Kids Parlement | Children’s Day

Kids Parlement | Children’s Day | 20211120 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com | Reportage with Amir Jafari in front of the Belgian Federal Public Service for Justice building, Boulevard de Waterloo, Brussels, Belgium – Nov 20, 2013.
Amir Jafari (12 yr old student and Afghan refugee in Belgium) – the voice and face of the Belgian ‘Kids Parlement’ – on the arrival of the silent solidarity march for Afghan refugees in Brussels 20 nov 2013. First brief encounter with Amir just before his public protest speech demanding Belgium changes its asylum policy. Full reportage of Amir’s speech in post Afghans & Belgians « We want justice » (20131124). Protest at the Belgian Federal Public Service for Justice building, Boulevard de Waterloo, Brussels, Belgium – Nov 20, 2013.

NL – DUTCH

MB – Ja, ik heb uw brief gezien, en gedeeld op facebook.
( ‘Eén dag in mijn schoenen’ – Nov 15, 2013 in de Belgisch krant De Standaard.)

Dus, vandaag wordt er voor u geprotesteerd ?

JF – Ja , eigenlijk voor iedereen.
Voor iedereen is het vandaag een protest dag.
Omdat het vandaag kinderrechten dag is.
Ze hebben genoeg gezwegen.
Iedereen heeft genoeg gezwegen.
Kinderen , jongere mensen hier, iedereen heeft genoeg gezwegen. Maar vandaag ..
Er moet niet meer gezwegen worden !
Vandaag is kinderrechten dag.
En iedereen mag zeggen wat hij wil !

EN – ENGLISH

MB – I saw your letter, and shared it on facebook.
( ‘One day in my shoes’ – Nov 15, 2013 in the Belgian news paper De Standaard ).

So, today there is a protest here for you ?

AJ – Yes, actually for everyone…
Today is a day of protest for everyone.
Because today is Children’s Rights Day.
They have been silent for long enough.
Everyone has been silent for long enough.
Children, young people, everyone
has been silent for long enough !
But today, we must break the silence,
because today is Children’s Rights Day…
and anyone can speak up for himself.

TAGS #refugee #Afghan #KidsParlement #asylum #undocumented #sanspapier #Brussels #Belgium #solidarity #march #protest #speech #AmirJafari #war #rights #kid #child #ChildrensDay #1Memo #michelvanderburg

Doctor Honoris Causa | Connect the World

Doctor Honoris Causa | Connect the World | 20211119 | 1-memo•com

At yesterday’s ‘Night at the Opera’ in the Brussels opera house De Munt | La Monnaie , five new honorary doctorates were welcomed to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel community by rector Caroline Pauwels : the American science communicator Ann Druyan, artist William Kentridge, Brussels politician Pierre Kompany and world renowned immune scientists Antoni Ribas and Thierry Boon Falleur. The spotlight was also on the honorary doctors Koenraad Tinel en Simon Gronowski for their extraordinary friendship.
Partners were the Université libre de Bruxelles, Erasmus University College Brussels, Ghent University, the University of the Western Cape of South Africa, the Brussels Parliament, our university hospital UZ Brussel, the VUB Orchestra directed by Jurgen Wayenberg and guest conductor, composer, Dirk Brossé.
Here a short film of the group scene photographed at the closing of the ceremony.

TAGS #night #opera #Brussels #Belgium #Munt #Monnaie #1Memo #michelvanderburg #DoctorHonorisCausa #VUB #ULB #CarolinePauwels #AnnDruyan #WilliamKentridge #PierreKompany #AntoniRibas #ThierryBoonFalleur #KoenraadTinel #SimonGronowski #holocaust #war #JurgenWayenberg #DirkBrossé

Brussels’ Afghans Flee Taliban

Brussels’ Afghans Flee Taliban | 20210821 | Afghan refugee interview* by Kristen Cattell (USA) & Michel van der Burg (Holland) at the ‘Afghan camp’ inside the Béguinage Church in Brussels, Belgium – March 17, 2014 .

