While Gordon criss-crossed all kinds of cases of fundamental human rightsviolations and proceeded to the order of the day, philosopher and ethicistFleur Jongepier left the table of talk show On 1. She had just told us howdifficult it is to understand the role of bystander (bystander, someone whois not directly affected but witnesses an injustice, ed.) productive.
About the author
Rosemarie Buikema is professor of art, culture and diversity at UtrechtUniversity.
To be clear: Fleur Jongepier, in her position as an employee at the Universityof Nijmegen and Utrecht, has tried to stand up for victims of sexuallytransgressive behaviour. In the triangle of perpetrator, victim, bystander,she therefore occupies the recognizable position of the colleague whoexperiences how difficult it is to stand up for institutional injustice thatis inflicted on your closest colleagues or students.
Failure of institution
That is precisely what she wanted to make known, namely that within manyorganizations it is impossible to effectively raise the issue that boundariesare being crossed. In all cases that have come out in recent months – of TheVoice and DWDD to abuses at Dutch universities – that is a constant thatcries out for analysis and measures: it is almost impossible to make clear thefailure of the institution within the framework of the institution.
This institutional flaw means that benevolent bystanders automatically becomevictims as well.
With the messy situation at the table of On 1 emerged, it became clear onceagain how much the public debate suffers from a poignant lack of understandingof what goes on in the complex dynamics of situations of transgressivebehaviour.
A second constant in all cases, however, is that the lack of an adequateresponse from bystanders is even more harmful to the victim than the effectsof transgressive behavior are in themselves. And it was precisely this failureto respond adequately that we saw at the table of On 1 reproduced.
Privileged
For example, one of the guests could have commented on Gordon’s defense of hisparadise hometown of Dubai that it is indeed possible for the privileged andfrivolous among us all over the world to live a good life while human rightsare being violated within a radius of 1 kilometer . That is possible in Dubaiand that is possible in the Netherlands. But that’s no reason to dismiss thatconcern as woke chatter.
Understandably, Fleur Jongepier could no longer muster that clarity of mind atthat moment, realized that and could only remain true to herself by choosingthe position of an outsider: ‘I’m leaving. I’m not participating in this.’
The stragglers at the table of On 1 failed in their role as bystanders andaffirmed Youngpier’s position as a victim – she is hurt – instead ofacknowledging her as a courageous fighter against injustice.