By Julia Airey
In times of war, unexpected alliances often occur. However in the present conflict with the Islamic State, better known as ISIS, no alliance was perhaps as surprising as the recent coalition of the Dutch biker gang “No Surrender” with their recent allies in the German biker gang, “the Median Empire Motorcycle Club”.
No Surrender truly goes to show that its vigilantes do not the normal biker gang make. They lack the anarchist and “rebel without a cause” sympathies that many of their fellow vigilante biker groups typically exhibit; such as Australian gang literally named “The Vigilantes Motorcycle Club” or similarly aptly-named American “Outlaws”. Instead of partaking in the usual ring of criminal activities and harsh initiation procedures expected in these biker gangs, recruitment in No Surrender is inclusive and their mission is conveyed with inspirational Elie Wiesel quotes they post on Facebook.
The gang has arrived in the Middle East and according to press releases from the chief Klaas Otto, the group is stopping in Iraq before continuing on to Syria.
The Median, who have Kurdish connections, hail from Cologne and are currently fighting in Kobane, Syria. Like No Surrender they boast a tough image with the requisite tattoos and leather jackets but according to their Facebook page they focus more on delivering supplies to Kurdish fighters where needed rather than joining the armed conflict. This of course has not prevented the group from posting numerous shot gun selfies. The Medians began their journey to Syria after being inspired by No Surrender’s legality.
For indeed what is astonishing is that forming one’s own biker militia is turns out to be legal in the Netherlands and Germany. No legal action on behalf of the Dutch government has been taken against No Surrender as Dutch public prosecutor Wim de Buins explained last month in a press conference, “Joining a foreign armed force was previously punishable, now it’s no longer forbidden.” He clarified that restrictions are only in place on the domestic level, saying that, “You just can’t join a fight against the Netherlands”. De Buins clarified that such vigilantes are not exempt from international codes of war, namely that they will be punished in the event that are found to participate in torture, although he admits “but this is also happening a long way away and so it’ll be very difficult to prove.”
This potential difficulty in holding such groups in line with state justice in inherent with any vigilante group. Similar concerns have been raised with reports about other bikers gangs elsewhere serving as vigilante out-posts, too. The Night Wolves Biker Gang in Sebastopol, Crimea has formed with the sanction of local authorities and with the intention of protecting ethnic Russians from the danger of “fascist” revolutionaries from Kiev. For many this harkened back to similar “protection” groups that sprang up such as The Italian National Guard in 2009 in response to the legalization of private vigilante patrols to combat illegal immigration.
Such groups as the Night Wolves and the Italian National Guard have raised alarms about the danger of sanctioning citizens to mete out their own kind of justice. And though much of the coverage on No Surrender and the Medians has been positive because IS is viewed as a common enemy, some people have questioned whether such militias escalate conflicts and ultimately do more harm than good. Specifically concerns have been raised about whether these kinds of buccaneer groups will toe the legal line when it comes to not performing torture or other inhumane crimes against ISIS.
This seems to be a reasonable concern. Indeed as No Surrender departed for their quest to vanquish ISIS before the Dutch public prosecutor announced the legality of their actions, it is reasonable to assume caring about following the letter of the law is not high on their list of priorities. No Surrender and the Medians might have received much more positive responses their endeavors than the Nigh Wolves Biker Gang has but the fact remains that all three share a “do it yourself” mentality when it comes to justice.
In truth, this kind of biker gangs comes at the wheels of a long tradition of vigilante biker gangs – In America the infamous Highwayman Motor Club has existed in Detroit for 60 years and Hell’s Angels was even formed 66 years ago in Oakland– but gangs like No Surrender, The Median Empire Motorcycle Club, and the Night Wolves perhaps point to a shift in biker gangs from rebels without a cause to politicized, worldly watchdogs.
Julia Airey, class of 2015, is a Law and Linguistics major from Ashby, Massachusetts, United States.
