Hello from Brussels :)

Just want to thank all of you who follow this blog. I really appreciate all your kind messages and am amazed at just how many of you actually read and share this, and from so far away too (Hello Texas!) Bless yies :) You are all an integral part of the Road to Change and we are truly grateful for your support.

So…I’ve now walked 500 miles. I write down my mileage in a wee book at the end of each day and still I need to sit and add up the exact distance covered but I do know it’s over 500 miles now…Please control any urge to sing a particular Proclaimer’s song at me…that tune haunts me already…

Anyhoo…Yay for Belgium! Really liking this country too, it feels like it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which honestly wasn’t what I was expecting for the political home of the European Union. I thought it would feel like the European equivalent of Washington DC, but thankfully No. The folk are really laid back and there’s a lot to make you smile here. (Waffles, Chocolate, Frits and Beer…)

The last few days walking went without a hitch (apart from the intense heat…) and I arrived in Brussels a day ahead of Schedule. Belgium certainly feels like an older country. Dates proudly engraved on buildings seem to start from around 1500s but it’s not as immediately colourful as Luxembourg. Wee houses on the cute Belgian streets are just a slightly different shade of red brick from the next.  Still, a lot more folk stop and chat to me here, which is improving my French (Just in time to enter Dutch speaking territory…) but although not much shocks me, I did witness a few things while walking this week that managed to raise my madrigal eyebrow.

Firstly, I noticed a number of very young teens smoking here. I know that’s not unique to Belgium and no doubt happens every day in parts of the UK but one boy, who looked about twelve, was smoking in the passenger seat of a car next to, who I presume was, his mum. Could have been an isolated incident of course, but if not this country is more laid back than I can comprehend. Later, on that same road, I saw three boys of around fourteen standing at the side of the road trying to thumb a lift. I’ve seen this in Donegal, a rural part of Ireland with small villages where everyone knows everyone, but these boys were hitchhiking near Waterloo, just south of Brussels, which is the beginning of the city and so I doubt they would know the driver who kindly stopped to pick up them up.  Three young boys.  Perhaps I’m being too ‘British’ and like I said, Belgium does feel extremely laid back, but from a child protection point of view this did concern me…BUT, the most alarming thing I saw was another child in a car, only this time it was a toddler in the back, not strapped safely in his chair under a seatbelt but standing up hanging out the window as they drove into the carpark of McDonalds. I don’t have kids but I am an uncle of ten and I know that, at that age, their head is the heaviest part of their body. I froze as their car made the tight turn into the drive-through as the child could very easy have fallen out the window and landed under the back wheel. Perhaps my years of working in British theatre, where ‘health and safety’ is drilled into everyone who even walks past the building, have left me a little jumpy when I see toddlers hanging out the windows of moving cars but I can’t understand how those parents weren’t at all bothered. Perhaps this too was an isolated incident. Hopefully anyway…

So, on Tuesday I wandered into the centre of Brussels. Mojo had safely parked Yvonne so we could take time to see a bit of our new home for the next six days. The capital seems to compensate for the muted colours of the countryside, as nearly every building is trimmed with Gold. Within minutes, we found ourselves at the famous statute of the wee boy peeing. Mannekan Pis (And man, he can piss…)

We wanted to get a picture next to the tiny wee statue but it was behind a fence and behind a curtain, so we couldn’t actually see it…Two men in striped blazers, straw hats and gigantic curly moustaches, who looked like they’d escaped from Whoville, where telling us to move back across the street. There was only Mojo and I and a few other tourists but then police appeared and started shoeing us all out the way…of nothing…Suddenly, we heard a brass band in the distance, and could see them winding their way down the narrow streets towards us, lead by a couple on a massive Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Behind the band were a clan of bikers who, despite the heat, were all kitted-out in full Harley Biker leathers. In seconds, the quite street was packed and I realised I’d lost Mojo, but I knew he’d be somewhere in the sea of heads facing the curtain, waiting to see the wee boy…peeing…

It started to feel a bit like Ground Hog Day, as more striped-blazer’d big-moustache’d men appeared and began making a speech, in what sounded like Dutch, then the crowd shouted the count-down till the wee fella, dressed in his own wee Harley Biker leathers was reveal, and instantly peed a jet of water right out past the fountain, soaking the front three rows of the clan. (I didn’t know he could do that…)The big-moustache’d men then held up plastic cups and filled them with the wee boy’s pee, which I soon realised was actually beer. (I didn’t know he could do that either…) Then the whole street felt like a carnival and I was chuffed that we happened to be walking passed at the exact moment to witness it, but apparently this happens all the time. I was passing again yesterday and noticed the wee guy is now dressed up as Marcel Marceau. (Peeing…)

It was refreshing to witness a public gathering celebrating a statue of a naked child and know that there is nothing inappropriate about it. It really is all in good humour, but again I just became aware of my ‘British conditioning’, as I can’t imagine how this could ever happen back home, without someone writing an irate latter complaining that it was encouraging their child to pee in the street or depicting the consumption of urine as acceptable…I talked about this in an earlier blog, but as I head north up the west coast of mainland Europe, their openness towards nudity and the disassociation of nakedness and sexuality is very enlightening.

