New Attack in Brussels: Solidarity Against Terrorism and Hatred

Two Swedish football fans were killed and a third seriously injured in an attack in Brussels on 16 October. The perpetrator was shot dead by police and died in hospital. The football match between Sweden and Belgium was halted. Once again, the country is in shock.

While we usually experience this shock alone, football fans stayed together in the stadium for hours. The Belgian and Swedish fans supported each other with songs and by shining the lights on their mobile phones. As always in difficult circumstances, feelings of solidarity and unity prevailed among ordinary people.

The 45-year-old perpetrator of the attack was a man of Tunisian origin. The right-wing immediately seized on this to display racism and defend an even more brutal asylum policy. They fail to mention that the police were only able to act so quickly after being informed by the perpetrator’s wife and by residents of Schaerbeek who recognised the perpetrator. They also fail to mention that many of the people working for the emergency services have an immigrant background. Racism and division do nothing to help; they only reinforce the hatred on which terrorism is also based.

In recent weeks, we have heard politicians declare that the conflict in the Middle East should not be “imported” here. At the same time, they themselves support brutal state terrorism against the Palestinian people and reinforce Islamophobia. Not surprisingly, this era of disorder is also leading to chaos in many people’s minds. The current policy, which is based on the interests of the ruling class, provides no answer to this problem. On the contrary!

We cannot leave it to mainstream politics and media to discuss how to oppose terrorism and hatred. Their response is mainly limited to repression, Islamophobia, closed borders and war. This logic is doomed to failure. As ever, the interests of the majority of the population are of no importance to them.

The best way to isolate terrorism and combat the breeding ground that allows it to gain support is to fight together for a real future for all and to leave no one behind. Talking about security while implementing austerity policies that are turning the country into a social graveyard is throwing sand in our eyes. The workers’ movement and young people must take the initiative! We have nothing to expect from those who constantly attack us, while they and their banker and shareholder friends hide the wealth we produce in tax havens.

In opposition to the policy of “divide and conquer”, let’s stand united in struggle and solidarity. Against hatred and terrorism, but also against a government and a policy that nurture these phenomena.