Belgian Socialist Leader Under Fire for Comments on Arabic-Speaking Teachers in Brussels

"When I drive through Molenbeek, I don’t feel like I’m in Belgium either. Most of these people were born here. The most important thing is that they speak our language and that they work. In Brussels, due to the shortage of teachers, people give classes in Arabic in class, because they don’t speak French. Unacceptable..." Conner Rousseau said in an interview with the Flemish weekly Humo.

These remarks by the political leader have sparked a wave of reactions. Starting with the Flemish minister in charge of Brussels, Benjamin Dalle (CD&V), who considers these statements "unworthy" and "false". "Language courses and citizenship courses are free in Brussels. As for claiming that classes would be given in Arabic? Let him show me just such a school in the Flemish Community!" he tweeted.

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"Very inappropriate remark by Conner Rousseau. Molenbeek is just as much Belgium as Saint-Nicolas," denounced Jef Van Damme, Vooruit alderman in Molenbeek. The outrage is total among the French-speaking socialists who also condemn "intolerable, stigmatizing and xenophobic" remarks. "Brussels is a cosmopolitan region with neighborhoods with a great diversity of population... Lamentable and unbearable," reacted Ahmed Laaouej, the president of the Brussels PS.

In the same vein, the co-president of Ecolo, Rajae Maouane, stated that these "intolerable" remarks "reflect a great ignorance of Brussels". The mayor of Molenbeek, Catherine Moureaux (PS), for her part, declared that these remarks inspire her with "disgust and anger". "Never having come to Molenbeek, (Conner Rousseau) is caricaturally getting in the way of the far right, thereby despising 100,000 Molenbeekois," she posted on her Twitter account.