Jef Ulburghs (June 9, 1922 – August 31, 2010) was a Belgian priest and politician. He actively engaged in protests for the rights of miners, steelworkers, migrants, political refugees, deserted neighbourhoods and the Third World. He enjoyed international appreciation as a peace activist. Ulburghs worked in the tradition of nineteenth-century priests who committed their religious commitment to the social struggle of the poor and lower social classes. Ulburghs worked in social work in the seventies.^[1]

Jef Ulburghs was raised in a middle class farming family. He was the youngest of six children and grew up in Heusden-Zolder. Ulburghs was a cattle trader and promoter of the local cooperative dairy.^[2][3]

Ulburgh asked Monsignor Van Zuylen, who later became Bishop, to appoint him in a miners' neighbourhood.^[4] In 1947 he became Vice President of the Paroisse Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice, Grâce-Berleur, Diocese of Liège, a grey "red" neighbourhood with miners and steel workers.

In 1962, he was appointed as Almoner of the social work in Seraing, the secretariat of which was located near the entrance of Cockerill-Sambre.^[4] Ulburghs founded a folk high school college for workers and, in the meanwhile, studied political and social sciences at the Leuven University.^[3]

Supported and fully encouraged by his growing number of supporters, Ulburghs decided to actively pursue politics in the early 1980s. He was chosen as an independent candidate on the SP List.^[2] He served on the city council of Genk (1982–1989), where he drew attention to the problems of the miners' neighbourhoods. He often challenged Mayor Louis Gaethofs, but earned the respect of local residents whose problems he put on the table.^[6]

He supported the Workers' Party of Belgium. He protested arm in arm, in the first row, along with hundreds of patients against some 60 police officers with a water cannon when the doorman, in charge of the Order of Physicians, wanted to charge the furniture in 1984.^[6] He gained his seat and became legislature member of the European Parliament (1984–1989). In 1986 he joined the first row, with the miners from Waterschei to Winterslag. He formed the strike leadership together with miners Luc Cieters, Jan Grouwels, Antonio Venturo, Antonio De Simone, Franco Mirisola and Harrie Dewitte.^[6] After his election to the European Parliament, he was no longer on the SP list. From January 1992 to the end of 1994, Ulburghs concurrently served as a member of the Flemish Parliament. In 1995 he retired from active politics.

In 2002, Ulburghs eightieth birthday was celebrated in the former mine of Zolder. On August 25, 2002, he was appointed as an honorary citizen in Grâce-Hollogne^[7] In 2005, at the age of 83, Ulburghs obtained another doctorate in Political Science. After a short illness Ulburghs died in 2010.^[2]

• 1973 – Wegen naar bevrijding (with Frans Swartelé), publisher De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Kapellen, ISBN 90 289 9887 X
• 1974 – Pédagogie de la libération
• 1977 – De pedagogie van het basis-socialisme
• 1978 – Wegen naar zelfbeheer, publisher Kritak, Leuven, ISBN 90 6303 019 3
• 1979 – Pour une pédagogie de l'autogestion. Manuel de l'animateur de base, publisher Les Éditions Ouvrières, Paris, ISBN 2 87003 143 2
• 1985 – Leven tussen twee vuren, publisher Kritak, Leuven, ISBN 90 6303 139 4
• 1987 – Doorbreken! Het historisch misverstand
• 1989 – De zuilen van de tempel, publisher BOEK, Zonhoven, ISBN 90 5232 025 X
• 1996 – De eeuwige rebel, publisher Scoop, Groot-Bijgaarden, ISBN 90 5312 062 9
• 2000 – Kosova, van waanzinnige oorlog tot onmogelijke verzoening, dagboek van een bewogen reis, publisher Europa-Huis v.z.w., Genk (geen ISBN)
• 2000 – Etapes, publisher Wolters Plantyn, Deurne
• 2004 – Culturen zonder muren, publisher Concentra Media, Hasselt, ISBN 90 76322 45 7.
  Over het Limburgse integratieproces. Aan de hand van 90 gesprekken worden de maatschappelijke en sociale context van het mijngebeuren en de wisselwerking tussen politiek, godsdienst en integratie geschetst.
• 2004 – Le principe de subsidiarité dans l'unification de l'Europe, uitg. UCL
• 2006 – De Kluis van Bolderberg en haar geheimen, publisher Stichting Jef Ulburghs – Europahuis, Genk, ISBN 90 78190 39 6.
  De opbrengst (4.000 euro) ging naar de verdere restauratie van de Kluis van Bolderberg.
• 2007 – De Europese Droom. Subsidiariteit het geheim van het Europese succes, publisher Stichting Jef Ulburghs – Europahuis, Genk, ISBN 978 90 8861051 6