A Short Guide to Protesting
By Miruna-Antonia Aniculăesei. Read: 3 min 03s
When your education is threatened, you have the right to defend it. An example of this kind of resistance is the protest against university budget cuts that was supposed to take place on the 14th of November in Utrecht. Despite an unexpected turn of events, the students, teaching staff, along with other supporters of the cause managed to mobilise without clear guidance. As such, this article will explore the reasons behind the protest, the initial cancellation and the demonstrations held in Utrecht, Maastricht and, finally, The Hague.
On the 17th of September, known as Budget Day, the Dutch government presented the financial framework, policy plans and decisions for the year 2025. The very same document that includes all of the aforementioned aspects, the Budget Memorandum, is what caused a series of critiques and struck fear amongst international students. The reasons why? On the one hand, the severity of the issue is mostly related to the government planning on cutting €1 billion from the higher education and research fund, including €300 million from the international budget, according to NWO. Not only will this affect both international and Dutch students, since the tuition fees will eventually be raised, but also the teaching staff of higher education institutions, leaving a vacuum in the working market. On the other hand, the proposed Balanced Internationalisation Bill will only aggravate the situation. By reducing the number of English-taught programmes and reducing the funds for research, The Netherlands will face a visible decrease in the capable minds of tomorrow. This will especially be problematic for Maastricht University, taking into account that in 2023 59% of the student body and 48% of the academic staff was made up of internationals.
As it may be expected, the affected groups could not idly stand by. With the initiative of trade unions FNV, AOb and their partner, WOinActie, the Dutch academic bodies were prepared to express their concerns in a mass protest in Utrecht on the 14th of November. In Maastricht, a couple of workshops were dedicated to the creation of banners with short, but powerful messages. Emphasising the importance of education and the dangers of ignorance, the banners were ready to be raised, but the only thing that they were lacking just a day before the demonstration was the protest itself. On the 13th of November, on surprisingly short notice, the Mayor of Utrecht cancelled the manifestation, justifying this measure by claiming that it could lead to similar violent altercations to the recent ones in Amsterdam. Although the planned event was officially called off, that did not completely silence the alarmed voices of the protesters.
On the fateful day, individuals, unsatisfied in the wake of the cancellation, gathered up in both Utrecht and Maastricht, and peacefully protested. In spite of the fact that their demonstrations were not arranged by any organisations, an overwhelming number of people still showed up, showing their solidarity with the academic sphere. Furthermore, the protesters witnessed the livestream of the speakers who were supposed to attend the event. From within their own faculties, they were able to observe the program presented in front of the House of Representatives, which, AOb believed to be a success.
La pièce de résistance of the series of protests was the one that took place on Monday, 25th of November. Once again, an overwhelming amount of people showed up in The Hague to participate in the postponed official demonstration. The speakers, along with the messages chanted by the crowds, have once again highlighted the dangers of higher education budget cuts. For instance, NL Times describes a few of the topics that have been recurrent during the protest, most of which were related to the responsibility of the Dutch government to the institutions of education, how the cuts go against the values of the system, and to the benefits of a diverse student and teaching body.
This intense situation showed the persistence of students and the teaching staff, in addition to the significance they place on education. Thus, we must remember that this issue is not one to be treated lightly, and education must remain a centrepiece of individual life. Even though the budget cuts have the aim of aiding the current economy of The Netherlands, their consequences may end up doing more harm than good to society, particularly due to a lack of sufficient research.
