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Level 1: I am running under the bridge, metro cars of the Maelbeek station above me. Acrid smoke. Helicopters, ambulances, mobile networks down. Fear for loved ones. Chaotic information – two explosions in Zaventem airport, one in Maelbeek metro.
Few people on the street, mainly parents running to schools and kindergartens to pick up kids. A dilemma how to get there – the metro has been shut down, car traffic diverted, trams and busses not running.
Cars stop to let pedestrians pass. Teachers well organized, take care of children and panicking parents. Calm each other down. Someone needs coins to buy juice from a vending machine, a stranger helps. Warmth, solidarity.
Level 2: Conversations:
– Its war
– They say there has been an explosion on another metro station
– There has been a shooting on the Sablon square
– I had a bad feeling already when they caught Salah Abdeslam
– It’s revenge
– Now imagine you have Arab features…
– Yeah, but they can only blame themselves!
– Muslims should issue a statement they condemn this.
– They are a strong religion.
– What does religion have to do with it? We can be strong as a lay state.
– What’s going to happen now?
Level 3: Naming: it’s the terrorists. Terrorists. We stick to this word. We, the citizens of Brussels from Poland, Morocco, Congo, Algeria, Germany, France, Catholics, Muslims and atheists – we talk to each other. We cannot shut up and start fearing each other. We talk and will continue talking.
Level 4: It is sunshine in Brussels. One cannot watch the news calmly. Family, relatives, friends, acquaintances send text messages from Poland, Britain, France, Sweden, Congo.
Brussels: 30 dead, more than 130 wounded, 17 in critical condition. Still counting all of us, citizens of Brussels of all religions and nationalities. We are at level 4 – the fourth level of terrorist threat. Fear of terrorists. And of new texts describing how multiculturalism has been a failure. We are together. We talk, no matter where we come from and what we believe in.
About Grażyna Plebanek
Grażyna Plebanek was born in Warsaw, Poland. She is the author of highly acclaimed and bestselling novels. Her novel Illegal Liaisons (Nielegalne związki, 2010) was sold in 52,000 copies in Poland and wa translated into English. Illegal Liaisons was published in the U.S. in 2013 by New Europe Books, distributed by Random House. She is a columnist of the prestigious weekly “Polityka”, as well as the monthly supplement of Poland’s biggest daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and the “Trends” magazine. In 2011 Plebanek was awarded the Literary Prize Zlote Sowy for her contribution to promoting Poland abroad. Plebanek is among a group of international artists whose portraits will be exhibited in Brussels Gare del’Ouest for the next 10 years. She lives in Brussels, Belgium. Recently, Ann Morgan listed "Illegal Liaisons" as the Polish novel worth reading in her collection of the world's literary works (TED Talk: My year reading a book from every country in the world) Plebanek’s new novel “Madame Fury” will be published this summer. It tells the story of how the main character is forced to navigate the complexities of identity for people living in two or more cultures. It is about manipulation and racism.
