Opinion: People of Brussels take 'lockdown' in their stride

The Paris attacks and their association with the Brussels commune of Molenbeek, has led to international criticism of Belgium’s security forces. One publication even took it as a sign that Belgium is a failed state.

Assertions like these may have some truth to them, but they often get mixed up with clichés and ignorance, if not xenophobia. Belgium is simply not easy to understand, especially for people who come from countries with a monoculture.

In Belgium, different language groups and cultures live side by side. The many conflicts between them are resolved peacefully – if slowly. This has led to a state structure known as federalism, with a federal state, regions (geographical) and communities (language groups). These overlap in places, so Belgium has six (not seven or eight) governments.

This is costly, inefficient and bureaucratic at times, but it somehow works. Take the period after the 2010 elections when the country went without a federal government for over a year. The effect was hardly felt by average citizens as all other levels of government kept on functioning. A politician once compared the Belgian state to a Swiss watch: You do not have to understand how it works to see that it does.

Now, about those security forces. Have they failed? Obviously, but not any more than others that did not prevent similar attacks in Madrid, London and New York. Criticism from France is understandable, but it works two ways. France has not stopped French nationals travelling to Brussels and committing attacks on the Jewish Museum and the Thalys train.

In the hours after the Paris attacks, French forces stopped a car with Salah Abdelsalam, one of the suspects, and let him travel on to Belgium, partially creating the situation we now find ourselves in. And when Belgian forces foiled a terrorist cell in Verviers earlier this year, they received congratulations from all over the world.

The Brussels lockdown proves that our security forces will not hesitate in taking drastic – some would claim too drastic – measures. The people from Brussels took it in their stride, with the irony and surrealism Belgium is also known for.

When the police asked them not to publish details about security operations on Twitter, they complied in a way that went viral – posting pictures of their cats instead. You do not have to understand the joke to see that it worked.