Molenbeek broke my heart [Belgian Lib Sees the Light]

Politico ^ | November 21, 2015 | TEUN VOETEN

[Timber Rattler]

Last Saturday in Paris, at the Boulevard Voltaire near the Bataclan club, I found myself staring at a pool of blood. I wondered what was happening with the world, and refocused my camera on the aftermath of the terror. When it became clear the attacks were planned in Molenbeek, I was not surprised. The real surprise? That Belgium expressed shock at the connection.

I called Molenbeek my home for nine years. In 2005, it was the city’s last affordable neighborhood — in large part because of its bad reputation. My apartment, just across the canal from the city center, is close to the home where two suspects in the Paris attacks were based, and around the corner from where the shooter from the foiled Thalys attack in August had been staying.

I was part of a new wave of young urban professionals, mostly white and college-educated — what the Belgians called bobo, (“bourgeois bohémiens”) — who settled in the area out of pragmatism. We had good intentions. Our contractor’s name was Hassan. He was Moroccan, and we thought that was very cool. We imagined that our kids would one day play happily with his on the street. We hoped for less garbage on the streets, less petty crime. We were confident our block would slowly improve, and that our lofts would increase in value. (We even dared to hope for a hip art gallery or a trendy bar.) We felt like pioneers of the Far West, like we were living in the trenches of the fight for a multicultural society.

Slowly, we woke up to reality...

[gr8eman]

Very good descriptor of the perils of socialism, sir. Socialists are really cowards who have to dress themselves up as holier than thou because they know they’re cowards...the only exception to that rule is when they band together to fight anything that is “conservative”.

[liberalh8ter]

Excellent read. Although the author is unwilling to completely “go there”, I suspect his reluctance is self serving; he makes a point of describing the ostracism that follows any truthful reporting.

[nuconvert]

Thanks

[Ironfocus]

Excellent analysis.

[A_perfect_lady]

I can't think of any thought process that more richly deserves being exterminated by 7th century barbarity.

LOL!! Yep!

[rrrod]

Eruos...always the whiners. They brought this on themselves. Ef em!

[marron]

The problem and the solution are obvious. Belgium opened itself to people who did not want to be Belgians.

It should only allow immigrants who admire Belgium, and want to be Belgians.

Substitute the name of any other country, and you have the problem and solution again and again. Germany should only allow immigration from people who admire German culture and want to be German.

And they should only allow immigration in numbers that can be successfully integrated. And only from people who bring something valuable to the country.

[AlaskaErik]

Most people in Molenbeek are decent people who want the best for their families. But we should not close our eyes to the fact that it is also home to a very deep, and very dangerous, undercurrent of radical Islamism.

Last paragraph of the article. The author still doesn't get it. They're all part of the problem.

[mojito]

That's ok. This is just a European problem.

This kind of thing can't possibly happen here in the good old USofA.

/s

[Resolute Conservative]

and has an IQ over 100.

[mumblypeg]

Sounds like some Progressives are beginning to progress in their thinking.
How many more terrorist attacks will it take?

[KC Burke]

...dominated by a complacent progressive elite who firmly believes society can be designed and planned

Central Planning. The failed tool of progressives for a hundred years but they still push for it every day.

[KC Burke]

1,142

[GOPJ]

This tactic (victim-hood) is an ‘tell’ of dysfunctional cultures.