There are quite a few yawning gaps these days: that between those with wealth and those without, between those who are on board and those who are excluded, between the salary of the CEO and that of the worker, etc. A debate on a pressing issue, involving several specialists and taking as its motto ‘Change the world, it needs it’ (Bertolt Brecht).

Theatre maker Wajdi Mouawad engages in an open dialogue with the mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur and Lukas Pairon (Music Fund). Béatrice Delvaux (Le Soir) will eavesdrop on this unprecedented encounter, a first in a series of three Night Shops organised by UCL.

The Kaaitheater is playing host to the fourth session of The Green Book. Writers, academics and thinkers from Belgium and abroad meet to debate the transition to a socio-ecological society. The programme also includes interventions by theatre-makers. In the foyer you will find a choice selection of books and publications on ecological subjects.

The gap between rich and poor in Belgium has never been so big. One Belgian in five has difficulty making ends meet. One immigrant child in three grows up in poverty. This makes Belgium one of the worst pupils in the European class. But what is near the top of the political agenda? Criminality. Safety. Zero tolerance. Public nuisance. Loitering teenagers. But it should not be all one-sided. When they do not succeed in tackling the real problems, politicians always come back to the same thing: repression, as the political philosopher Bleri Lleshi says in De neoliberale strafstaat. On the basis of theoretical research and practical experience, Lleshi shows where thirty years of neoliberalism is rapidly leading us.

Dutch sociologist Willem Schinkel argues for a new politicisation and a critical nationalism that views the nation as a Utopian rather than a museological project. He opens up stagnated debates on economics, integration, culture, nation, law, religion and ecology and shows how we can move towards alternative forms of political thinking.