海角大神

The forces that shape capital cities can often be hard to understand 鈥� but Belgium's case may stand alone.

Brussels is the de facto hub of the European Union, as well as hundreds of other international organizations. In a country whose 11.2 million people are divided between Dutch speakers in the north and French speakers in the south, it maintains a mind-boggling bureaucracy to accommodate rival groups. It is officially bilingual, even though two-thirds of the population are either foreign or of recent foreign origin.

Brussels, to many observers, serves as capital 鈥媜f either a dysfunctional continent or a tiny nation with outsized political problems. But jolted by the ease with which the perpetrators of the Paris attacks slipped between their homes in Brussels and the French capital, Europeans are now demanding an answer to a very basic question: What is it about Belgium that has given it an equally outsized role in terrorism鈥�?

Belgium has more jihadis per capita who have left to fight with Islamic State in the Middle East than any other nation in Europe. After the Paris rampage, the risk of a similar attack was deemed so high in Brussels that schools and the metro closed down for four days. Officials still haven鈥檛 caught Salah Abdeslam, a Frenchman who lived in Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood at the center of several recent terror investigations.

There are many reasons terrorists have hailed from here. As is the case across Europe, the marginalization of the Muslim community can open the path toward radicalization. But other answers are specific to this locale. Sandwiched between France, Germany, and the Netherlands, it has been a crucial meeting point for hundreds of years, with a constant flow of people that tests law enforcement鈥�. It hosts鈥� 鈥媡he headquarters of the EU as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization鈥�, further stretching security forces.

But the root cause most often pointed to is far more banal: the 鈥媍ity's complicated bureaucracy, constructed around age-old ethnic-linguistic tensions鈥� and known for its inability to accomplish anything quickly. 鈥婽o writer Pascal Verbeken鈥�, 鈥媔t is an example of koterij 鈥� a Flemish 鈥媟eference to a鈥� building style that stacks shack upon shack, with no clear blueprint.

鈥淭he system has always worked to a certain extent, but now we see it has come to its limits in this crisis,鈥� he says,鈥� suggesting that the blame game in the wake of the attacks might yield some progress. 鈥淧erhaps this crisis will push Belgium into more reflections on its identity, now at this moment, because the dysfunctions are so clear.鈥�

Johan Leman, a priest and community leader in Molenbeek, says that the place to start working together to address terrorism is 鈥減recisely in Brussels, to show that we may have a model on how to work in Europe.... For some issues, like human trafficking, like jihadism, the only way [for Belgium and Europe] is complete transparency, complete cooperation.鈥�

The path to trouble

Molenbeek鈥檚 troubles began well before it was determined to be the zip code for many of those involved in the Paris carnage. From a 2014 attack at a Jewish museum in Brussels to a thwarted one this August on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel noted heavily: 鈥淎lmost every time there鈥檚 a link with Molenbeek.鈥�

Molenbeek looks like any ethnic neighborhood in Europe, with vibrant tea houses and Moroccan bakeries, as well as an underside of petty and not-so-petty crime. Moroccan and Turkish migrants drawn to industry jobs started settling here in the 1960s at a time when it was dubbed 鈥淟ittle Manchester.鈥�

It has since fallen on harder times. Radicalization here takes root in familiar causes: young people with few job prospects and weak cultural connections are vulnerable to recruiters promising a sense of meaning and even glory. Georges Dallemagne, a center-right opposition member of the federal parliament, blames in particular a hardline brand of Islam that features in many mosques in Belgium that grew from the nation鈥檚 ties with Saudi Arabia forged during the oil crisis in the 1970s.

Residents of Molenbeek have been left embittered by a storm of sensational media since Nov. 13. Many refuse to talk to journalists. Asna, a resident originally from Casablanca and who declined to give her last name, says she migrated to Europe to improve the lives of her children. But while her eldest daughter, food shopping with her on a recent day, has fulfilled her dreams by attending university, her son lost interest in school age 15. He now works as a street cleaner, with few opportunities for advancement, a prime risk factor for radicalization. She doubts he would be tempted because she says she raised him as a real Muslim.

鈥淏ut I鈥檓 thinking about returning home, I fear there is no future for him here,鈥� she says, pointing to her three-year-old, sitting in a stroller and nibbling on chocolate.

If this is a common European immigration story, from the segregated banlieues, or suburbs, of Paris to the diverse neighborhoods of London and Amsterdam, Belgium has some peculiarities that intensify the threat of violent action.

Where diplomats 鈥� and gun dealers 鈥� gather

Chief among them is its status as a hub for the illegal arms market, says Nils Duquet, a researcher at the Flemish Peace Institute, a parliamentary group.

Belgium has a long history of quality gun manufacturing. And that know-how, coupled with lax gun laws that made Belgium an outlier in Europe until 2006, drew criminals here. 鈥淲e got a reputation for being a place where you could get guns,鈥� Mr. Duquet says.

Such networks thrive because of Belgium鈥檚 geography. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the kind of place where everyone has always met in Europe. Napoleon, the Nazis, everybody used to come here,鈥� says Mr. Dallemagne. 鈥淭he terrorists just do the same.鈥�

Brussels is in fact one of the most important meeting points in the world. Kristof Clerix, an investigative reporter with the news magazine MO* who specializes in security, says it also means that the nation鈥檚 state and military intelligence services, which employ about 1,200 officers together, are stretched. They are tracking nearly some 800 people who are currently on the radar for terrorism.

鈥婱r. Clerix argues it is too early to judge security failures until an official inquiry is concluded. If anything, he says, cooperation between Belgium鈥檚 security personnel has improved in the past decade, while Europe has a long way to go to fill intelligence gaps between nations.

