Happening 'Book launch: Peace to the World!'

Vrede aan de wereld!
For whom
Alumni , Press , Employees , Private individuals , Students
When
09-03-2026 from 19:00 to 21:00
Where
Vandenhove, Rozier 1, 9000 Ghent
Language
Dutch
Organizer
Eureast Platform Knowledge Centre 'CERISE', in cooperation with Pax Christi
Contact
eureast@UGent.be

A book by Pieter Boulogne (KU Leuven) and Annemarie Gielen (Pax Christi Flanders)

This event will be held in Dutch

In the book Peace to the World! (And Then Came the War), Slavists Pieter Boulogne (KU Leuven) and Annemarie Gielen (Pax Christi Flanders) give the floor to a dozen regional specialists and other experts to shed light on the cultural and historical layers of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The starting point is the question of the deeper causes of the war, and which fallacious arguments Russia used to legitimize it. What does the much-criticized Ukrainian policy of de-Russification actually look like? The authors also pay attention to the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and to the emigration of writers from Russia. From a historical perspective, they analyze the propaganda used to encourage Russians at school and in cinemas to go to the front and, if need be, to die there. What do Russians themselves think of the war today? Are Western sanctions against Russia meaningful or pointless? And what do Russian peace activists still hope to achieve in the current repressive context?

Program of the evening

  • 19:00 – Welcome
  • 19:15 – Lectures by Koen Schoors, Piet Van Poucke, Anna Namestnikov & Ben Dhooge (Ghent University)
  • 20:15 – Questions from the audience
  • 20:30 – Music by Lev Adamov (violin) and Oleksii Soldatov (accordion), brought together in the project Dialogues on the Roof (TBC)
  • 21:00 – Book signing

About the authors

Pieter Boulogne, PhD in Slavic Studies and East European Studies, has been affiliated with KU Leuven since 2016 as professor of Russian literature. His research interests lie at the intersection of Russian culture and translation studies. Outside academia, he is active as a literary translator from Russian and French, and as a community interpreter.

Annemarie Gielen has worked for Pax Christi Flanders since 2002, first as coordinator for the Eastern Europe region, then as director, and currently as movement organizer for conflict regions. Specifically, this concerns Israel-Palestine and Ukraine-Russia.

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