The rioters lack a clear commonality, says professor of organisational behaviour and culture Gabriele Jacobs. “Young men in Urk, young men in Rotterdam, in Eindhoven… These groups don’t have a lot in common, except for the fact that they’re all young men. Naturally, I found negative reactions when I checked the reactions on social media. But remarkably enough, the positive reactions weren’t politically motivated. Rather, people expressed the sentiment that they think this stuff is cool.”
For this reason, Jacobs believes the rioters are driven by hooliganism and the untargeted violence inherent in that. “If they were politically motivated – for instance, if they were protesting the coronavirus restrictions – they wouldn’t be looting Zeeman and small enterprises. Rather, they’d be targeting government agencies. And there is no clear purpose in the criminal activities, either, because how many valuable objects can you steal from a Jumbo [supermarket], anyway?”
‘These groups don’t have a lot in common, except for the fact that they’re all young men’
Associate professor of social, political and legal philosophy Gijs van Oenen believes that some of last week’s unrest was an expression of civil disobedience. “Both the protesters in Museumplein Square and the young rioters are very unhappy about the present situation. For instance, young people have less freedom to go where they want to go, and they were also robbed of their traditional way to let off steam: New Year’s Eve celebrations. Now that we have a curfew, it’s very easy for them to ‘rebel’. They can do so simply by being in the streets after 9pm. If the police then take action, it’s easy for them to post a message to social media complaining about how incredibly unfair it was that they were targeted.”
‘A temporary break from one’s morals’
Criminologists, too, are very interested in what happened last week. Professor of Juvenile Delinquency Frank Weerman, who is affiliated with the Erasmus School of Law, was struck by the fact that shops were looted after the demonstrations. “This shows that young adults used the situation and felt free to do things they normally wouldn’t do. Others have called this a ‘temporary break from one’s morals’, which is a pretty apt description. It’s a moment where normal rules and morals fly out of the window for a brief moment. You could tell that from the suspects who have so far appeared in court. They all said they were very sorry about their actions, but that didn’t stop them from committing crimes during those riots.”
‘It’s a moment where normal rules and morals fly out of the window for a brief moment.’
In the past, Weerman conducted research on the effect of social media on juvenile delinquency and found that social media were actually one of the reasons why juvenile delinquency rates have fallen. So is this a deviation from the trend? Not exactly, says Weerman. “Because young adults now spend more time online, they have become less likely to loiter in the streets. That is one of the reasons why juvenile delinquency rates have decreased. But social media may also reinforce certain types of behaviour when young people seek to gain respect on social media by engaging in criminal behaviour. I suspect that some young people are more susceptible to peer pressure on social media than others. It’s vital that we examine this group and take a good look at the group processes taking place in it.”
Society’s response
Gabriele Jacobs noticed two remarkable things in the reactions to the unrest: on the one hand, several politicians called for the army to be deployed, and on the other, others responded in a more inclusive manner, such as Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. “The call for the army to be deployed is interesting, because when it comes to down it, Dutch riot police squads are a fine way to curb this kind of behaviour. Unlike the army, they are trained to de-escalate volatile situations. Since it’s so hard to pigeon-hole the rioters, various political parties are seeking to interpret the situation in accordance with their own views and beliefs, even though society’s response has been quite constructive. For instance, Mayor Aboutaleb said in a fatherly tone: ‘These are our boys.’ In so doing, he owned the problem and indicated that we must join hands to arrive at a solution, with parents, municipal governments and young people all playing their parts. We saw the same reaction from locals and mosques. It’s a message that is diametrically opposed to the reaction we often see with, say, religious radicalisation in young people, where we will tell each other that ‘those are not our kind of people’. This inclusive approach is a lot more effective, and therefore more advisable.”
‘So we don’t necessarily have to take the call for the army to be deployed seriously. However, the impact of such a call should be taken seriously’
Philosopher Van Oenen felt that the politicians’ reactions were predictable. “It’s a rhetoric competition that follows well-trodden paths. So we don’t necessarily have to take the call for the army to be deployed seriously. However, the impact of such a call should be taken seriously. Social media are causing this impact to translate to the real world more quickly. At the end of the day, it’s all related to the fact that society has become less familiar with open violence over the years. The events of the last few days are not in line with that trend. So we’re having this fuss both because of the actual incidents themselves and because of increased sensitivity to violence in the public space.”
