Belgian Politician Sammy Mahdi Speaks Out on Discrimination and Racism

For the politician, this problem also exists in Belgium, in various forms. In the job market, he said, men and women over 50 are the most discriminated against. "They don’t hire them."

Personally, he said he has experienced discrimination all his life, since adolescence, and everywhere. "I never went out to a nightclub. I tried so many times that at one point, I gave up," he lamented. "I also played football. Mothers and fathers were shouting ’bougnoule’, ’macaque’."

The son of a father born in Iraq and raised there, and well aware of discrimination, he had advised him to fight twice as hard as anyone else to assert himself. "Show by actions and not by conflict that they are wrong," he had advised Sammy Mahdi, who wants to "show certain young people that they have to get out of a vicious circle and develop their talents."

However, the discourse is not reassuring for all young people, especially the concept of "give it your all, it’ll be fine." On this subject, Sammy Mahdi affirmed that "Belgium is the European country where the level of education of people from migration is the lowest. We say: ah, we have to find a solution for them," yet "these are often the same people who push an entire generation, from a very young age, to deal drugs, steal. With them, we have to be firm," concluded Sammy Mahdi.