The Spots to Visit in a “No-Go-Zone”:Notes on the problems and proposals in Molenbeek

The posters about housing rights, some rowdy lads keeping the street corners, artists who reconnect the town with what lies beyond, and civil society organizations trying to translate the local problems into country-level proposals… These were what my eyes caught in a short field trip, intended for me to breathe the air in a few neighborhoods that represent the “no-go-zones” of Europe. To me, these zones are not for others to avoid. Instead, the term signifies a zone to which others do not pay attention until the crisis hits them. “Their crisis, our misery” (fr. leur crise, notre misère) on a poster summarized these zones well. Indeed, Marxists erase the misery and write “revolution” (fr. révolte), whereas Islamists write “Jihad.” Starting with the Canal bank in the municipality of Molenbeek, others tried to pave the way for new kinds of hybridity in response to the terror attacks in 2015 and 2016. This blog post is based on my impressions of a humble three-day trip to Molenbeek in the light of the PRIME Youth interviews. My aim is to touch upon the recent efforts to resolve youth unemployment, cultural barriers, and related social challenges (e.g., housing, education, delinquency, pollution).