About

A map of Belgium with Brussels highlighted, made with coloured light drones at the National Day celebrations in Brussels, July 2024. Photo: Anthony Zacharzewski

Vijfhoek is a place to write about Brussels, Belgium and Europe, and most of the writing here is by me, Anthony Zacharzewski. It replaces my former Substack at 1000 Brussels, while keeping the content. It also includes my old blog posts from 2004 onwards with several long gaps.

"Vijfhoek", or Pentagon, is the name for the old city of Brussels, once surrounded by walls and now by a dual carriageway. I live on one corner of it, up by the canal, but I travel and work all across Europe.

My day job is running Democratic Society, a Brussels-based NGO working on democracy and participation. This site, though, is personal and not connected to the views of Democratic Society or other organisations that I might be involved with. Some common themes will keep coming up, though, related to politics, governance, and the future.