I work at a university. More than that: I am an international student – a migrant, in fact – who stayed after getting my diplomas. I am protesting against the budget cuts to higher education in the Netherlands and against the Wet Internationalisering in Balans[1] because it’s personal: the budget my salary and office are paid from is being cut, a group of people (international students) I once belonged to is being told they’re not welcome.
It is personal, yes, but it’s so much more than that.
Some context: I have a permanent contract and I speak Dutch pretty well. I’ve bought a house, I participate in the NK Tegelwippen, and I watch my neighbours’ cats and water my friends’ garden when they’re away. I’m as integrated as I can get without marrying a Dutch guy and getting Dutch citizenship. My job is as safe as it can be. I’m not worried about losing that.
(I am worried about the workload, though: temporary contracts aren’t being extended anymore because of the budget cuts, and we’re already feeling the effects of that. I think this alone would be enough to protest and strike, not to mention the breach of contract by the government. But still, it’s so much more than that.)
When I read the news – Dutch, German, international – I feel a deep, visceral unease. There’s a lot going on and going wrong right now: wars, likely genocide, humanitarian crises, climate change, populism and the rule of law being undermined. When I read the news, I feel acutely that we’re in crisis.
And yet, the sun keeps shining and the day-to-day of work and life continues as if nothing is going on. The dishes still need washing and exams still need grading and there doesn’t seem to be much sense of awareness of, much less room to do anything about, the crises of the world.[2]
I struggle to bridge the disconnect between the crisis I feel and the continuation of the everyday, but I know action is the best way to combat despair. I think a lot of the crises I see need more, rather than less, investment in the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences to solve. I think the crises are connected, both strengthened by and strengthening the global rise of fascism that seeks, in numerous countries, to deny climate change, ignore science, stoke conflict and hate, and undermine the rule of law. I think fascists benefit from and want an uneducated populace.[3]
Protesting against the budget cuts and the WiB is something I can do. It’s something close to home that I know a lot about. It’s only a small contribution to a much larger cause, but it’s a contribution to that cause nonetheless.
I believe in education. I believe a better world is possible and education can help us achieve it.
And so I protest.
[1] See https://www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/en/current/news/universities-a-blow-to-our-students-and-staff and https://www.voxweb.nl/en/budget-cuts-have-a-big-impact-on-internationals-it-feels-like-watching-a-car-crash-in-slow-motion for more information.
[2] Marina Weisband, speaking at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of NZ Buchenwald, put it like this: “Fascism doesn’t get recognised, because we secretly assume that for the end of democracy, the film score will change. The sky will become threateningly dark. That there will be banners. But this doesn’t happen. When fascism comes, the sun still shines. The birds sing. You go to work. Everything is normal. Except trans people are losing their rights. And asylum seekers. And migrants. And disabled people. And muslims. And jews. And left journalists. And then other journalists. And I. And you. And no one knows at what point it became too late.” (Translated from German by me, original at https://marinaweisband.de/rede-zum-80-befreiungstag-des-kz-buchenwald/ and very well-worth the read.)
[3] Marc van Oostendorp, speaking about the budget cuts in the Netherlands, writes “It is becoming increasingly more difficult not to see an agenda behind these plans: a combination of the neoliberal idea of a stripped down public sector in which companies decide everything, and the radical-right ideal of a people that doesn’t think about anything anymore – because the truth is already known, by the admired leaders.” (Translated from Dutch by me, original at https://neerlandistiek.nl/2025/04/bruins-sloopt-door/ and also well-worth the read.)
AM Waltermann 