On The March

 

Lately in The Netherlands there has been a proposal from the ruling government to cut over €1 billion from higher education. Understandably it's in my interest (and both my parents are teachers, so...) as a university student to speak up against this, so last Monday I joined a busload of other concerned HZ'ers to protest this new budget. 

Kerék and a hastily made sign. My board read, in block letters: "Education Is Empowering". 

Though first some explanation is in order. The Dutch government is an exceptionally complex system, and even I have just a misty understanding of it all. There are about a dozen major political parties, who can all win seats in the House of Representatives, de tweede kamer. These representatives then must form a ruling coalition, strategically based on party-lines and wheelin' and dealin. 

The far-right coalition at the moment is in favor of bezuiningen, or cuts to funding for colleges and universities, to spend more on defense and economic stimulus. (though they also plan to invest in green energy and enshrine animal rights in the constitution... a mixed bag!) Currently, they only have control of the tweede kamer and not the eerste kamer, the Senate. So while it's unlikely that these cuts will be approved in the 2025 budget, the very mention of them is enough to get Dutch students and teachers out protesting. 

My friend Juan and I in the crowd. We were right next to the loudspeakers for maximum visibility; so everyone was a little bit deaf afterwards. 

Around 30 other students from the HZ had time to escape Middelburg for the day and travel two hours to Den Haag, the administrative capital of The Netherlands. (Amsterdam is just for show) Since we only have about 8 hours of daylight this time of year; half the day was spent on the bus and the other half at the protest. 

Beyond this; there's not too much to say: we listen to a few speakers in Dutch and English, made the national news, and did a short march around the city. I heard 20,000 as the official estimate for the size of this crowd, so hopefully this made an impact on the proceedings over at the Binnenhof (Dutch equivalent of the US Capitol building)

The crowd outside the tweede kamer.

We lucky students also got oliebollen as a snack; this delightful fried donut-like treat is eaten around the holidays here. Think of beignets, and that's what they essentially are, optionally with raisins and powdered sugar. Very unhealthy, very delicious. Literal translation: "oil balls"

These pop-up stands are found in every city square this time of year. What could the Dubaibollen be???

Protesting complete, we returned to Middelburg at 6:00. A fine day out and certainly worthy of a blog post, but I still have an agenda point to address: a Q&A post! In hindsight it seems like an obvious thing to do, so now is the time. Post your questions in the comments below this post; and of course I'll notify the old emailing list too. Be interesting, be bold, be funny! I'm curious to see what there is. Until next time!

Unrelated to the protest; but the holidays have really arrived in Middelburg! Cheesemonger for scale.