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descent, their families often linked to Western Europe through its colonial history, living in neighborhoods affected by poverty. FEMKE KAULINGFREKS In the media and amongst authorities an immediate moral condemnation of the rioters prevailed; the events were predomi- SENSELESS VIOLENCE OR UNRULY POLITICS? nantly interpreted as senseless, criminal disorder instigated by THE UNCIVIL REVOLT OF YOUNG RIOTERS deviant ‘outsiders’, threatening the cohesion of society4. Resear- chers, on the other hand, often focused on the sense of exclusion and socio-economic deprivation which underlay the riots (Lapeyronnie 2008, Kokoreff 2008, Slooter 2015, Lewis et al. Krisis 2016, Issue 1 2011, Bertho 2009, Body-Gendrot 2005, Sutterlüty 2014, Klein www.krisis.eu 2012 a.o.). While the motives of young people for engaging in riots and other public disturbances are often diverse and diffuse, certain shared frustrations and grievances can be noted across contexts. A pervasive sense of injustice, lack of opportunities, anger about surveillance and police brutality played a role in all three cases mentioned here; the French riots in 2005, the English riots in 2011 and the Dutch riots in 2015. In this article, I focus on the political implications of these shared grievances and Mitch Hernandez was on holiday, visiting family in the Nether- the disruptive ways in which they are expressed. I investigate lands in late June 2015. On a Saturday evening the 42-year-old the political significance of riots instigated by rebellious adoles- man from Aruba, one of the Dutch Antillean islands, attended the cents of migrant descent in Western European cities such as Pa- festival “Night at the Park” in The Hague with some friends. A ris, London and The Hague. few hours later, he was laying in the back of a police van, passed out from lack of oxygen, his face bruised and swollen. A day la- Can certain uncivil5or unruly behavior have political significance ter, he was dead. Word spread quickly that Hernandez had been outside of an institutionally endorsed understanding of politics? violently arrested by the police1, and that this arrest had caused It is this question which is often left insufficiently addressed in his death. Soon after, riots broke out in the Schilderswijk, a wor- the analysis of unorganized civil disturbances, urban violence6 king class and multicultural neighborhood in The Hague. En- or riots. I use the term “unruly politics” to designate the political raged crowds of young people threw stones at the police, broke agency of people who are not recognized as worthy, or formal, windows, plundered a supermarket and demolished the interior political actors within the domain of institutional politics, but of a local theater2. For several days the unrest in the neighbor- who nevertheless interfere in the political organization of socie- hood continued. The events brought into mind the similar, but ty, while they do not abide by the formal, moral and legal rules of more extensive riots around Paris and other French cities in accepted practices of civil engagement and political participa- 2005, and around London and other British cities in 20113. In tion. I state that the young rioters involved in the events here these three cases riots broke out after unarmed men of color discussed can be seen as unruly political agents who express a died following a confrontation with the police. The majority of denunciation of an unjust state of affairs in institutional politics. the ones involved in the disruptions were young men of migrant In what follows I first take the recent riots in The Hague as my

4 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? main example to explicate how youth from deprived neighbor- borhood, where he commented that he felt like he was no longer hoods are often excluded from the accepted citizenry because in the Netherlands10. Questions were asked in Parliament and they are associated with deviant street culture. Their disruptive Minister of Social Affairs Lodewijk Asscher promised that the public interventions are easily perceived as senseless violence. government would protect the ‘central values of the Dutch de- The ones involved are not recognized as political subjects but mocratic and constitutional state’ and prevent the emergence of either seen as threatening ‘outsiders’ to society, or pre-political ‘parallel societies’ where inhabitants take the law into their own victims of exclusion. However, in reference to Jacques Rancière’s hands11. Despite complaints of several inhabitants who did not notion of politics as dissensus, I propose to consider disruptive recognize their neighborhood in the media coverage, the Schil- interventions like riots as events of unruly politics. Despite the derswijk became easily associated with the territory of deviant, fact that unruly politics should not be seen as a conscious politi- non-integrated and radicalized foreign elements, perceived as cal strategy to establish social change, it makes political sense. causing a threat to Dutch society12. This image was further en- Events of unruly politics are politically significant not because forced when a small group of radicalized young Muslims demon- they offer clear-cut solutions, but because they indicate a pro- strated with an ISIS-banner in the neighborhood in the summer blem. They confront us with existing inequalities and socio- of 201413. The newspaper Trouw eventually withdrew the arti- economic deprivation and signal the flaws in the existing formal cle about the so-called ‘Sharia-triangle’ in the Schilderswijk, after structures of political representation. having discovered that the journalist responsible had invented sources. However, the negative image of the neighborhood per- sisted14. Several researchers and community organizers warned that riots could break out if authorities would not make public Rage about exclusion and desire for emancipation efforts to recognize the sense of exclusion of the, especially, young inhabitants of the Schilderswijk15. When Mitch Hernandez Despite the fact that Mitch Hernandez was not a youth from the died at the hands of police officers from The Hague, this seemed neighborhood, his death ignited a powder keg of rage and frus- to be the last straw. Violent clashes with the police followed and tration, which had been filling up for quite some time in the the division in the area between young people and the authori- Schilderswijk in The Hague. Young men, often from Dutch- ties was once again enforced. Ironically, the same image which Moroccan families, felt discriminated and unjustly treated by the led to mounted frustration was enforced by the riots: that of the police due to recurrent stops, identity-checks and searches, so- Schilderswijk as an area where ‘outsiders’ undermine the well- metimes in front of their own home and often leading to moun- being of Dutch civilized society. ting fines7. Several violent arrests further increased the tensions between youth and the police in the neighborhood8. In addition It is not surprising that the riots were not readily recognizable as to the bad relationship with the police, inhabitants felt stigmati- a political event, since there were no signs of a deliberate politi- zed by the media. In 2013 the national newspaper Trouw publi- cal, militant strategy16. The disturbances emerged randomly, shed an article based on investigative journalism in the Schil- with social media bringing together young people who had ne- derswijk, announcing that a part of the neighborhood was ver met before and who did not express clearly formulated de- informally ruled by the Sharia9. This news caused quite a politi- mands or a clearly formulated political ideology. The rioters did cal stir. Right-wing politician Geert Wilders visited the neigh- not make public statements about their motives and were not

