{"id":98937,"date":"2019-05-17T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T17:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=98937"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:20","slug":"student-activists-stage-their-deaths-to-demand-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/05\/17\/student-activists-stage-their-deaths-to-demand-climate-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Student activists stage their ‘deaths’ to demand climate action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The usual scenes of tourists with selfie sticks posing in front of the iconic Markthal was interrupted on Friday afternoon when 75 climate activists fell to the ground and staged their ‘deaths’\u2014much to the consternation of onlookers. This was a symbolic enactment of what will happen if the human race doesn\u2019t act quickly to combat climate change: mass extinction. The protest act, which is known as a die-in, is expected to be the first of many by Erasmus Change, a new climate activist group at Erasmus University College (EUC).<\/span><\/p>

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Members of Erasmus Change and Extinction Rebellion came together to "die" in front of the Markthal.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlp Gasimov<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Civil disobedience. It\u2019s a phrase that has often graced the news headlines in recent weeks after waves of protests by the activist group Extinction Rebellion brought chaos to central London. Ordinary, legal methods of campaigning for climate action have been unable to achieve the systematic change needed to address climate change. This has led activists to resort to more drastic methods \u2013 such as planting a bright pink sailing boat in the middle of a busy intersection<\/a>. After weeks of relentless civil disobedience, the UK government bowed to the demands of Extinction Rebellion and declared a climate emergency, making it the first government to do so. Now Erasmus Change is looking to bring civil disobedience to the streets of Rotterdam, with the die-in being Act 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Peaceful protest<\/h2>

\u201cWe\u2019ve had many protests in which the police have guided you exactly where they wanted it to go, but we need to do more radical things to draw attention to these issues,\u201d says Joppe Hoekstra, one of the founding members of Erasmus Change. \u201cCivil disobedience is an acceptable form of political action. In colonial times, laws ensured the separation of white and black people. Now laws allow big polluters like Shell to continue destroying our planet, making it impossible for future generations to survive. We are a peaceful movement. We\u2019ll never use violence, but we will break the law if that helps our cause.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Extinction Rebellion does exist in the Netherlands, but Hoekstra says its members are mainly older people. By starting an activist group within EUC, Hoekstra believes Erasmus Change can help link students who wouldn\u2019t normally join organisations outside of their study with activist groups like Extinction Rebellion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that we were talking a lot about climate change here at EUC, but not doing enough about it,\u201d Hoekstra says. \u201cAs for the die-in, it\u2019s based on the concept of the sit-in. But instead of sitting, you lie down on the ground and you basically pretend to be the Earth that\u2019s dying. And that\u2019s just one way of drawing attention to the climate crisis because we feel that this is vital before the European elections.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The die-in<\/h2>

Just minutes before the die-in was set to begin, the square in front of the Markthal was fairly quiet, apart from a few Extinction Rebellion members and a hoard of tourists buzzing around. Suddenly, the sound of chanting in the distance started to fill the air and a crowd of students could be seen marching together behind a banner reading \u2018Climate Justice\u2019. At the command of EUC student Emilie de Bassompierre, the students scattered around the square to prepare for their \u2018death.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we want?\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClimate justice!\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen do we want it?\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow!\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

At that very moment, over 75 activists dropped \u2018dead\u2019 on the ground. There they lay there under the sun for the next 20 minutes, with more and more onlookers stopping to see what was happening. Fortunately not every activist was on the ground. Many were walking around spreading the word about the climate crisis. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The students marching through Blaak.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlp Gasimov<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cMost people know there\u2019s a climate crisis going on, but I don\u2019t think they realise just how serious this is. I think that\u2019s the most important thing for us to get across,\u201d says de Bassompierre, who studies Liberal Arts and Science at EUC. \u201cThere are also people here who don\u2019t belong to EUC, which is really good because we want this to extend beyond the university.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Quite Zen<\/h2>

Students weren\u2019t the only ones at the die-in. Among the \u2018dead\u2019 was senior lecturer Christian van der Veeke, who had organised a course about the climate crisis three years ago. For him, the protest was a manifestation of what his course is all about. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the activists here are my students, and what I\u2019ve seen over the past three years is that the course is very existential \u2013 like a mourning process they have to experience,\u201d according to Van der Veeke after the die-in. \u201cSo first there\u2019s denial, then slowly acceptance, and eventually they become active like this. That\u2019s exactly what we want.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

As for playing dead, van der Veeke didn\u2019t mind it too much. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this man walking around the square with a drum, which reminded me of ancient battles where the dead needed to be honoured. For that, the Greeks used to have people with drums\u00a0 <\/span>who would ceremoniously walk over the battlefield to honour the dead. So in a way, the whole experience was quite Zen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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