Students In The Hague Give Me Life

It feels weird to see a protest work (kind-of).

Special thanks to my wife for getting to the event way before me, and finding most of the follow-up material before I’d even finished my coffee.

It feels weird to see a protest work. Pro-Palestine student demonstrators at Leiden University's Hague campus took to the streets on 16 May. The school sort-of listened (“sort-of” doing a lot of work). UPDATE: There’s been disagreement, and they’re back at it 24 hours, later.

I don’t think I need to remind anyone about what’s happening in the US right now, regarding campus occupations and anti-genocide protests.

I also probably don’t need to tell anyone about what’s been going on in The Netherlands, politically.

Found, appropriately, in a public transit toilet.

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I was notified by my wife that our usual path was blocked by something that’s become a pretty regular occurrence since moving to The Hague in March: an anti-genocide/pro-Palestine/pro-Gaza protest.

The Demonstration

The demonstration in particular was part of an ongoing struggle between the Leiden University student body and what they view as unacceptable behavior by the institution itself.

Without much need seen for opsec, it largely looked to be organized via various Instagram groups. Despite being public, I wanted to do my best to not share the groups themselves, as the students are still using them to organize at this very moment (as demonstrations have moved to Leiden proper today).

The videos and images were captured on mine or my spouse's phones. I have opted not to obscure anyone’s faces, as there was only one confirmed incident of a physical altercation with the police (shown below, with obfuscation), and no documented wrongdoing by the protestors.

This video is one of the ones off of one of the organizations’ Instagram profiles. I'm sharing it because it's the only documented physical confrontation that I'm aware of as of 1500 on 17th May.

The school has done a decent job of documenting things on their end. You can read about it here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). It gets much more specific regarding specific documents and negotiations. However, be aware of their biases.

The Students' Complaints and Demands

Leiden University For Palestine submitted a formal letter of complaint, addressed to the University Executive board.

You can see the full document HERE (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

In the document, the complaints amount to the following:

The University has a neutral stance: The university's stated "neutral" position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is seen as tacit approval of Israeli actions, effectively normalizing and shielding these actions.

The University has demonstrated selective empathy: The university's public statements focused on Israel-based students, ignoring the experiences of Palestinian students and their families.

They are accusing the university of censorship: The students point to past cancellations of panels on apartheid and other issues related to Palestine allegedly indicates suppression of academic freedom and institutional racism.

The letter accuses Leiden of hypocrisy: The university's inconsistency in addressing other conflicts (like Ukraine) while remaining neutral on Palestine.

This is what they want from the school:

1. Condemn Israeli Violence: Explicitly condemn the Israeli occupation, call for a ceasefire, and end the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

2. Transparency: Disclose and terminate any unethical links with Israeli institutions and lobbies, complying with the Freedom of Information Act.

3. End Collaborations: Abolish all partnerships with Israeli institutions, as part of the boycott and divestment movement.

4. Support Palestinian Students: Provide scholarships and academic resources to Palestinian students.

5. End Selective Empathy: Create a safer environment by ending institutional hypocrisy and actively supporting Palestinian voices.

6. Facilitate Dialogue: Promote academic discussions and knowledge sharing about the situation in Palestine, reflecting the university's values against all forms of oppression.

7. Solidarity and Action: Urge the university community to support the Palestinian struggle and pressure the university to cut ties with Israeli settler colonialism.

The Response

And… it looks like the school listened!? At least to some degree. As of my writing this, protests have resumed, and I’m still trying to find out why.

However, it does look like there has been a start (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Leiden University has recently received various petitions from students and staff concerning our ties with Israeli universities. We have also held extensive discussions with the University Council in response to questions raised on the subject. We think it important that our partners and research projects reflect our values and respect human rights, equality, academic freedom and integrity. We therefore need an ethical assessment framework similar to the one for collaboration with the fossil fuel industry.

Yes, the fossil fuel industry, which has had its own can of worms associated with it.

However, the measures taken can be summarized with the following:

1. Ethical Assessment Framework:

   • Developing a framework to ensure partnerships align with values of human rights, equality, and academic freedom, and they specifically cite the one it has for fossil fuel collaborations.

2. Transparency:

   • Publicly sharing information about ties with Israeli universities and involvement in 11 EU projects, with no further student exchanges with Israeli partner schools until an evaluation is conducted.

3. Evaluation of Collaborations:

   • Forming a broad committee to review all new and existing collaborations, especially regarding human rights violations and misuse of research for military purposes.

   • Establishing an ad hoc committee for immediate ethical assessments, involving the University Council.

4. Science Diplomacy:

   • Maintaining academic relationships to support critical voices and contributing to Gaza's long-term reconstruction in science and education.

   • Exploring support for students and scholars from conflict areas.

5. Community Engagement:

   • Keeping the university community informed, ensuring inclusive discussions, and creating a safe environment for all members regardless of background.

The Little Mindfuck

Okay, I was going to write this section about how I was surprised that it seemed to…work? I want to praise the students for having specific goals in mind, and going for them, using both solidarity and formalized institutional structures to try and make this campaign work. However, as mentioned before, it doesn’t seem like all is well with the world:

I’ll do my best to monitor the situation as I can.

It’s been a little bit of a mindfuck, moving to such a politically charged city (the city of Justice and Peace, after-all). It’s home to the International Criminal Court, the Dutch Parliament, the International Court of Justice, and numerous NGOs.

I NEED TO EMPHASIZE THAT THE FOLLOWING IMAGES WERE NOT RELATED TO THE PROTEST MENTIONED ABOVE:

It’s an extra layer on top of it, living here as an immigrant—not as an exchange student, but as a semi-permanent resident.

Now, take all of that, and add to it that I have, despite being in my thirties, never attended a protest before. Part of this was the stupidity of “enlightened centrism” in my early adulthood, and then eventually being in the military made it more-or-less illegal to attend demonstrations until I got out just a couple of months ago.

It’s all weird and new to me (like Mutual Aid, affinity groups, and genuinely feeling like there’s a community out there). There’s also some guilt behind the idea of should I be protesting in a country that I’m still technically a visitor in?

But, as I see these students, mostly a decade-ish my junior, hitting the road for innocent Palestinians, I can’t help but feel a little heartened.

Oh shit, and this is all about to intersect with Hague Pride. Looking forward to what my life has in store for me.