5 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? represented by spokespeople who addressed the press. Without is the only way to convey discontent and to be heard by those in intentionally communicated vision or goals the riots were easily power, while the instrumental dimension reflects the wish to perceived as a haphazard, mindless provocation. Some, including make the state and other public services aware of the basic re- the Mayor of The Hague, indicated the Ramadan and the out- sources that the adolescents involved lack in their lives (Koko- doors heat as causes of the disruptive events17. Due to these fac- reff 2008, 18). It is both the rage about exclusion and the desire tors young Muslim people in the neighborhood seemed to be on for emancipation that inspire riots. Even the looting which takes edge, looking for excitement as soon as the sun set. However, place during riots could be seen as an attempt of disqualified, others who themselves had participated strongly linked the riots poor young people to finally gain the tokens of success belonging to unequal opportunities and other experiences of unequal to a dominant culture of consumption in neoliberal, capitalist treatment by the authorities. On radio channel FunX, Yusuf said societies (Bauman 2012, Winlow & Hall 2012). In this sense, the that after the riots he felt relief from his stress about the many riots can be seen as a desperate act to make the state and the ge- times he was stopped and rudely treated by the police for only neral public aware of the grievances of young people in margina- being a young brown man driving a nice car. Sky said that he lized positions. This brings the famous Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to target the government and that the death of Mitch quote into mind: A riot is the language of the unheard. However, Henriquez was not even on his mind when he joined the rio- the state is not inclined to listen. ters18. These statements indicate that the initial tragic event became a pretext for expressing a variety of latent frustrations. Large numbers of young people from outside of the neighborhood became involved in the disturbances. The violence seemed Street culture versus civil culture to be motivated by a variety of incentives, ranging from rage about regular confrontations with racism and discrimination, to The fact that riots are not readily recognized as political events the pleasure of breaking the power monopoly of the police in the is emphasized by the reaction of state representatives, who are public domain, or the personal opportunism of obtaining mate- primarily focused on the maintenance of public order and deny rial goods which are completely out of reach under normal cir- responsibility for the root causes of the disturbances (Lamble cumstances. A journalist who observed the scene stated that the 2013). Authorities offer a representation of the events as a cer- Schilderswijk became a ‘collection site of anger’19. He quoted tain state of exception that can only be rightly dealt with by ef- another rioter saying: “Everything that belongs to the state can fective risk-management and a repressive practice of policing. As be destroyed. (…) Talking does not solve anything. They are not a consequence, the events tend to be understood not in relation listening. Once a white man, always a white man. We have to to, but in opposition to society as lawless deeds, inspired by per- fight for our rights.”20 French anthropologist Michel Kokoreff sonal frustrations or desires of abnormal young people who do also concludes that the structural ingredients in the pressure- not know how to behave like good citizens. This attitude of state cooker that lead to the emergence of riots are feelings of injusti- officials enforces the perceived lack of representation in mecha- ce and humiliation, most often inflicted by the police (2008, 19). nisms of institutional politics of the young people involved. According to Kokoreff, the violence of riots has two dimensions: an expressive dimension and an instrumental dimension. The In the case of the riots in The Hague a pattern can be distinguis- expressive dimension reflects the feeling that the use of violence hed which was also visible at the onset of the earlier riots in Pa-

6 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? ris and London (Sutterlüty 2014, 41-43). In all cases violence gang culture” is needed, Cameron sought the origin of the riots in erupted after a confrontation with fatal consequences took place deviant socio-psychological behavior, youth culture and youth between the police and a man of color21. The police initially re- delinquency. He explicitly stressed that the riots were a matter fused to take responsibility for the events. In The Hague, the po- of gang culture and not of poverty, discrimination or unequal so- lice announced that Mitch Hernandez had been fine before ente- cial opportunities. ring the police van, and had become unwell during transportation. However, video footage emerged showing that a These statements indicate that the riots are not seen as an aspect group of officers held Hernandez in a choke-hold before drag- of the social dynamics within society, but as a threatening desta- ging him into the van while he was already unconscious. Re- bilization of society by those who do not merit to be seen as fel- search later proved that police violence was indeed the cause of low citizens. The riots are framed as originating from a deviant Hernandez’ death22. Secondly, when peaceful protests started, street culture which generally threatens the public sphere in representatives from the institutional domain showed a lack of Western European cities28 (Decker and Weerman, 2005), while recognition for the grief of those surrounding the victim, and a possible political motives are not acknowledged. Frustrations in lack of respect for those expressing their frustration and discon- relation to discrimination, ethnic profiling, poverty and isolation tent regarding the events23. In The Hague the first violent skir- are not recognized as valid incentives underlying the disruptive mishes took place in front of the police station Heemstraat in de events and are consequentially not seen as issues of injustice Schilderswijk, when demonstrators felt they were not suffi- and inequality which could be tackled in the political arena. Hen- ciently and seriously addressed by the police24. Other state re- ce, the rioters seem to be alien aggressors, affecting society from presentatives added fuel to the fire by failing to recognize the the outside. Politicians deny having a relation with these trou- frustrations leading up to the riots, and primarily focusing on the blemakers, let alone take responsibility for addressing their rioters as criminals. In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark grievances. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he did not see the Rutte called the rioters achterlijke gladiolen (retarded knuckle- need to visit the Schilderswijk to engage in a conversation with heads) and seemed to be more upset by the destruction of pro- the rioters because he considered them fools causing a scene29. perty in the neighborhood than by the death of Mitch Henri- quez25. Mayor of The Hague Jozias van Aertsen spoke about the A continuous emphasis on the ‘pointless violence’ in the actions brute violence of ‘vandals’ and denied the existence of police vio- of young ‘troublemakers’ places them outside of the body of lence or discrimination in his city26. The reaction of Nicolas ‘normal’ citizens, and inside a frame of deviant exponents of a Sarkozy, then French Minister of Internal Affairs, to the Parisian dangerous street culture. Their abnormality is seen as being cau- riots and the reaction of David Cameron, British Prime Minister, sed by social and educational deficiencies, alcohol and drug abu- to the London riots were even stronger.27 Sarkozy described the se, criminal tendencies and/or an aggressive, antisocial youth youth involved in the French riots as criminal gang members culture30. This street culture seems to collide with the dominant, and scum from whom the country should be liberated. British civil culture in society (Van Strijen, 2009) and seems to be de- Prime Minister David Cameron analyzed the London 2011 riots void of any socio-political awareness. As a consequence of this as a sign of the “moral collapse” of a “broken society.” By stating dichotomy young rioters are easily placed outside of the moral that this moral collapse is manifested by a lack of parenting skills structure and political rules of society. They are not recognized in “troubled” families, and that an “all-out war against gangs and as political agents because their actions seem to lack a clear poli-

