The Netherlands: Long live the student intifada, let a hundred occupations flourish!
We publish an unofficial translation of an article published by Website of the Communist Committee of the Netherlands.
In the last 100 days we have seen a blossoming of the solidarity movement with Palestine in the Netherlands. The resistance in the Netherlands against the genocide of the Palestinians has strengthened in a qualitative way through the university occupations and we can learn many lessons from this. In one week, students and teachers from every university in the Netherlands revolted against the collaborations with Israel, these protests must be seen as part of the struggle against imperialism in the Netherlands, and because of this importance, we must also try to strengthen this movement and recognize the mistakes, this piece lays out what happened, what went right and what went wrong, so that we can strengthen the movement against imperialism.
The last 100 days are difficult to summarize in an article, yet a brief chronology is important for context. In April, several American universities launched occupations for Palestine after years of inactivity. Most prominent was the occupation at Columbia University, here demanding an end to the university’s cooperation with Israel. This was brutally put down and hundreds of people were arrested. However, the movement in America brought inspiration to the Netherlands, because here too activists had been demanding the university stop supporting apartheid for years. After years of petitions, talks and protests, enough was finally enough and students in the Netherlands escalated their struggle.
On May 6, students and employees of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Amsterdam University College (AUC) and the Free University Amsterdam (FU) organized themselves on Roeterseiland (former island in the centre of Amsterdam, today the location of the buildings of the University of Amsterdam; translator’s note) with tents, putting up three demands:
“1. Transparency, make public the ties the university has with Israeli institutions and companies
2. Boycott, end all academic collaborations with Israeli institutions that participate in the oppression of Palestinians.
3. Divest, end all contracts and disinvest from all Israeli companies and international companies that profit from the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
Just a few hours after the start, the camp was attacked by several Zionists who threw fireworks into the camp and attacked people. The reaction of the students was short and strong: the Zionists were chased off campus with sticks. At the same time, from the other side, from the university, also came an attack, where they had already threatened to call the police against the protest from the beginning, and finally sent the anti-riot police into the camp at 3:00 in the morning (under the orders of the social-democratic “green-left” Mayor Halsema). Fortunately, the occupation had well recognized the character of the police as an apparatus of repression, and people had also prepared against this with gigantic barricades on all sides that were built throughout the day. When the occupation began, the police chose to brutally attack it, using a bulldozer to knock down the barricade even as people stood up. Students and teachers were kicked and beaten with batons even when they were already knocked to the ground. 150 people were arrested that night and several had to go to the hospital with fairly serious injuries. What makes the movement so special is what happened next, an unprecedented strength of the Palestine movement expressed in support of the occupation and the students who only strengthened the struggle.
Immediately the following day, UvA teachers announced a strike against the repression on students. The repression had only made the students and teachers struggle stronger, and that night they decided to occupy the Oudemanhuispoort (a UvA building). That same night in Utrecht, an occupation of the courtyard of the university library was also started. At this university, too, there had been several years of endless talks with the administration, and each time nothing had happened. This time, startled by the strength of the students and teachers, the university chose not to engage in talks, but to send in the anti-riot police. In front of the demonstration, the teachers formed a line to protect it, nevertheless, the university sent the anti-riot police into the demonstration. With pepper spray, nozzle clamps, baton blows and derogatory sexual violence, they rounded up all the activists. The following day, the same thing happened in Amsterdam. But again, this meant nothing more than a temporary setback. There was a strike by the staff in Utrecht, a walkout was held, and demonstrations and occupations were set up again in both cities. After each occupation, the students learned more and more, with better logistics and also more and more students actively opposing the police and defending the occupation.
