Filip, welcome to Jenue’s Journal.  Tell us a little about your background.

When I was 17 years old, I had to decide what university courses to take. My parents wanted me to study law, which horrified me. Although they insisted that it was a good career choice, I never studied it.  In retrospect, that was really strange because law is now one of my passions.  I wanted to study philosophy, and so I did. Early in my academic career, I was attracted to political and legal philosophy; probably because my best teachers taught these subjects.

I finished with a master thesis on totalitarian government (Arendt and such). My special interest in human rights and democracy only matured after the end of my master studies. I then decided to take my doctorate degree on these subjects and had the luck of having my thesis published.

What inspired you to write a book on human rights?

It’s books in plural by now. When thinking and reading about politics, it seemed that I always ended up with human rights and democracy. Much of our lives revolve around these concepts, even if we don’t make it explicit to ourselves. The idea of human rights is very beautiful. It shows the best, and the worst, of humanity. There’s also the idea of progress; moral progress, which appeals to me a lot.

Have your rights ever been violated?

Of course, like the rights of all of us, but without much harm. I never experienced a government induced famine, genocide, torture etc.  I’m fortunate, like most of my fellow westerners. However, this doesn’t mean that the West is somehow superior to the rest of the world. Our history is terribly bloody and still today our policies wreck havoc on many parts of the world (take for example the common agricultural policy of the EU, or the war in Iraq).

In your opinion, are the Olympics a proper venue to protest China’s stand on human rights?

Yes, it’s a chance in a million. Those who say that the Olympics is only about sports forget that the Chinese government didn’t have sports on their mind when applying for the Olympics. They had politics on their mind. They don’t care about sports. They want to project a positive image of China. They want to boast etc. If you see how the poor Tibetans have cleverly used the Olympics, I suppose the Chinese already somewhat regret that they applied. One shouldn’t underestimate the effect of protest. Sure, they won’t make China a human rights paradise – there is no such paradise – but the protests, the openness and the presence of journalists and tourists, will all help to make things a little better.

Are you planning a future in politics?

No, I don’t think so. Too busy with my writing and my blog. As I’m a citizen of a small country (Belgium) I wouldn’t be able to make much of an impact anyway.

Jenue: Audience, Filip’s modesty has left a few blanks in his profile.  In order to complete the picture of who he is, you must know that he’s also a poet, artist, and speaks a total of six languages including Dutch, English and French.

I personally would never ask him what he did on his weekend because his answer is sure to be:  I hung out with the family, wrote a book, drew a sketch, learned Swahili, blogged, composed a poem, worked on my website, and there was still enough time to plant a tree.  What did you do?

My answer would be, “I made a pie”.

Filip, it was a pleasure interviewing you.  I’d wish you luck with future projects but that hardly seems necessary.  God bless.