7 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? tical goal and a strategy aimed at constructive and effective al- enraged and frustrated reaction to the painful distance between ternatives. This depoliticization of the riots becomes possible an officially recognized political discourse and the complicated when political participation is defined within an institutional social reality in which people living in precarious circumstances context. One acts politically if one either remains within the fra- find themselves (2009). Riots thus indicate a profound rupture mework of political institutions by the practice of voting or between the political domain of the state and the desire for poli- membership of a political party, or if one aims to deliberately tical recognition of the people. Robert Castel equally states that reform this framework of political institutions, by adopting soci- riots in which youth from the French banlieues are involved can al movement strategies such as demonstrations and strikes. The be seen as a desperate call for attention of those who are not re- actions of young rioters do not fit in with this representation of cognized as full citizens in possession of political agency (Castel politics. 2006). The rioters cannot be political agents, because of their exclusion. Peter Sloterdijk explicitly looks at the Parisian riots in I wish to contest this exclusion from the domain of citizenship 2005 and states that a lack in the political system was painfully and politics of young urban troublemakers, by stating that their presented, but no political agenda was established. The rioters disruptive interventions in urban space can be seen as a form of rage and “hatred against the status quo” were not effectively unruly political agency (Kaulingfreks 2015). In the act of rioting, channeled by existing political movements and could not there- marginalized young people can make themselves visible as citi- fore be translated into one overarching project of transformati- zens who are not sufficiently represented in the formal practice on. No political parties took up the task to convert the violent of politics. Their disruptive actions therefore have a political and destructive energy of the riots into a constructive political sense, even if they express themselves in unconventional ways, strategy (Sloterdijk 2010, 206). The rioters therefore remained even if they operate outside of the domain of the law and even if stuck in a senseless destruction of territory, infected by an “epi- they do not share a dominant culture, which is imagined as the demic of negativity” (Sloterdijk 2010, 211). For Sloterdijk, the foundation of good citizenship. demonstration of a lack in the existing political order has no political meaning in itself. It is only in a profitable operationalization for actual and effective change that the violent expression of anger and frustration can make sense. He therefore makes a dis- The apparent senselessness of riots tinction between useless, and thus senseless, violence and the profitable operationalization of violence for a higher goal. Before I take a closer look at rioting as a form of unruly political agency, it is important to indicate that the events are often inter- Michel Wieviorka and Étienne Balibar also emphasize the inca- preted as non-political or pre-political because the people invol- pacity of young rioters to convert their violent disruptions into a ved are not recognized or represented within the political do- constructive and effective political agency. Michel Wieviorka main. Various analyses of the French riots of 2005 can serve as characterizes those who are involved in urban violence as “floa- an example here, in which the lack of political agency of those ting subjects” (2005, 292-293). The floating subject is not capa- involved is emphasized, exactly because they are positioned at ble of translating his or her social demands into actions, which such a distance from institutional politics. According to French make sense within a socio-political frame of reference. Hence, anthropologist Alain Bertho, riots in general can be seen as an the violent behavior of such a “floating subject” seems to be

8 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? adrift, devoid of any connection to the rest of society. The floa- Within these reflections on the riots it is assumed that in order ting subject seems to signal a “lack of sense,” and is characteri- to act politically, a certain political subject intentionally applies zed as non-social and non-political by Wieviorka. Étienne Balibar violent measures in order to reach a predetermined goal. The makes a similar analysis of the subjectivity of young rioters, with distinction between senseless violence, which stands alone, and a slightly different conclusion. According to him, involvement in purposive violence as a means to an end can be inscribed in a riots should be understood as a manifestation of “antipolitics” more general analysis of the political meaning of public, violent (Balibar 2007, 62). When citizenship is emptied of its content, agency. Discussions of the political meaning of violence are often because a group is not seen as a full part of the nation and there- understood in a relational setting between means and ends, re- fore denied representation within the political system, we can volving around the question of the legitimacy of an instrumental speak of “antipolitics.” The revolt of rioters is in the process of use of violence in light of a higher political goal31. The central becoming political (2007, 65). What makes it not yet political is question here is whether violence can be legitimized as a tempo- its singularity, the lack of connections with other groups in soci- rary tool to be used in the project of the creation of a better, mo- ety which suffer from similar injustices and mechanisms of ex- re equal and more just world, in which the very violence itself clusion. Alain Badiou analyzes the London riots of 2011 in a si- can later be completely abolished (Welten 2006). Violence ap- milar vein. Badiou describes these riots as an example of pears to be senseless if it has no clear instrumental value in rela- ‘immediate riots’. Such riots emerge as an immediate reaction tion to an external, recognizable goal. The more riots seem to “in the wake of a violent episode of state coercion” (2012, 22). emerge as singular events, which “just” seem to happen because Immediate riots are too premature to hold a political signifi- it was hot, and/or the opportunity was there and the adrenaline cance, because of their lack of organization and focus. Badiou took over, the easier they are discredited as acts of senseless reserves political meaning for events which lead to intentionally vandalism. organized, militant uprisings. Such uprisings require a strong ideological proposition, around which the masses can be mobili- It is this “autotelic” aspect of senseless violence that is the most zed, and a strong political organization, which follows the initial frightening and the least understandable (Schinkel 2010). Auto- events. Central to such events is the political organization of a telic violence is pure and immediate since it is not focused on universal emancipatory subject which could do away with “iden- anything other than its own performance (Schinkel 2010, 100). titary fictions,” as they are applied by the state. The aim of such While a form of violence which is purely autotelic is hard to ima- fictions is to separate groups of people with differently ascribed gine, every kind of violence is at least partially inspired by a cer- identities from the generic collective of the people, who could act tain attraction to violence itself and is therefore partly autotelic. affirmatively together (ibid., 92-93). In contrast, immediate riots Cases of urban violence can easily be seen as examples of autote- have an “impure subject” (ibid., 26) because the intentions of the lic – and therefore senseless – violence because of their sudden, involved actors cannot be ascribed to the same universal revolu- unpredictable appearance, irrational development and lack of tionary aspirations. In addition, the locality of the riots cannot clear focus. It is the random element of destruction and also the transcend into a larger movement of uprising, which also ap- apparent enjoyment of the violence by its instigators which ma- peals to people who are of a completely different identity and kes them an ideal cause for moral panic amongst the general pu- social status to that of the instigators. blic (Schinkel 2008, Cohen 1972). The fact that urban riots seem to defy all laws imaginable, even those of militant strategies, ma-

