Students organise climate demonstration in Nijmegen
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Left Olaf Kemerink and right Stijn van Uffelen. Photo: Tom Hessels
Following the climate protests in The Hague, a climate demonstration is to be held in Nijmegen on Thursday too. The organisers are Olaf Kemerink and Stijn van Uffelen, students at Radboud University. ‘With the national protests we noticed that students still often stayed at home. But we’re just as involved.’
Olaf Kemerink, Law student, and Stijn van Uffelen, Philosophy and Physics student, came up with the idea of the climate demonstration this past weekend. They were inspired by the national protests organised by secondary school students and thought that students needed to get involved too. ‘With the national protests we noticed that students still often stayed at home. But we’re just as involved.’ They chose Nijmegen as the location for the demonstration. ‘The Hague isn’t convenient for everyone and travelling there by bus each time isn’t good for the environment,’ says Kemerink. ‘So we thought: why shouldn’t we do this in Nijmegen as well.’
Important issue
So they set up a WhatsApp group together with secondary school students from Nijmegen. Via the WhatsApp group, Instagram, posters and personal appeals to fellow students, they are trying to mobilise as many people as possible to turn out on Thursday. A climate protest for the following Thursday is also planned. ‘We are seeing that this issue is particularly motivating. People are starting to understand that it’s urgent,’ says Kemerink. ‘For example, if you ask students for their opinion on tenancy law, the first question you get is ‘What’s it about?’’, adds Van Uffelen. ‘With the climate everyone knows what the problem is.’
‘In any case, the government won’t save the climate’
Kemerink expects that it will be mainly the committed students who will turn out, but hopes that more and more people will join in. ‘People will have to get used to it. It started small like this in Belgium too and a minister has resigned there now.’
Continue to demonstrate
This is what Van Uffelen and Kemerink are hoping for: that the protests grow into something that all kinds of groups in society will commit to, also with their own initiatives. ‘In any case, the government won’t save the climate, it’s not ambitious enough for that,’ says Van Uffelen. ‘Everything needs to happen more quickly. We support the talk that Rutte is to have soon with the secondary school students, but it isn’t the solution. We must continue to put the pressure on. We can do this by continuing to demonstrate.’
But the reactions to the planned action in news items by RTL Nieuws and De Gelderlander are not always favourable. ‘We’re trying to pay as little attention to these as possible,’ says Kemerink. ‘People often think it’s hypocritical that as students we continue to eat meat. They’re saying things like ‘They should become vegan first and spend less time in the shower’. But the problem lies mainly with the big companies that continue to pollute, while the government and municipality fail to take action against them.’
The demonstration will start on Thursday at 10.30 am. Depending on the turnout on the day, the group will walk from the Central Station and follow a route through the centre. During the march a number of speakers will talk about sustainability and how society can change.
Maria wrote on 14 februari 2019 at 17:33
I think this demonstration is a great idea because it attracts more attention to the climate issue. At the same time, I am not sure I understand the motives in this article. Of course big corporations that contribute mostly to CO2 pollution should be held responsible, but at the same time everyone should try to reduce their own climate-unfriendly habits. In that sense, becoming a vegan and especially eating less meat is a step forward. In addition, if we know which companies these are exactly, everyone can choose not to support them, e.g. by not using their services. So asking the government to take action is important, but the responsibility lies on each of us, and changing our diet and lifestyle collectively could significantly reduce our climate footprint.
Stijn wrote on 16 februari 2019 at 21:11
You are right Maria. A vegetarian myself, I too believe that a shift of attitude is needed by all of us. Interestingly, one of our invited speakers pointed out that an additional method we can deploy is our choice on the labour market: for what goals do we want to put our knowledge to work?
Even though it’s clear that some institutions have been accountable in the past, I also believe that the only solution is for all of us to change our attitude. For me, that’s actually the reason not to rely on or wait for politics, and focus on engaging people instead.
If you want to share your views, you’re welcome to do so using a megaphone next week! Let me know.