdetradtionalization.Notonly theCath-olic tradition, but all our traditions arealling apart, also amily values and theliberal tradition, or example. Culturally,however, it remains veryChristian. Youwillseecrossesandchapelsoneverystreetcorner. Tey remind us o this cultural

tradition.Teyarenot,however,astate-mentoCatholicness,thoughpeoplewhodonotknowtheFlemishsituationmightthinkso.

intVeld:TemajorityotheFlem-ish calls himselCatholic and will haveachurchmarriageandwillbaptisehisorherchildren.Butthesearejusttraditions.Tis does notmean that they are reallyCatholic.

ButwhatdoesitmeantobereallyCatholic?Boeveasks.WetendtomakeaverystrictdenitionobeingCatholicornot.Inreality,however,therejustaredierentdegreesoinvolvement. Inact,it has always been like this, even whenFlanderswasstillreallyCatholic.Letmeask you anotherquestion.Who isa anoClubBrugge [one oBelgiumsmainsoccer teams]?Only the people who go

and watch the game every Sunday?Oralso the oneswho are just interested intheresultoeachgame?Researchshowsthatupuntiltoday,morethan50%otheFlemishidentiythemselvesasCatholic.

Since the end o the Kdebate twoyearsago,theocialnameotheuniver-

sityisKULeuvenUniversityoLeuvenand no longer Katholieke UniversiteitLeuven(CatholicUniversityoLeuven).

Boeve: Tiswas a result othe actthat Flanders became less Catholic andmore pluralistic, as I said.TeCatholicidentityisnolongerthereasonwhypeo-plecometothisuniversity.

intVeld:PeopledonotreallycareabouttheCatholicidentityanymore.Itisjustpartothetradition, justlikeallthecrossesonstreetcorners.

Boevedoesnotcompletelyagree:odownsize your Catholic identity is oneway to deal with this pluralization. Mystrategeyisdierent,however,andcausedachangeinthedebate.odealwith[reli-gious]plurality,youdonotneedlessiden-tity,youneedmore!Butithastobeanopenidentity.Teproblemisthatmanypeople think o identity as somethingclosedandonlycausingconfict.Butwhycantanidentitybeopenaswell?Youcanletyourselbechallengedbytheplural-ity.TeKstandsorCatholic,butitisaCatholicnessthatisopentoplurality.

Nexttopluralization,theothermain

reasonorthenamechangewasinterna-tionalization.

intVeld:Catholicuniversitiesabroadareotenalotmoreconservativeandmoreclosely linked to the Catholic Church.ButKULeuvenisthemostprogressiveandhighestrankedCatholicuniversityin

theworld.Vervenne:Temain purpose othe

name change was to clearly situate ouruniversityinthecontemporaryworldinsuchawaythatpeoplewouldnotmisun-derstandwhatwestandor.Atthesametime, the debate and, subsequently, thenamechangehavegivenvoicetotheneedoanongoingrefectiononthecontentsoitsoriginsandidentity.

SotheKisstillthere.Wearestillsomehow aCatholic university.Whatmakes us dierent rom non-Catholicuniversities?

int Veld: KU Leuven ismore con-

cernedwithreligionthanotheruniversi-ties.Allstudentsgetacourseoreligionandworldviews.WealsohaveaFacultyoTeologyandaacultyoCanonLaw.Especially or those aculties it is im-portantthatwedonotthrowourwholeCatholicidentityoverboard.

Boeve: In our mission statement,there is an important clause that statesthatweworkorsociety,especiallyortheweakestin society.Anotherkeyelementisthepurposeooureducation:Wewanttoeducatepeopleasawhole,tobecomecritical andsolidary.Ocourse, alltheseelementscan occur in otheruniversitiesaswell.Butiyouputthemalltogether,

thenIthinkthisuniversityisalotmoreCatholicthansomepeoplewouldadmit.Vervennequestionstheseviewpoints.

HedoesnotbelievethatallthisiswhatreallymakesouruniversityCatholic.

Vervenne: What really makes usCatholic today is hard to understand. Ithink the K debate denitely ailed toanswerthatquestion.Tedebateimplic-itly ended up discussing our name, butwhetherwekeepthe Kornot iso sec-ondaryimportance.Tequestionis:whatmakesouruniversitytrulyCatholic?Idonothaveanyclearanswersorthis.Maybeareligiouspointoviewiswhatmakesusmodest in realizing that, how muchwemayresearch,wewillneverknowthenaltruth.

Whatisclear,however,isthatthereisatensionbetweenreligionandscience.

Who Put the K in KU Leuven?On the universitys Catholic identity

By Gijs Van den Broeck

KU Leuven seal.


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Tey sometimesseemto agree,but theycan confict as well. We cannot ignorethis.Wehavetotryandtiethemtogether.Andwe have to keep refecting on thisconstantly.Youcantakeallthecrossesinouruniversityawayormypart.Butyouhave to ask yoursel why you would orwouldnotwanttodothis.

TeKdenitelydoesnotmeanthattheCatholicChurchhasanydirectinfu-

enceovertheuniversity.Tiswasdierentinthepasthowever.Vervenne: Surprisingly, the K has

onlybeenaddedtothenameoouruni-versitysince1834.Inthat year,thebish-ops took over Leuvens old university.Back then the Church played a majorrole,notonlyinouruniversity,butinthewholeo society.Sincethe1960sthoughwestartedtosecularizereallyast.In1968ouruniversitysplitup[,whentheormer-lybilingualKULeuvenbecameentirelyDutchspeaking,andtheFrench-speakingounded a new university in Louvain-La-Neuve].Tis split was not primarilyamatter olanguage. Itwasamatter oemancipating rom the Church, thoughin a very tense political context. Sincethenthepowerothebishopshasbeencompletely gone. Upuntil 1968 thoughthebishopsstillnominatedtherector,inprinciplead vitam,orexample.NowallthatremainsisothisCatholicauthorityisthatthebishopsareadvisorymembersoKULeuvensBoardorustees.

Another point o debate is whetheritispossibleoraCatholicuniversitytodoresearchinanobjectiveway.Medicalresearchon stemcells and the likecon-fictswith the teachingso the Church.Intheory,theHolySeecouldevenstop

recognizing KU Leuven as a Catholicuniversity.intVeld:Everyresearcherwillagree

thatscienticresearchcannotbesubjectto any orm o dogmatic thinking. KULeuvenwasevenoneotherstuniversi-tiesintheworldmakingtesttubebabies.Te research in our university hospitalsdoesnotreallydierromotheruniversi-ties.

Vervenne: We should record thattherehavealwaysbeentensionsbetweentheUniversitiesoLeuvenandLouvain-La-Neuve and Rome regarding in vitroertilizationandembryonicstemcellre-search.Stillin2007,Louvain-La-NeuvesRectorCoulieandIhadalongbutopen

discussionontheseissueswiththeCon-gregationorCatholicEducation.

