It is now early January 2026. It is snowing outside. Trains, cars and planes are stuck. Everything has come to a standstill. I am sitting here in a warm, beautiful impact house, with a number of great colleagues, highly educated lucky few. The winter lights in the Christmas tree welcome everyone. There is healthy fruit in the kitchen and, since recently, soup for the winter days. All is well. And yet…
The world is anything but at a standstill, but is driving itself hopelessly into the wall. In Ukraine, it snows even more every winter and there is not always enough energy left to heat broken families. In Greenland, there is even more snow and ice, but underneath it all lie valuable raw materials. In Gaza, according to UNICEF, 67 Palestinian children have been killed since the ceasefire. Maduro may indeed have been a villain we would rather be rid of. And yet…
Europe is the old continent where democracy was invented. Democracy is more than majority against minority. Especially in times of alternative facts, fake news, and certainly in such frightening geopolitical power games, human rights, respect for the rule of law and, of course, the language we use are extremely important. Europe is not hopelessly behind. Above all, Europe must NOT imitate the US, Russia or China. We can be proud of our old values, our history and our culture. The European continent has always been a mix that has been constantly influenced and enriched by exchanges with other cultures. Let’s keep on building bridges instead of walls. Let us be proud of our models of consultation, our compromises, our search for truth, our doubts and nuances…
When I shared my New Year’s wishes last year, I was still shocked by Trump’s brand-new victory. Now I am even more shocked by his policy of imperialism and neo-colonialism. If we do not condemn what Trump did in Venezuela, how can we credibly criticise Putin? How will we stop him invading Greenland? Barack Obama and Biden may have made many mistakes, but at least their language was so much more inclusive, warmer, more connecting: “yes, we can” is the perfect mix that the US and Europe should stand for: positive, together, possible. #BringBarackBack.
What does all this have to do with the Impact House? I could make a tenuous link between the lights on the Christmas tree and the ideals of the Enlightenment (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité). I could talk about the Impact House as an “Island of Hope” in the European quarter in the hellhole of Brussels. I could thank the fantastic organisations in the house for their alternative truths: together we are truly building a more connecting narrative, where words do matter, but more importantly with the ultimate goal of bringing about real change: we want change !
The Impact House brings together many people of good will, not just to talk and make nice speeches. Fortunately, there are also many doers in the house: you work together, you roll out ambitious plans, you grow network organisations that really make a difference in Belgium, you show that sustainability, social impact and financial discipline can go hand in hand… Thank you especially for the hope you generate and the positive social impact you make every day.
Piet
Photo: “Keep your coins, I want change”, Banksy