The Belgian Ark Award for Free Speech (in Dutch: “Ark Prijs van het vrije woord”) was created in 1951 by Flemish intellectuals who were opposing restrictions to freedom of expression. In the past decades, it was awarded to several prominent intellectuals, mainly Flemish writers and artists. On May 25, the 2011 Prize was awarded to Philippe Van Parijs (UCLouvain), one of the most prominent advocates of basic income, and a founder of BIEN. In his “Laudatio”, Professor Rik Coolsaet (Ghent University) mentioned Van Parijs’s defence of basic income as one of the best examples of his lifelong commitment to social justice.
A short version of Coolsaet’s “Laudatio” was published in the Flemish daily ‘De Standaard’:
https://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=GP3AI60C
Van Parijs’s speech (in Dutch) is available at: https://www.uclouvain.be/8611.html
The list of past laureates is at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_Prize_of_the_Free_Word
The world will not change for the better unless imaginative and obstinate thinkers explore and advocate bold ideas. Philippe Van Parijs is one of those thinkers, thanks to whom it is not foolish to hope. Congratulations, Philippe, on this latest and ever so appropriate acknowledgement of your lifelong contribution toward the realization of the betterment of humanity and Real Freedom for All. From your necessary yet courageous work to conceive, found, nurture and expand the inclusive meaning of BIEN, and the admirable example you have set which has inspired a growing number of others to do, in their way, the same, you have provided humankind an ever more focused perspective of the possibilities and potentials of a pleasant and satisfying life for everyone on the planet Earth. Thank you.