What if nobody truly chooses freely who they become or what they do? Farah Focquaert challenges us to rethink punishment and retribution. Our current legal system relies heavily on the idea that people ‘deserve punishment’ purely on the basis of personal responsibility. Focquaert explores an alternative: a form of justice that does not revolve around revenge or moral guilt, but around restoration for all those involved, the protection of society and early prevention. What does that mean in practical terms for prisons, punishments and policy? Can we move towards a more humane system that focuses on change and genuine social safety? Can we, and are we willing to, recognise that repression not only makes our society less safe, but is, moreover, inherently unjust?

Following the lecture, Farah Focquaert will be in conversation with Sibo Rugwiza Kanobana.

• Philosopher Farah Focquaert works as a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences at Ghent University, and as a lecturer in the Applied Psychology programme at Artevelde University College. She is an expert in, amongst other things, research into free will and moral responsibility, punishment and detention. She is the author of ‘A Better Life Without Free Will.’ (B&L, 2025)

• Sibo Rugwiza Kanobana is a senior lecturer in sociolinguistics and postcolonial studies at the Open University of the Netherlands. He is co-author of The Bastards of Our Colony: Untold Stories of Belgian Mestizos (2010), editor of the essay collection Black Pages: Afro-Belgian reflections on Flemish (post)colonial literature (2021) and author of *White Order: On Race, Class and Whiteness* (2024) and *Lumumba’s Dream: What His Legacy Can Teach Us Today* (2025). He was an editor at *rekto:verso* from 2016 to 2024.

This lecture will take place at MIRY Concert Hall. The hall is wheelchair-accessible via a lift to the first floor. A Flemish sign language interpreter will be provided for this lecture. Anyone with further questions about accessibility facilities can contact the organisers: helena.verheye@hogent.be. On the day, questions can be put to the student assistant at the reception desk.

In the 1930s, Gaston Schoukens was renowned as a writer of popular Brussels comedies. With Un Soir de Joie, he enjoyed one final major success. The film, based on a true story of a Resistance operation in November 1943, recounts how the Belgian Resistance distributed a forged issue of the pro-German newspaper Le Soir, full of mockery and parody of the occupying forces. It is striking that Schoukens largely avoids the hardships of war, opting instead for a light-hearted approach in the tradition of Tijl Uilenspiegel. Yet the film is not purely cheerful: a few bittersweet moments reveal that the war had left its mark even on this comedy.

This screening will be introduced by film history lecturer Gertjan Willems.

Cathy Lane established the department of Sound Arts and Design at London College of Communication (LCC) and previously directed and co-directed, with Angus Carlyle, Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice (CRiSAP). She is interested in how sound relates to the past, our histories, our environment and our collective and individual memories. This informs her current work as a composer, sound artist, lecturer and researcher. 

Books include In the Field (Uniformbooks, 2013), a collection of interviews with eighteen contemporary sound artists who use field recording in their work and On Listening (2013) a collection of essays about some of the ways in which listening is used in disciplines including anthropology, community activism, bioacoustics, conflict mediation and religious studies, music, ethnomusicology and field recording.

Ilyas (Bylemans) & Stan (Gonzalez) invite: open mix'd Telex jam. Opened by Stan Gonzalez (guitar), Kasper Snellebrand (Bass), Manuel Laman (drums), Wolf Deruyter (keys) & Simon Cupyers (sax). After that - the stage is yours, don't forget your instrument!