The municipality of Molenbeek, a town in the Brussels metropolitan area known for being a hotbed of jihadists, is once again making headlines. During a city council meeting, a veiled Socialist councillor, complaining about derogatory comments made about her online by her political opponents, suggested that Belgians unhappy with the creeping Islamisation of their city should “get out.” This blatant reversal of the usual discourse against the foreigner has sparked outrage, confirming a growing sentiment among Europeans that they are no longer welcome in their own country.
The comments were made by Saliha Raïs, a Socialist politician from the Vooruit party of Moroccan origin, who was outraged by the ‘racist’ comments posted on social media by her local political opponents, members of the Reform Movement (MR). For example, the following sarcastic comment appeared on the Facebook page of the local MR branch: “No need to go on holiday to Morocco and Tunisia anymore, I’m here.”
“If we’re such a nuisance, if they don’t even want to see us anymore, there are 19 municipalities in the region. If Molenbeek is so unliveable, then move somewhere else. Get out!” she exclaimed.
The local elected representative’s outburst was too big not to be instantly relayed by the president of the Reform Movement at the federal level, Georges-Louis Bouchez, known for his outspokenness and offensive rhetoric on immigration in Belgium. “This is the left’s idea of living together,” he commented on Facebook in a post that garnered 2,500 reactions and 2,600 comments. Bouchez was outraged by Raïs’s desire to reverse cultural norms by imposing her veil in public spaces. “Communitarianism must stop,” he explained.
Didier Millis, the manager of the MR’s Facebook page in question, who was also challenged by a far-left elected representative, defended himself by explaining that diversity now boiled down to “a single community for the social-communist majority.”
The controversy, initially ignored by the Belgian mainstream press, continues to grow and has moved from the local to the federal level. It has spread beyond Belgium’s borders, and Raïs’ comments are now being widely discussed in France. Both the substance of her remarks and the elected representative’s blatant arrogance are being criticised in a municipality that has become emblematic of the Islamisation of Belgium, having been home to the entire jihadist network behind the 2015 Bataclan attacks in Paris. Raïs’s invitation to “get out” even prompted a reaction from Elon Musk.
Belgians must leave Belgium? It is insane. Yet it is the dearest hope of some.
