The Gravensteengroep is a group of Flemish artists and intellectuals established to promote the Flemish demands for more autonomy. The group comprises persons of varying political views, who do share basic values such as democracy and human rights. Their main concern is that the Flemish demands for more autonomy are often associated with extremism and nationalism, which they argue is not true. The Gravensteengroep's modus operandi consists of publishing manifesto's, which explain why they see the Flemish demands as reasonable and just.
The group was erected in early 2008, at a location close to the
Gravensteen
The Gravensteen (Dutch; literally "Castle of the Counts") is a medieval castle at Ghent, East Flanders in Belgium. The current castle dates from 1180 and was the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was subsequently re-purposed as a c ...
in Ghent. Its first manifesto was published on 21 February 2008, a period during which the demands for Flemish autonomy made the formation of a Belgian government very difficult. Its members include:
* Ludo Abicht, philosopher at the University of Antwerp
* Peter De Graeve, philosopher at the
University of Antwerp
The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...
* Paul De Ridder, historian and department chief of the Royal Library in Brussels
* Jo Decaluwe, director, actor and teacher
* Eric Defoort, historian and Honorary Teacher at the Catholic University of Brussels
* Dirk Denoyelle, comedian
*
Paul Ghijsels, singer
*
Bart Maddens, Principle Teacher
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of ...
at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Center for Politicology
*
Chris Michel
*
Yves Panneels, entrepreneur
*
Jean-Pierre Rondas, broadcaster for the Flemish radio
*
Johan Sanctorum, philosopher and columnist
*
Bart Staes
Bart Hubert Wilfried Marcel Staes (; born 7 August 1958), is a Belgium, Belgian politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament for Flanders from 1999 until 2019. He is a member of Groen (political party), Groen, part of the Europea ...
, member of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
for the Flemish
Green party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
*
Bart Vanhecke, composer
*
Frans-Jos Verdoodt, writer
*
Jan Verheyen, film director
*
Etienne Vermeersch
Etienne Vermeersch (2 May 1934, Sint-Michiels, Bruges – 18 January 2019, Ghent) was a Belgian moral philosopher, skeptic, opinion maker and debater. He is one of the founding fathers of the abortion, euthanasia law, and the Law on Patients' Rig ...
, Professor at the
State University Ghent
Former members
* , lawyer
The signatories of this manifesto, who call themselves the Gravensteen Group, each start from different political and ideological main points, but agree in their attachment to democracy and human rights. They put central the values of freedom, equality, solidarity and mutual respect, and reject all forms of racism and xenophobia.{{Citation needed, date=April 2008
They have been however worried by the fact that in the recent discussions concerning the state reform of Belgium, the impression is awoken that reasonable and equitable Flemish requirements are associated each time with extreme right thinking. For this reason they brought together their points of view in the Gravensteen Manifestos.
Politics of Belgium