New nationwide protest against education cuts on 10 June

Following a relay of protests at universities and colleges across the country, another national demonstration against cuts to education and research is set, for Tuesday 10 June.

The cuts to education and research have only just been approved by the Senate, and new cuts are already being announced: in the Spring Memorandum, the cabinet is cutting funding for education and research once again.

This is particularly upsetting for activists, who have made their voices heard across the country in recent months. Yesterday, staff and students staged a protest at TU Delft. This was the last protest in the relay for now.

Gijs Kooistra, an official at the FNV Education & Research union, announced a new national action day there: Tuesday 10 June. Details will follow, and the location isn’t decided upon yet. Activist groups and other unions are also participating.

Damage

The National Student Union is involved as well. “Clearly, the strikes have not been enough”, says chair Abdelkader Karbache. “The new damage outlined in the Spring Memorandum for higher education is manageable. This shows that the strikes have indeed made a difference. But now it is the vocational and secondary education sectors that are affected. The coalition cannot be trusted; we must show that we will not tolerate this.”

According to Karbache, the cabinet has also lost its ‘allies’, thus increasing the chances for the protest. He refers to the three Christian parties and JA21, who reached a compromise with the governing parties to mitigate the cuts. The CDA, Christian Union, and SGP were unpleasantly surprised to learn that new cuts are now on the table.

Malieveld

The previous nationwide protest took place last November, when thousands of demonstrators gathered at Malieveld in The Hague. “Don’t do it” was the slogan consistently repeated by opposition parties.