All neighbours must celebrate on 27 May

All neighbours must celebrate on 27 May GREAT FRATERNISATION IN THE CAPITAL "Because before you know it, your neighbour dies unnoticed" BRUSSELS — Do you too live next to, above or below someone with whom you have at most exchanged a "good morning" and a "good evening"? Then you probably live in a city. "There, the vast majority know neither hide nor hair of their neighbours," says Brussels resident Carl De Moncharline (34). "That has to change, because before you know it that neighbour dies and you do not even notice that he or she is gone. It happens all over Belgium and all over the world, but now it is being tackled in Brussels. Next Tuesday, 27 May, I invite all Brussels residents to have a drink in the evening with their neighbours in the street, in the garden or in the hall of the building. Next year I will do the same throughout the country." CHRIS SNICK 'Feest in het gebouw' is the name of the Brussels resident's ambitious project. He is being helped by the City of Brussels and a few sponsors to get the capital's neighbours celebrating together through a website, an advertising spot, posters and postcards. "I am not going to pay for the drinks and snacks," warns De Moncharline. "I simply give the impulse so that neighbours finally find out who the person is that they see every day but whose name they do not or barely know. They have to organise the party." PARIS' SUCCESS De Moncharline brought the idea back from Paris. "A friend has been organising similar parties there for four years. Last year two million people took part. The Paris initiative arose from the story of a woman who was found in her flat in the French capital only three months after her death. No one in the building had noticed that she was gone. Something like that could just as easily happen in our country. I hope to prevent it with 'Feest in het gebouw'." TAKING PART IS SIMPLE Taking part in 'Feest in het gebouw' is simple. "Just post the free postcards you can find all over Brussels in your neighbours' letterboxes. Or simply slip a note under the door. Whoever dares can knock and invite them. Anyone who hangs the poster published in the Walloon newspapers in their window stands a chance of receiving a bottle of wine from a sponsor on 27 May. Two thousand people have already let me know through the website that they are taking part. In one street a long table will be set up for residents to join. One neighbourhood is organising a barbecue." NOT TOO MILITANT The mayor of Brussels is taking part too. "Correct," says Freddy Thielemans. "Most of my town-hall neighbours I have seen at some point, but I want to get to know them better. And in his own neighbourhood? I know quite a few people there, and I greet many of them daily. But I probably would not recognise them if I bumped into them in Ostend… So it is a good idea, this party, but not something to do every day. Otherwise we become militant, don't we." Organiser Carl De Moncharline will not be found at his neighbours' on 27 May. "That day I am visiting a great many parties, because many people have emailed me saying they would like to meet me. I do know my neighbours well, well, at least: reasonably well."