What became clear to thousands of students and teachers in the first week is that the repression of the state was a paper tiger, although fierce and terrible at the moment, it cannot stand up to the power of the masses if just another occupation is set up the day after. The week after the actions in Amsterdam and Utrecht unleashed a flourish of occupations in almost every university in the Netherlands. On Monday, a nationwide walkout was organized and occupations were started in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Groningen. The demand of Disclose, Divest and Boycott was carried everywhere with the addition at some universities that the students in Gaza should be actively helped, that amnesty should be given to all participants of the protests and that the genocide should be publicly condemned. Utrecht, Wageningen, Enschede, Leiden and Delft followed in the following days. Due to gigantic growth, only two occupations could be cleared by the police during this time (Utrecht and Amsterdam), all over the country activities were organised on Palestine with reading circles and training sessions.
Despite the success that some encampments were able to continue, it was well realised that being incorporated as a controlled opposition was not a successful tactic for solidarity. So all encampments were escalated in various ways in the weeks following this first leap, through a hunger strike in Maastricht, disruption of meetings in Eindhoven, blocking roads in Wageningen and occupations of buildings in Groningen and Nijmegen. There were also militant demonstrations in The Hague and Amsterdam in which the police was directly confronted by students who were able to push through the police blockade as they fought the police.
Parallel to the university occupations, so-called “People’s Universities” were also set up in Amsterdam, a unique mix between the Amsterdam squatters’ movement and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement. Here, premises were squatted and opened to everyone to participate in workshops on Palestine. The current premises of this group of squatters is located in Osdorp in the street Tussen Meer, 85.
Despite the successes of the first wave of the student intifada in the Netherlands, we must be realistic, it was a wave that also came down. During this wave of actions, we saw an unprecedented repression by the State. Which is a consequence of the general trend towards to the right of the State apparatus in the Netherlands and what can be seen more broadly in all the imperialist countries of western Europe.
Here is an eyewitness report from one of the attendees who we will remain anonymous for privacy and security reasons:
“In May, Janskerkhof 15 (a building of the University of Utrecht) was occupied by students and Lecturers, the building was surrounded by the support demo and soon the Police and anti-riot police showed up. It was also clear that officers in plain clothes were walking around. The action was peaceful despite the large number of officers. Finally Anton Pijpers, top executive of the University, came surrounded by cops. He asked the students to leave, or harsh action would be taken. This while claiming he did not know about police violence on his OWN CAMPUS. Around 10 or 11 p.m., a group of those in attendance went around the building to block the arrest bus. They ended up talking to the police several times to have medics look at the arrestees (which included some disabled people) and possibly help them. The police were finally done with this, the anti-riot police and Romeos advanced and the group was attacked. The group split up because of this so I myself came down alone with a handful of protesters after I was pushed over, then I was scolded and kicked in my knee, my knee received multiple blows from the truncheon . I could no longer walk, let alone run, and there was pushing all the time until I could be thrown into an alley. I was soon helped with water by some people sitting at a nearby restaurant and was helped up.”
And this repression was not isolated: organizers are specially singled out every demonstration and quickly plucked off the streets by police after the demonstration, what is really kidnapping, after which they are often humiliated, isolated and mistreated by police (mainly when it comes to refugees, women, people of color, Muslims and disabled people).
In recent months, hundreds of people have been arrested and sentenced to as much as 2 months in jail, and activists have been harassed on several occasions with higher prison sentences. This pressure on top of the normal pressure of organizing actions, is on a relatively small group of organizers caused a lot of burnout. There were also a lot fewer actions during the summer, especially after universities closed for the Summer (except for the Wageningen encampment which has been around for over 105 days).
The last good action to be highlighted is the blockade of the military base Kromhout. Although not about a university occupation, this action cannot be separated from the occupations, in tactics and style. This blockade started with a relatively large demonstration in Utrecht that was opposing the police towards the headquarters of the Dutch army. Here they latched onto the fence and climbed the roof: the Al-Jaouni encampment from now on. After police repression failed, a camp was also set up, and for 3 days the entrance to the military base was blocked so trucks could not enter. In this action a qualitative step was made by the movement: it was recognized that the repression of Palestine as a country does not stand alone, but is part of the imperialist system that also brings war and repression to Sudan, Kurdistan, West Papua and the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean islands. Finally, this blockade was not ended until 5:00 a.m. on a Tuesday, with thus several days in which goods could not enter the base. Which still made the action a success.