Still, the capital itself is a victim of a fragmented local police system, organized into six forces, which has roots in Belgium鈥檚 old political problems. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to be a security expert to know that one unified police zone would make information-sharing better than six zones with six bosses,鈥� Clerix says.

The surrealist effect

Belgium's label as Europe鈥檚 most 鈥渟urrealistic" nation is a reference to the country's connection to the artistic movement, which included 20th century Belgian painter Rene Magritte and his irrational juxtaposition of images. But it applies as well to Belgium鈥檚 nationhood since its founding in 1830.

Belgium often can feel like two countries. It is split into two large groups 鈥� one of Dutch-speakers of the Flanders region, who make up about 60 percent of the population, and the other of French-speakers in the region of Wallonia 鈥� and a small German-speaking one. The regions have always been divided along ideological, linguistic, and social lines.

Philippe Van Parijs, a political economist and philosopher who teaches at the University of Louvain, recently had a guest speaker who was featured on a popular television show in Flanders called 鈥淭he smartest person in the world.鈥� The lawyer, a household name in the north, was virtually unknown among his Francophone students.

It didn鈥檛 surprise him. 鈥淭here are totally separate media worlds,鈥� he says.

Still, Belgium鈥檚 decentralized system has mostly worked. Belgians, apart from enjoying a high standard of living in a largely peaceful society, are proud to say their linguistic and ethnic divides have never been deadly.

鈥淲e laboriously through the years 鈥� shaped and reshaped these institutions in order to be able to alleviate tensions between the communities,鈥� Mr. Van Parijs says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that Flemings and Walloons are more pacific by nature 鈥� but our institutions can better cope with potential conflicts.鈥�

But compromise has come at the price of efficiency. After the 2010 elections, the country famously went 541 days without a government. And it鈥檚 led to a fracturing of power: Brussels is split into 19 municipalities, each with its own mayor. Police reform consolidated 19 forces into six in Brussels, but many argue it foils a unified fight against terrorism.

"Nobody has the global picture to face this kind of problem. There should be one single pilot for a global strategy on radicalism and terrorism,鈥� lawmaker Dallemagne says.

'All European countries are complicated'

Like almost all Belgians, Mark Eyskens, a former Belgian foreign minister, has defended the country both from criticism that it is Europe鈥檚 terrorist weak link and that its institutional framework is to blame. A provocative opinion piece in Politico titled 鈥淏elgium is a failed state鈥� he dismissed as unduly sensational. 鈥淥f course we are a complicated country, but all European countries are complicated,鈥� he says.

But Flemish Interior Minister Jan Jambon and other politicians blame French-speaking Socialists who they say have been too tolerant of radicalism brewing among Muslims, while French-speakers resist calls to consolidate powers in Brussels, says Mr. Verbeken.

While he says he sees no signs that the blame-game will end, the threat of terror could ultimately prove unifying. 鈥淎ll of a sudden that old animosity between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking seems to be less important, because there is a more important danger," he says.

Forging a sense of civic pride?

The multilingual Van Parijs is also trying to get beyond old political problems 鈥� at least in the capital.

Brussels is still organized institutionally around its two main linguistic groups. But the one-third of ancient Belgians who comprise the country are rapidly shrinking as a group, while the foreign presence grows.

For the past 10 years,聽Van Parijs has tried to overcome these contradictions by forging a civic patriotism in the city. The work consists of everything from advocating for a multilingual city to fighting for pedestrianized streets and bike lanes.

鈥淚 strongly believe that is the future, the identification with a place,鈥� he says. 鈥淲herever you come from, whatever your mother tongue is, whatever your religion is, you chose to come to this place, and you are now choosing to stay in this place.鈥�

鈥婣fter Molenbeek was thrust into the global limelight for its ties to terrorism, Van Parijs, who grew up there, joined a neighborhood march to express respect for the community 鈥� an example of the kind of action he says creates allegiance to a place 鈥測ou鈥檇 want your children to stay, which entails both rights and obligations,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hinking about Brussels in terms of two groups has become increasingly surrealistic.鈥�

Some might argue the same is true for Belgium as a whole.

Catherine Van Rysselberghe-Tummers, an administrative worker in Brussels, says she thinks it is long overdue that Belgian citizens get over their differences. Asked if she鈥檚 a Dutch speaker or French speaker, she answers in English, 鈥淚鈥檓 Belgian.鈥�

鈥淭his has been a mess for 200 years,鈥� she says .鈥淗ow many Depaul families in Flanders or Van-somethings are there in Wallonia? We must forget Flemish or Walloon, we are Belgian.鈥�

Meetings with mothers

She鈥檚 not the only one who thinks it鈥檚 time to push beyond old rivalries 鈥� particularly when the stakes are so high.

As global newspapers deemed聽Molenbeek Europe鈥檚 鈥渏ihad central鈥� and Mr. Jambon promised to 鈥渃lean it up,鈥� Mr. Leman, chairman of the Molenbeek organization Foyer, invited the interior minister to a meeting with 60 neighborhood mothers to plead with authorities 鈥� and journalists 鈥� to stop stigmatizing the community as a factory of jihadism.

What is more important, he says, is to understand how a failure of solidarity 鈥� with Muslims, between regions in Belgium, and between nations in the European Union 鈥� is at the root of security issues today.

He calls himself a man of 鈥渓aw and order.鈥� 鈥淏ut I see Brussels as somehow the victims now 鈥� and also Molenbeek 鈥� of a lack of responsibility not taken in the past.鈥�

He says the bureaucracy that the 鈥淏elgian complexity鈥� has created does not favor society. 鈥淵ou lose your time with a lot of bureaucratic steps that you have to make in this Belgian complexity,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he winners in the whole Belgium peace organization are the politicians and the bureaucrats. The losers are the inhabitants.鈥