Boeve: In our mission statement iswritten that we are a critical centre orefection in and or the Catholic com-munity.WehavearesponsibilitytowardstheChurch.Tiscanentailthatwehaveto tell the Church sometimes that it iswrong.IdonotthinktheywouldwanttotakeawayourK.

Opinionsdier,however,ontheques-

tionowhetherourKwillstillbetherein30years.int Veld: I think the Catholic his-

toryandtraditionoKULeuvenshouldalwaysremainknownandpresent.ButIalsothinkthat-evenmorethannow-wewillbeanopenandinclusivepluralis-ticuniversity.IdonotthinktheadjectiveCatholicwillquitetthatcontent.

Vervenne:I haveno idea about theuture.Idonotknowwhattheworldwilllooklikein30years.Ontheonehand,Iseethatinstitutionalreligion,especiallyinChristianity, ison the way back. OntheotherhandIseealotoalternativereligiouspractisesappearing.Intimesoinsecurity,peoplewillalwayslooksome-

whereorwarmth.Boeve:NowwestillseetheCatholic

traditionassomethingthatusedtobetoodominant.Westilleelasiwehavetogetridoourpast.Whenwegetoverthis,wecan startto appreciate theCatholictra-dition againas something that can givemeaningtoourlives,thatcangiveiden-tityandhumanvalue.

He does not eel that it might bea problem that there will not be many

Catholicsletinouruniversity:DidyouknowthereisaCatholicuniversityinJa-pan,oundedbyJesuits,thathasonly1%Catholicsamongitsmembers?Ouruni-versityisnotCatholicbecause50%oitspeopleareCatholic.ACatholicuniversityisaproject,aprojectbasedontheGospelthatwantstomakeadierenceincreat-inganopenviewonhumanity.

Vervenne: It is possible that theCatholic element will disappear stead-ily.ButIamnotworriedaboutthis.Iithappens,wewillnotbeabletostopit.IjusthopethatthedebateonourCatholicidentitywill continuein search otruthand authenticity.Tat reallymatters orme.

Central Library, KU Leuven.

Photo by Michael A. Akinbolusere

Are you religious? strangers sometimes ask me pointing at (or poking) the little cross on my neck. I am rarelyasked that question back home. Once you land in a different context, a diverse social group, you are forced to con-stantly dene and re-dene yourself as well as face the assumptions the other makes about you. Signs that seemneutral or standard suddenly become a statement, and then you realize that they always have been and that thereis no neutral.

~Polish student, Master in Cultural Studies


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Inhis1953classicworkonthehis-tory o economic thought, JosephSchumpetercallstheperiodbetweentheancientGreeksandthescholastictradi-tion starting with Tomas Aquinas, agreat gap. Notwithstanding Schum-petersclaimoagreatgapineconomicthinking, there has been a recent ac-knowledgementotheimportantcontri-butionsmadebyMuslimthinkersotheMiddleAges.Fromthe8th c.ADAbuYusu through the 14th c.IbnKhaldun,

Muslim writerscontrary to theirMe-dieval Christian counterpartspraisedtheaccumulationowealthandeconomicactivity,spokeotaxationcriteria(predat-ingAdamSmithby1000years),anddis-cussedwhentheStateshouldandshouldnotinterereineconomicmatters.DrawnromalecturebyDr.SamehElatwy(avail-ableonYoutube), this article highlightsthebasiceaturesotheIslamiceconomicsystem.ToughthemainprinciplesoIs-lamiceconomicsarewell-established,di-erentinterpretationsdoexist,whichareoutsidethescopeothisarticle.

What?Te principal concept o an Islamiceconomicsystemistheideaoaresource-basedeconomy.Accordingtothisconcept,economic value only exists in resourcesandproductsandnotmoneyitsel.InIs-lam,interestisorbidden,andthisimpliesthatmoneyisonlyameansorexchang-ing goods (Quran 2 (Te Cow): 275-276). According to this theory, moneyinitselhasnovalue,norisitaproductthatcanbelentinreturnormoremoney.Consequently,wealthonlyexistsingoods,suchasrealestate,cars,orothermaterialobjects,butnotinmoney.

Tis proposition complies with the

classical theory o economics developedby the 18th c. French economist Jean-Baptiste Say. His theory proposes thateveryeortexertedbyapersoninordertoraisethevalueoagoodcreateswealthor him and or others. Te reason isthatatersellingaproductandreceivingmoneyoritinexchange,theindividualwhohasacquiredthemoneywillwanttospenditagainbecausethemoneyinitselhasnovalue.Ontheotherhand,productsboughtwithmoneydohavevalue.Ingen-eral,thislogicencouragespeoplenottohoardmoneybuttouseitinthemarket(Figure1).

Why?Teunderlyingreasoningbehindthis

thoughtisthatiapersonkeepshismon-ey purely to himsel, he iswithdrawing

money rom the economic circle. Tishoardingcanbeconsideredaselshactthat deteriorates the countrys economy(Figure2).

Te problem o infation and its currentstatus

Much has been written about theconcept o infation. From an Islamiceconomicviewpoint, infation is seenasmerelyanidealaunchedbyeconomiststoencourage people to spend theirmoneyinsteadohoardingit.Teseeconomistsclaimthatinfationcausesmoneytoloseitsvalue.Iweacceptthepropositionthatinfationcausespricestoincrease,thenasolutioncouldbetoincreasetheinterest

paidbybanks.Inthismanner,bankspro-vide their customerswith the eeling oearningmoneyromtheirsavings,whileinreality,banksbarelycovertheinfationrate.Tedownsidetothissystemisthatitonlyhelpsthosewhohavesavingsandignoresthosewhodonot.Italsoincreasesthe interest paid by borrowers, who areusuallybusinessmenandhavealottodowithindustry.Inturn,theyraisepricestocovertheextrainteresttheyhavetopaytothebank.Hereweareacedwiththechicken-and-eggscenarioastheinfationtointerestratesareconnected.

A dierent solution or the problem oinfation

InaccordancewithIslamiceconomictheory, there is another way to encour-agepeopletousetheirmoneyinsteado

hoarding it. First, the direct and simpleway is tomake sure that the amountomoney,whensaved,doesnotincrease.Inotherwords,nointerestispaidbybanks.On top o that, the amount o saved(hoarded)money should decrease i notspentbecauseonethenhastopay zakator the amount o unused money thatexceedsacertainthreshold.ZakatisoneothevepillarsoIslamandaprinciplethatnecessitatesalms-givingorthepoorandothersocialresponsibilities.

