We will be joining the Compensatieprotest at Museumsplein. Not only because we ourselves suffer the consequences of student loans, or because we cannot afford to study ourselves but also because the neoliberal status quo of Dutch universities has to be fundamentally challenged! It has become normalised that our universities are functioning in a profit generating manner. Students serve hereby merely as a source of income, and are therefore subject to commodification. There are no spaces on campuses for us to freely come together and organise politically. Surveillance has become normalised and serious politcally critical study environments are a thing of the past.
Studying in the Netherlands is not accessible for a vast majority of the society, which cannot be solved by the proposed diversity management of the neoliberal university. In order to study successfully a financially stable background is required under todays capitalist system. Not having this background implies a high pressure on individual students which increases likelyhood of unhealthy behavior patterns, consequently depression rates are higher then ever amongst students. Housing is vastly unavailable for people with little money, this includes students. Instead, if anything, we are offered temporary rooms from the privatised housing sector which are equally unaffordable without relying on government loans. The shitty student jobs we are supposed to help ourselves with, next to the study load imposed on us, barely gets the money for our rent together. If students are capable of finding housing it tends to be far away from the campus. The public transport, however, is expenisive as never before and presents yet another financially challenging if not impossible burden, whilst it should be our right to be capable of reaching the campus. The cafeterias on the campus are a bad joke, the food is overpriced and provided by private financial interest, and therefore a meal not guaranteed for most students. Studying, however, should not be a luxury good for the rich but accessible to everyone.
Therefore we will be joining this Compensatieprotest to not only focus on this issue, but beyond this challenge the depolitisation of the University. We call for a new antagonistic anti-capitalist student movement to arise and demand:
- Free Education for everyone
- Free and Healthy Food on Campus
- Free Public Transport for everyone
- Free Housing
- Decolonise the university
- Unconditional Financial Student Support
- Cancel all debts
Join the Autonomous Student Block!
Autonomous Student Struggle