The guards of the “hulpgevangenis” in Leuven. Prison as a mini-society with its own rules and hierarchies… not too easy for a lecture for every one.

The European Parliament. We have an interesting, open talk with the spokesman of one of the politicians a.o. about the difficulty of proposing an alternative to the system while being part of it, and about the lack of what is political in the essential sense of the word (going back to the polis) in a lot of our democratic political institutions. Then we enter one of the many big conference spaces. Time matters, 15 minutes is a lot. So much going on: people going in and out, different kinds of information traffic, changing faces. Then, a moment. Silence. The words are alien in this context, there’s resistance. The 23 translators behind glass look flabbergasted. They never had to translate words like “love” before.

>> Eyewitness report by Jan de Zutter (in English)
>> Ooggetuigeverslag door Jan de Zutter (in het Nederlands)

Lezing en nagesprek, iedereen welkom.

The alderman placed a bet: will the mayor of Leuven quietly listen for 15 minutes to a LFEO?

100 People are waiting for the movie “Lars and the Real Girl” (with Ryan Gosling) to begin, when a figure in blue appears in front of the screen grabs a mic and starts to say a lecture….

Alma (local chain of student restaurants): management meeting. Sarah’s being introduced as court jester.
Some spontaneous remarks and insights are added to the text, like: “money’s the poorest form of richness”, “you will never know what freedom is, because when you know it, it escapes” and “love is the cruelest form of justice.” And “a moment, that’s a mo-nu-ment.”

The new school year has definitely started. Time for the first parent-board meeting in primary school De Ark. For quite some of the parents, it’s their first encounter with the school and with each other. On the agenda “making a school together”. First a short introduction round, then the surprise lecture. Sentences about children, about catastrophes, about the current state of affairs, about the future get differently colored again.

Filipiniana yesterday. It’s kind of crowded in Mrs. T.’s living-room. These women from Philippines are coming together to prepare the upcoming dinner costume party. After a plate of typical noodles, Lecture For Every One enters their cosy little bubble.

Some staff members of the Museum M (receptionists, doorkeepers, …) have a training in how to work better with volunteers. The teacher gave us permission to interrupt the afternoon session with LFEO. As often, after we leave, we hear a relieved kind of giggling. Someone has to break the ice before continuing the due program of the day.