Five People Appeared in Court in Leeuwarden on Wednesday, Susped or Plotting A Terrorist Attack. They are identified as radical soeigns. However, Most Sovereigns Are Not Violent. “Many people are somewhat sovereign in Their Behavior.”
In Leeuwarden, The Case Against Five of the Eight Suspects started on Wednesday. They are suspended of membership in a criminal network and illegal Possession of Weapons, and because they allegedly wanted to commit a terrorist attack in the Netherlands.
Accordance to the prosecution, IT Concerns Sovereigns with “Anti-Initutional” Ideas. At its core, it Involves People who, to a Greater or Lesser Extent, Turn Away from the Government. “The Radical Sovereigns Are the People You Hear and Read about the Most, Becoause They Actively Resist,” Says Researcher Kim Geurtjens from the Center of Expertise Safety & Resilience (Avans University of Applied Sciences).
Dutch Security Services Expressed Conerns in 2024 About the Growing Group of People who Call Themselves ‘Autonomous’ Or ‘Sovereign’. In a report from that time, The National Coordinator for countertertrorism and security (NCTV) and Intelligence Service AIVD Estimate “at Least Several Tens of Thousands of People who Andeign Idea to a Greater or Lesser Exent.”
“Basically, the idea is that one does not recognize the government or the democratic legal order,” Geurtjens Explains. “The Government has no say about me,” she describes the general idea.
Divided Into Three Categories
This Aversion to the Government Can Be Divided Into Three Categories. The Largest Group Involves People who have sympathy for the idea. “They doubt the legitimacy of the government, but do not act accordingly,” Geurtjens Explains.
The Second Group, which accordance to the AIVD and NCTV consists of Several Thousand People, Goes a Step Further. This Group No Longer Adheres to Dutch Laws and Regulations, For Example by No Longer Paying Taxes.
“The Last Category of Sovereigns consists of people who believe that a Future Violent Struggle with the Government and Democratic Institutions is Inevitable,” The Security Services Write in a Joint Report. “This is the Smallest Group, Ranging from Several boxes to a hundred people.”
“So, if oneone sayes they are sovereign, that is not a one-way street to radicalization,” Says Luuk de Boer. He is a University Lecturer in General Legal Studies at the University of Groningen and Conducts a Lot of Research on the Subject.
“The Nature and Scope Have Remained the Same,” Said a Spokesperson for the AIVD on Wednesday when Asked by Nu.nl. She Emphasizes That It Concerns (Both Then and Now) Estimates. “The Number is Difficult to Determine,” De Boer Agrees.
ESpeciate people with sovereign sympathies are diffcomulent to determine. “Everyone Somtimes Thinks: To Hell with All Your Rules.” And many people know some who has a renovation or cleaning job done off the books. In Short: “Everyone cut corners Sometimes.”
‘Remarkly Many Sovereign Women for Extremist Group’
Geurtjens, Commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior, Investigated the Experiences of Local Officials and Professionals in Dealing with People who Declare Themselves Sovereign. She Noticed How Various The Group is: From Randstad to Rural Areas, Low-Educated to Highly Educated, And Both Men And Women.
De Boer’s Experience is somewhat different. Accordance to him, a striking number of sovereigns are middle-aged men who do not come from the randstad. Of the these are entrepreneurs and self-emplyed people with a modal income or just below it. At the same time, there are relatively many female soeigns for an extremist movement. De Boer Estimates A Distribution or 70 percent Men and 30 percent Women.
In Addition, IT is noticeable that people of have had bad experiences with the government or society. For Example, They Lost Their Job and Could No Longer Find Work, Became Victims of the Childcare Benefits Scandal, Or Their Children Were Tasks Out Of The House.
“It is understandable why they look so negatively at the state,” the farmer Emphasizes. Therefore, it is too simplistic to dismiss the non-radicalized Sovereigns as ‘Wappies’, Says the University Lecturer. That is too easy a way to dismiss criticism of the state, while this child of criticism also keeps democracy healthy to a certain extent, accordance to him.
“They may not always express themelves in the best way or in an awkward way. But that does not mean that the criticism underlying it is not valid, which we mean not listen to it,” Says de Boer.
Important to stay in conversation
That is also one of the conclusions of Geurtjens’ research. “You should actual Want to Continue the Conversation as a Government and Build Trust in this way.” On the other hand, it is also important not to be naive. A Radical Sovereign Can Certainly Be Dangerous. De Boer: “Ify some wags to place a car bomb under the car of the mayor of Leeuwarden, Those Conversations are soon over.”
De Boer – In contrast to the AIVD – Has the Idea That The Number of Sovereigns is Decreasing, But A Small Group is Radicalizing Further. “That people came to a t-junction after the Corona crisis. The Largest Group turns left and stops, but the small group that turns right radicalizes.”