by
N. Peter Kramer
Laurette Onkelinx, leader of the francophone socialists (PS) opposition in the Belgian parliament, hysterically accused some cabinet ministers of not having measured up enough to avoid the terrible events of last week. The best defence is offense, she probably thought. The current government, in power only for one and a half years, succeeded governments dominated by the PS for more than 20 years; governments in which Madame Onkelinx continuingly played a role as a Minister and Vice-Prime Minister.
It has become clear that around the turn of the century the government had already been warned. The criminologist Marion Van San reported on the high criminality figures among young Moroccans. She was decried. The federal police warned of the danger of radicalisation of young muslims in some Brussels’ quarters, especially Molenbeek. SP ministers, among them Onkelinx, refused to take the warning seriously. The (Liberal) Prime-Minister Guy Verhofstadt asked his Minister of Justice, Marc Verwilghen (also a Liberal), who raised some proposals, to drop the case, afraid that the PS would trip the government up. Verwilghen was called a ‘populist’ by Onkelinx and a ‘racist’ by Philippe Moureaux, a PS senator and Mayor of Molenbeek for some 20 years!
During his long term of office Mayor Moureaux, an unassailable authority in his party, closed his eyes to the growing danger of religious radicalisation and ruthless fanaticism in his commune. Journalists and politicians who dared to be critical of the situation, he called islamophobes and reproached them for stigmatising the muslim community. Moureaux and other SP party leaders tried to find a new electorate among Moroccan immigrants, often poorly educated and without work. Unwanted developments were excessively tolerated. The effect was that dangerous ghettos arose in Molenbeek and neighbouring Brussels communes, where terrorists could hide and prepare their attacks while those around them stayed silent. A few days ago Moureaux reluctantly conceded the point: maybe he had been too naïve, he said.
The most recent example of a failing PS Mayor is Yvan Majeur of Bruxelles-Ville (one of the 19 Brussels communes). Last weekend he called hooligans, disturbing a peaceful memorial of the recent terrorist attacks, Flemish separatists and told the media that they were from the same origin as the Belgian Minister for Internal Affairs. Strange. Flemish separatists don’t normally speak French like they did; separatists don’t wave the national Belgian flag, as these did. Minister Jan Jambon didn’t react to Majeur’s crude allegations.
For many Belgians it is clear: a part of Belgium’s problem is the Parti Socialiste…
