Amsterdam Encampment, organizer of the occupations: “We will not stop”
Action group Amsterdam Encampment is the organizer of the pro-Palestinian occupations at the UvA. UvA student Sam van der Beek explains how the occupation group operates. “We are united in that we want to stop genocide. The rest doesn’t matter.”
For months, tents have been popping up at random moments on the UvA campus. Here and there this was succeeded by an occupation, invariably followed by an eviction by the ME and disappointed reactions from faculty and students to the police violence used.
Amsterdam Encampment demands that the exchange programs with Israeli universities, which are now inactive because of the war, cease permanently. The group also demands that the eight collaborations published by the UvA with Israeli universities, among others, be terminated immediately. Those projects are funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe project, to which the UvA and Israeli universities contribute.
A group calling itself Amsterdam Encampment announces the protests through their Instagram channel. They want universities to cut ties with Israel which they say contributes to the “genocide of Palestinians.” Sam van der Beek (20), an anthropology student, is a spokesperson for the pro-Palestine group and has been there from its first moment. The organization of Amsterdam Encampment itself, however, remained somewhat shrouded in mystery for a long time.
Who exactly does the occupation group consist of?
“Amsterdam Encampment consists mainly of students from all academic institutions in Amsterdam. Bachelor’s students, master’s students, and PhD students. In groups on WhatsApp and Telegram, different teams of us organize the occupations. Once they have initiated an action, that team publishes it on our channels on Instagram. Then more people, also from outside, join.”
“Exactly who all supports us does not matter to us, as long as they help us in our struggle for the Palestinians and in breaking ties with Israeli institutions. So they can be people from completely different backgrounds, squatters, or people in black. We are united in that we want to stop genocide. The rest doesn’t matter.”
So during the small occupation of REC-B last Friday, there were again more than 20 people walking around completely in black. Isn’t it dangerous that you will then soon not know exactly who is walking around your encampment?
“First, I would like to say that I, and many with me, would also prefer that we all protest openly and exposed. I myself protest without face coverings for a reason. But we have also seen demonstrators who have shouted innocent slogans, for example, on Dam Square, then at another demonstration through camera footage and photos from weeks back suddenly get brutally arrested for that innocent chanting. That’s why I understand that more and more of us are starting to feel compelled to cover our faces or our entire bodies.”
“The limit of our actions, however, is that we never want to use violence against individuals. For example, once when we found out that some individuals might want to use violence against people, they were sent away from the camp. But we also feel that our responsibility primarily entails setting up the occupation, and does not extend to the actions of people joining from different sides.”
“Even on May 6th, when the occupation of the meadow near Roeterseiland started, there was never any intention to use violence. We built barricades as a precaution to create our own ‘campus.’ We deliberately left one entrance open so that emergency services could enter the grounds. And in fact, the bricks that might later have been thrown at the police during the evacuation were initially intended solely for fencing.”
“The atmosphere - apart from the onslaught of pro-Israeli rioters - was simply pleasant, both that first Monday and at the Binnengasthuisterrein, where a camp was set up on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal and where the former Academic Club was occupied. It all flipped when the police were repeatedly sent after us.”
In a letter in Trouw, Dutch universities said they “never break ties with a country unless the central government mandates it.” The rectors think it is important that Israeli researchers remain able to have free and open conversations, without us isolating them. Do you understand their point?
“Free debate is not at all possible at Israeli universities in any case. Israeli scholar Maya Wind reports in her book that Jewish students who speak out at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, for example, are gagged by the university or the government. Palestinian students in Israel who stand for election to student councils are kidnapped, detained, and tortured or simply go missing. Also, under the 2011 Nakba law, Israel can cut off funding to Israeli universities if the existence of the ‘democratic Jewish state’ is even ‘questioned.’”
“A university that has ties to universities that contribute to that genocide should instead be ahead of the curve and not be a cowardly plaything of the government. If the UvA sends funds to Israeli universities, they are simply legitimizing the actions of those universities.”
Is it really that simple to cancel these collaborations overnight? After all, the collaborations run through Horizon Europe, an EU project.
“The funds do indeed run primarily through Horizon Europe, but the UvA can cancel individual collaborations. I suspect that would cost the UvA a lot of money. There are probably contracts attached to the collaborations. But that monetary loss seems worth it to me to make sure that funds from the university don't end up at, say, weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems via such research projects. After all, you can't attach an amount to 37,000 Gazans killed. Besides, the UvA was able to cut ties with Russian institutions within 10 days of its invasion of Ukraine.
The UvA organized several roundtables with invited guests and an online meeting for students and staff in June to discuss the ethical framework of collaborations with foreign institutions. These can also be discussed on an online platform starting June 28th. Rector Verbeek says he will make an “interim assessment” this summer. For Amsterdam Encampment, this is not enough. According to the action group, the UvA is still avoiding direct action by holding roundtable discussions. “The war is now!” said Van der Beek. An agreed-upon citizens' meeting with students was ‘paused’ by the UvA last week due to actions by Amsterdam Encampment at the Science Park.
The question remains for many outsiders: To make that point clear, must there be so much destruction during the demonstrations and occupations?
“Sure, I wish it weren't necessary to spray graffiti on walls or make barricades out of sidewalks to draw attention to our cause. But we spent seven months trying to make our point continuously through walk-outs, petitions, open letters, and discussions.”
“The UvA Board simply never wanted to listen to what we had to say. Nowhere did it show that it even cared about the lives of 37,000 Palestinian dead. In the end, UvA administrators appeared to care more about possessions than human lives. So yes, I sincerely understood the frustration of students who demolished things.”
More than once, occupiers claim that institutions or individuals are “Zionists,” a term some Jewish students denounce as anti-Semitic. Do you understand that?
“Everyone by now has assigned a different meaning to such an emotionally charged term as ‘Zionism.’ By ‘anti-Zionism,’ we do not mean that a state where Jewish people live, or are in the majority, should not exist.”
“Our concept of ‘anti-Zionism’ is directed against the - as we say – ‘Zionist’ project to exclude Palestinians, the genocide by Israel, and the apartheid state it is today. Those who support that are called ‘Zionists.’ What one - or more - states should look like in the future is what we should talk about in the future, but it starts first with an end to apartheid by the Israeli government.”
“So we are not targeting Jews. At least a quarter of the people who speak during the occupations are also Jewish. Our slogans are directed solely against the State of Israel, and many Jewish groups participate in our actions. To equate anti-Israel slogans one to one with anti-Semitism is to discriminate by lumping all Jews together.”
Ultimately, is the connection to Israel even an issue for a CoE? Shouldn't you be protesting on Malieveld against the attitude of the Dutch government?
“It is not like we do not also protest nationwide. The occupations exist alongside the actions we participate in nationwide. But we pay tuition to the UvA, which enables their policies. So our way to fight genocide is through the institutions we are involved in. And we will not stop actions until the ties are severed by our university.”
“So although we are currently protesting the genocide against Palestinians, in the future we will be just as likely to protest cooperation with genocidal Chinese institutions. It doesn't stop at Gaza.”