Te pros o this solutionAnadvantageothissystemisthatthe

infationratewilldecreaseorperhapsdis-appearaltogetherbecausepeoplewillstophoardingmoney.Moneyretainsitsvalueastimegoesby,andpurchasingpoweralsoremains thesame. Furthermore, productpriceswillnotincreasebecausethenewsituation encourages producers to selltheirproductsassoonaspossible.Ontheotherhand,thedemandortheproductinquestionishighbecausetheconsumerwantstospendmoneyorsomethinguse-ul. On the supply-demand curve, this

meanstherewouldbeanincreaseinthequantitywhilemaintainingthesameprice(Figure3).Inturn,thissystemincreasesacountrysoverallproduction.

Also on a social andeconomic level,zakat plays a undamental role in theIslamic system. It isaway oachievingsocialjusticesincepartooneshoardedmoney exceeding a certain threshold istranserredtoasocialcause.Tistransermeansthatnoadditionaltaxeshavetobeapplied,sothecountrycaninvestinotherprojects.

Itshouldbenoted,however,thatzakatandtaxesdodier.Zakatisonlytakena-terhoardedmoneyhasbeenuntouchedor

Get to Know Islamic EconomicsBy Ahmed Alabadelah, Khaled Khalaf & John Nawas

Figure 1. Continuous circulation o money.

Figure 3. Increase in supply and demand while main-taining the same price (the dashed arrow pointing romone dot to another).

Figure 2. Hoarding according to Islamic economic prin-ciples.


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oneyearanditexceedsacertainthresh-old(calledthenisab).Incometax,ontheotherhand,isusuallydeductedromthemonthlysalaryirrespectiveothenan-cialsituationotheworkerwhethertheworker needs themoney or not. Unlikethissystemoincometax,zakatdoesnoharmtoayoungpersonstrugglingtobuybasicnecessities like a houseand urni-ture.Itprovidestheyoungemployeewith

timetoulllhissocialdutyandaccumu-lateasurplusomoneyorwealth.Finally,investorsandbankswillbynecessityhaveto invest ina prot/loss-sharingproject.Tough this step entails risk,somepro-

jectswillsucceedwhileothersail,butonaverage, there will be economic growthorall.Tereturnoninvestmentisthendistributedamongsttheinvestorsaspro-its,notasinterest.

Current situationTe main principles o Islamic eco-

nomictheoryoeralternativeapproachestoconventionalbanking.A2012survey

onancialinstitutionspracticingIslamicnanceshowedthatsharia-compliantas-sets rose by 7.37% rom$1.086 trillionin 2011 to $1.166 trillion in 2012 (TeBanker),whichmayprovetoincreasethis

systemspopularityaroundtheworld.Islamic banking is already dominant

inMalaysia,Indonesia,andtheGulCo-operationCouncilcountries(GCC:Ku-wait,SaudiArabia,Oman,Bahrain,Unit-edArabEmirates,andQatar).Exampleso initiatives outside the Islamic worldinclude 1) the Islamic Finance Project(HarvardUniversityLawSchool,USA);2) HSBC Amanah Islamic Banking

(UK); 3)Masters Degree in PrinciplesandPracticesoIslamicFinance(Univer-sityParis-Dauphine, France); and4)AlMaalya,aconsultingandservicecompanyorIslamicFinance(Brussels,Belgium).

So What Exactly Are American Values?By Sara Rich

Last years US elections were re-ported internationally, and evenintheiratermath,presidentialandcon-gressional spokespeople arestill throw-ingaroundthephraseAmericanvalues:WebelieveinAmericaandinAmericanvalues!orIstandbehindAmericanval-ues!Asmuchastheseunnamedvaluesaretouted,theyarehardlyeverdened.Instead,votersandinternationalsread-ing the news are supposed to intui-tivelyknowwhatismeantbyAmerican

values;however,evenwithintheUS,thevalueothesevaluesisrarelyuniversal.More oten than not, the label o

American values serves as a euphe-mismorconservativevalues,although

bothdominantparties,RepublicansandDemocrats,usethetermliberally.Ito-tenservesasatooltorallybipartisansup-port,andthesequotablesareabigpartowhat shapes Americas internationalreputation too, or better or or worse.A thoroughare or reedom beatacross the wilderness

Te obvious blue-ribbon winnero American values is reedom. Testandard o independence and liberty

istheonethingallpoliticiansagreeon,whether Democratic, Republican, Lib-ertarian, or Green. Actually, ever sincetheDeclarationoIndependence(1794),thisvaluehasbeendrivenintotheminds

o every American. Te Pledge o Al-legiance (1894) closeswith liberty andjusticeorall;thenationalanthem,TeStar-SpangledBanner (1814), reers toreemen in its lyrics; and in AmericatheBeautiul(1895),libertyis alsoem-phasized:Obeautiulorpilgrimeet/Whosesternimpassiondstress/Athor-oughare or reedombeat /Across thewilderness.

In the US Constitutions preamble(1787),libertyasavalueismorebroadly

dened:We the people otheUnitedStates, in order to orm more perectunion,establishjustice,insuredomestictranquility,provideorthecommonde-ense,promotethegeneralwelare,and

Diferences between conventional and Islamic banking (Maldives Islamic Bank website, accessed April 2013).

Conventional Banking Islamic Banking Moneyisacommoditybesidesamediumoexchangeandsae-placeovalue.Tereore,itcanbesoldatapricehigherthanitsacevalueanditcanalsoberentedout.

Moneyisnotacommoditythoughitisusedasamediumoexchangeandsae-placeovalue.Tereore,itcannotbesoldatapricehigherthanitsacevalueorrentedout.

imevalueisthebasisorcharginginterestoncapital. Protontradeogoodsorchargestoprovidingservices

arethebasisorearningprot.Interestischargedevenitheorganizationsuerslossesbyusingbanksunds.Tereore,itisnotbasedonprotandlosssharing.

Islamicbankoperatesonthebasisoprotandlosssharing.Ithebusinessmanhassueredlosses,thebankwillsharetheselossesbasedonthemodeonanceused(Mudarabah,Musharakah).

Whiledisbursingcashnance,runningnanceorwork-ingcapitalnance,noagreementorexchangeogoods&servicesismade.

Teexecutionoagreementsortheexchangeogoods&servicesisamust,whiledisbursingundsunderMura-baha,Salam&Istisnacontracts.

Conventionalbanksusemoneyasacommodity,whichleadstoinfation.

Islamicbankingtendstocreatelinkswiththerealsectorsotheeconomicsystembyusingtrade-relatedactivities.Sincethemoneyislinkedwiththerealassets,itcontrib-utesdirectlyintheeconomicdevelopment.


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securetheblessingsolibertytoourselvesandourposterity...Tiskindolibertyis the same idea that President BarackObamareerredtoinhisrecentstatementinsupportotaxbreaksorthemiddleclasses and socialized healthcare: Se-curityandopportunity,compassionandprosperityarentliberalvaluesorconserv-ativevalues theyreAmericanvalues.

