Vietnam, my thesis and the underworld
In 1967 and1968 the involvement of the USA in Vietnam was so much increased under President Johnson that there was a considerable opposition against the US activities in Vietnam. I, Willem, went to several demonstrations. One of the slogans used was “Johnson moordenaar” which is in English “murderer”. The use of this slogan was seen by the Ministry of Justice as a criminal act since it was an “insult of a friendly head of state”. In the demonstrations quickly an alternative was found. Now the slogan was “Johnson molenaar” . This sounds in Dutch very similar but the meaning of the word in English is “miller”. The demonstrators and also the spectators knew that still the same slogan was used but now one could not be accused of a criminal act.
What was actually more important was that Professor Delfgauw declared: “Measured according to the standards of Nuremberg and Tokyo, Johnson, his close associates and generals are war criminals” That was also the text that appeared at many places all over the country.
Somewhat later (1968) the secretary of defense of US, McNamarra, resigned from his function. In his memoires he declared that this war was the major error in his career. Especially because this war was not approached like the Cuba crisis by forming a special group. So it missed a fundamental analysis. In his book, "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam", he writes: "I deeply regret that I did not force a probing debate about whether it would ever be possible to forge a winning military effort on a foundation of political quicksand. It became clear then, and I believe it is clear today, that military force -- especially when wielded by an outside power cannot bring order in a country that cannot govern itself." Why didn´t the US learn from this experience? They made the same error in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
My thesis
I also had to write a thesis to finish my study in Sociology. In the methodology group in Utrecht we discussed a book of Hubert Blalock. The basic idea was that in general experiments are not possible in the social sciences. Therefore causal theories have to be derived on the basis of nonexperimental research. Without correlation there can´t be a causal relationship between two variables but correlation does not suggest a causal relationship. To accept the hypothesis that a causal relationship exists the researcher has to exclude all alternative explanations for this relationship. This was an exciting topic for me. I decided to write my thesis about a connected issue which is the effect of the level of measurement on the control in such statistical analyses.
I had finally found a research topic which I would like to spend a lot of time on. However whether I could continue with such research depended on whether I could find a job at a university where I would have the freedom to do such research. That was for the moment not at all clear.
I also had to write a thesis to finish my study in Sociology. In the methodology group in Utrecht we discussed a book of Hubert Blalock. The basic idea was that in general experiments are not possible in the social sciences. Therefore causal theories have to be derived on the basis of nonexperimental research. Without correlation there can´t be a causal relationship between two variables but correlation does not suggest a causal relationship. To accept the hypothesis that a causal relationship exists the researcher has to exclude all alternative explanations for this relationship. This was an exciting topic for me. I decided to write my thesis about a connected issue which is the effect of the level of measurement on the control in such statistical analyses.
I had finally found a research topic which I would like to spend a lot of time on. However whether I could continue with such research depended on whether I could find a job at a university where I would have the freedom to do such research. That was for the moment not at all clear.
My second contact with the underworld
The student union, Veritas, made in 1966/7 no losses anymore thanks to the reorganization we introduced in 1965-1966 so the next board of Veritas decided to buy a famous building in Utrecht, a part of an old castle, Oudaen. Then they detected that the renovation was too expensive and that they would go bankrupt if they could not sell the building quickly. I suggested to organize in the meantime a student bar in the building to produce at least some money for paying the mortgage. I organized again a team to manage the bar.
Soon it was the same situation as in the hotel: we could not stop people from the underworld to enter and they made problems between each other or with the students. If I called the police, they came normally an hour or more later and were greeting the people who made trouble but did not do anything unless I indicated that these were indeed the people which made the problems and had no right to enter. This means that I was the person who acted against them. Some said that they would get me.
It could not go on. I went to the bouncer of a night club and asked him if he could organize a door man for me who would be able to control the entrance of the bar. He said yes and the next day Koosje came, a small man but with good connections. People knew that if they made problems with him, there would be a revenge the next day by his group. Now we were again protected by one part of the underworld of Utrecht. This was the second time that I experienced that after 1.00 am the underworld is in power in Utrecht. The police is not willing to help. If you don´t solve the problem by yourself you lose your license. The problem is that part of your clientele are the people connected with one part of the underworld.
Some experiences richer and with a degree of the university I had now to look for a job where I could continue what I liked to do.
The student union, Veritas, made in 1966/7 no losses anymore thanks to the reorganization we introduced in 1965-1966 so the next board of Veritas decided to buy a famous building in Utrecht, a part of an old castle, Oudaen. Then they detected that the renovation was too expensive and that they would go bankrupt if they could not sell the building quickly. I suggested to organize in the meantime a student bar in the building to produce at least some money for paying the mortgage. I organized again a team to manage the bar.
Soon it was the same situation as in the hotel: we could not stop people from the underworld to enter and they made problems between each other or with the students. If I called the police, they came normally an hour or more later and were greeting the people who made trouble but did not do anything unless I indicated that these were indeed the people which made the problems and had no right to enter. This means that I was the person who acted against them. Some said that they would get me.
It could not go on. I went to the bouncer of a night club and asked him if he could organize a door man for me who would be able to control the entrance of the bar. He said yes and the next day Koosje came, a small man but with good connections. People knew that if they made problems with him, there would be a revenge the next day by his group. Now we were again protected by one part of the underworld of Utrecht. This was the second time that I experienced that after 1.00 am the underworld is in power in Utrecht. The police is not willing to help. If you don´t solve the problem by yourself you lose your license. The problem is that part of your clientele are the people connected with one part of the underworld.
Some experiences richer and with a degree of the university I had now to look for a job where I could continue what I liked to do.