As the summer holidays approach, the shops located between the Square Albert Ier and the Chaussée de Mons, in the heart of the Anderlecht district of Cureghem, are packed. Many people are shopping before the big departure, others are simply buying snacks to chat with the neighbors on this day when the mercury is 27 degrees.
Discussions mainly concern the end of the school year and holidays. When one asks one or the other question about the shootings which multiply in Brussels, the mines tense.
“What is your goal? You’re tired of talking about Molenbeek, so you come to annoy us a bit in Anderlecht, right? If so, I have nothing to tell you! Our neighborhood only interests you if there are problems. When it’s going well, nobody’s there to talk about it“, launches a young mother.
“Little Colombia, but not for coffee”
Recently, it was indeed Molenbeek that was mentioned to talk about the nuisances linked to drug trafficking. But Cureghem also has a certain reputation in this area. “Here, it’s a bit like little Colombia. And I’m not saying that for the coffee we find there“, explains, smiling, a young resident. Despite the unambiguous nickname given to his district, this young man also says he is tired of hearing negative things about Anderlecht.
“Yes, there are drug problems. But it doesn’t just affect Anderlecht, as others will tell you that it doesn’t just affect Molenbeek. In Cureghem, we suffer more from stigma than from drugs. Because I am willing to talk to you about other things, such as insalubrity due to clandestine deposits. People come to deposit their garbage on our streets as if it were a public dump. Consequence: it stinks, it’s dirty, there are syringes on the ground, we see rats. But I have the impression that that is of less interest.“
An opinion that does not entirely share JC who has lived in Cureghem for almost 20 years. According to this 50-year-old,stigma, she has a good back”.
“In this neighborhood, drugs circulate like scooters: they’re everywhere and it’s going fast, we can’t deny it. The authorities have to take action. Some kids in the neighborhood are used because they are minors and “they have less risk with the law. Small dealers also use dogs trained to circulate drugs. It’s practical because the police are not going to check dogs. And when the dogs pass, we have to change sidewalks . Everybody knows that. And if everybody knows that, the police have to know.”
And to add: “It’s easy to say that it’s happening elsewhere and that here, everything is fine. It’s because of these bullshit reasoning that we let the neighborhood rot.”
A minimized social mix
Native of the district, Leila El-Mahi, blogger and associative activist, knows Anderlecht very well. Without minimizing the presence and circulation of narcotics in her neighborhood, the young woman qualifies. “There is, on the one hand, the image that sticks in Cureghem since the 1990s and, on the other hand, a livelier but invisible neighborhood life. And that we would like to be more visible, because it’s important to also highlight the good things.”
The blogger explains that while it is easier to contain the nuisances that pollute Cureghem, which emerged in the 1990s, it is also a “associative life with people who are struggling for young people” . “It is a plural district, very lively and in constant evolution. Cureghem is an important place from a sociological point of view because we see there a mixing of the population in the image of the diversity of Brussels. There is a nice social mix, but with less interest from the media. I am a journalist by training, so I know the constraints of the profession. But I also know the appeal of the subject that is creating the buzz. When I was younger, I was an intern in a local newspaper. When I arrived, I introduced myself as a resident of Cureghem. From that day on, I was asked every day if I had any ‘info violence’ to deal with in my neighborhood”, remembers Leila bitterly.
“Last year, the Couleur Café festival was organized here, but I didn’t see anything in the media, as if it were ashamed to write about it. This shows all the interest one can have for this district .”
“Being a woman is a game-changer”
When we talk about potential problems of insecurity, Leila El-Mahi persists and signs: she does not know any in Cureghem. “I am aware that life is not rosy for everyone. We hear things, but I, personally, have never seen or experienced anything like it. Never. Maybe being a woman and having a social life outside the neighborhood is a game-changer. Perhaps a young person who never leaves here and who does not have many prospects will have another testimony. Because in this neighborhood, everyone lives things according to the street where they live. Sometimes, in one and the same street, life differs depending on the number where you live. We experience the neighborhood according to what we do there and how we invest in it. It depends on your street, your social class, it depends on a lot of things. By dint of making generalities, we forget it and for the inhabitants of Cureghem, it becomes tiring.
And to conclude: “Whether we’re talking about Anderlecht, Molenbeek or any corner of the poor crescent of Brussels, the socio-economic situation of the inhabitants, that’s the major problem”.