History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, War Commentary

Molenbeek: A Culture Of Denial

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An analysis from a cultural anthropologist who lived there:

It is nearly impossible to explain to an outsider, but Belgium is a country of six governments, Brussels a city with 19 mayors. These many administrative posts are not filled with competent people. Security services are fragmented and tend to compete with one another. The lack of a strong, central authority may be one of the many quirks of this sometimes charmingly dysfunctional country, but just as it resulted in many botched trials — notably of the Brabant Killers, or “Nijvel Gang” who committed a series of violent raids between 1982 and 1985, and the Dutroux scandal in 1995, to name just two — it also creates the perfect breeding ground for potential terrorists.

But the most important factor is Belgium’s culture of denial. The country’s political debate has been dominated by a complacent progressive elite that firmly believes society can be designed and planned. Observers who point to unpleasant truths such as the high incidence of crime among Moroccan youth and violent tendencies in radical Islam are accused of being propagandists of the extreme-right, and are subsequently ignored and ostracized.

The debate is paralyzed by a paternalistic discourse in which radical Muslim youths are seen, above all, as victims of social and economic exclusion. They in turn internalize this frame of reference, of course, because it arouses sympathy and frees them from taking responsibility for their actions. The former Socialist mayor Philippe Moureax, who governed Molenbeek from 1992 to 2012 as his private fiefdom, perfected this culture of denial and is to a large extent responsible for the current state of affairs in the neighborhood.

I think that Belgium has outlived whatever usefulness it may have ever had. Time to give just it back to Holland and France.

[Saturday-morning update]

It’s not just Molenbeek. “Belgium, my country, is in denial.”

[Bumped]

9 thoughts on “Molenbeek: A Culture Of Denial”

  1. Breaking, Brussels police possibly preventing another suicide bombing.

    I just don’t understand it. If Belgium had a notoriously aggressive interventionist militarist foreign policy that might explain this. But they’re so vibrant and inclusive. Sure they’ve got a few F-16’s, but they’ve pledged not to deploy them. I wonder if they further pledged to completely disarm themselves if that would appease these killers. I guess it couldn’t hurt. Maybe it would make them hate us just a little less? Worth a try I would think. And… maybe agree not to conduct law enforcement operations after dark too. Heck, that might just tip the scales, you know?

  2. Asymmetrical Mathematics

    A short course for those who favor immigration for refugees from jihadi stricken regions of the world. Yes, agreed the vast majority of people are not terrorists or even potential terrorists. But it is also an established fact that ISIL has already pledged to infiltrate refugee groups with potential jihadists loyal unto death to it. Let’s say that number as a percentage of the total is exceedingly small. Like one tenth of one percent. At that rate, if you allow 8000 people to migrate to your country, 8 of those will be potential ISIL loyalists. If you allow 80,000 it will be 80. If you allow 800,000 it will be 800. The next question you need to ask is how well equipped is your internal security apparatus (foreign intelligence + police) to deal with these numbers? 8 is probably doable, 80 means even in the best case scenario, probably 1 or 2 will go undetected, but 800? OK, so maybe this ratio is too pessimistic. Let’s back it off ONE ORDER OF MAGNITUDE (or factor of 10 for the less mathematically inclined) to one one-hundredth of one percent. If you allow 8000 it will be 1 (.8 rounded up), if you allow 80,000 it will be 8, if you allow 800,000 it will be 80. Even 80 people can do a lot of damage esp. if 1 or 2 go undetected. How’s your national police as a deterrent?

    Ex-Patriots
    Also, what is insane is to let back in lone ex-pats from fighting in jihadi regions as if they were off on a college seminar. Seminar is right, and it’s the home country that is on-target. In the US we have the Logan Act, which makes it a felony for private citizens to engage in negotiations with foreign “states” that the US is having disputes with. It would be an interesting court case to see if that could extend to fighting for non-state actors hostile to the US. To date, it is not illegal to be a mercenary as long as one is not engaged in treason. The rules may have to change.

    1. The problem is that the current, or next Democrat administration, will prevent people from returning to the USA who fought against ISIS. Just like they claim we can’t let in Christian victims of genocide because that creates a religious test that favors one religion over another.

    1. Yes, exactly. Muslims didn’t have to attack Belgians to take over Belgium, they just had to wait thirty years, and let birthrates do the rest. Now, thanks to their bombs, they’re facing a likely future of nationalist parties taking power all over Europe.

  4. Samuel Huntington said in The Clash of Civilizations (1993) that Islam has bloody borders. He’s right, but what he didn’t understand is that they are bloody because of the intolerance of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Secularists.

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