In the 100 days of actions, these protests have brought much to fruition, in addition to the clear solidarity to the Palestinian people, several high schools have ended collaborations with Israel, such as the Royal Academy of Arts. Several departments at Nijmegen University have also actively expressed support for the boycott. This brings us to today, on the eve of the next wave of the student intifada, in which we would like to call for certain changes in our practice as activists. The genocide in Gaza is still in full swing and our solidarity with the Palestinian resistance must be clear and strong.
Increasingly we see students willing to go further to take action in solidarity with Palestine, students building barricades where bulldozers are needed to remove them, protesters directly confronting police and military bases being blocked. It is also often linked to other countries fighting for national liberation and against imperialism, for example, flags of the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean islands, Kurdistan, Yemen, Ireland and Congo are soon flown during actions by the masses. The struggle is seen as a fight against Zionism in general and no longer just against the regime of Netanyahu and his gang of fellow criminals such as Yolav Galant and Ben Gvir. The social democrat’s only problem with Israel is the government, so we see that social democrat and opportunist Frans Timmermans was asked in Hilversum by activists if he still stood behind his statement where he said that Palestinians would have a “culture of death” and that we would have a “culture of life.” He also advocated the so-called “Palestinian Authority,” an entity that is nothing more than a long arm of Israel and regularly allows Zionist terrorists onto its soil to make life even more difficult for Palestinians and is unpopular with the people of Palestine.
The PCPSR (The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research; translator’s note) says the following about confidence towards the palestinian authority:
“A majority of 69% (compared to 65% three months ago) believe the PA has become a burden to the Palestinian people and only 27% (compared to 27% three months ago) believe it is an asset to the Palestinian people.”
PCPSR says the following about how palestinians view armed struggle in contrast to pacifist Timmermans’ statements:
“54% think ‘armed struggle’ is the most effective means to end the Israeli occupation, 25% think negotiations are most effective, and 16% think nonviolent resistance is most effective.”
During the first encampment of students in the Netherlands on UVA’s Roeterseiland Campus, social democrat Femke Halsema also came under fire from the students. It was because of her order that the anti-riot police went to intervene to put down the protest. Her complete disregard for the right to demonstrate and multiple reports of beatings by her henchmen lead to one of the demands of the students becoming the immediate resignation of Halsema as mayor of the Municipality of Amsterdam. This is an example of the ideological developments the students have had. In late last year, it started with “Cease fire now”, the slogans have been changed to “Liberation now” and “resistance is justified”, so from this it is clear that activists for a large part, although it is not yet the majority, not only demand cease fire and an end to the genocidal offensive against Gaza, but stand behind the Palestinian people to complete liberation.
What we also see all the time is that students come into action together with their teachers. Come into action together against the universities. Teachers who stand together behind their stundents and call on their bosses to break the ties with israel. They also were victims of the violence of the police of course on the orders of mayors and universities. This shows a larger trend in the Netherlands where the always existing gap between the people and the Dutch State, but also to the so-called “leftist” and “progressive” reformist parties and organizations that are showing their true sides, as reactionary forces that would fail the Palestinian cause if they were to gain seats.
Despite the positive aspects of the last few months, it is crucial that we grow as a movement and recognize and resolve our mistakes. Certain mistakes in the movement make us less effective, and put people at risk more than we should. In our opinion, the biggest mistakes in the movement are due to undemocratic anarchism, and a low ideological level.
Encampments and the whole movement are mostly organized on an anarchist basis, mainly in Utrecht and Amsterdam. This means that often either decisions are made too slowly, or decisions are made on an individual level. The reason for this is that, because of the anarchist tendency among the organizers, there is an idea that there should be no leaders in movements. So decisions are often made collectively with all participants, this often creates broad bases of support for actions, and this is generally very positive. But demonstrations and encampments often require quick decisions, and at the collective meetings no leaders are chosen, so this often leads to two extremes, the action is headless and falls apart, or an individual or group of individuals takes the lead, both of which lead to poor outcomes (Mao writes about this form of organizing as a big mistake in his short piece ” Combat liberalism”). In our view, effective leadership is needed on actions.
