Page 6 - C.A.L.L. #44 - Fall 2018

world to be. The
people that
make up the

commune have
nothing in
common and
have wild
differences,

ranging from
nationality and
ethnicity to

education and
class, yet have
all found each
other based on
the fact that they rejected the world they first came into. Many leave everything behind and

head to Bereklauw in the hopes of a new life. Nothing binds them together besides their
dismissal of the worlds they were thrown into, and the new world they built hand in hand.

Leaving Bereklauw is an experience in its own right: taking the same forest path, back onto the
mud road at the outskirts of Leuven felt like I myself was entering into another world. A truly

intuitive experience: it felt right on all sides. The safety of modern civilization is ever-present in
Bereklauw. Residents have iPhones, but charge them with solar panels. They wear Nike shoes;
they’re just worn out. I had no fear of anyone chopping off my limbs to eat, nor the inclination
to run away as fast as I could. With that Bereklauw reflected a sense of optimism that could
lead by example. A belief that we can indeed get along, with each other and with the world

around us – it just requires team effort.

The world is in a harsh state. Cities are loud and full of cars that stab at the environment with
every rev of the engine, and often, the way we as humans organise ourselves is destructive and
foolish. It’s common courtesy to insult the state of things now. Bereklauw instead rebels against

all of the miseries of modern living, but revels in the progress it brings with it. They rely on an
understanding of a more authentic human life, using the systems provided by modernity as a
way to subvert its message of alienation and mechanicity.

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