Actions against the new government: “It’s like closing an entire university”
The incoming government is cutting nearly a billion euros a year from higher education, research, and students. That is the budget of one large university, warns platform WOinAction.
There are substantial cuts in the agreement of the four upcoming coalition parties. The total amount amounts to almost one billion euros per year. By comparison, in 2022 the benefits of the University of Amsterdam were around that amount.
“If you cut that much it comes down to closing one big university or two or three smaller ones,” said Rens Bod of WOinAction.
This platform has been fighting for years to increase the research budget by one billion euros per year. When the previous cabinet took office, it seemed to have succeeded. Says Bod: “We proclaimed victory.”
Consequences
Now he is announcing new actions in cooperation with unions. They want to show the consequences of the cuts and the importance of education and research. “I’ll just name a few: research on vaccinations, the teacher shortage, the judge shortage ... these parties also think those things are important,” he said.
He could give countless other examples, but does that make sense? “The radical right has a problematic relationship with education and research,” Bod says. “You would almost wonder: Aare they against new knowledge? We are preparing for aversion to knowledge institutions.”
Geert Wilders recently spoke at a political congress in Hungary, where the freedom of researchers and journalists is under pressure. Does Bod fear Hungarian conditions? “Of course we fear that,” he said. “The signs are not positive. Then you get into the situation where independent journalists and scientists are directly attacked.”
Italy
He sounds more pessimistic (and combative) than the President of the Science Society KNAW, Marileen Dogterom. She does not yet fear Hungarian conditions. In an interview with the HOP, she said, “It is really going too far to say that the entire coalition is directly against science.”
“But the VVD and NSC have agreed to work together with a party that certainly has this tendency,” Bod responded. “You can compromise, but it’s not going in the right direction. We do fear that scientists will get less protection than they did before.”
He suspects it is moving more in the direction of Italy. He points to an opinion piece by Frans Timmermans, party leader of GroenLinks-PvdA, who outlines how the extreme right in Italy erodes the freedom of journalists, writers, and researchers.
Bod says: “Then you get, for example, a researcher calling the government far-right and the government then taking that researcher to court. Especially the social sciences and humanities can get into trouble. It can also happen here.” Wilders recently filed charges against Frans Timmermans.
Arrows
WOinAction is therefore going to mobilize. What strategy the platform chooses also depends on the upcoming minister. Says Bod: “If we know a name, that helps in aiming the arrows.”
It can vary enormously. I’m not going to get my hopes up yet, but it might become somewhat different if there is a minister from VVD or NSC.”
In any case, WOinAction wants to be present at the opening of the new academic year in the city where the minister will also visit. Furthermore, a knowledge festival is in the offing, where researchers will show what they have to offer. Perhaps there will be tougher actions, such as “white strikes” (refusing to work overtime) or education-free days.
But Bod balks at the need to do this. “Thanks to our actions, we had just gotten some relief in recent years that would help ensure quality. That is now in jeopardy again.”
The proposed cuts in the national “sector plans” and a fund for research add up to €365 million a year. Fewer foreign students: €293 million.
The long-study fine for slower students and a cut in the fee for the OV student card for public transportation while studying abroad should generate €312 million a year.