Onward American soldiersOthervalues,however,arenotsouni-versal, and in a bipartisan system, theyare oten polarized. During last yearselectionsandonthe11thanniversaryothe9/11attacks,thereweretwodeadlyassaultsonUSconsulatecompoundsinBenghazi (Libya).Terewas some im-mediateconusionastowhetherornottheattackswererelatedtotheinamouslm,overwhichcontroversyeruptedonthatsameday.Inresponse,theUSem-bassy in Cairo released this statement:[Te US] condemns the continuingeortsbymisguidedindividualstohurtthereligiouseelingsoMuslimsaswecondemneortstooendbelieversoallreligions. ...Respector religiousbeliesisacornerstoneoAmericandemocracy.

Just hours later, Republican presi-dential candidate, Mitt Romney, re-sponded: I think its a terrible courseorAmericatostandinapologyorourvalues,andlater,ItsdisgraceulthattheObama administrations rst responsewasnottocondemnattacksonourdip-lomaticmissions,buttosympathizewiththose who waged the attacks. Previ-ously, Republican presidential nomineeRick Santorummade a statement witha similar sentiment regarding tensions

betweenChristianityandIslam:WhatIm talking about is onward American

soldiers. What were talking about arecore American values. So a hierarchyo values depending onpolitical andto a certain extent, religious leaningsbecomes apparent: the most importantvalues are either religious reedom andmutual respect, or military retaliationanddominancetoensuresaidreedom.God, country, and amily

Religious values become ensnaredinotherpoliticalcontroversiestoo.Tissummer, the Supreme Court will ruleon the legality o same-sex marriage.Although this debate used to be clear-cutbetweenbleeding-heartliberalsanddie-hard conservatives, as the contro-versygainsmediaattention,anear-60%majorityoheartsarestartingtosoteninavorogaymarriage.Certainly,manystillcitethedictionarydenitionomar-riageandclaim,asinoneletterroma72-year old man to USA oday, Tethingsweknowtobetrueareslowlybe-ingeroded, and i this trend continues,AmericawillceasetobeAmerica,atleastasweknowitnow.Itstimetostandupor America, and or the values that itwasoundeduponGod,country,andamily.Folks,wehavenochoice.

On the other hand, the Presidento the Institute or American Values(yes, it does exist), expressed a changeoheartinhisrecentlettertoTe NewYork imes:Tetimeordenigratingorstigmatizing same-sex relationships isover.Whateveronesdenitionomar-riage,legallyrecognizinggayandlesbiancouples and their children is a victoryorbasicairness.Interestingly,hecitedspirituality as the reason or adjusting

his ormer stance against gaymarriage;he came to the conclusion that con-

demnationwasbadorhisspirituallie.

Te NRAs Celebration o AmericanValues

Oneotheewvalues-basedcontro-versies that excludes religious pretensesistheissueoguncontrol.ItseemsthatgunsarelikecarsinAmerica:mostami-lieshaveseveral,andorindividuals,theysymbolize power and independence.Tere we are again, back to that basictenetotheAmericanvalueoreedom.Problems begin, however, when peoplegrosslymisuse that reedom.Outburstsogunviolenceareincreasing,andAmer-icansarereconsideringwhatitmeanstoeeltoberee.

Te National Rife Association(NRA) is amous worldwide or citing

theUSConstitutions2ndAmendment(1791),therighttokeepandbeararms.ICongresspassesgun-controllaws,istheAmericanvalueo reedom compromised?According to the NRA, itmostcertainlyis.Tethemeo last years annual meet-ing was A Celebration oAmerican Values, wherepoliticians, Hollywood ce-lebrities, andcountrymusicstarsremindedthe74,000inattendancewhyguncontrolisakintoascismtheexactoppositeodemocracy.

Equality, prosperity,amily, democracy, and theprotection o those valuesarehighoneveryUSpoliti-cians agenda, but their ap-plication is ever-changing.Historically, even these ba-sic rights were limited towhite, Christian men, buttime has shown that theyapply to all people, regard-lessorace,gender,andre-ligion, and probably soon,sexualpreerence.Interpret-ing and weighing values

will always stir debates, butthen again, America is alsoknown around the worldor valuing ree speech.

Drawing by Sara Rich

Te things we know to be

true are slowly being eroded,

and i this trend continues,

America will cease to be

America, at least as we know

it now. Its time to stand up

or America, and or the val-

ues that it was ounded upon

God, country, and amily.

Folks, we have no choice.


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Alternative Currency SystemsBy Alexandria Somirs

15September 2008 was the daywhenWallStreet hit rockbot-tom and the day when big banks, likeLehmanBrothers, became awareo theactthattheywerenttoobigtoall.TeactthattheUSgovernmentdecidednottobailoutWallStreetcouldnthavehitthemharder.Teworldmayhaveseemedto standstill on that dark day onWallStreet, buttheaverage Joes (andJanes)stillhadtomakeendsmeet.Whenmon-eygetsdriedupandtherearestillneeds

tobemetinsociety,peoplecomeupwithcreativewaystomeetthoseneeds,saysPeter North (University o Liverpool,Geography), who authored two booksonalternativemeanso trade.One sur-vivaltacticthat iswidelypopular aroundtheworldtodayistocreateanalternativecurrencysystem.Analternativecurrencysystem is a system that uses a dierentcurrencyasasubstitutetothenationalorocialmedium,suchastheUSdollarorEuro.

Terearethreebasictypesoalterna-tive currency systems: 1)mutual credit,2)LES, and 3)barters.Mutual creditisaormoalternativecurrencybecause

currency can be created at the time otransaction. Its like a loan, but there isno interest. LES (local exchangetrad-ing system) is when goods or servicesaretradedinorpointsorcredits,andinturn,thesecreditscanbeusedtopurchasegoodsorservices.Andlastbutnotleast,therearebarters,whicharegoodsorser-vices that are traded or other goods orservices, where transactions involve nomediumormoney.

Alternative currencies have comeabout orobvious reasons.Most impor-tantly, people who use such alternativeexchanges want to transer power rom

nationaltolocalhands.Bycreatingtheirown local set o currency rules and ex-changes,peopledonthavetorelyontheunpredictability o the global economicsituation. However, alternative curren-ciesarenotmeanttoreplacethecommonmedium, but to beused in conjunctionwith conventionalmoney.It doesnt tryinanywaytoreplacecash,saysChris-tophHensch,aSwissnationalandormerbankerlivinginChristchurch,NewZea-land.Rather,itoersawayorpeopletoshareandredeemvaluetheyhaveinthecommunity. He says the currencies aremostuseulingeographicalareasorsocialsectors wheremoney doesnt fow su-

ciently,citingNewZealandsGoldenBayas an example, which is so remote thatitsometimesunctionsasanearlyinde-pendenteconomy.

