‘Vote for parties that have the best interests of education and research at heart’
WOinActie and trade unions protest on Dom Square
An earlier demonstration against the budget cuts to higher education, also held at Dom Square. Photo: DUB
"We want to show politicians one more time before the elections that we are here," says organisational psychologist Jaelah van Tol, lecturer at VU University Amsterdam and an activist for science. She is one of the driving forces behind the WOinActie movement.
Alongside the trade unions FNV and AOb, WOinActie will set up a large screen at Dom Square on Monday so that demonstrators can follow the EenVandaag party leader debate.
Party leaders
The debate will take place at Ahoy Rotterdam. Six party leaders will debate political issues in front of an audience of two thousand students, all in an attempt to reach voters one last time.
The activists aim to do the same thing. They hope that people will also consider education and research when deciding who to vote for. "Vote for parties that have the best interests of education and research at heart," says Van Tol.
They also want to hold politicians accountable. "We are still sad and angry about the budget cuts and want them to be reversed," she says.
Analysis
A programme featuring political speakers will begin at 5:30 pm. The debate will start at 6:15 pm and last less than an hour. Afterwards, researchers will analyse the debate. They will discuss topics such as the rule of law, migration, housing, democracy and the climate.
More demonstrations are planned just before the elections. On Sunday, there will be a climate march in The Hague. Van Tol hopes that people will not be tired of demonstrating and will still come to Utrecht. "Our visibility matters," she says.
She predicts that the cutbacks will continue to affect the sector. Universities will have to lay off staff, refrain from renewing temporary contracts or downsize. "Those who remain will have to take on extra work. The workload will increase, and it is already unnaturally high."
It is possible
She emphasises that campaigning helps. "Don't forget what we have achieved. We sometimes tend to forget, but the fine for students who take longer to graduate has been scrapped, for instance. The previous cabinet allocated a lot of money to the sector, partly thanks to WOinActie, so it is possible."
She hopes that parties such as D66, GroenLinks-PvdA and SP will emerge as winners, because they want to invest in education and research. Van Tol has less confidence in CDA, which is high in the polls. "CDA helped the current cuts through a majority in the Senate."
The Christian Democrats did this alongside ChristenUnie, SGP and JA21. It happened after a compromise in which some of the austerity measures affecting education, including the aforementioned fine, were taken off the table.
Comments
We appreciate relevant and respectful responses. Responding to DUB can be done by logging into the site. You can do so by creating a DUB account or by using your Solis ID. Comments that do not comply with our game rules will be deleted. Please read our response policy before responding.