{"id":10261,"date":"2023-11-17T20:35:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T19:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=10261"},"modified":"2023-11-17T20:46:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T19:46:47","slug":"the-dark-side-of-brussels-we-need-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/10261\/the-dark-side-of-brussels-we-need-help\/","title":{"rendered":"The dark side of Brussels: ‘We need help’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels, the capital not only of Belgium but of the whole European Union, is a melting pot of expats, diplomats and immigrants from different countries around the world. In no other European city you will find 189 different nationalities. Almost 40% of the Brussels residents do not even have a Belgian nationality. Besides the striking aspects of the city\u2019s cosmopolitan atmosphere, these different nationalities and differences in the city also create major challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

History of Brussels: \u2018We need help, we need money\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is there a stark difference between the European Quarter, the northern part of the city, and and the southern parts of Brussels? Let\u2019s have a look at Brussels history: Because of the significance of the institutions, building the European Quarter led to many investments in infrastructure, facilities and office buildings. It had to be representative of a strong and prosperous image of Europe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Although Brussels South and North share a parallel history, with a visionary plan to connect the south and north to each other through a train network and transformation of the working-class neighborhoods into modern urban structures, the outcome was a complete disaster. This bruxellisation of Brussels in the 1950s, 60s and 70s led only to thriving Manhattans in the North and neglected Bronx neighborhoods in the South. Pascale Vielle, member of the Saint-Gilles Midi\/South neighborhood committee, still sees this problem getting worse: \u2018Where the institutions are based, you have no living places, so the often rich people who work there don’t pay taxes. They are disconnected. And we pay a lot of taxes to provide all this infrastructure for people who are working here. We are not financed for all the services we provide to Europe and Belgium. We need help, we need money.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Scared travelers, crack and gangs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The social and economic disparities, urban decay, transportation challenges, housing issues and integration challenges of Brussels has led to an increase of illegal immigrants, homeless people and drug addicts. Keyvan Siasi, formerly homeless who lived around the South of Brussel and now a counselor with prisoners, and Pascale Vielle, member of the Saint-Gilles Midi\/South committee, tell us more about the real problems of Brussels South:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n