Daily Archive: July 24, 2011

Belief and Violence: Anders Breivik and Wilders' Freedom Party 5

Belief and Violence: Anders Breivik and Wilders' Freedom Party

Is there a link between Anders Breivik shooting spree in Norway and Wilders’ ideology? There is of course no direct link between ideology and violent action, not even when the ideology condones, supports or even calls for violence which is not the case in Wilders’ Freedom Party ideology. It just doesn’t work like that. Nevertheless, as far as we can tell now, we should also not treat violence as something that is completely inseparable from ideology; ideology can legitimize violence and can give meaning to it and can give a particular direction.