‘It was a powerful message to convey something without making it super explicit’: Elisabeth Lucie Baeten

How do you look back on Sunday?

“With a very warm heart. It was an intense moment on stage for me as a speaker. After my performance I stayed a few hours with my family. It was a beautiful day on many levels, also much bigger than I had imagined. I had made Sint-Jansplein much smaller in my head, although I actually know it well. To reassure myself, I think. But that turned out a bit differently. There was a real festival atmosphere. My children have been introduced to this from an early age.”

What was the time of day for you?

“Then I will go for the moment when I was on the podium myself, which I will not soon forget. The first part of my speech was nice and light, and I heard a cheerful buzz. Then when I talked about serious things, I really felt the audience change and people became very quiet. I got a physical reaction from it myself: very special to experience. I also thought Pieter Embrechts was very impressive. And of course the opener with the children on stage. My mother-in-law immediately started crying very hard. It was a nice family event, that’s for sure.”

So it is worth repeating for you. Nevertheless, are there things that could be improved for a possible next edition?

“Almost nothing: the organization was great and the line-up was very good. I have to admit that I am not the most critical festival visitor. It was certainly also suitable for children.

“Or wait, there is one thing that could be different next time: maybe they could simply opt for a larger square. Why not on the Werchter pasture?”

Do you think the call for more humanity has also been heard?

“I think the people who were there already supported that message anyway. But the media attention was great, hopefully it will reach further than just the concert. You can always dismiss that message of being human and kind to each other as cliché or vague. But in life it often comes down to that. Hopefully people will do something with that.”

Political messages were excluded in advance. Did you think that was a good idea?

“You know, everything is political. The fact that no political parties were allowed to be mentioned was seen as a sign of weakness. Many thought that was silly. But I do understand that. Nowadays it is not easy to speak out about any political party. The consequences are often corresponding, online or in real life.

“It was a powerful message to convey something without making it super explicit. If you had done that in advance, many people might have said: ‘This is not for me.’ Now you have been able to attract visitors who would otherwise not have come. Moreover, it was now also much broader, such as the accusation of the genocide in Gaza. There are many governments internationally that you cannot agree with.”

Yet there were sometimes party-political messages, for example Zwangere Guy with ‘fuck all fascists, fuck all racists’ or a Holocaust survivor who called on not to vote for Vlaams Belang. Was that wrong?

“I don’t think you can argue with a call against fascism and racism. And that should not actually be called party politics, because that applies to everyone. Giving middle fingers on stage, there is nothing wrong with that.”