Anyhoo…Back to work. The next morning, I was invited on a private tour of the European Parliament. Connections lead to more connections in this wee corner of the world, in Luxembourg I met Erica Gwynne when she came to the screening of ‘Kelpie’. Erica’s father’s friend, Tim Boden, works in External Affairs at the European Parliament. Sweet. Tim kindly offered to show me around the building and so was expecting me, but as I approached through the busy morning traffic and crowded corporate streets I realised I was the only person not in a suit. I am immensely proud to be Scottish, which is why I only and always walk in a kilt but having been required to send my passport details to the Parliament twenty-four hours before entering the building, I wasn’t quite sure what security were going to make of me. All worries subsided when I reached the great circular courtyard and saw people of all nations dressed in their country’s finest garb, many of which I didn’t (and still don’t) know the words for…It finally felt like the centre of Europe.

Belgium keeps shattering my expectations. Having been inside the United States Sennett building, I was ready to be put in my place by a similar kind of imposing architecture, but again thankfully not. DC was designed to evoke the majesty of ancient Greece. The Capital Building, with its hundreds of white steps up to the vast dark doorways, the Whitehouse with its huge marble columns, or the great seated Lincoln Memorial (styled on the legendary statue of Zeus) were all very consciously constructed to make citizens feel like just that: citizens. Washington wants you to feel like you are just a wee person but behind these awesome doors, great planetary decisions are being made which are far beyond your mortal understanding and so you should just leave the ‘Gods’ to get on with what only-they-know how…The European Parliament has none of this and in fact seems to welcomes you. It has a broad courtyard created by a circular tunnel above your head stretching out from the main body of the Parliament, which kind of feels like the building is putting its huge arms around all who wish enter the heart of Europe. Every window on the glass tunnel displays a poster of Croatia, welcoming them as the newest member of the EU (as of last week).

Tim Kindly put up with my million questions. I really wanted to understand how decisions that affect everyone in Europe, including me, are made here. I also wanted to understand what the EU actually means and what powers it has to actively prevent children being sexually abused and create justice to survivors across this continent. He started by showing me an electronic Info Terminal, which are posted throughout the building and can be accessed in every European Language. For fun, we opened it in Irish Gaelic (Which neither of us speak…) and I saw the full list of MEPs (Members of European Parliament). I was depressed that the only name I recognised was Nick (F*****g) Griffin… It’s ironic that the European Union was founded on principles of peace to put an end to international hated and fascism in post war Europe but with democracy must come freedom of speech, so the British National Party are of course represented. They did garner over a million votes at the last UK election after all, but I was glad to hear that they have little if any impact on proceedings here.

Racism… Speaking to my friend Fred back when I was in Paris, he explained how the economic crisis had generated a rise in Conservatism in France. (That could explain the surprising protest against the introduction of Marriage Equally in ‘Gay Paree’ recently)  As money and jobs become scarce, people tend to protect what they see as ‘theirs’, when really to create peace we should all be more inclined to share in times of need. Walking through the Parisian campsite, I was usually surrounded by typical holiday-makers but when I stopped to pet a wee cat beside a tent a very weary looking guy suddenly jumped out. He explained how he had lost his job and his apartment and now lives in this campsite with his cat. I felt terrible for him as he seemed like a nice wee fella but then he asked quite abruptly: ‘Do you hate Arabs?’ I was taken aback by his sudden coarse line of questioning and how he assumed that as a white European I would share his hatred for ‘Muslims’. His breath smelled quite flammable, and I chose my battles carefully, so I calmly steered the conversation back to Haggis and Bagpipes. In his drunken haze, he didn’t notice the complete redirection of our chat, but the experience stayed with me. I abhor racism and discrimination of any kind, and was amazed the BNP recently won so many votes, but I believe they prayed on those rising racial tensions in the past few years of economic struggle. I hope that as our society climbs back out the red, we can rekindle that sense of humanitarian togetherness.

