Around 15 to 20 thousand students, teachers, researchers, administrators and politicians protested against the cutbacks in education and research at the Malieveld in The Hague. ‘Don’t do it!’

It’s muddy, it’s drizzling and there are train delays. And yet, the turnout exceeds expectations. The field fills up with thousands and thousands of protesters. ‘Beforehand, we hoped that about ten thousand people would be here’, a union representative says. ‘There may be twice as many.’

The police estimate a slightly lower turnout, of 15 thousand people, but still: they came to The Hague from all over the country. Coaches were rented, trains were boarded. So what if there are delays? Nijmegen, too, was represented by a major division.

‘Bruin, bruiner, Bruins’

For example, a Norwegian student of psychology travelled from Maastricht with about 35 others. ‘All kinds of conspiracy theories contributed to the election of Trump’, she says. ‘That alone shows the importance of knowledge and good education.’

A bit further along, two communication officers at a university are taking shelter under the awning of a stand. ‘Who’s the minister of education again?’, one of them asks. Oh right, Eppo Bruins.

Most people do know. The NSC minister features on all kinds of signs and banners. Their texts read things like ‘Bruin, bruiner, Bruins’ and ‘Stop the Eppocalyps’. The latter also booms across the Malieveld when one of the speakers yells it into the microphone.

President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Marileen Dogterom is at the front of the field. Her expectations of the afternoon? ‘For us all to give such a clear signal that the House of Representatives will spend this week thinking about whether the cutbacks are really such a good idea. And in any case, I hope that the Senate will reject the plans.’

Stop

She’s not the only one with that hope. After all, the four coalition parties don’t have a majority in the Senate, so they’re dependent on opposition parties. And they want to stop the cutbacks, they say, even though they still need to agree on how to do so.

SP leader Jimmy Dijk is also there. ‘The most important thing is that the entire opposition wants no part of those cutbacks, but we shouldn’t turn a penalty for studying into a penalty for being ill’, he says. This is a response to the plans of CDA, D66 and JA21 to reduce the health insurance excess by a little bit less. ‘Let’s not pit people against each other. In the days ahead, we’ll talk to see how we can stop these draconic cutbacks.’

Representatives of unions, student organisations and education associations give speeches. Chair of the Dutch Student Union Abdelkader Karbache can hardly choose what to say to the protesters. He thinks it’s hypocritical that the minister needs more time to flesh out the – oh, irony – slow-progress penalty. Thousands of people boo in approval. But Karbache also says that protesting once isn’t enough, that people have more influence than they think. They have to come together, he says, and join a union.

False alarm

A previous demonstration in Utrecht wasn’t allowed to go ahead for fear of pro-Palestinian rioters, although students did go out into the streets and it turned out to be a false alarm. Alternative protests were organized in Nijmegen, among other cities. Bas van Weegberg (FNV) thinks that government organisations should keep their “paws” off the right to protest. He emphasises that this right is also important “for those that beg for peace in Gaza, where not a single university has been left standing”.

Finally, three politicians of the opposition take the stage. D66 leader Rob Jetten uses an old slogan: ‘If you think education is expensive, you don’t know the cost of stupidity’. GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans says education is important for building bridges in society. Sandra Beckerman, SP spokesperson for higher education, thinks it’s great to see ‘how we rise and take action together’.

After this, an orchestra plays a variation of the Italian battle hymn Bella Ciao (‘Just say bye, just say bye, just say bye, bye, bye!’) and the protesters start their march through The Hague, past the Ministry of Education. They only stop for passing trams.