This was evident at the demonstration at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science on June 6. The demonstration was combative with a direct confrontation against the police. When we were blocked, we pushed through as a collective, but when we pushed the police aside there was no person or group that could take the lead with a new plan when the ministry was closed. We got surrounded by the police and were chased down the road and had no plan. Then there was a long discussion with the group about what action we would do, but this only led to an hours-long delay and a small sit in at The Hague Central Station. This one extreme is then mirrored by a demonstration on May 27. through Amsterdam, here there was a militant march through the city, but also without leadership. So one person was able to get the march along the Kalverstraat, the Kalverstraat is a terrible street for this kind of demonstration, as soon the march was surrounded and several comrades were injured by the police. Whether this person was an inexperienced protester or a police infiltrator is irrelevant, the structure of the demonstration made this possible. Often at demonstrations and encampments similar leading actions are also taken by individuals, but this is essentially undemocratic, there is no way of checking on the people making these impactful decisions.
There is often a false conception of leadership as inherently authoritarian and hindering the movement. But it is precisely by choosing leadership in collective meetings that it is possible for this leadership to have legitimacy, represent the group and act quickly, correctly. When mistakes are made, there is also immediately a clear group of people responsible who can be criticized. If leadership is not clearly thought of as a necessary part of actions to be chosen, there will be spontaneous leadership that takes the lead in crisis situations, often leading to ineffective resistance as in the above examples. Often this is also done precisely in encampments and there are good logistics with organizers with legitimacy taking the lead for actions. An example of this was the organization at the Kromhout barracks where a camp could be set up (while arrests were expected first), or just the first day the fact how occupations could be set up in a few hours, and also at the last student demonstration last school year, feedback was actively demanded after the demonstration after mostly poor communication during the action. These forms of leadership, of democratic centralism should be expanded next year.
Another “flaw” we see in the movement is a general low ideological awareness, and this is the result of a young movement that for many young people is the first time they are politically active. In particular, there is little knowledge about imperialism; various vague liberal ideas often play a role in the movement that do not address the problem at its core: imperialism. The genocide in Palestine is a result of the policy of the imperialist world hegemon, America, and the struggle being waged in Palestine is also a struggle against imperialism and thus capitalism as a world system. There is also often a naive pacifist image among demonstrators about what resistance in Palestine should look like. This often leads to an abhorrence of the armed struggle or the specific form it takes in Gaza under the leadership of Hamas and the entire resistance. But if we really want to show solidarity to the Palestinian people, it can be not only with the bodies of the fallen, but also with the weapons and rockets they send in resistance to this. The colonialism of Israel does not listen to the words and demonstrations of the Palestinians, only the weapon can liberate them.
With both ideological positions we generally see an improvement, for example with the Kromhout Barracks occupation the oppression of Palestine was seen as part of the imperialist oppression of many more countries. And also more and more pro resistance slogans are being shouted at militant demonstrations. These trends are positive, and must be carried forward in the movement.
The goal of the communists in these movements should be to raise the collective ideological level and class consciousness, and we are already seeing small steps forward here in the links being drawn with other anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggles.
It will make the Palestine solidarity movement more effective in opposing Israeli influence in the Netherlands. Their class consciousness will increase, allowing them to better understand the Limitations of boycotts, protests and reforms. And show the path to true liberation, which path is that of revolutionary socialism.
The movement has problems, namely in organization and ideology, but we believe they will be solved, and these actions give great hope. We will do everything we can to continue to strengthen the Palestinian solidarity movement, in the streets and ideologically. We must continue to fight until Palestine is freed from oppression, and the socialist revolution is achieved. The masses make history, and Zionism is a paper tiger in crisis, which will be defeated.
Long live the Palestinian resistance!
Long live the student intifada!
It’s right to rebel!