IntheWesternworld,twosetsoal-ternative currencies have proven to berather popular.Te rst example is theIthaca Hour rom Ithaca, New York.Itwasoundedin1991byPaulGlover,whowantedto createa systemthat pro-motes local economic development. Inthissystem,peoplereceiveHoursinsteadohardcash,withoneHourequalto10USD. Tose who receive Hours spendthem on local goods and services, thusbuilding a network o inter-supporting

local businesses.Te second example istheChiemgauer,whichgotitskickstartrom aHighSchooleconomics teacher,Christian Gel-leri, in southernGermany. Gel-leri wanted toteachhisstudentsabout nance inacompletelynewway by settingup a school pro-ject theyhad tocreate their ownmoneytobeusedinthelocalcom-

munity. Eightyears later, andthe Chiemgaueris still alive andkicking;inact,itis now the mostsuccessul alter-native currencyin the world. Itsmomentumstemsromlocalenthu-siasts who wantto keep currencycirculatingwithinareabusinesses,whereitcanbegenerated

and earned, rather pouring money intothepocketsochainstoresandglobalizedbanks.

It basically comes down to the actthat communities want to exert val-uesagainstwhattheymighteelarethenegative eects o mainstream currencybyempoweringthemselvestodeterminetheirownmodeooperation.Tissortothinkinghasrecentlyreceivedasurgeosupportromtheworkingandmiddleclassesduetotheeconomiccrisis.

Itsoundsbrilliant,thatpeoplewanttohelptheircommunitiesbymakingtheirowncurrencies,butunortunately,doingso doesnt come without its drawbacks.

Onthesurace,itmayseemlikeapositiveincentive orcommunities to create andtakecontrolotheirowneconomy.How-everitalsocreatesabarricadewithother

communitiesbyreducingeconomicactiv-ityandhinderingtrade.Sincealternativecurrenciesareconnedtooneparticularareaormarket,thatcurrencyisonlyac-ceptedwithinthatdenedmarket,there-by only promoting and stimulating themarketinthatspecicarea.Tereore,al-ternativecurrenciescanbeconsideredasatradebarriersincethemarketisnotstim-ulatedoutsideacertainarea.Tiscausesgoodsinthatareatobecomecheaperduetolackoactivityoutsidethecommunity,

wheregoodsbecomemoreexpensive.o sum it all up, economist DaveRibar (University o North Carolina -

Greensboro)listsourmajordrawbacksto

theuseoalternativecurrencies.Asmen-tionedabove,theydonothelp,butmayinact,hindertradeoutsideacommunity.Second,thepositiveincentivesthatcom-munities get by creating theirown cur-rencymaysetonegativeeelingsoutsidethat community.Tird, by starting up anewmedium,thecommunityhastoinvestmoneyintomakingtheircurrency.Insti-tutionswillhavetobeestablishedtoim-plementandmanagethecurrency,whichmaybeveryexpensive.Finally,theremaybeproblemswithexchangerates.Whilepeopleusethealternativecurrencytopur-chasegoodsinthelocalmarket,theystillneedtopaygeneralcosts, likeelectricity,

water,etc.withaglobally-acceptedmedi-um.rendythoughitmaybe,alternativetradedoesnothavethemomentumorac-ceptancetooverpowerocialmoneyyet.

Photo by Shira Golding Evergreen


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I you walk the streets oBrussels,youll be hard pressed to nd awomanwearingaburqa.However,inthewakeotheeventssurrounding9/11,theescalating clash o culturesbetween theWestand theMuslimworldhas resultedinaercebattleovertheburqa.Islamo-phobia andthe resulting obsessionwithsecurity and the protection oWesternreedoms have called into question the

lengths to which Western democraciesshouldgoontoleratingtheconservativedresscode.

AsoApril2011,Belgiumhasgivenits answer and indoing so, became thesecond EU country ater France to e-ectivelybantheburqa.Supportersothebanclaimthatthebillisintendedtopro-motewomensrightsandpreventrictionsbetween Belgiums Muslim and non-Muslim communities, citing promotingliving together as a societal concern.Conversely, most Belgian Muslims eelthat the law is discriminatory and thatitsintentionistostigmatizetheirentire

communityrather thanprotect the ewwomenwhodoweartheburqa.

Het boerkaverbodTeAct,ocially implementedon1

June2011,isnot exclusive to theburqa.Instead,theActmakesitillegaltopub-liclycoverorconcealonesaceinwholeorinpart,sothatoneisunrecognizable.Tereareaewnotableexceptionstotheban, including legal provisions, labourregulations, andlocalordinances regard-ingestivities,allowhichalloworacecovering when necessary. Any personoundbreakingthislawwillbenedup

to137.50andacesuptoaweekinjail.KnowninDutchas het boerkaverbod,

thebanhasbeenthesourceosomecon-usionbetweentheburqaandthe niqab.Tetermsburqa andniqabareotenin-correctly interchanged; a burqa coversthewearerswholebodyromthetopotheheadtothefoor,whileaniqabcov-ers only the acewith openings or theeyes.Accordingtosources,thereareap-proximately 250-270 women who weartheniqabinBelgium,makingthewear-ers a very small minority in Belgiums630,000-strongMuslimcommunity.

Te sentimentbehind the burqaban

isbynomeansanewone.Itismeanttoreplaceaseriesolocalbylawsinthemu-nicipalitiesoAntwerp,Maaseik,Ghent,Sint-ruiden,Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, andLebbeke.Beoretheederallawwasen-

acted,municipallawswereusedto regu-lateacecovering.Escalatingthelawtoaederallevelensuredthattheprocessorhandlingcomplaintsbecame,atleastonpaper,amorestreamlinedprocessratherthandealingwithcomplaintsatamunici-pallevel.

Constitutionality & legalityArguments in avor o the ban gen-

erally relyonrhetoricbasedon guaran-teeing public saety and inthe conceptsound inWesternliberaldemocracies.Alanguageovictimizationisalsousedinreerence to the burqabeing a walkingprison.DanielBacquelaineotheFran-cophoneliberalMRparty,whoproposedthebill,describestheburqaasnotcom-patiblewithanopen,liberal,tolerantso-ciety,andPeterDeDeckerotheFlem-ishseparatistNVApartyviewsthebanasupholdingourundamentalviewsotheenlightenment.Tesupportorthebantranscendedpartylines,andinarareturnoevents,thelinguisticallydierentWal-

lonianandFlemishhalvesothecountryupheldaunitedrontovertheissue.Tevotewaspassed136-1,withthesolevoiceo dissent coming rom Eva Brems oGroen!,theFlemishGreenParty.

The Belgian Burqa BanPhoto used under creative commons from Malalai Abdali

A woman in a burka is photographed through the mesh of the photographers burka.

