Following reports of imminent attacks in Belgium on the weekend of the 21st, Belgium went into lock down. Architects of the Paris attacks hailed from a small, densely packed, commune in Brussels called Molenbeek.
Connections have been found between this neighborhood and the 2004 Madrid train bombings, last year’s killing of four at the Brussels Jewish Museum, as well as a shootout in the Paris kosher market. These connections beg the question, what must be done with Molenbeek?
Economically and politically, the management of this commune must be revisited. The average income is significantly lower than that in Brussels, and over ten thousand children live in households with zero income. There is a mixture of variables leading to the rise of radicalism in this area. However one thing is clear, the commune needs an economic partnership in order to help uplift it. When unemployment is twenty six percent higher than the Brussels average, there needs to be an adjustment in thinking.