Anderlecht residents see their local political representatives as "disconnected from reality" as shootings ravage the community and nothing seems to change. Frustration has pushed some to reject mainstream politics while others prefer to focus on local solidarity.
Anderlecht town hall was alive with anticipation at its monthly municipal council on Wednesday evening. Some 50 local residents showed up – "a good turnout" according to regular attendees.
Locals sat on rows of wooden benches facing their municipal council, who were seated in a rectangular formation in a grandiose chamber of the town hall.
Mayor Fabrice Cumps (PS) sat at the head, his sombre expression in everyone's view. He listened as councillors of different political colours preached about how Anderlecht should respond to the recent drug violence: more police, psychological support for victims and everything in between.
Credit: The Brussels Times
Only one citizen, Mohamed Ouamara, took the stand. Ouamara is the founder of the local committee Vigilance Cureghem. His speech lambasted the commune's failure to fine businesses operating without a permit, which he sees as an essential contributing factor to the "lawlessness" of Anderlecht.
"The people of Anderlecht are wondering what's the point of having rules if they're not respected or enforced," he said. "We have the right to live in a clean and safe municipality."
'I can't address drug dealing directly'
"I address illegal businesses because I can't address drug dealing directly for fear of reprisals," Ouamara told The Brussels Times. A secondary school teacher, Ouamara lives around the corner from Clemenceau metro station in the Cureghem neighbourhood, where numerous shootings have occurred this month.
He sees better regulation as a necessary step towards sorting out Anderlecht's drug problem.
"An honest business that pays its taxes will call the police if there is a problem. But if you aren't above board, you won't call the police."
Mohamed Ouamara of Vigilance Cureghem. Credit: The Brussels Times
He believes an increased police presence would make a significant difference to feelings of security in Cureghem.
"When you interview bobos [bourgeois-bohème, equivalent of 'Champagne Socialist', ed.] in peaceful neighbourhoods, they say they don't want increased police presence. But people from working-class neighbourhoods are delighted to see the police because we are constantly confronted with delinquency."
Ouamara and his supporters are fed up with bickering between political parties. At one point, the council erupted into a heated exchange when an MR councillor accused far-left party PTB of calling to defund the police. "It was you who defunded the police!" another councillor interjected. "Stop criticising each other and give us a solution!" the crowd roared.
'Disconnected from reality'
Are Ouamara's views representative of the wider community? He seems popular among other council attendees. His interventions garner applause and he is clearly on good terms with everyone he meets among the audience. But his Anderlecht Autrement list only won 2.6% of votes in local elections last October, coming in seventh out of ninth place.
His view of Cumps as "weak" and "disconnected from reality" is certainly shared by others present at the council. Only one councillor thanked the mayor for his response to the shootings, which provoked a round of eyerolls and sniggers from the audience.
In his fiery appeal, Ouamara asked his fellow citizens: "Who here feels listened to?" The question earned yet another cacophony of shouts echoing his indignation.
"Our metro station was named after Georges Clémenceau [Statesman and former Prime Minister of France, ed.], who was nicknamed 'The Tiger' because he gave police the resources they needed!" Ouamara's speech concluded – leaving out the fact that some of the worst police violence ever seen in France occurred under the direction of "France's top cop", known as "the enemy of the working class" by socialists.
As for the drug dealers themselves, Ouamara says "I feel very sorry for them but I won't cry for them. I tell them they are selling death and they reply, 'What do you want us to do?' When you don't have papers, how are you going to work? Who's going to hire you? They want a better future, I understand that, but at what price?"
'Shootings like this will happen again and again'
The social neglect that pushes individuals into drug dealing is the focus of other grassroots organisations in Anderlecht. The non-profit Cosmos has launched a weekly tea and coffee event just next to Clemenceau metro station, reminding the public that Anderlecht is more than drugs and shootings – it is a vibrant community where individuals look out for one another.
Credit: The Brussels Times
"Politicians must act, but they mustn't just focus on drug violence," social worker Marc D'Hondt told The Brussels Times. "Education and employment in this neighbourhood have suffered for decades. It is therefore easy for drug gangs to take in young people if they don't have an alternative. If we don't tackle these problems at the source, shootings like this will happen again and again."
D'Hondt acknowledges that more police presence is necessary, but repression won't make a difference if not accompanied by longer term solutions. In addition, the problem goes much further than what local politics can handle.
"The mayor alone can't do anything. The commune doesn't have the resources. Sometimes people just want to complain, but you can only change things by working together."
Maria is 65 years old and has lived in Cureghem for almost 50 years. "It's not possible to counteract all of this," she told The Brussels Times. "The mafia has landed in Anderlecht and they're not going to stop here. Good luck finding a political solution to that."