By Odette Rivera & Sam Donvil


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20/40


Photo used under creative commons from Kris

atthattime,andtherichwerespeak-ingFrench.Asaresult,theBelgianstateconsideredFlemishcultureassomething

inerior. Tus, like the Catalans, theFlemingsalsohadtorestoresomecul-turalprideaterasituationoinequality.Federal state, please?

In 1970, the Belgian communities(Flemish, French, and German) wereestablished. Itwas the start o a longprocessoederalizingthestate,thoughFlanders could start empowering theFlemish culture.Caroline(Liege)says,IthinkthelanguagebordermadetheBelgiansliveintwodierentcountries.Iwassurprisedabouthowmanythingswere dierent because o studying in

Leuven.ArianacomparesthedivisionwithCataloniassituation:FlemishandWalloonsdonthave tomixmuch.ButSpainisalloverCatalonia.ManyCata-lanshaveSpanish relatives. In1978,Spain installed a ederal-like modelin its state structure, givingmore au-tonomytoautonomousregions.OnceCatalonia was recognized an autono-mousregion,itbecamepossibletouseCatalanasanociallanguage.Accord-ingtoMarc(SantPeredeRibes),theseautonomous regions caused a split intheCatalanCountries,andtheCatalanlanguagehaslostalototerritorysincethen.

Moreover, the Catalans eel liketheirautonomyisnotrespected.WhenCataloniadecidessomethingandwhenMadrid doesnt agree, they will makesure to turn it back to how it was,saysHelena (Barcelona). For example,CataloniawantstoprotecttheCatalanlanguagebyoeringeducationinCata-lan,butwithsixhoursoSpanishperweek.AccordingtoPISA(ProgrammeorInternationalStudentAssessment),thescoresaresimilarorSpanishasintherestoSpain,buttheSpanishgov-ernment wants education to be moreSpanish in Catalonia. Why do yougive Catalonia the right to make au-tonomousdecisionsandthenyoudontacceptanythingthatisdecideddier-ently?Victorquestions.

Te Spanish government reusessomemeasurementsbecausetheCata-lan policy sometimes makes it harderor Spaniards to move to Catalonia.Tey would have to learn Catalan tondwork,andthatisseenasaproblem.IsthisSpanishnationalism?

Te Flemings believe that makingthe Flemish region monolingual wasoneothekeyelementstoremedytherenchication o Flanders. Regionalautonomy inBelgium ismuchhigher,

andCatalanstudentswishorasimi-larstructureinSpain,whereallregionsare treated equally, and where diversegroupsarestillsolidary.Noonewouldwant Catalonian independence i this

autonomywould be realized.Tatbe-ing said, it appears many Flemingsarent satised with their autonomy

either, as votes or separatist partiesincrease. Tus, there must be anoth-er reason or separatist nationalism.Money

Intimesocrisisinstateswithdi-erentethnicgroups,nancesareabigactorintheriseonationalism.Moresocial contributions are collected inFlanders thanin lessprosperousWal-lonia.TesamegoesorCataloniawiththe rest o Spain, although there is adierenceinbothregions.InBelgium,every citizen inthe samenancialtaxbracket pays an equal percentage, or

every citizen o the same bracket re-ceives an equal percentage back. Dueto the higher unemployment inWal-lonia, there are more social contribu-tionshandedtoWalloniathanFlanders.However,thereisntmuchdebateaboutthedistributionotaxestolessprosper-ousregionswithinFlanders.ButCata-lanstelladierentstory.Marcgivesanexample: ACatalan studentonEras-musgetsonlyathirdowhatstudentsrom Andaluca receive. Ariana ur-therexplains,WhilethestudentromAndalucasometimes iswealthierthantheCatalanstudent,Madriddecidedtodierentiatetheamountsotheschol-

arshipsbasedonregionandnotonper-sonalsituation.NoneotheinterviewedCatalan studentswanted to stop sup-portingotherregions,buttheywishedthe distribution would become equal.Nationalistic populism as a smokescreen

Populismispouringuelonthere,makingithardertoeelsolidary.Iamaraid to tell Spaniards I amCatalan.SomecriticizemejustbecauseIspeakCatalan.Tisistheaultothepoliti-cians, bothCatalanand Spanish.TeysaysillythingsinthemediawhichgivestheCatalanpeopleawrongreputationinSpain.Itsdrivingusapart,saysHe-lena. Somebelieve thatnationalism isusedasasmokescreenintimeso-nancialcrisis.Tenationalismisputonthetablebythepoliticianstoavoidtalk-ingaboutthecrisis,saysAriana.TisisdonebyCatalanandSpanishpoliti-cians,andmanyFlemingssupportsimi-larpoliticaleorts.Itseasiertowinoverthepublicbysayingthatallthecoun-trysproblemswilldisappeariyoustoppayingorothers.TeBelgianstateisverycomplex,soitsalsoeasierorpeo-ple to ollow that the situation wouldimprovewithamoreindependentFlan-

dersthanwithabstractmeasuresprom-isingthebestresultsorallcitizens.Inthemeantime,whileeveryoneisstaringblindlyatthenationalisticdebates,so-cialsecurity is indanger oreveryone.

Photo used under creative commons from Perirs

Flag of Flanders.

Flag of Catalonia.


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Cultural Investigation

Theoretical Perspective

Entertainment & Art

Lifestyle

Numerousarticleshavebeenwrit-ten on collaborative consump-tion,alsoknownasthesharingeconomy,orP2P(peertopeer)sharing,whichisamovement ocusing on either commu-nallyowningoraccessingresources.Temovementcantakemanyorms,suchassharinglabour-basedserviceslikeachild-care provider or administrative worker,oritcantaketheormosharinggoods,suchasbicycles,tools,orcars.Manywrit-ersramecollaborativeconsumptionasa

millennial trend and cite the economicdownturnandenvironmentalconcernsasthereasonsoritsgrowingsuccess.Whilethesesocialrealitiesmaybeactorsincol-laborativeconsumptionssurgingpopular-ity,itisculturallymyopictoviewtheseastheprimarymotivatorsoitssuccess.

Itishumannaturetoshare;weonlyhavetolooktotheconceptomemesandviral videos to realize that sharing is abasicexperiencethatunitespeople.Andwhileinternetsharing isanewtrendre-sulting rom technologicaladvancement,many o the examples o collaborativeconsumptionprovidedbelowstartedpriortothemillennium,orgrewoutoothercommunallybasedpractices.

Child carers.Te daycare concept wasestablished in the late1700sin Europe.

While childcare provider (nanny) shar-ingisviewedasanewdevelopment,theonlycriterionthatmakesitdierentromadaycarecentreorcrcheisthattheloca-tionistransposedromthepublictopri-vatespace.