*One Afghan gentleman – who asked to remain anonymous – told us about his journey to Brussels. Interview anonymized by reconstruction using a disguised voice-over and visual and auditory imagery (organ Félix Snyers) captured March-April 2014 in the Church of Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage in Brussels.

“When you are working with America or other organizations in Afghanistan the Taliban is a big problem. I was with the forces in Kandahar Province for one year. This was a big, big company in Kandahar. After one year the Taliban send some letters to my family saying, ‘Your son is working for the enemy.’ And they said, ‘He will come and he will work with us.’ Then I went to my home. And after the Taliban found out about me, I came to Iran, then I went to Europe, and this country.”

NL vertaling – translation dutch :

“Als je voor Amerika of andere organisaties in Afghanistan werkt, is de Taliban een groot probleem. Ik was een jaar bij de strijdkrachten in de provincie Kandahar. Dit was een groot, groot bedrijf in Kandahar. Na een jaar stuurden de Taliban enkele brieven naar mijn familie waarin ze zeiden: ‘Uw zoon werkt voor de vijand.’ En ze zeiden: ‘Hij moet bij ons komen werken.’ Ik ging naar huis. En toen de Taliban van mij wist, ging ik naar Iran, en vertrok vandaar naar Europa, en dit land.”

Reportage by Kristen Cattell (USA) & Michel van der Burg (Holland).
Remastered 2nd edition of film first published in 2015 (Béguinage shadows | 20151115).
Brussels’ Afghans Flee Taliban | 20210821 | michelvanderburg•com

TAGS #1Memo #michelvanderburg #BeguinageProject #houseofcompassionbrussels #Beguinage #church #Afghan #camp #refugee #tent #shelter #interview #Taliban #Belgium #Brussels #KristenCattell #asylum #undocumented #sanspapier #diversity #rights

LINKS More about the Beguinage Project here http://bit.ly/1HZguvY and here https://michelvanderburg.com/?s=Beguinage

Meyer Girl by Marcel Hastir 1939 | 20210408

Meyer Girl by Marcel Hastir 1939 | 20210408 | 1-memo•com
Portrait of the little girl Meyer painted by Marcel Hastir (1906-2011, painter, philosopher, resistance fighter) in his Brussels’ atelier in 1939, shortly before she was deported with her parents and destroyed in a crematorium.
Oil painting shown to me by Horst Schroeder April 19, 2013 at the 70th commemoration of Transport XX to Auschwitz in Atelier Marcel Hastir, Brussels, Belgium. Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) 2021.

TAGS #Meyer #MarcelHastir #holocaust #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Belgium #Brussels #atelier #painting #art #resistance #oil #portrait #girl #Jew #shoah #genocide #commemoration #deportation #TransportXX #water #YomHaShoah #attack #rescue #escape

Best of 2020 Award for Richard Bloom Productions | 20210207

Best of 2020 Award for Richard Bloom Productions | 20210207 | michelvanderburg•com | Miracles•Media
Richard Bloom Productions (richardbloomproductions•com) has been selected for the 2020 Best of Palm Beach Gardens Award in the Motion Picture & Video Production category.
Past year the views tripled to over 100K for documentary Transport XX to Auschwitz!
Our newest shoah documentary , the truly inspiring film about the Hollywood legend Robert Clary – From Buchenwald to Hollywood, the Robert Clary Story – had a world premiere in Hollywood FL and is available for watching in the holocaust centers Yad Vashem, USHMM Steven Spielberg Division, Simon Wiesenthal Center , the USC Shoah Foundation and is available for Jewish and other film festivals as well as holocaust education programs. The Robert Clary Story is not fully online yet …
TAGS #RichardBloom #documentary #award #1Memo #michelvanderburg #MiraclesMedia #MotionPicture #PalmBeach #PalmBeachGardens #Florida #documentary #holocaust #resistance #survivor #TransportXX #SimonGronowski #RobertClary #Hollywood #deportation #train #attack #RegineKrochmal #escape #YouraLivschitz #JeanFranklemon #RobertMaistriau #Auschwitz #Buchenwald #Brussels #Mechelen #KazerneDossin #shoah

