Calimero Against the Conceited
Anglo-Saxons
Old & new Belgians do share a common trait – a certain
sulking Calimero attitude, feeling wronged by the bigger boys.
Unfair – all this Belgium & Brussels Bashing. Unfair –
all this Molenbeek & Muslim bashing.
The Anglo-Saxon press is the worst! – with their conceited
condescendence! Knowing next to nothing
of our country (1)! even less of our history! let alone of our ‘glories’ (past
or present (1))!
Always mocking & criticising us! It's not fair!
But instead of being lectured by others, let’s do our
criticism ourselves, having a candid look at how "it" could happen, at what we can do better. (I'm being very constructive here - almost sounding like my boss when he tries to align the troops for another
company battle - “pas d’états d’âme. Il faut avancer dans l’ordre, ne pas se
lancer des fusés entre nous »)
Brussels (my beloved
city?)
Take for instance Brussels – a cosmopolitan tolerant haven
for misfits of all sorts. That has
always been its charm, even in the 19th century when French rebels
of all stripes found refuge here. I too,
as the misfit of the family, was irresistibly attracted. So diverse a place, so indulgent that even I could
feel at home.
But so diverse a place, so indulgent that also each & every
criminal can hide out here?
Brussels’ governance is probably ill adapted to contemporary
challenges. Its position makes it a logistic centre of Europe, not only for regular
trade, but also for criminal gangs and for illegal weapons (which flooded the
market when the iron curtain came down).
It's a city governance struggling with the complexities of preserving a precarious
balance between Flemish & Walloon claims, and with 19 boroughs doing their
own thing. A city suffering from both the ‘Flemish’ drive to dismantle central
power, and from a certain unhappy neglect of “integration” issues by some
‘french-speaking’ parties. Compulsory
integration courses (focusing on learning the language, learning the ropes of how
things work) for instance were long seen as “stigmatising” for newcomers. Based on some absolute principle of total diversity,
this was a well-meaning but terribly ill-guided reaction against a far right
discourse of absolute assimilation.
Someone had blundered, or not?
And what about Belgian security blunders? Naiveté, underestimation of the challenges? Maybe. Peut-être.Misschien.
Het kan zijn. I now read that Belgium’s security budget per capita is about 3
times below that of neighbouring countries.
Could it simply be that the influx of newcomers has been too
big and too fast for Belgium to absorb? Could
it be that the systematic exploitation of the “back-door-entry” of family
reunification (marrying a young girl or boy from the initial home region) has
brought Belgium almost by stealth far too many people ill equipped for a
post-industrial labor market? Could it be that too many of the newcomers too easily settled in
their cosy Arabic speaking community, watching
only home country TV channels, listening to Arabic
sermons by imported Moroccan or Saudi imams. Sermons
that may be peaceful enough, but that, removed from contemporary Belgian customs,
feed the alienation of the youngsters.
“our beloved country,
Belgium”
The Molenbeek imam in the Al Khalil mosquee reportedly fought
against his tears during the Friday prayers (He spoke in Arabic, but his discourse was translated in
French). “We must unite against
radicalism. We all live in a single boat that we must protect and defend. […]
May this attack be the last one for our beloved country, Belgium”.
The leader of the party-with-the-independence-of-Flanders-in-its-statutes,
since Tuesday twice spoke of “our country”
. I never heard him say that before, it
was always (with a smirk) “this”
county - Belgiekske Nikske.
So, shall we be more united after this catastrophe? Defending
“our country”? Maybe, peut- être, het kan zijn, misschien. I do hope so.
On the other hand, could this catastrophe be a catalyst for the
acceleration of centrifugal forces? In
Belgium. In Europe (Brexit). Well - maybe,
peut-être, het kan zijn. I do hope not.
And the victims?
We don’t know much yet.
What we do know: the wounded are
severely wounded, with ripped off limbs, with livers & lungs punctured by
nails & shrapnel, brain trauma’s . And the dead are so unrecognizably dead
that identification is progressing only very slowly.
What we do know: the victims are as diverse as Brussels – of
all nationalities & religions.
notes
- The number of gross factual errors in the international press are a sobering reminder of how the press merely shows us a shadowy distorted image of reality.
- The perfidious Anglo-Saxons even stole the God
particle from us! Surreptitiously calling it the Higgs boson, while it was a Brussels professor (François
Englert) who first found it and published about it. “Oh, Charlemagne, you say
he was from the region around Liège? That is now in Belgium? Really?” “Oh , Van
Dyck, was he yours?” "Oh really, did you
lot paint landscapes before Turner & Constable did?”“Oh really, did you play polyphonic music before we gave te world Purcell and the Beatles?“
- How about the political & socio-economic aspects of a partially failed integration? Belgium used to get good marks for political integration of immigtants (full civic rights, good representativeness in local councils etc.) Social housing with minimum standards of comfort is ensured, there’s a comprehensive social security. Molenbeek for instance has heavily invested in urban renewal over the past decade. Last summer a friend who lives there, proudly walked us around, showing the new town square (very welcoming, almost Italian), the new park, the new businesses springing up, … Schooling is free for all – but schools struggle with the influx of too many pupils speaking neither French nor Dutch at home. The drop-out rate is alarming. Another challenge we have probably underestimated. And racism? Yes alas, there is racism in daily life, and there is only so much that laws can do against that. But anti-racism laws do exist and they are being enforced. Local press and TV-channels do more and more efforts to be multi-coloured.
- So far "the Belgian reaction" has been very dignified - mourning. But today, on Easter day, apparently a bunch of drunken Vilvoorde football hooligans descended upon the city centre .
No comments:
Post a Comment