"As a citizen or artist, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have a critical conversation with the government"

On Friday, September 20, the VUB gathers at the Royal Circus for the Celebration of the Open Mind. We open the new academic year and celebrate the values we steadfastly uphold as a university: critical thinking, freedom of expression, the right to self-determination, solidarity, and connectedness. The program includes an impressive lineup of guest speakers who, through short speeches or performances, will share what the Open Mind means to them. One of them is teacher and poet Ruth Lasters. She resigned as Antwerp's city poet when the city council refused to publish her critical poem "Ransom." Ruth wrote the poem with her students as a protest against the stigmatization of students in technical and vocational education.

What does an open mind mean to you? "An open mind is someone who forms their own thoughts, accepts no dogma, and is open to the differences between people. But also someone who understands how cruel the illusion of meritocracy is. You know that childish idea: winners are fighters who made it despite everything, and losers are slackers who bring it upon themselves. Every September 1st, I see in my classes how unfairly things are distributed: some students have everything in their favor, others have everything against them. Anyone blind to that is an opportunistic spirit enslaved by capitalism."

Should we be able to say everything, or are there limits to freedom? "Freedom of speech is sacred but may be exceptionally limited by laws. If denying a genocide increases the likelihood of such horrors recurring, a law prohibiting that is a good thing. You sometimes hear that we should bring those deniers to their senses with strong arguments. Then I think: by the time that happens, people may have already died."

"A bit of self-censorship is necessary to stay healthy."

Have you ever refrained from expressing certain things due to self-censorship or external pressure? "Oh yes. I have strong opinions and get incredibly frustrated by the patriarchy and all forms of oppression. If I vented all of that in the media uncontrolled, my life would be one long controversy. I don't have that much energy. A bit of self-censorship is necessary to stay healthy. I will express my opinions, but in my own time and in my own way."

Is freedom of expression under pressure? What do you think is the greatest threat? "The biggest threat is the tendency to conduct politics over people's heads instead of with and for them. As a citizen or artist, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have a critical conversation with the government. I think it's the end of freedom, which is our most valuable possession. What frustrated me most when our poem 'Ransom' was rejected was the lack of communication. I asked several times for a conversation with the responsible alderman, but she refused. So petty. Isn't it interesting to hash it out person to person? I also found the rejection of the poem deeply insulting to the students in vocational education who wrote it with me, and by extension to all craftsmen and women."