9 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? kes them intensely threatening. The general public cannot un- was transmitted. However, Zizek sees the riots as a “direct effort derstand the motivation underlying the riots and is shaken by its to gain visibility” (2008, 65) of those who are excluded from the effects. The riots’ autotelic element clarifies comments that de- domain of social and political organization. “[T]hey found them- scribe them as a danger to national security, civil peace and selves on the other side of the wall which separates the visible shared solidarity, and makes measures like a declaration of na- from the invisible part of the republican social space” (Zizek tional emergency understandable (Goodwin et al. 2012, Ossman 2008, 66). Here, the riots become significant not in order to offer and Terrio 2006, 6). a solution, but in order to indicate a problem: the problem of those banned from society and confined to a status of the “out- law.” Therefore, it is precisely in the riots’ apparent senselessness where their political sense can be found. The disorder Riots to indicate a lack in the political system which riots imply seem senseless from an organized perspective on politics, but make political sense if we look at them as a vio- The shock effect and singularity of riots could also be interpre- lent condemnation of an order which has become unacceptable ted differently, if we perceive them not as expressions of a tradi- because of the injustices it produces. The perceived senseless- tional political conscience (Belhaj Kacem 2006). However, the ness of riots is caused here by a lack of recognition for the less fact that they cannot be inscribed in a political strategy which is visible systemic violence against which it is opposed. generally understood to be rational and constructive, does not make them politically insignificant. Belhaj Kacem speaks of a po- These qualifications of the riots bring Rancière’s notion of poli- litical “inoperativeness” that is expressed by the young people tics as dissensus into mind. As Jacques Rancière mentions, a dis- involved in French riots (2006, 10) – a certain “unworking” of ruption of the status quo in politics can have a political meaning political structures. Their actions are testimonies of precisely even without a deliberately developed political strategy, precise- those aspects of the political system that do not work, at least ly because it calls attention to a lack of representation within in- not for them. As far as explicit claims can be read in acts of rio- stitutional politics. Not surprisingly, Mustafa Dikeç identifies the ting, such events allude to something that is radically missing. 2005 riots around Paris as “unarticulated justice movements”, in This is a fundamentally different mode of expression than that of reference to Rancière (2007, 3900 kindle edition). For Rancière, an organized political insurrection. Slavoj Zizek emphasizes that politics does not imply a negotiation of interests of identity- this inoperativeness of riots is not devoid of political signifi- based groups within a neutral sphere of parliamentary debates, cance, even though we cannot inscribe this significance in a tra- nor does it imply the exercise of power (2010, 27). Instead, poli- ditional framework of emancipatory political agency. In his book tics begins where the exercise of power is interrupted, and the “On Violence,” Zizek describes the riots that took place around orderly organization of society is disturbed, in the name of those Paris in 2005 as a wild and uncontrolled outburst of violence who are excluded from that organization. As Douzinas states, without a future perspective of transformation (2008). This Ranciere places the excluded at the heart of politics (Douzinas “outburst with no pretence to vision” seems to be an illustration 2013, 113). Politics should therefore not be sought in the do- of the “post-ideological” times in which we live (Zizek 2008, 63). main of ruling institutions, but rather on the level of disruptive No realistic alternatives were proposed for experienced injusti- interactions between people without any status and those ruling ces; only an uneasy feeling of resentment without explanation institutions. Rancière takes the expression of dissensus as a

10 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? point of departure for considering his notion of politics, even if it main of civic culture. In that situation, these young people are carries us across the boundaries of lawful political participation. not recognized as “political beings,” since their public interven- He explicitly focuses on the role that marginalized groups, which tions are seen as senseless vandalism, which does not conform are not recognized as taking part in any existing political pro- to the political rationality of “normal” citizens. Yet, if we follow cess, can play in the emergence of a new, political evocation of Rancière’s understanding of politics, it is precisely those who equality. Politics, in his opinion, emerges in the moment that disturb the existing socio-political order who are acting-out poli- people express their disagreement with an order of governance tically. The act of disruption in itself gains political significance. which falsely pretends to reflect the equal distribution of “social Young rioters can reveal who is not included within the system parts and shares” (Rancière 2010, 35,37). Rancière speaks of a of governance, and hence confront us with the very limits of the disagreement which is fundamental to such an extent that it majority’s dominant understanding of politics. cannot be solved by aiming at a consensus under the same shared terms, because the one party does not even recognize Riots as events of unruly politics that the other party is communicating something. Both parties disagree because they not only speak a different language, but Ranciere’s analysis clarifies how those who disrupt an exclusi- also because at least one party is not recognized as an equal ad- onary political order can be seen as political agents. When peop- dressee or an equal adversary in the same discussion (Rancière le stand up to declare their own equality to others, and also if 1999, xii). they do not conform to dominant norms of good citizenship, this is an act of political subjectification, according to Ranciere. In This kind of radical disagreement involves not only situations in such a case, the division is denied between those categories of which the language used by a party is not recognized as mea- people who can share in the construction of a political order, and ningful language, but also – and even more often – situations in those who cannot, and it is recognized that “equality cannot be which the very existence of a group of people is not recognized received, because to receive equality is already to be less than as the existence of a meaningful part of society. According to equal to the one who bestows it” (May 2008, 71). Rancière, those who are marginalized because they are poor, or because they deviate in other ways from the accepted norm, are Because politics as disagreement causes a sudden awareness of structurally kept in their subordinate place. This happens not the equal presence of certain excluded groups, its emergence is only because they are not taken seriously as actors in the public always simultaneously embedded within a particular situation, domain, but because their utterances, whether linguistic or not, and causes a deregulatory effect within that situation. Riots are not recognized as having any meaning at all (Hewlett 2007, emerge in a direct reaction to a specific practice of political go- 97). A failure to recognize someone as a “political being” begins vernance, which does not guarantee civic equality (Sutterlüty by “not understanding what he says” (Rancière 2010, 38). This 2014, 49). Rancière offers a general, structural analysis of dis- happens, for example, when expressions of certain people are agreement and disruption as politically meaningful. I propose to not recognized as meaningful in the public domain, because they understand the riots here discussed as events of unruly politics, are confined to another domain. An example would be the situa- because in these cases the disruption of the political order is ex- tion in which rebellious young people are confined to the do- plicitly subversive, violent, and law transgressing32. The percei- main of street culture, which is seen as detached from the do- ved senselessly violent nature of the events and the perceived

