This morning, Brussels airport was struck by two explosions. An hour later, the Maelbeek metro station suffered a similar fate. Newspapers and politicians alike have been quick to parallel these attacks with those which occurred in Paris in the November of last year. Already, cries of ‘selective sympathy’ have arisen from various social media outlets – reflecting upon the fact that last week’s bombings in Istanbul did not receive such blanket media coverage from Western outlets. The cause of the bombings currently remains unknown, although terrorism is cited as the most viable reason, with Obama offering Belgium his support against the ‘scourge of terrorism’ and Dr Shuja Shafi (secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain) stating that: ‘we must redouble our efforts to work together and to defeat terrorism wherever it comes from’, in response to the bombings.
Donald Trump, of course, was as sensitive as ever; citing Brussels as a ‘total mess’ and ‘a catastrophic city where the police have very little control’. In a typically unceremonious fashion, he appeared to be using the events of this morning to further his own political campaign, tying them to his own policies of strict border controls and a vigilant selection process for immigrants. In a similar fashion, Nigel Farage re-tweeted a tweet from Daily Telegraph columnist Alison Pearson citing Brussels as the ‘de facto capital of the EU [and]… jihadist capital of Europe’, again utilising the atrocity to score points politically by linking it to Brexit.
It appears that when events of this magnitude are occurring, it becomes difficult for political commentators to see them objectively. They are not to be used as a perverse form of political one-upmanship, nor to project a smug sense of satisfaction in your own views. The more that tragedies occurring around the world are given political weight, the more we are unable to view them except for in the abstract, negating the suffering of those involved. Of course, if the attacks in Brussels this morning are to be attributed to terrorism, then they are rooted in the political; but the discussion surrounding them should be about how best to limit the recurrence of such events, not how well they support or encourage your own sympathies.
The new Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb stated yesterday: ‘behind every statistic there is a human being. Perhaps sometimes in government we forget that’, and the same goes for Brussels, Istanbul, Paris and every other city affected by tumult and terrorism. Once we stop using these places as buzzwords for political posturing, perhaps we can look to discussing a solution that is both specific to and concerned with alleviating the suffering of those affected.
Words by Beth Chaplow