Radicalisering van jongeren
Dit is mijn bijdrage aan een expertmeeting die door het bureau van de Nederlandse Coördinator Terrorisme Bestrijding op 30-6-2016 in Amsterdam gehouden werd. Hoewel adolescenten van oudsher tot radicaliteit neigen, loopt dat gemakkelijk uit de hand door de manier waarop de publieke sfeer tegenwoordig functioneert. Sterker inzetten op redelijkheid, relatie en ritueel kan het risico van radicalisering wellicht temperen.
Radicalism, identity and the public domain
Lecture at the Conference on radical youth organized by the Home Department in Amsterdam.
1.
Speaking about the possible meanings of radical identity in our public domain, I want to make a confession first. Forty years ago I was a radical myself and it took at least twelve years before I could switch to a different role. Soon after the start of my study in Nijmegen I got deeply involved in Marxist philosophy, breaking away from a catholic education and looking for my own position in a world that – at least in my opinion – was moving in the wrong direction. I even became a member of the Dutch Communist Party and participated intensely in the political actions and intellectual debates of the time. And I was not alone by the way. In fact the city of Nijmegen counted more than two thousand students who were engaged in leftwing politics and who rejected the Dutch Communist Party as being… too moderate. So you may understand that radicalism is not just an subject that I reflect upon from outside, it also has been an inner experience that comes back to my memory in debates or analyses that occupy us today.
Let me give an example to explain what I mean. I can clearly remember an evening in which we discussed the reasons that could justify our participation in the communist movement. For me at least three motives played a role: fear, hatred and guilt. The last motive – guilt – had to do with my belief that millions of people had to suffer from capitalism in general and from the foreign policy of the United States more specifically. The images seen on TV of the war in Viet Nam proved for us that this policy was totally wrong. In any case we felt the moral obligation to protest against these terrible events.