11 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? incivility of those involved indicate how much unruly politics can Unruly politics, as we define it, is political action by people who differ from accepted forms of political agency. It defies the have been denied voice by the rules of the political game, and by boundaries of dominant rules. Rioters take the law into their the social rules that underpin this game. It draws its power from own hands, when the existing laws no longer correspond with transgressing these rules – while at the same time upholding the principle of justice as they perceive it. However, even though others, which may not be legally sanctioned but which have legi- riots and other cases of urban violence manifest themselves out- timacy, deeply rooted in people’s own understandings of what is side of the ruling legal order, they do not lack every relation to right and just. This preoccupation with social justice distinguis- the law. Such violent events emerge out of a discontentment hes these forms of political action from the banditry or gang vio- with – and therefore a direct engagement with – that legal order, lence with which threatened autocrats wilfully try to associate rather than a complete detachment from that legal order. Unruly them. (Khanna et al. 2013, 14) politics does not spring out of nowhere. It might be the only option left, if disadvantaged groups feel that their moral outrage Unruly politics demands “a new mode of political enquiry which about their situation is not shared by the general public, and if spills outside of traditional notions of politics, and in which the laws and institutions represent only a narrow sense of justice, relevance of acts and events is not reduced to the effect they ha- serving the interests of certain privileged groups in society ve on formal structures of the political establishment” (Khanna (Shelby 2007, 157-158). In the uncomfortable and disruptive act et al. 2013, 11). Expressions of unruly politics do not allow of street disturbances and rioting, it becomes apparent who is themselves be translated into the language of negotiated de- excluded from the political game, as it is played in the conventi- mands and interests, within a setting of parliamentary mecha- onal way. Young rioters often do not feel that they are part of the nisms (Khanna et al. 2013, 10). They do not abide by the logics of system of political representation at all. This feeling of exclusion representative politics, but rather enunciate a political meaning can become a legitimation for rebellious young people to design which is unmediated, which does not let itself be represented or their own rules of the game. In this sense, unruly politics is not translated in another context, in another moment or for the be- about creating a state of total anarchy, but rather about creating nefit of other people. Unruly politics is always situated in a speci- “subversive ruliness.” The translation of justice into a system of fic time and place, engaging specific people. It cannot be reduced laws is not dismissed as useless or unnecessary altogether; it is to fit into general procedures, designed to bring a plurality of the functioning of existing laws which is questioned. people together in one body of manageable citizens. At the same time, expressions of unruly politics evoke a deep wish to live a To sum it up: Unruly politics is a name for describing the inter- dignified life and be treated justly by state representatives, re- ventions of those who disrupt the framework of institutional gardless of the particular envisioning of what a dignified life power relations, because they are in a position which leaves might entail in each different situation, for every different per- them no other option for influencing the organization of society son. It is not carefully designed as a party-political campaign, nor other than to disrupt the status quo, which does not represent is it driven by great revolutionary aspirations or clearly defined their needs. It is a practice of politics that would not make any ideologies, but rather emerges in unexpected events. It does not political sense if we were to define politics only within the limits only take place at sites that are specifically designed for public of the institutional political game. and political debate; it also politicizes spaces which are meant to be neutral or private, such as the streets.

12 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? Unruly political agency is necessarily critical towards the legi- grievances and resolve their problems” (Bayat 1997, 9). At the timacy of the state, as long as the state does not safeguard justice same time, the fact that many people struggle simultaneously for and equality for all, regardless of people’s social and economic their personal survival makes it possible for a shared political privileges, or their citizenship status. Those who lack a formal sense in these singular struggles to emerge. The streets are the citizenship status, or who feel impaired in making use of their domain where they meet and form occasional alliances (Bayat formal citizenship status, literally gain space for their lives in in- 1997, 17). formal or extra-legal ways. Through these same informal chan- nels they sometimes have considerable impact on the formal These people live perforce without the support of official state domain of politics. The more the range of unruly political events institutions, yet, at the same time, they often deeply distrust any expand and become publicly known, the more chance they will state interference in their lives. Out of fear of being regulated, gradually transform into a more conventional mode of political controlled or disciplined by formal state procedures, they search agency and be incorporated into the domain of formal politics. for autonomous and alternative ways to sustain themselves and After the flames are extinguished and the smoke clears, politi- gather in informal communities in which they are free to mind cians can feel the pressure to recognize the grievances of rioters, their own business. They do not feel the urge to make publicity and new social movements can emerge from the initial, violent for any claims of general interest or to recruit allies in the per- and disruptive events. In relation to the English riots of 2011, spective of a general transformation of society. These struggles Nunes states that the events were politically significant as a star- are related to what James Scott named ‘everyday forms of resis- ting point for further politicization, even though a variety of mo- tance’, which are less concentrated in singular, public, violent tives and incentives was apparent and not all participants were and explosive events such as urban riots. Informal street politics consciously ‘doing politics’. The events showed tensions, but also therefore differs from unruly politics. However, it can be similar- possibilities for solidarity between a young gentrifying lower- ly differentiated from both institutional politics and the ‘conten- middle class and a young underclass in the neighborhoods tious politics’ of new social movements (Lettinga & Kaulingfreks where the riots took place, for example (Nunes 2013, 572-573). 2015). In contrast to social movements, both the urban poor who engage in street politics, and young rioters who instigate In this sense, the notion of unruly politics is similarly related to events of unruly politics, do not form a coherently structured the domain of institutional politics as the “informal politics” collective around clearly formulated, shared political claims or a which Asef Bayat describes in his book “Street Politics” (1997). collective ideology. Bayat prefers to speak of “nonmovements”, Bayat explores the political agency of the urban poor and mar- in reference to “the collective actions of noncollective actors; ginalized in the Middle East, who have no ‘institutional power of they embody shared practices of large numbers of ordinary disruption’ (1997, p. xii), but rather disrupt institutional power people whose fragmented but similar activities trigger much so- constellations with their day to day struggles to gain, sometimes cial change, even though these practices are rarely guided by an literally, a place in society. What Bayat names street politics, is ideology or recognizable leaderships and organizations” (Bayat first and foremost a movement of ordinary people who wish to 2010, 14). Other than in social movements the emphasis is pla- secure the necessary means to make a living for themselves and ced on the undertaking of collective ‘action’ (sometimes out of their close ones, while suffering from a “lack of an institutional self-interest) rather than on the articulation of collectively- mechanism through which they can collectively express their shared ‘meaning’ (Bayat 1997, 7). Conflicting motives, convicti-

13 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? ons and agendas are common in the domain of street politics as an effective outcome. In a situation in which structural social well as in events of unruly politics, and strong leadership is ab- changes are hard to imagine for a young generation growing up sent. Bayat’s analysis further clarifies how the agency of people in times of crisis and polarization, one should not measure their with similar experiences, who do not organize themselves into political conscience by their ability to propose alternative mo- political pressure groups or social movements, can nevertheless dels for society, but with their ability to open our eyes to the make political sense in an unruly way. flaws in the existing political model of representation.