The Road to Change, is a project focused within and spanning the entire EU, an area uniting Europe in a spirit of kinship. Perhaps laws created at such a high level will never impact directly on individual attitudes but at least at a policy level we can still make progress. For example, all EU countries have abolished the death penalty. I still see many on Facebook, who are passionate about child protection, would like to see capital punishment reinstated for child-sex-offenders but I strongly believe that would only reduce the amount of people reporting abuse. If your step-brother was molesting you, I imagine many would sooner keep quiet about it if reporting him would mean he would executed. I’ve come to realise that most survivors simply want their offender brought to justice and removed from contact with other children. Thoughts?

There is nothing fortunate about being sexually abused, but the Road to Change has taught me that I was fortunate to have been abused in a country that ensured my legal right to seek justice. Even though I pressed charges twelve years after the last time he abused me, my uncle was sent to prison and will never again be allowed to come into contact with children. Every EU citizen is restricted by their country’s own Statute of Limitations, (or not, if you’re from the UK) Thankfully, other nations do seem to be gradually reforming this but if the European Parliament moved to implement a blanket abolishment, it could seriously increase the safety of European children and the opportunity for all EU citizens to seek justice in one unified progressive leap.

As I now understand it, the EP potentially has the power to introduce such advances in European society, but of course it’s not that simple (and you can never please everyone). New policy agreed in the EP can still be re-debated and amended by each member state before (or if) it’s implemented. There are so many obstacles to establishing actual change. Did you know our Queen even has the power to vito any new law if she sees fit? To my knowledge, she hasn’t ever acted on this but it has happened here in Belgium. Twenty years ago, when the parliament wanted to reform a woman’s right to abortion, their stanchly Catholic Belgian King abdicated for a single day so the law could be passed and he would not feel responsible. Apparently he has just retired again, so Belgium is waiting for the coronation of his son. I wonder if there are a bunch of laws swiftly being passed through the parliament right now, taking advantage of this temporary Monarch-less window in their countries infrastructure.

Changing laws always felt like the domain of those we elect into power, but since the Lisbon Treaty became legally binding in 2009, any EU citizen (Including me) has the right to launch an Initiative, and if you gather just 1,000,000 signatures from other EU citizens, your proposed reform will be presented to the Council of Ministers and debated in the EP. Think of that, just one million signatures…

My new friends Luxembourg are making progress in establishing their petition for reform of the very constricting Statue of Limitations there. I was in their Parliament a few weeks ago and was told they’d only need a thousand signatures to bring their case to parliament but David sadly informed me that this changed in the first quarter of 2013, so they now need to gather 4500 signatures. (Luxembourg were quick to reform that law…) Perhaps with the dawn of online petitions, the policy has been adapted to reflect the relative effort required to submit a completed initiative. Still, I know they can do it!

So as well as knocking on the door of power, I’ve spent my days here meeting the people of Brussels. I first met an organisation based within the vibrant African community, who support woman and children experiencing domestic and sexual violence. They explained how many children are brought here from Africa and sold into the sex industry. These children can’t go to the police as they technically shouldn’t even be here, so they are lost and terrified and have no way out. These wonderful ladies seek out those vulnerable children and get them to a safe place in the refugee centre. I was truly humbled to learn about the amazing work that they do, in unimaginable circumstances, directly impacting lives and preventing sexual abuse on a daily basis. Wonderful people.

The next group I met were equally inspiring. ‘Youth for Human Rights’ are a motivated team of young people who campaign online and on the streets for the inclusion of our basic human rights to be taught in every school curriculum. Apparently they have a team in every city that I’ll visit on the walk and they’ve made great progress in their campaign, with a number of countries already adopting their educational materials in all their schools.

The product of a standard Scottish Catholic school education, I didn’t even know we all have thirty basic human rights, globally agreed in the 1940s and supposedly upheld by all countries within the EU at least. For example, we all have the right to Marry…Apparently. Do we? I do, as of next year, because I’m from Scotland but many across the EU are still being denied this basic Human Right. We’ll get there… The teens spoke very good English but when they read my flyer and realised that I walked here, they looked at me like I had suddenly turned green. This happens a lot, when people realise that I walked here from London, I think they’re wondering why I’m not lying on the floor panting. Maybe I should act more exhausted in meetings so that folk feel satisfied that they’re talking to someone whose on a 10,000 mile walk.

