{"id":93459,"date":"2018-12-18T15:06:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T14:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=93459"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:11","slug":"woinactie-protest-the-next-step-is-a-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/12\/18\/woinactie-protest-the-next-step-is-a-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"WOinActie protest: \u2018The next step is a strike\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The protesters have travelled from all over the country by bus and train to De Koekamp, a park opposite The Hague Central Station, to demonstrate the \u2018erosion\u2019 of higher education and research. The mood is buoyant and everyone is happy with the arrival of some 2,000 kindred spirits.<\/p>\n

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The protesters wear small red squares on their coats, which have often been matched with red scarves and woolly hats. The placards they\u2019re bearing have slogans like \u2018I\u2019m a professor, not a battery chicken\u2019 and \u2018Lower interest, more lecturers\u2019.<\/p>\n

No Minister<\/h2>
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One of the driving forces behind the demo is Professor Rens Bod of the University of Amsterdam. Bod originally launched the WOinActie protest movement. \u201cWe\u2019ve grown into a national movement,\u201d he states in his opening speech. \u201cThey can\u2019t afford to ignore us anymore!\u201d<\/p>\n

We wonder if Education Minister Van Engelshoven can hear the shouting and singing of the crowd. Bod intended to hand her a large red square as a symbol of their disagreement, but the Minister is conspicuous by her absence. \u201cBudget cut after budget cut and what\u2019s our Minister\u2019s attitude? She won\u2019t even bother to step outside to accept the red square \u2013 even though her offices are 100 metres from here!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBooh!\u201d yells the audience. After this, fellow organiser Geertje Hulzebos steps forward. Hulzebos recently stepped down as Chair of the Dutch Student Union (LSVb). She tells the protesters how she was able to move all the way up from preparatory secondary vocational education to university. She believes she owes this to teachers who believed in her and took time to help her. And she fears there will be less and less opportunity for that kind of thing with all the cuts. The audience is eating out of her hand.<\/p>\n

The next representative to step on the rostrum is Marijtje Jongsma of the VAWO Academic Union. She confirms that up till now, their criticism of the Cabinet\u2019s actions fell on deaf ears. And now the economy is picking, yet the higher education is still in the red. The protesters are just as dismayed about this as she is.<\/p>\n

Not a privilege<\/h2>

After that, everyone sets off on a protest march through the city centre. They pass Hofvijver and the Ministry of Education. They chant well-known slogans like \u2018Education is a right, not a privilege\u2019 and \u2018What\u2019s the time? Solidari-time!\u2019<\/p>\n

The stakes are high. The protesters want the budget cuts in higher education swept off the table. Actually, they want more than that: they\u2019re calling for the government to reserve another EUR 1 billion for higher education. And they\u2019re not afraid to walk the talk. \u201cThe next step is a strike,\u201d says Professor Josef Fr\u00fcchtl from Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

EUR is present<\/h2>\n\t
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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t