Recognizing the rioters Femke Kaulingfreks (1981) received her Masters degree in Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and completed her The analysis of unruly politics is aimed at finding political mea- PhD at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht in 2013. ning beyond the borders of formal governance. These considera- Her dissertation consisted of an interdisciplinary research into tions should not be understood as a simple celebration of violen- the political meaning of public disturbances and urban violence ce, illegality and incivility. It is not a matter of celebrating caused by adolescents with an immigrant background from de- unruliness as the only true political option here. As I have em- prived neighborhoods in France and the Netherlands. She cur- phasized before, unruly politics takes place in an inextricable rently teaches Political Theory at Webster University in Leiden relationship with formal political institutions and cannot be seen and works as a researcher in the research group “Diversity and as an alternative replacement for these institutions. However, a Citizenship” of the The Hague University in Applied Sciences. She critical examination of our imagined political community cannot has published in Business Ethics: A European Review, Epheme- take place without listening to the voices of those who express ra: Theory and Politics in Organization, the Journal for Humanis- themselves in unconventional or undesirable ways, but who ne- tics and the Magazine for Resistance Studies. In 2015 a mono- vertheless share the social world with us. Whether we condemn graph based on her dissertation, entitled “Uncivil Engagement or support their actions, young rioters co-exist in the same socie- and Unruly Politics”, will be published by Palgrave MacMillan. As ty with “familiar”, law-abiding citizens, and we therefore have to a freelance researcher she also cooperated with partners such as consider the possible political meaning of their actions before Forum: Dutch Institute for Multicultural Issues, Hivos (Dutch or- we make further judgments. ganization in development cooperation), the Municipality of Am- sterdam, Vrijwilligers Centrale Amsterdam (Association of Vo- If we a priori dismiss the involved actors of riots and other lunteers Amsterdam) and de Doetank. Besides her teaching and unorganized civil disturbances as not having any relation to the research work Femke regularly organizes youth exchange pro- practice of active citizenship and politics, the lack of recognition jects and is engaged in activism related to housing, migration and representation which they experience is enforced. An analy- and social justice issues. sis of said disruptive events in the light of unruly politics pre- vents such immediate exclusion. We should merit the political sense of unruly political actions, such as riots and public disturbances, as acts in themselves, without immediately demanding References

14 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? Arendt, H. 1970. On Violence. San Diego: Harcourt Brace citoyenneté des jeunes de banlieue,” Annales HSS 4: 777-808. Jovanovich. Cohen, S. 1972 [2011]. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. Abingdon: Arendt, H. 1972. Crises of the Republic. San Diego, New York, Routledge Classics. London: Harcourt Brace & Company. Cooper, C. 2012. ‘Understanding the English ‘riots’ of 2012: Badiou, A. 2012. The Rebirth of History: Times of Riots and ‘Mindless criminality’ or youth ‘Mekin Histri’ in austerity Uprisings. London/New York: Verso. Britain?. In: Youth and Policy. nr. 109, p. 6 – 26. Bauman Z (2012) ‘The London riots: On consumerism coming Cornish, D., and R. Clarke, eds. 1986. The Reasoning Criminal: home to roost’ in: Social Europe Journal 6(2): 33–34. Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending. New York: Springer Verlag. Balibar, E. 2007. “Uprisings in the Banlieues.” Constellations 14(1): 47-71. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Costelloe, L. 2014. ‘Discourse of sameness: Expressions of nationalism in newspaper discourse on French urban violence in Bayat, A. (1997) Street Politics: Poor People’s Movements in Iran, 2005’ in: Discourse and Society, p. 1 – 26 (published online New York, Columbia University Press. before print) Bayat, A. 2010. Life as Politics: How ordinary people change the Cohen, S. 1972 (2011). Folk Devils and Moral Panics. Abingdon: Middle East. Stanford: Stanford University Press Routledge Classics. Belhaj Kacem, M. (2006) La psychose française; Les banlieues: le Decker, S. & Weerman, F. (eds.) (2005) European Street Gangs ban de la République, Paris, Gallimard. and Troublesome Youth Groups, Oxford, Altamira Press. Bertho, A. 2009. Le temps des émeutes. Paris: Bayard. Dikeç, M. 2007. Badlands of the Republic: Space, Politics and Urban Policy. Malden: Wiley Blackwell. Body-Gendrot, S. 2005. “Deconstructing youth violence in French cities” European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Douzinas, C. 2013. Philosophy and Resistance in the Crisis. Justice 13(1): 4-26. Cambridge: Polity Press

Bristow, J. 2013. ‘Reporting the Riots: Parenting culture and the Fanon, F. 2004 [1963]. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: problem of authority in media analysis of August 2011’. In: Grove Press. Sociological Research Online. 18 (4) 11. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/4/11.html Goodwin, M., M. Pickup and E. de Rooij. 2012. “Perceived Threat, Ethnic Minority Prejudice and the Riots in England” APSA 2012 Castel, R. 2006. “La discrimination negative: Le deficit de Annual Meeting Paper, source:

15 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics? http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2110971 Economics. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/interactive/2011/dec/14/rea Hewlett, N. 2007. Badiou, Balibar, Rancière; Rethinking ding-the-riots-investigating-england-s-summer-of-disorder-full- Emancipation. London/New York: Continuum. report Kaulingfreks, F. 2015. Uncivil Engagement and Unruly Politics. May, T. 2008. The Political Thought of Jacques Rancière: Creating Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillen Equality. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Khanna, A. et al. 2013. The changing faces of citizen action: A Mbembe, A. 2009. “The Republic and Its Beast: On the Riots in mapping study through an “Unruly” lens. IDS Working Paper the French Banlieues.” In: Frenchness and the African Diaspora: 2013(423). Brighton: Institute of Development Studies. Source: Identity and Uprising in Contemporary France, eds. C. Tshimanga, http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/Wp423.pdf. D. Gondola, and P. Bloom, 47-54. Klein, A. 2012. ‘More Police, Less Safety? Policing as a causal Bloomington, Indiana University Press. factor in the outbreak of riots and public disturbances. in: The English Riots of 2011: A Summer of Discontent. p. 127 – 147. Nunes, R. 2013. ‘Building on Destruction’ in: South Atlantic Hampshire: Waterside Press Quarterly, 112(3), 568 – 576. Kokoreff, M. 2008. Sociologie des émeutes. Paris: Payot. Ossman, S. and S. Terrio. 2006. “The French Riots : Questioning Space of Surveillance and Souvereignty” International Migration Lamble, S. 2013. ‘The quiet dangers of civilized rage: Surveying 44(2): 5-21. the punitive aftermath of England’s 2011 riots.’ in: South Athlantic Quarterly, 112(3), 577 – 585. Rancière, J. 1999. Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Lammy, D. 2011. Out of the Ashes: Britain after the riots. London: Guardian Books. Rancière, J. 2010. Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics. London/New York: Continuum. Lapeyronnie, D. 2008. Ghetto urbain; segregation, violence, pauvreté en France aujourd’hui. Paris: Robbert Laffont. Schinkel, W. 2010. Aspects of Violence: A Critical Theory. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Lettinga, D. and Kaulingfreks, F. 2015. ‘Clashing Activisms: International Human Rights Organizations and Unruly Politics’, Shelby, T. 2007. Justice, ‘Deviance and the Dark Ghetto’, in: in: Journal of Human Rights Practice. 7(3), p. 343 -365 Philosophy and Public Affairs, 35(2), p. 126 – 160. Lewis, P. et al. 2011. Reading the Riots: Investigating England’s Slooter, L. 2015. The Making of the Banlieue: An Ethnography of summer of disorder. London: The Guardian/ London School of Space, Identity and Violence. Utrecht: Utrecht University

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Sloterdijk, P. 2010. Rage and Time: A psychopolitical 3 See: “UK riots parallel France,” New Zealand Herald, August 11, 2011. investigation. Trans. Mario Wenning. New York: Columbia http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10744 University Press. 251.