Resistance Nest Marcel Hastir | 20210206

Resistance Nest Marcel Hastir | 20210206 | 1-memo•com
In this atelier of Marcel Hastir in Brussels – a nest of resistance – the final plan was made for their attack 19 April 1943 on the deportation train Transport XX to Auschwitz by these young men Youra Livschitz , Jean Franklemon, and Robert Maistriau. Resistance fighter Régine Krochmal – postwar portrait on the left – escaped from that train. Filmed February 2020 in Atelier Marcel Hastir, Brussels, Belgium.
TAGS #resistance #deportation #Auschwitz #1Memo #michelvanderburg #TransportXX #Auschwitz #Belgium #Brussels #Boortmeerbeek #deportation #holocaust #train #attack #RegineKrochmal #escape #KazerneDossin #YouraLivschitz #JeanFranklemon #RobertMaistriau #Atelier #MarcelHastir #resistance #holocaust #war

Making-of PUSH Opera Virtual Finale

Behind-the-scenes late night video editing work with London (UK) based videographer Shogo Hino ( Shogo Media ) a few days before the premiere online April 19th 2020 of this work, the virtual PUSH Opera – Finale with giant choir – Lockdown 2020 🇧🇪 🇬🇧.

The final film hosted by composer Howard Moody via YouTube is presented on my site in the post : Virtual Opera PUSH Epilogue ~ Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles – Link https://michelvanderburg.com/2020/04/19/virtual-opera-push-epilogue-ma-vie-nest-que-miracles/

More than 150 singers from the UK & Belgium have recorded the finale of PUSH and film editor Shogo Hino has edited the result into a virtual performance uniting the four casts and choruses.

Screening started in the night of the 19th April 2020, exactly 77 years after three Brussels resistance heroes stopped the Nazi train Transport XX, transporting 1600 Jewish deportees to Auschwitz, and more than 200 prisoners escaped from the train before the German border.

Based on Simon Gronowski’s story
Epilogue from the opera PUSH – based on the story of Simon Gronowski – an 11 year old Jewish boy who was pushed from the train – Transport XX – by his mother on the way to Auschwitz. Documented in the film “Transport XX to Auschwitz” presented here – https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/

A virtual performance during the April 2020 Corona virus lockdown by members of the casts from previous productions of PUSH in Battle, Chichester, Salisbury, London and Brussels.

Composer and librettist Howard Moody on piano, Carlos Bruneel on flute, and with the soloists James Newby, Sheva Tehoval, Tereza Gevorgyan, Ivan Ludlow, Lars Thorkildsen, Ciaran o’Donovan and Eleanor Farmer. Soundmix and additional production by Adrian Zolotuhin.

Film editing by Shogo Hino | @shogomedia.

Additional video work from the Miracles project together with Richard & Karen Bloom by Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media .

With special thanks to Simon Gronowski, and Linda Lovrovic, Sue Kent, Sally Lampitt, Chris Stones, Jill Hoskings, Claire Apel, Jo Nicolai, Philippe Paque, Benoît Giaux, Andrea Frankenthal, and Sarah Ehrlich.

In memory of the three members of the Belgian resistance Jean Franklemon, Robert Maistriau and Youra Livschitz, whose bravery in April 1943 saved the lives of many, as our health workers continue to do today.

News and background is updated in this post : Opera PUSH – online via OperaVision – https://michelvanderburg.com/2020/08/07/opera-push-online-via-operavision/

Howard Moody Website – https://www.howardmoody.co.uk/

Sculpture by Koenraad Tinel

Making-of PUSH Opera Virtual Finale ~ PUSH : Howard Moody and co-workers | howardmoody.co.uk ~ Screen recording : Shogo Hino | @shogomedia ~ Film : 20201114 Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media