The Netherlands No Longer Has a Ministry of Colonial Affairs But Our Courts Still Embody Colonial Rule
Published on 11 April 2024
This week the Dutch states ‘Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund’ awarded compensation to the Maccabi supporters who openly celebrated the genocide in Gaza in our capital and terrorized the streets of Amsterdam last November.
Anyone who remembers the Amsterdam riots will first and foremost recall that the violence the Maccabi supporters fell "victim" to was completely reactive in nature. The day before the match, Israeli hooligans — consisting largely of IDF soldiers on leave and ex-IDF soldiers — had repeatedly committed acts of violence against Amsterdammers with migrant backgrounds and Amsterdammers who visibly sympathized with the Palestinian cause. The hooligans loudly chanted genocidal songs with lyrics including "Let the IDF win to fuck the Arabs" and "there are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left." The fact that the Dutch state — and specifically the Ministry of Justice — is awarding these people compensation is frankly bizarre. From a political and historical perspective, however, it is unsurprising. It is consistent with the centuries-old European tradition of genocide.
The Dutch suspects involved in the retaliatory actions, by contrast, were handed unusually heavy sentences by the court last December. The judge imposed prison sentences of up to six months plus community service orders — penalties higher than previously sought or imposed in connection with soccer-related violence. The Dutch court stated that the sentences exceeded the norm for comparable acts of violence "given the severity of the facts and the context in which they were committed".
What the court is alluding to here is the suspicion that the retaliatory actions were motivated by antisemitism. Prime Minister Schoof contributed to this framing by announcing on national television that "the Netherlands had failed to protect the Jewish community" — an absurd statement. The retaliatory actions were not directed at the Jewish community, but at Israeli soldiers on genocide leave who were loudly and violently celebrating that same genocide in our capital. All of this took place during the first — by then thirteen months long — livestreamed genocide carried out by those same violent Israeli football supporters. Both the political statements and the court rulings reflect an absolute denial of the genocidal and geopolitical context in which the Israeli hooligans terrorized Amsterdam, and within which the retaliatory actions should have been assessed by any truly independent judge.
The compensation amounts awarded by the Criminal Injuries Fund for the Maccabi hooligans are significant, ranging from €1,000 to €2,500. To put the amounts awarded in perspective: in 2020, the court in The Hague set the damages for widows and children of Indonesian civilians summarily executed by Dutch soldiers in South Sulawesi during the independence war at amounts ranging from €123 to €3,634. According to the court, the amounts were so low because "most of the men who were shot were farmers, who at the time earned approximately €100 per year." One claimant was awarded €10,000 — because he had been forced, as a child, to witness the execution of his father — which the court considered sufficient grounds for granting "non-material compensation" for that single case, resulting in a relatively higher amount of compensation.
Compared to the compensation granted to Maccabi supporters — which involved neither death nor permanent physical injury — these damages are not only scandalously low, they were awarded 73 years after the executions took place and after a long legal battle, leaving victims without recognition or the possibility of processing their trauma for decades. Both the compensation granted to Indonesian victims of state violence and the compensation granted to Israeli hooligans reveal the court's absolute contempt for the suffering of victims of colonial violence.
In both cases, it is the perpetrators of state terror — Dutch soldiers and IDF soldiers alike — who are protected, not the victims. Preserving national innocence, or more precisely White Innocence, takes precedence. Furthermore, the rulings fit perfectly within the Dutch tradition of treating citizens with migrant backgrounds a-priori as "perpetrators" and "violent troublemakers" rather than full citizens entitled to police protection against foreign terrorists and an independent — politically neutral — judicial process. The Justice Ministry's embarrassing solidarity with Israeli hooligans is a solidarity with itself — one that transcends the timeline of events, national borders, and history alike.
The Netherlands may no longer have a Ministry of Colonial Affairs. Our courts, however, still actively and structurally contribute to the preservation of racist and colonial hierarchies. The checks and balances we so urgently need in this era of Hyperpolitics-without-consequences — in the form of an independent judiciary — simply don’t function. And perhaps never really have.