Welten, R. 2006. Zinvol geweld: Sartre, Camus en Merleau-Ponty 4 In her study of responses in the printed press on the French riots of 2005, over terreur en terrorisme. Zoetermeer: Klement. Costelloe notes that an image is created of violence instigated by immigrant minority groups who fundamentally differ from mainstream French society. Strijen, F. van (2009) Van de Straat: De straatcultuur van Bristow notes about the British riots of 2011 that the media discourse jongeren ontrafeld, Amsterdam, SWP focused on the narrative of a generalized moral collapse, the problems of ‘troubled families’ and a problem of discipline. Cooper indicates that the riots Sutterlüty, F. 2014. ‘The hidden morale of the 2005 French and were framed as ‘mindless criminality’. Dutch media headlines about the riots 2011 English riots’ in: Thesis Eleven, 12(1), 38 – 56. in the Schilderswijk in 2015 predominantly focused on the arrests and legal convictions of rioters. Wieviorka, M. 2005. La Violence. Paris: Hachette Littératures. 5 I use the term “uncivil” to describe events, people and behavior that are Winlow, S. and Hall, S. 2012. ‘Gone Shopping: Inarticulate Politics placed outside of a civil order. I wish to emphasize the double meaning of the in the English Riots of 2011’ in: The English Riots of 2011: A term. Uncivil has both a social and an ethical connotation. It indicates the ne- Summer of Discontent. p. 149 – 169. Hampshire: Waterside Press gative of behavior that can be ascribed to a citizen, who is seen as a member of a specific society, and as the negative of behavior that is in accordance with Zizek, S. 2008. Violence. London: Profile Books. the mores of that society. It is used to indicate behavior of those who do not fit into the social structure of society and those who do not fit into the appro- ved moral codes of that society.

1 Bystanders said that Hernandez made a somewhat improper joke right be- 6 The use of the term “urban violence” is controversial, because it tends to fore he was arrested. He had bragged about having a gun while grabbing his focus on the deviancy of rioters’ behavior and therefore facilitates a dismissal crotch. This appeared to have been the reason for his arrest. of the political character of riots in favor of an interpretation of riots as being nonsensical and irrational (Lapeyronnie 2009). The term “urban violence” 2 See: “Harde confrontatie Me’ers en relschoppers Schilderswijk” Volkskrant, also tends to undervalue racism as a central dimension of the riots in questi- July 2, 2015. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/harde-confrontatie- on (Mbembe 2009). I make use of the term urban violence here, first of all me-ers-en-relschoppers-schilderswijk~a4092506/ because the riots do imply violence which takes place in an urban setting. I recognize the fact that racism plays an important role in the riots here discussed, but this does not lead me to use a different term, such as “race riots,” since in the riots around Paris in 2005, the riots around London in 2011 and

17 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics?

the riots in The Hague in 2015, race was not the principal characteristic that 13 See: “Radicale moslims demonstreren in Haagse Schilderswijk”, Omroep distinguished those involved. West, July 4, 2014. http://www.omroepwest.nl/nieuws/2601990/Radicale- moslims-demonstreren-in-Haagse-Schilderswijk 7 See: Documentary ‘Als iedereen verdacht is: Macht en onmacht van politie in de Schilderswijk’, 2014. http://www.documentairenet.nl/review/als- 14 See: “Terug in de Schilderswijk”, Trouw, May 14, 2015. iedereen-verdacht-is-macht-en-onmacht-van-politie-in-de-schilderswijk/ http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4492/Nederland/article/detail/4022789/2015/ 05/14/Terug-in-de-Schilderswijk.dhtml 8 See: Boos op de politie, NRC, March 15, 2014. http://www.nrc.nl/next/2014/03/15/boos-op-de-politie-1354242 Schil- 15 See: “Nederland is ontsnapt aan rellen zoals in Londen 2011”, NRC, January derswijk is “intimiderend gedrag” politie meer dan zat, Algemeen Dagblad, 20, 2014. http://www.nrc.nl/handelsblad/2014/01/20/nederland- January 28, 2014. is-ontsnapt-aan-rellen-zoals-in-londen-2-1337239 http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Nederland/article/detail/3585293/2014/01 /28/Schilderswijk-is-intimiderend-gedrag-politie-meer-dan-zat.dhtml “Zulke rellen zijn ook in Nederland mogelijk”, NRC Next, August 25, 2014. http://www.nrc.nl/next/2014/08/25/zulke-rellen-zijn-ook-in-nederland- 9 See: “In deel Haagse Schilderswijk heerst Sharia”, Elsevier, May 18, 2013. mogelijk-1413181 http://www.elsevier.nl/Nederland/nieuws/2013/5/In-deel-Haagse- Schilderswijk-heerst-Sharia-1259099W/. The original article of Trouw is no “Rellen in Den Haag, NRC, January 31, 2014. longer available. http://www.nrc.nl/next/2014/01/31/rellen-in-den-haag-1341369

10 See: “Wilders in de Haagse Schilderswijk: Ik waan me niet in Nederland”, 16 In relation to the French riots of 2005, Balibar notes that the term “upri- Volkskrant, May 21st 2013. sing” was hardly used to describe the events, since it is suggestive of a delibe- http://www.volkskrant.nl/politiek/wilders-in-de-haagse-schilderswijk-ik- rate revolutionary tradition of oppressed classes rising up against dominant waan-me-niet-in-nederland~a3444643/ powers. Such an uprising seemed irrelevant to most commentators in the case of the riots, since no traditional revolutionary political statements were 11 See: Asscher, L. Kamerbrief over Schilderswijk Den Haag, June 20, 2013. made (2007). Source: file:///C:/Users/U425152/Downloads/kamerbrief-over- schilderderswijk-den-haag.pdf 17 See: ‘’Morgen weer?’ Klinkt het in de Schilderswijk’. Volkskrant. July2, 2015. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/-morgen-weer-klinkt-het-in- 12 See: “De slechtste plek van Nederland”, De Telegraaf, August 9, 2014. de-schilderswijk~a4093303/, ‘’Vriend, het was de Ramadan’: De Schilders- http://www.telegraaf.nl/reportage/22943325/__De_slechtste_plek_van_Nede wijk is nog steeds licht ontvlambaar.’, De Groene Amsterdammer. November 4, rland__.html 2015, ‘Wat zijn de oorzaken van de rellen? Warmte, Ramadan of racism?’Volkskrant. July 3, 2015.

