Brussels is not an easy city to love. There are so many daily reminders of just how badly the city and its residents have been failed over decades. Complaining about this dirty, mismanaged, falling to pieces in places, bureaucratic town is something of a time-honoured tradition for Belgians and non-Belgians alike. Honestly though, at times it really feels like political leaders actually despise the city they are elected to run.
People will tell you that Brussels doesn’t take itself too seriously. An eccentric place that has a sense of humour. A chaotic place certainly, but dare to embrace the chaos and you’ll find much to admire is the line of thought for the many defenders of Brussels. And there are people who genuinely love this madhouse of a city. Recently, though, even the most ardent Brussels supporter must have been given pause for thought.
Brussels was home to surrealist painter René Magritte, famed for his painting of a tobacco pipe, The Treachery of Images, better known as Ceci n’est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe). A painting is clearly not an actual pipe, was Magritte’s somewhat pointless point. Were he alive today, he might take a look at Brussels and declare Ce n’est pas une ville. Not a functional one, anyway.
One might even extend that to Belgium as a whole, but Belgium’s political parties finally agreed to form a federal government only eight months after the election, so I’ll give them a pass. The region of Brussels on the other hand still has no government. It doesn’t look like getting one any time soon. This would be amusing was Brussels not beset by myriad problems.
Top of a very long list come crime and security, an issue politicians have singularly failed to get a grip of for a long time. To prove this point, Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen started shooting in a street next to a metro station just before morning rush hour. They then went into the metro station and vanished. No one was killed but that was just luck – a bullet was found lodged in a child’s bedroom wall.
It was one of several incidents of gun violence in the city over recent weeks. For several weeks, the police seemed incapable of policing as drug-related gang violence hit the streets. It’s not new, this is just the latest episode in a series that runs and runs. The response has been … predictable. The Brussels Times put it best, these events it said, “have generalised the view that the city’s political establishment is grossly incompetent”.
In the absence of a government, He went on to claim that the strategy for dealing with organised crime and drug gangs was, despite all the evidence to the contrary, working. Il ne s’agit pas d’un gang de trafiquants de drogue?
The rot goes much deeper. If you arrive at my local metro station on a Monday night at 10pm, you’ll likely find people shooting up, homeless people bedding down, and a selection of people who could be a danger to themselves or to others. What you won’t find are any staff or security on site. The space has been surrendered to the addicted and dispossessed, who gather there because it’s a better option than cold, wet streets.
This is not limited to nighttime. One morning around 8am there were people smoking crack in the metro stairwell. The failure of authorities to do anything about it is the only consistent thing you can expect walking into a Brussels metro station. There appears to be little help for addicts or the homeless. Meanwhile, in a clampdown on dangerous driving last year, one in every eleven drivers stopped tested positive for alcohol or drugs.
The culture of impunity amongst drivers runs deep, maniacal speeding and dangerous driving are common – bus drivers are some of the worst offenders. Why even have traffic lights and pedestrian crossings when so many drivers don’t bother to stop for them? I’ve witnessed cars running red lights and almost hitting people in front of police without consequence. It’s a miracle more pedestrians and cyclists aren’t killed.
Add to this dirty streets, shocking air pollution, crumbling infrastructure, and public spaces used as urinals. How hard can it be to replace street lights so people don’t have to walk down darkened streets? I know there are good, conscientious politicians, I’ve met some, but the dysfunction is ingrained. A major reason policing is so ineffectual is that local politicians won’t cooperate on policing – or give up their budget.
I know it’s not all bad, there’s much about Brussels life to like, and you can choose to live in areas where these problems aren’t so visible. And yes, it’s a quirky place, people are friendly, there’s culture and cuisine, and against much official indifference, change is happening. But it’s unsurprising to discover Belgium dropped to its lowest ever score on a corruption index this year (just below the UK, so things must be bad).
As a visitor, drink enough Belgian beer and you may be lucky and miss these highlights. If you live and work here, as we have for almost four years, it’s increasingly hard to ignore. Although our political leaders seem to be able to so without much difficulty. Maybe that will change if we get a new government but, for the time being, all of us will just have to live with it.
* A random selection of photos from the street of Brussels.
** Update: two people suspected of involvement in the Kalashnikov shootings at the metro station are in custody. Brussels still has no regional government.
That’s a disaster. I so love Brussels, and now, it could be worse than… let’s say the n orthern part of Paris? (I have to mention I got nearly mugged in Le Marais in Paris a few years back around 2:30PM.)
What a shame…
Speechless…
It really is about failed politics. There are so many fine things about this city, but the incompetence of the politics has failed the city for generations. We still don’t have a government for the Brussels region over 9 months after the elections. It’s extraordinary when media report that crack is as easy to buy as chewing gum.
You’re not selling it m8. But I’ll be back. X
I believe it falls into the ‘harsh but fair’ category. I may be in the minority however, according to a story in the paper, Brussels is the happiest region in Belgium.
But also, today there was an article that claimed buying crack was as easy as buying chewing gum, and that there is a tidal wave of crack in the city.
Sorry to read this, it’s a sad indicator of what is happening globally.
Wow. Not good at all.