Anyhoo…on Saturday, I was invited to a festival in honour of Burundi’s 51 years of independence from Belgium. I’m starting to wonder how I keep ending up at these wonderful cultural events, as when I walked in I was greeted by yet another Ambassador, His Excellency the Ambassador of Burundi. I ended up sitting directly behind when we all had to stand up and sing Burundi’s national anthem. The words were on the wall but I didn’t even attempt it for fear of offending anyone. I’m dyslexic, I didn’t know what language it was and anyway, I didn’t know the tune…I also met a gentleman who works for the Kingdom of Belgium, who asked if I’d like to meet a member of the Belgian Government. Of course I do, so I emailed the address on the card he gave me but as yet no response and I leave on Tuesday. I’m not sure that’ll come together on time. Can’t win them all…

One of the sad realities of the walk is that I need to keep on schedule. We agreed the route and timing considering a number of factors but mainly to do with weather. I can’t walk across Northern Europe in winter and I can’t walk across Southern Europe in summer, so the route I walk keeps me relatively within what we call ‘walk-able weather’. I would love to spend another week here in Brussels, and in every city, but with the theme tune of the ‘Littlest Hobby’ in my head, I need to ‘just keep moving on’.

A structural problem with the plenary of the EP means that all the Ministers I’d like to meet are currently in Strasbourg anyhoo. I did pay a visit to Scotland house, the home of the Scottish Government in Brussels but all I managed to meet was there receptionist who informed me that ‘everyone’s away just now’…Smashin…

All is not lost. I went back to the EP and gathered all the documents explaining how a citizen can launch an Initiative for the EU to abolish the Statue of Limitations, (or any reform you wish to see) and have been sitting in Yvonne out the sun studying them. The pamphlets make it sound easy. It’s not. I would first need to establish a committee with at least seven members, each from a different EU country. I think, from the people I’ve met, could get a committee member from the UK, Ireland, France and perhaps Luxembourg but I could keep looking for possible individuals to recruit as I walk round the next 24 countries. Even if I did create the committee, we would then need to gather that million signatures. If only I knew an army of motivated young people who live in every EU capital that have experience of campaigning…Oh wait…There are the Youth for Human Rights teams across the EU who already expressed interest in supporting the Road to Change and it feels like I have a wee army growing back in Scotland. Facebook pals will be aware of young Sanjay Lago, who has been a huge supporter of the Road to Change in quite a number of ways. Sanjay is also actively involved in student and trade unions with thousands of members across Europe. It almost appears doable…

I’ve not fully decided to launch the initiative yet. When I reach Geneva, I think I’ll make my way up to Strasbourg and discuss the idea with more Euro Ministers. I’d like to be more sure of the potential for success of such an undertaking before I commit to it.  Dr Pine (CEO of Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse, Inc ) was excited by the idea, suggesting that if the initiative was passed it could set a president for the rest of the world. The African Union and the United States Federal government do pay close attention to the activities of the EU.  Imagine starting a movement that eventually changed the world.

I’m not delusional. 1,000,000 signatures is no mean feat. It would need serious corporate backing and consume at least two more years of my life, but I’m also not scared to dream big. (He said on his 10,000 mile walk around 29 countries) 1,000,000 EU members is still only around 1% of the survivors in Europe after all…

Honestly, it’s still really only an idea. I wondered wither or not I should even blog about it at all but if you’re reading this and you’d like to steal my idea and make it happen by yourself then please be my guest. If you have a few years and million quid going spare then fire away. I’d be delighted if anyone managed it because it doesn’t matter who makes it happen, the result would create a safer more just Europe for us all…that’s all I dream  of anyhoo…

So thank you Brussels. You’ve made me realise that change is attainable but if I want to be part of it I need to start working a lot harder. I also just found out that James Moran’s petition for the public release of the full Murphy Report was successful. When I started public awareness for the Road to Change back in March, James was still in the process of gaining the required signatures. He’s now submitted the completed petition to the Ministry of Justice and successfully achieved exactly what his campaign set out to do. http://37yearwait.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/murphy-report-chapter-20-now-released.html?spref=fb A shinning example of what one man can do with determination.

All the things I’ve learned here this week are sitting smiling at me, and I know that even if I’ve still not decided to launch the initiative, I’ll won’t be able to stop myself keeping an eye open for potential committee members in every country I reach from now on…

I knew the Road to Change would get harder and I’d stay determined to finish it, but this week it feels like the walk itself turned to me and asked: ‘How serious are you about creating change?’

Good question.

I think I already know the answer.

I’m away to get my boots on…

Thank you for reading,

Matty x

Me and wee (ing) Marcel Marceau :D