Six days later, six responses to the Brussels attacks

Beatrice Delvaux, Le Soir, in a letter to her children
For the past 20 years I have been lying to you. And I only have one excuse. For the past 20 years I believed my own lie. I sold you this world as one full of possibilities, of travel, of places you could explore and of people you could meet. I was sure we had spared you from war. We had consigned it to the history books. I didn't want you to think you could die in your hometown and that your innocence would end on this day. We will try to fix this mess. But what's becoming clearer is that you won't be able to run away from it, you are going to have to fight. As I write this, I'm crossing my fingers that this won't be in the literal sense of the word, as it was before.

Firouzeh Nahavandi, ULB professor specialising in the sociology of terrorism and jihadism
It's wrong to say that Belgium's anti-terrorism measures failed. There were arrests, convictions and many attacks were thwarted. It is true that the Belgian authorities are discreet about their strategy. Without these measures, there could have been much more damage and more terrorist actions. The arrest of Abdeslam and the searches proved that there was something brewing. The attacks had probably been prepared over a long time. These operations can not be coordinated in a few days. Probably the arrest of Abdeslam precipitated things. Terrorism acts in Europe have internal and external causes. The measures we take can only be global and coordinated. Work needs to be done on poor neighbourhoods, issues of identity and detention conditions, as a lot of criminals are radicalised in prison. We need a more coherent international policy and better-chosen allies. Repression is a part of the measures, but it cannot function alone. Coordination of European intelligence and security services is another aspect. Despite that, it is at national level that each country must think about terrorism. In a globalised world, zero risk does not exist. The motivations and strategies of terrorists are variables and therefore impossible to guess. Total security is no longer possible. We must above all learn to live with danger.

Sarah Crew, The Bulletin
We are all guilty of naivety in thinking that Brussels would escape the fate of Paris, London and Madrid. The relief after the unexpected live capture of Salah Abdeslam was now, we realise, inopportune. The bombings were the result of months of carefully co-ordinated planning. His arrest may have accelerated them, but they were foreseen. By targeting the airport and the EU quarter, Tuesday’s atrocities were an unequivocal message to the city and its multinational community. Brussels may be a small city which prides itself on its melting pot of cultures, but it is a fractured one. In addition to its bilingual, bi-community politics, there lies an uneasy relationship between Belgian, expat and immigrant communities. While the population of Brussels has not surprisingly responded with defiance and a message of unity, the future of the city and country that we love lies in bringing together these communities in a culture of respect and tolerance. This is the challenge for politicians and residents.

Alison Cornford-Matheson, food and travel writer
The people of Brussels immediately started to do what they do best – pulling together in times of crisis. Individuals and businesses were offering shelter to those stranded, taxis were encouraged to take people to safety for free, a hashtag was created to let people know there was help available – Brussels was responding to hate with love. Since the attack on Brussels, I’ve already heard of people cancelling their travel plans to Belgium and even Europe. This makes me deeply sad, because what Brussels needs now, more than anything, is a show of support, an outpouring of love to show that the terrorists didn’t, and never will win. Imagine if everyone decided to stop travelling to the United States because of all of the acts of domestic terrorism: school shootings, workplace shootings, shootings in theatres, malls, and right out on the street where people are going about their daily lives. Sitting at home, in front of our televisions or reading our newspapers, it’s easy to believe the world is a terrifying place filled with bad people who want nothing more than to hurt us. But one thing travel has taught me, time and time again, is the media distorts reality and the world is essentially a good place filled with peaceful people. If fear stops us the terrorists win. Don’t let them win.

Kate Havrlik, British expat in Belgium, European Commission employee
I found it a little bit horrifying that some of the British press has been attacking Brussels and the Belgian security services in such a forthright way so early on. The situation is extremely complex. Britain has always had a bit of a fraught relationship with Brussels. I think the media should be more supportive at this moment. There are many politicians who are using the atrocities that happened here on Tuesday as an excuse to push further away from the EU. I think now it's very important that we stand united as the European Union.

Bart Schouppe, on Facebook
It’s not very Belgian to be proud to be Belgian. We don’t usually stand united. We laugh at our royals. Belgian nationalism doesn’t exist, football aside. We quibble over petty regional issues. We confuse foreigners by naming towns on road signs in two different languages on two different parts of the Brussels ring road. We will defiantly keep quibbling over ridiculous regional non-issues: we have a proud 175-year record to defend. Also, we will continue to let the Swiss claim their chocolate is best, we will allow the Germans to think that they have proper beer, we won’t care that the Americans think Belgium is the capital of Brussels, and we will forgive the Brits for thinking there is a language called "Belgian". We will let the French get away with their passive claim on our national heroes – Jacques Brel, Eddy Merckx, Tintin, Adolphe Sax, Stromae, Vincent Kompany, the Dardenne brothers, Plastic Bertrand and the Smurfs. We are Europe's underdog, and we don't care. We will keep laughing at our royals trying to unite us and at our politicians taking 500 days to form a national government. We will keep confusing our foreign friends about what makes us Belgian. We will be strong. We will stand united – for the occasion. And we will go have lousy coffees at the Brussels Airport Starbucks the day it re-opens.