11 February 2026

Johan Leman

Mobilisation for Gaza is greater than for Iran: why?

One cannot fail to notice that in Brussels there has been broader and more intense mobilisation to protest the massacre that took place in Gaza — and that is still […]

30 January 2026

Johan Leman

Curious about what life is like in the closed centres…

In the 1990s, the then Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR) was granted by the government the right to appoint three staff members who were given access […]

26 January 2026

Johan Leman

Brussels Region. Stubbornly sticking to vetoes = living in a bubble

Every few years, people are asked to cast their vote in elections. Do many people hesitate to vote? Yes, because election results never depend on a single individual vote. But […]

22 January 2026

Johan Leman

The sense and nonsense of return premiums in migration policy

Proposal by Minister Van Bossuyt: “Syrians who are in an asylum procedure and choose voluntary return can count on €5,000 in reintegration support. The longer someone remains in the procedure, […]

16 January 2026

Johan Leman

Civil society and what government and media never can provide

Over the past decades, civil society has been attacked from two sides: by government and by the media. In the meantime, social media have been added to the mix, supposedly […]

14 January 2026

Johan Leman

Cultural elites are in need of deep reflection…

Musa al-Gharbi, an American sociologist, belongs to the kind of social scientists I most enjoy seeing at work. He does not rely on a series of ideologically inspired gimmicks that […]

9 January 2026

Johan Leman

Being a democrat = being willing to engage in constructive compromise

“The only limit to my power is my morality” (Trump). “A great statesman is someone who consistently does only what he said beforehand he would do and never makes concessions […]

17 December 2025

Johan Leman

Let’s frame migrations correctly

On the occasion of the International Migrants Day (18 December), I propose to frame the figures in a factual and objective way, before passing judgment and shaping policy. The only […]

11 December 2025

Johan Leman

About Saint Nicholas, and Christmas and New Year’s wishes

There has been quite a bit of fantasizing around the Brussels Christmas nativity scene, a bit like in the old days with Saint Nicholas, with Black Pete and the question […]

5 December 2025

Johan Leman

Society in 50 Years…

It is not unusual for young people to be concerned about their future. Today, this also includes following debates about pensions and trying to anticipate how other issues might look […]

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Blog

Johan Leman is a social and cultural anthropologist and president of Foyer VZW since 2003, where he was director from 1981 to 1989. He is an expert on integration policy and the fight against racism. From 1989 to 1993 he was chief of cabinet of the Royal Commissioner for Migrant Policy and from 1993 to 2003 he was director of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism.

In this blog, he gives his opinion and views on current events in and around Molenbeek.