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http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/wat-zijn-de-oorzaken-van-de-rellen- including family members of the shot victim was not addressed by a senior warmte-ramadan-of-racisme~a4093838/ police officer.

18 See: “Waar komt de woede in de Schilderswijk vandaan?”, FunX Radio, June 24 See: ‘’Vriend, het was de Ramadan’: De Schilderswijk is nog steeds licht 30th, 2015. http://www.funx.nl/news/den-haag/24589-waar-komt-de- ontvlambaar.’, De Groene Amsterdammer. November 4, 2015. woede-in-de-schilderswijk-vandaan 25 See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxztyfJGc0&feature=youtu.be 19 See: ‘’Morgen weer?’ Klinkt het in de Schilderswijk’. Volkskrant. July2, 2015. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/-morgen-weer-klinkt-het-in-de- 26 See: http://www.funx.nl/news/den-haag/24602-van-aartsen-quote-2 schilderswijk~a4093303/ 27 See: “Inflammatory Language,” Guardian, November 8, 2005. 20 My translation, source: ‘’Morgen weer?’ Klinkt het in de Schilderswijk’. Volkskrant. July2, 2015. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/-morgen- http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2005/nov/08/inflammatoryla; “Eng- weer-klinkt-het-in-de-schilderswijk~a4093303/ land riots: Broken society is top priority - Cameron,” BBC, August 15, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14524834. 21 In Paris, in the northern banlieue of Clichy-sous-Bois, two boys were electrocuted when they were hiding in a power substation after fleeing a poli- 28 See: http://efus.eu/en/topics/risks-forms-of-crime/collective- ce check. The police initially denied that the boys were fleeing the police and violence/efus/2567/, Consulted November 1st, 2012 insinuated that they were involved in criminal activities. However, the boys did not have a criminal record. In London, a young man from the impoveris- 29 See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxztyfJGc0&feature=youtu.be hed Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, was shot dead by the police in an attempt to arrest him. The police initially insinuated that the victim had fired 30 See: “Rioting in France: What’s wrong with Europe?,” November 7, 2005, a gun first, which was not the case. (See, Kokoreff 2008 and Lammy 2011, http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/rioting-in-france-what-s- amongst others). wrong-with-europe-a-383623.html; “David Starkey on UK riots: ‘The whites have become black,’” Guardian, August 13, 2011. 22 See: ‘Rapport Rijksrecherche: Geweld agenten oorzaak dood Mitch Henri- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2011/aug/13/david-starkey-whites- quez. RTL Nieuws. November 6, 2015. black-video; “How gangs have taken the place of parents in urban ghettoes,” http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/binnenland/rapport-rijksrecherche- Independent, August 10, 2011. geweld-agenten-oorzaak-dood-mitch-henriquez http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/how-gangs-have-taken-the- place-of-parents-in-urban-ghettoes-2335074.html. 23 In France major riots broke out after the police threw a tear-gas canister at the entrance of a mosque where a commemoration ceremony was held for the 31 The reflections of Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre and Franz Fanon on the electrocuted victims. In London riots started when a peaceful demonstration use of violence in a political context show how this means-end logic can offer

19 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics?

different reasons for either accepting or rejecting violence as a political stra- cussed do not represent an accepted minority voice within the public debate, tegy (Arendt 1970, Fanon 2004). The distinction between the legitimate and but rather have the position of outsiders to the very domain of civil participa- illegitimate use of violence as a means is first made in relation to the state and tion. Given the characteristics of their expressions, and the fact that they are its role as the protector of law and order, and the revolutionary power of the not accepted as a valuable part of civil society, it is not civil disobedience but people, who in certain cases feel the moral duty to replace the existing state rather “uncivil” disobedience, which is expressed by young urban trouble- with a better one. The question then becomes whether a political transforma- makers. Costas Douzinas discusses the term ‘democratic disobedience’ as an tion of society can be brought about by violent means in contestation of the alternative in cases where the defense of fundamental rights or their imple- law, or whether the law should be respected as the final resource of justice, mentation in specific policies is not prioritized, but the entire operation of the and politics as a practice, which can only be performed through deliberative political system and social hierarchies are at stake. He also states that it is means. However divergent the conclusions of Arendt on the one side and doubtful whether this term extends to contemporary cases of resistance and Sartre and Fanon on the other, their positions demonstrate the dominance of revolt, in which the democratic deficit is enormous (Douzinas 2013, 95). Last- an instrumental approach to violence, for the sake of conceptualizing its poli- ly, the disruptive interventions of young rioters are very distinct from other, tical significance. more activist-oriented examples, which are understood as civil disobedience – such as the Occupy movement and feminist movement FEMEN – because of 32 Because of this explicit violent and subversive nature I do not describe the their spontaneous and chaotic character, as well as their lack of a clearly for- riots as a form of civil disobedience. Like unruly politics, civil disobedience mulated organization and political agenda. Instead of using the same term – can be expressed when citizens doubt the constitutionality of the measures of civil disobedience or democratic disobedience- to describe all these disrup- government, or if they can no longer sufficiently influence the government by tive actions, the additional term ‘unruly politics’ can help to clarify certain standard means of participation. However, when understood in the Arendtian important distinctions. tradition, civil disobedience should always be non-violent, directed at the laws and policies of the government, and openly expressed in public. Civil disobedience becomes permissible when it is expressed by “organized minor- ities that are too important, not merely in number, but in quality of opinion, to be safely disregarded.” (Arendt 1972, 76). Here Arendt emphasizes that acts of civil disobedience should be well organized, rooted in a rationally defenda- ble position and related to clearly formulated demands. This is not the case in relation to the riots here described. Jacqueline Rothfusz proposes to stretch the criteria that Arendt defined for civil disobedience, in order to include expressions of discontent which are violent and not directly addressed at gov- erning authorities (2012, 24). She proposes to identify a broader borderland between criminality and civil disobedience. The expressions of dissent of young rioters could thus be labeled as civil disobedience. I do not adopt this interpretation of the term civil disobedience, since the young rioters here dis-

20 Krisis Journal for contemporary philosophy Femke Kaulingfreks – Senseless Violence or Un- ruly Politics?

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