GEORGE BIESMANS

Born in Belgium to British parents, George has lived across Europe since 2011. With a BA in Modern Languages and Culture, an MA in International Relations and eclectic professional experiences, George has a committed to a long-term vision to be a facilitator of a Think Tank focusing on the intersection between peacebuilding and nature relations.

“The Pandemic Reminded Me that Our Current Systems and Cultures Are Profoundly Unsustainable and Degenerative”

Q: Tell us a few things about your country, and also your life's story!

I like to think I am a citizen of many different places - having been born and brought up in Belgium to British parents and having spent much of my adult life so far living in places across Europe - from Sevilla and Rome to Durham and Vienna!

I have had a colourful and eclectic life so far. I am immensely grateful for it. After finishing school in Brussels, I went to live in the north of England where I completed my BA in Modern Languages and Cultures. Thereon, I pursued an MA in International Affairs at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna for an MA in International Affairs. Since then, I have worked in a school, supermarket, think-tank and the European Parliament.

Amongst this, I have also managed to fit in a six-month backpacking journey across the Americas! My partner and I are currently preparing for a move to Canada in the autumn (which we are hoping to reach by boat as we are trying to avoid flying wherever we can!). I am excited for the new and enriching adventures ahead.

Q: How did you experience the global pandemic crisis, did it change your life or/and your views about the world? How?

As it was for many, the pandemic gave me space and time for reflection and introspection. It reminded me that our current systems and cultures are profoundly unsustainable and degenerative, both for our living Earth of which we are fundamentally a part, and for us as human beings. It provided me with an opportunity to understand what was really important in life and what mattered most to me. In particular, it enabled me to develop a complementary professional path - training as a certified Forest Therapy Guide - a line of work and field of interest which has since become a major part of my life. The space offered by the pandemic also showed me the beauty of simplicity and the importance of human relationships, of slowing down and of being grateful.

Q: What are some of the key challenges in your society currently?

I am fortunate enough to live in a country where all our basic needs - and more - are catered for abundantly, where stability and security are a feature of our daily lives. Of course, like any human society, challenges remain. Two in particular come to mind. The first being our ability as a society to accept and celebrate diversity, to ultimately live in harmony with one another, regardless of skin colour, sexual orientation, ethnicity or creed. Our society is divided, polarised, something reinforced by the age of (mis)information we all live in. Dialogue and relationship are needed more than ever. 

The other challenge (crisis is a more appropriate word) is the emergency we all face as a human society, as a planet. The climate crisis and the destruction of the natural world remain our greatest challenge as a society and its impacts will dominate not only my lifetime but - if we fail to act with the urgency required - determine the survival of our species.

Q: Share with us some of the hurdles that you had to overcome in your life so far? How did you handle them?

The hurdles I have faced pale in comparison to those faced by so many others around the world. That said, if I had to pinpoint one particular hurdle, it would be a health scare (a myocarditis - swelling of the heart muscle) which I was rushed to hospital for as a 19-year-old. I was in intensive care for a number of days and in hospital for some time after that. It came as a real shock to me, stopping me in my tracks and making me realize just how fragile we are. I was, by all intents and purposes, a healthy young man and never thought something like that would happen to me. I think the experience matured me, made me grateful for my life and aware of my own mortality. Looking back on it now, it was a real turning point in my life.

Q: If you were to ask one thing from our current leaders, what would it be?

It would, without a shadow of a doubt, be to treat the climate and nature emergency with the urgency it demands. To take immediate, transformative action to overhaul our current systems of operating and make the health, wellbeing and regeneration of human beings and ecosystems the primary objective of all government action.

Q: Why is the role of a mentor important for you?

I think we can all benefit from mentorship in some form or another, be it in a formal structured way or simply having someone older to share their wisdom and experience. Having a guide, someone to put my life and decisions in perspective and offer advice I think is crucial. It's something I have long yearned for in my life.

Q: Do you have a lesson that life has taught you and you would like to share?  

There are no doubt many but one which is particularly important to me is the lesson that forgiveness and healing are possible no matter how troubling and fraught a situation may appear at the time. We all have the capacity for renewal, to see beyond our differences and to create balance and harmony. I think we are compassionate and altruistic beings by nature, despite what our histories and indeed current events might suggest.

Q: Name a project, a foundation or a person in your country that you think is doing great work in helping improve other people's lives!

I recently saw a film by Belgian film-maker Pierre Pirard, called "Nous Tous". It explores one of the issues I mentioned above, asking the question "how can we live together in harmony and understanding, celebrating and embracing our diversity, rather than seeing it as a source of division". It's a truly inspirational film and I highly recommend it.

Q: What are some of the challenges that women in your country face and what efforts are made towards gender equality?

Although my country is, generally speaking, relatively progressive when it comes to gender equality, I think there is a deeply ingrained structural inequality which continues to prevent true equality from becoming a reality. There are deeply entrenched "norms" which continue to degrade women and perpetuate a system which puts men at the top and which is inherently wired for their benefit. I was listening to a podcast recently about how important it is for men to be the ones to change this system, to call out inequality and discrimination when they encounter it and to be advocates and change-makers in this space as much as women.

Q: Share with us a phrase, a poem or a story that means something to you.

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests

in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.

For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

Wendell Berry

Q: Share with us a project that you would like to make happen for your country or a cause that you are passionate about.

There are many! A project which I am particularly passionate about is something I am exploring with a small group of peacebuilders and regenerative practitioners. I am fascinated by the potential that reconnecting people with the natural world has to help solve many of our greatest challenges. From addressing the climate crisis to creating greater harmony and mutual understanding in our societies. It's a seedling of a project for now, but something which I hope to put energy and dedication into in the coming years!