Protest Against Higher Education Cuts Moves to Groningen
Yesterday, despite rumours of cancellation of the protest, university classes were cancelled for students and staff to attend the Education Cuts demonstration.
Despite the late cancellation of the demonstration in Utrecht, the locals organized speeches against the austerity measures in Grote Markt. The protest took place yesterday afternoon, as university associates declared that oppositional demonstrations are a critical democratic right in urgent situations. The budget cut was reasoned to comply with the “NATO standards”, which angered the overall staff and boards.
There were multiple speakers, including a member of AOb, Groninger Studentenbond, Organize the RUG, and general staff from the universities. Palestinian protesters were also present with flags, participating hand in hand in the budget-cut protest.
Organize the RUG speakers started the demonstration by admitting the budget cut is an “illegal attempt to devastate higher education”. According to them, the proposed cuts are not yet “set in stone”, so they plan to fight back against these plans. Additionally, as the university space is claimed as “apolitical”, the speakers highlighted that there is “no such thing as an apolitical space. Universities are not separated from the injustices in the world.” These statements were followed by shouts from the protesters, as an overall agreement of solidarity towards the Palestinian movement.
A member from the Groninger Studentenbond continued the allegations, supporting that “we have the right to be critical about this system, as education and democracy should be basic human rights”. Having in mind the earlier cancellation in Utrecht, the student board sustains that “questions of safety are being weaponized to silence people”, so the demonstration should continue despite the initial location. Protesters denied silence in such urgencies, supported by the pro-Palestine members, by shouting “books not bombs”, “anti-capitalist” and “shame on them” for several minutes.
One of the last speakers, an AOb member, supported the fact that “the budget cut and the politics with Palestine work on the same hand,” so we should keep an eye on and fight for both situations. He apologized for the cancellation in Utrecht, as the AOb members were present at the meeting with the mayor of Utrecht, who, according to him, “moved the chair on the other side and canceled the demonstration.”
The last important details from the demonstration were that the speakers announced a campaign in one week in the same place, Grote Markt. It consists of a similar topic, with staff from Hanze and RUG sharing issues with the current government ideas. The overall atmosphere of the demonstration was peaceful, with no issues regarding violence or the safety of the protesters. The police were present throughout the protest, not intervening as the crowd respected civility.
We advise everyone to consult their rights, and the rights for demonstrations are explained on the website demonstratierecht.nl.
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