Black Belgians Refute ‘Poverty, Discrimination’ As Causes Of Arab Terror... It's a 'Cultural Value... We Hurt Nobody'

Black and African residents of Brussels have slammed left wing claims that local Muslims are drawn into terrorism because of “poverty” and “discrimination”, blaming cultural values instead.

“You know, we hear a lot about how the Arabs are a fragile community that suffers, but we, ‘les blackies,’ are discriminated against, too, and we hurt nobody”, Nico Atoba, a black man living in Brussels told the National Post.

As Mr. Atoba points out, any alleged “discrimination” faced by Arabs is surely faced by black Africans too. Furthermore, Matonge, the Congolese quarter of Brussels from which he was speaking, is easily as run down as the Muslim areas. 

Nearby Molenbeek, however, has become know as the ‘European capital of Jihad’, and has produced numerous Islamic terrorists who went on to commit the Paris and Brussels attacks.

According to many left wing academics and publications “poverty” and “discrimination” are a major factor driving such men towards hate and violence.

“Molenbeek has been in trouble for years. Poverty levels are high, and street and drug crime are common… These problems go hand-in-hand with a bleak outlook for residents”, argued the Atlantic last November.

Continuing: “As of January this year, 350 Belgian residents are known to have joined ISIS in Syria—a minuscule fraction of the country’s Muslims, but nonetheless more per capita than any other state in Europe.

“This trend can in part be explained (albeit, of course, not justified) by conditions in places like Molenbeek”, they claimed.

So why is it that non-Muslim, but equally discriminated and disadvantaged, Africans are not seeking to kill and attack Westerners?

“There are a lot of victims in Belgium but you can’t always be playing with victimization and use it as an excuse to justify going out and harming others”, exclaimed a female African migrant in Brussels, who did not wish to be named.

Around 70 per cent of people in Brussels can trace their ancestry to somewhere out side of the country. It is a city of immigrants, and the journalist from the Post described how the Arab and African quarters of Brussels differ vastly.

One is full of nightclubs, people having fun and mixing with the native culture. The other is quite, insulated, and dominated by religiosity. The difference is not poverty, but culture, another African immigrant said: “The Congolese have no interest in what the Arabs are doing,” said Angele. “We want to go out. We want to drink. We want to live. We want to be left in peace”, the young women explained.