Bicycles.Bikesharingschemeshavebeenrunning since the 1960swhen the rstexperimentwaslaunchedinAmsterdam.Tesharinghasgonethroughthreestag-es:therstwasaree,unregulatedphase,

which sadly did notworkwell, as bikeswereotenstolenorvandalized;the sec-ondphaseinvolvedcoin-operateddepos-its,whichwasmoreeectivebutstilldidnotcompletelydeterthet;thethirdandcurrent stage is membership and/or Iregulated.Tisstancehasbuiltaccount-abilityintothescheme,andbikesharingisaglobalsuccessstory.

Car.Carsharinghasexistedsince1948when it was rst implemented in Zu-rich.Carsharinghastakenmanyormsthroughouttheyearsincarpooling,sharedridemessageboards,andcarrentals.Per-hapsoneothemostpopularschemesinNorthAmerica is the Auto Driveaway,inwhichapersonpicksupavehicleanddrivesittoitsownerinexchangeorpet-rolmoney.Tenewestdevelopmentincar

sharingisbasedonthebikesharemodel,inwhichvehicleuseismembershipbasedandtechnologicallyregulated.

Accommodation.imeshares, in whichpeoplecollectivelyownavacationprop-erty,havebeenprevalentintheUKsincethe1960s.Newlyrecognizedadditionstothe accommodationsmarket areAirbnband couchsurng. For thoseunamiliar,Airbnb is an online platorm or hostsrentoutaspaceintheirhomeorashort

duration.Couchsurngisthesameidea,but without monetary exchange. Whilethese are antastic developments in thetravelworld, theyarecertainly notnew.TeAirbnbexperiencecouldbecomparedtoashort-termroomsubletsituation,oraslightlyunkierbedandbreakast.Andtheconceptocouchsurnghassurelyex-istedaslongascoucheshave.

Co-ops.Aco-operativeisanorganizationinwhichmembersshareownershipandwork democratically towards a commongoal.Aco-opcantakeseveralorms:itcanbenon-prot,consumerbased,and/orworkerrun.Co-opscanbestructuredascreditunions,housingco-ops,orretailenterprises.Co-opsarecertainlynotnewandcouldbeoundinScotlandasearlyasthe1700s.

cultureCollaborative

ConsumptionBy Melissa Smith

Cultural Investigation



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he listings below dier slightlyromthecategoriesabove,astheyarereeomonetaryexchange.

Community gardening. CommunityGardening occurs when communitymemberstakeoverneglectedtractsoland(otenoundinurbancentres)donatedbythegovernmentoranon-prot,andstartacollaborativegarden.Whilethispractice

hasbeenlaudedasarecenttrend,com-munitygardeninghasbeenperormedintheUKsincetheearly1800s.

Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is thepracticeoaskingalargegroupovolun-teerstohelpgenerateideasorlabourinordertomakealargetaskintoaseriesosmallmanageabletasks.AnewtrendincrowdsourcingcanbeoundonYouubeintheormocollectivevideo,inwhichnumerous participants each contributeootage, and the end result is edited toormacohesivewhole.Andwhilecrowd-sourcing ontheWeb isa relativelynewconvention(2006),ithasbeenpracticedinthenon-virtualworldsincethe1940s.

Bartering.Bartering is a ormo trade,ree o monetary exchange. Barter net-works exist inmanydierent orms, in-volvinggoods,services,orcreditsthatareaccumulatedlikemoneyandcanbeusedat a later date. Bartering existed beoretheadventomoneyandisstillutilizedasaprimaryormoexchangeinmanycountries.

Freeware.Asimpliedbythename,Free-wareisreelegallydownloadablesotware(includingbrowsers, toolbars, etc.)avail-

abletoallinternetusers.Surprisingly,nei-theristhisanewconcept,asreewarehasexistedinthetechcommunitysince1982.

And, lets not orget the public library,oneothegreatestsharingexperimentsinoperationsincethe1400s.So,ratherthan

highlighting collaborative consumptionasanewtrend,itisperhapsmoreaccu-rate to say that technology has broughtthese cultural practices to the orerontandaidedintheirsuccesses.Teinternethashelpedthesemovementsreachalargeaudiencequickly,whileothertechnologi-caladvanceshavehelpedwithproceduralorganization andto build accountabilityintocollaborativeconsumption.

hemajorityotheexamplesabovedemonstrate a melding o eco-nomic systems, the communal spirit osharing combinedwith theorganizationocapitalism.However, therearepropo-nents o collaborative consumptionwhotakethingsurtherandhaveabandonedthe notion omonetary exchange com-pletely.Formembersothiscommunity,theiractionsarepoliticallymotivated inresponseto thewasteulnessoWesterncultureandthebeliethatmoneydetractsromthehumanexperience.

Squatting. Squatters occupy abandonedbuildingsthatsitunclaimedandvacant,otenxingthebuildingsthathavealleninto disrepair. While many people as-sociatesquattingwiththeanarcho-punkmovement o the 1970s, instances osquatting have been recorded since the1300s.

Guerilla gardening. Guerilla garden-ingisthesisterocommunitygardening,withthedierencebeingthat thelandisnotlegallyoccupied.Guerillagardeningisnotalwaysoodcentric.Sometimesseedbombs(Googleit!)arethrownintodis-usedurbanspacestobeautiythearea.

Freeganism.Freegansonlyeatoodthatisree.Alototheoodisgatheredthroughdumpsterdiving(goingintogrocerystorerubbish bins and collecting disposed-oood,someowhichhasnotevenreachedtheexpirationdate)oraskingrestaurants

orletoversthatwillbethrownaway.TewordFreeganwas ormedbycombiningthewordreeandvegan,asmanymem-bersothereeganmovementascribetoveganism. However, as the movementgains popularity, there are participatingmemberswhoarenotvegans.Tismove-menthasbeengoingsincethe1960s.

Likeanymovement,therearemem-

berswhoarebetterknown,otendue to the act that they have writtenbooks, created websites and been inter-viewed by the press or a liestyle thatseemsinconceivabletomanyWesterners.Teyall livemoney-ree,throughacom-binationobarterandreclamation.

Raphael Fellmer. German RaphaelFellmeristhenewestposterboyorthemovement. He has been living money-ree since 2010 and made internationalheadlinesbytravellingaroundtheglobewith his then-pregnant partner NievesPalmer (who has since given birth andnow lives with Fellmer in Berlin), allwithouttheaidomoney.

Daniel Suelo.DanielSueloisanAmeri-canwhohasbeenlivinginacaveintheUSstateoUtahsince2000.HegaveupmoneyaterworkingwiththePeaceCorpandnoticingthenegativecorrelationbe-tween economic wealth and emotionalhealthinthetribeshewasworkingwith.

Heidemarie Schwermer. Prussian Hei-demarieSchwermer,age70,livesinGer-many and has been living money-reesince1996.Attheageo53,shequitherjob as a psychotherapistwith the intent

oexperimentingwithamoney-reeex-istenceoroneyear,butneverreturnedtoheroldlie.

