The clashes between anarchists and the police during the Finnish independence day have recently been a hot topic of discussion in Finland. A group of anarchists had started a riot on the evening of independence day, which resulted in destroyed public and private property. Destroying small companies’ property has especially been the subject of public outrage. But is there something we can learn from the anarchists?

It is very difficult to understand what the anarchists tried to achieve by breaking other people’s property. One way to look at it is that by breaking stuff the anarchists try to draw attention to issues in our society. What the anarchists probably don’t understand is that the violent actions themselves easily become the center of attention instead of the anarchists’ actual message.

However, shunning the anarchists helps no one either. Pointing fingers and demonizing the rioters only feeds our own egos and makes us feel superior. The reason we make the anarchists the bad guys is because it’s the usual knee-jerk reaction to violence and because it provides a simple cause-effect explanation removing us from any responsibility.

But is there an alternative? If the anarchists aren’t at fault, who is? The reality is that finding fault is irrelevant to begin with. Trying to find someone to blame begins with the false premise that there is in fact someone or something that can be identified as the single cause for our problems. Thus, the alternative to blaming the perpetrators is looking at the issue from a totally different perspective.

Systems thinking

Let me begin by quickly defining the opposite of systems thinking, which I will in this case call linear thinking. Using linear thinking we would conclude that because the anarchists were the ones wrecking places, the problem is in the anarchists. It provides a simple analysis: anarchists break places -> anarchists are the problem. Cause and effect.

Systems thinking would instead begin by trying to view the phenomenon as part of the whole society. According to systems thinking, in order to understand a single event it has to be observed in the context of the larger whole it is part of. In this case, the anarchists’ actions would be explained in the context of the underlying social problems that influence the anarchists’ behavior.

By understanding systems thinking we would realize that the anarchists’ actions do not represent the failing of an individual, but are the end result of some systemic structures in our society. The real issues leading to the events on independence day might have been developing for years, if not decades. Thus, issuing blame on individuals is useless, if not dangerous because it prevents us from understanding the real causes.

I am not saying that individuals shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions. Free will still exists and individuals need to take responsibility for their behavior.

What I am saying is that we need to start talking about the real issues rather than pointing fingers.

Creative Commons Skate and riots by Sergio is licensed under CC BY 2.0