Yesterday a good screening of A Thin Wall at Le Space, an unusual community space close to the canal that “partitions” Brussels into a wealthy East and an economically depressed West.
Unlike the Paris banlieues, poor neighborhoods are located in the center of the city here, more in line with the American model of hollowed out urban centers surrounded by prosperous suburbs. And of course, gentrification, with its attendant side effects, is also at work. There is plenty of diversity – I was told a small neighborhood nearby is inhabited by immigrants from no less than 160 different countries – and a certain dynamism that’s clearly visible within the walls of Le Space.
My beautiful friends, the Zoeters, were there and Karin was able to get two counsellors from the Pakistani Embassy to attend. The wonderful Frank Barat made it as well – it was lovely to meet him in real life. I was picked up from my hotel and escorted to the venue by Christopher Daley, a fellow documentary filmmaker whose work I cannot wait to check out.
The questions after the film were interesting as usual. One of the counsellors questioned the premise that nationalism needs to be ditched hook, line and sinker. What about nationalism as a force for anti-colonial struggles and the demand for self-rule? True enough. Although nationalism in the anti-colonial context has enormous potential for freedom and social, political and economic transformation, it can also be used later to justify the need to homogenize by defining rigid parameters for nationhood. A young woman asked about an alternative vision to the Western idea of nation states and I advocated open borders, which might reduce the inequities and imbalances that exist between the colonized world and the world of colonizers. Someone noticed that it was mostly women who were interviewed in the film and whether that was intentional. Indeed.
Finally, a bright university student compared the reality of coexistence in the Indian subcontinent, prior to partition, to Belgium’s ability to negotiate fragmented politics (Dutch speaking Flanders, French speaking Walloon, and then the Brussels-Capital region) and continue to function as one entity with many moving parts. Loved that. She came to speak to me afterwards and told me she is of Moroccan descent. She enjoys the city’s rich diversity and is extremely curious about the world. What a perfect way to end the evening.