Asyoucansee, therearemanydierentspectrums to collaborative consumption.Wheredoyoutin?

Entertainment & Art

Music: Belgian Indie RockBy Karlijn Sas

Ihave heard through the grapevinethattheDutchareconsidered,hereinFlemishBelgium,tobebadatmakingmusic,aswellashavingpoortasteinit.Suchis,ocourse,ahorriblegeneraliza-tion,butnonetheless,theyhaveapoint.While this summer, people around theglobeweresingingalongtoGotye,origi-nallyromBrugge,thelastthingromTeNetherlandstospreadaroundtheworldwas probably 2 Unlimited in the 90s

and actually, even they have their rootsinBelgium.ConcertsbyawesomebandslikeBonIveraresoldoutinamatterominutes inBelgium, while they tend tonotselloutthatastoratallinTe

Netherlands.Tatbeingsaid,hopeullyI,asaDutchwoman,canstilltellyousome-thingaboutthegreatindiemusicsceneinBelgium.

ake Leuven or example, a smalluniversitytownwheremanyconcertsaregiven.HetDepotisahigh-qualityvenuewherealotogreatartistsstopwhiletour-ingEurope.Iyouwanttoseesomelocalartistsorree,youcangototheiropen-micnights,whereLeuvensmostpopular

artist,SelahSue,wasdiscovered.Inact,HetDepot has a core role ormost oLeuvensmusicianswhoare,orareabouttobe,nationallyorinternationallyknown,suchasMilow,AKS,BillieKawende,and

FloatFall.Othervenues thathave con-certsregularlyareStuk,30CC,DeBlauweKater,Kaminsky,OPEK,Sojo,Chaosbar,andmultiplebarsontheGroteMarkt.

Tething inLeuvenis,however,thatorEnglishspeakers,it seemsratherdi-cult to nd these concerts. Te maincultureguideistheUit in Leuvenmaga-zine,whichyoucanndorreeatpaperstandsinpublicspaces.TismagazineisinDutchanddoesnotcoverallthecon-

certs that are going on in Leuven.Teaccompanyingwebsite,www.uitinleuven.be,isasuserunriendlyasitgets;hardtouseorDutchspeakersandimpossibleornon-Dutchspeakers.Itseemsthatbrows-


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ingthroughthewebsitesothevenuestolookattheirindividualprogrammes,ol-lowing the venues onFacebook, or justgoingtheretohangout,areornowthe

easiestwaystondoutaboutconcertsinLeuven.Tismightseemlikeahassle,butitisdenitelyworthyourwhile.

Meanwhile, there is a huge amountogreatBelgianmusictoexploreonlineaswell.TebiggestBelgianindie-musicchannel is called Studio Brussel, whichjustspentaweekcoveringthegreatestin-diemusicoBelgium.Teycreatedatop-100listobestBelgianindiesongs.Te

topveweresongsbyAbsynthMinded,Daan, Red Zebra, and two songs bydEUS.Iyoulookuptheulllistorevenjusttheseourbands, itwillprovideyou

withhoursopurelisteningpleasure.StudioBrusselslisto100songscon-tainsonlyeightsongsinDutchandourinFrench;therestareinEnglish.EvenFrankVanderlinde, oneo theFlemish-speakingmusicianswhoisonthelistwithhisbanddeMens,statesinaninterviewthatheissurprisedthattherearesomanyDutch andFrench songsin there;mostBelgian bands sing inEnglish. Next to

thislistoestablishedBelgianmusicians,StudioBrusselshedslightonnewBelgianmusicians in the NieuweLichting sec-tion,introducingnewBelgianartistslikeoutVaBienandRhinosArePeopleoo.

SowhydoesBelgiumhavesuchalive-lyindierockscene?InBelgium,thereareFlemishandWallonianculturalheritagesthatareunitedinonecountry,infuencingandoverlappingeachotherandproviding

a unique cultural landscape that makesoragreatplacetomakemusic.BentvanLooy,therontmanoBelgianbandDasPop,namesanotherreasonwhytherearesomanysuccessulBelgianbands.TerearealotopeoplemakingmusicinBel-gium,thesingerstates.Withsomanymusicians, there is bound to be somegood ones among them. Belgium is agoodplacetomakemusic,therearealotogreatrehearsalplacesthatarereeoratleastcheap.TisisverydierentthanthesituationinParis,orinstance.

Tegreatestnewsis thatthesummeriscomingandBelgiumisaestivalcoun-try.Teestivalannouncementsarefyingaround, and one o the biggestFlemishnewspapers, De Standaard, is even talk-ing about theApocalyps Festivalitis (theapocalypse o estival ever), althoughsomeestivalsarenotcontinuingthisyearbecauseolackounding.Forallousthis summer, the greatnumber o esti-valsisamusicalblessingandagreatwayto get to know new Belgianmusicians.

Belgian singer Selah Sue in concert.

Photo by Tomas Noppens

Iell in love with com-ics when I was 13 yearsold. I picked up Marjane

Satrapis Persepolis (made into a major motion picture in2007--I highly recommend it), and I was absolutely hooked...and its been an obsession ever since! I didnt want to have

anything to do with superhero or antasy comics, what youwould consider traditional. I wanted to read graphic novelsabout people: personal stories that deal with what it meansto be human. I wanted to see the world and experience it inthe way other people see it - and what could be a better andmore personal way than through stylized illustrations. WordsAND pictures!

Through graphic novels, I experienced the Islamic Revolu-tion with Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis, went to an evangelicalChristian sleepaway camp with Craig Thompson in Blankets,lived in a 1920s Jewish tenement apartment in Leela Cor-mans Unterzakhn, and ran a uneral home with Allison Be-chdels Fun Home. Then, on my way rom the United Statesto Belgium, I ew to Brussels with my frst Belgian comic,Hergs Tintin in Congo.

Belgium is well known or its comics, with some wellknown examples being The Smurfs and the Tintin series.

Taking a walk down Brussels Comic Strip Route introducedme to a ew more. During my frst ew weeks in Leuven, I setout to fnd local comic shops, and I picked up a vintage Flem-ish comic or pre-teens & teenage girls and orced one o mypoor Belgian classmates to read it with me panel by panel,word or word, in an eort to help me improve my Dutch. My

Dutch may still be awul, but I learned a bit about what it mayhave been like to be a Flemish pre-teen in the 80s!Recently, Ive started ollowing the work o Ghent-based

20-something artist & illustrator, Brecht Vandenbroucke(and I got a chance to meet him recently! Talk about angirlmoment!). In his new comic, White Cube, I saw elements oBelgium that I have now come to know and love. Ater frstbuying the book, I went to visit with a riend and op

the voice: dynamic traditions (summer edition)

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