“We view our experiences from Poland as a lesson that we should always protect the right to protest”
Polish UvA-students are disappointed in the response of the UvA on the Palestine demonstrations. “This way of conducting politics is not something we had ever expected from the Netherlands.”
When in 2020 the Polish Constitutional Tribunal published a ruling effectively banning abortion, Poland and the whole of Europe held its breath watching the then-ruling Law and Justice Party’s response to a sudden liberal spur which rocked our society. It was clear from the outset that the authoritarian nature of the government together with available tools in the form of COVID-19 gathering regulations would not make protesting easy. As high-school students we thought that no democratic government could go further than what we saw happen in our homeland back in 2020. The same was true for us, our families, friends, and teachers when we marched for LGBTQ+ rights, climate action, or the rule of law under the very same oppressive government.
For many of us the Netherlands was a place where we thought this could not happen, a place where we could feel safe as women, LGBTQ+ people, as supporters of democracy and human rights. During classes in high school, meeting with public figures and politicians, we so often raised the Netherlands as an example of openness, democracy, and rule of law. With this very hope we moved here with the aim of further strengthening and supporting the Dutch civil and democratic society.
What we have experienced in the last few days in Amsterdam has utterly shattered that vision of the Netherlands we shared just weeks ago. The scale of distaste expressed by Dutch politicians towards protesting students and staff feels all too reminiscent of our previous government’s hate-speech towards women and the LGBTQ+ community. The outgoing Minister of Justice and Security, Dilan Yeşilgöz, calling protesters ‘puur tuig’ (‘pure scum/thugs’) fits with what we experienced when a Law and Justice spokeswoman compared women protesting for their rights to ‘stadium hooligans’.
This way of conducting politics is not something we had ever expected from the Netherlands. It feels like students, who often base their beliefs on the critical education and deep understanding of global problems provided by the UvA, are denied their right to speak up.
As young Poles, we know the value of the right to protest and free expression. With our parents and grandparents experiencing the authoritarian rule of the Polish People’s Republic and later us experiencing the far-right rule of Law and Justice. The right to protest has been fundamental in changes which happened in Poland, both in the 20th and the 21st century. It was through large-scale action, with tactics often way more aggressive than Amsterdam’s protests’, that Poland managed, time and time again, to strive for justice and democracy. This fundamental understanding of protest as a tool for awareness, mobilisation, and eventually change is something we are sad to see lacking amongst UvA’s Executive Board, the municipality of Amsterdam, and large parts of the Dutch political establishment. Further, the unprecedented violence unleashed against protesting students and staff, with the consent of UvA’s Executive Board and the city of Amsterdam, terrifies us. We have walked hand in hand during Poland’s women’s rights protests, climate marches, democracy rallies, and yet, even under despotic rule, we have not seen this level of violence and abuse of power. All the more drastic through the fact that at the receiving end of police batons, tear gas, and bulldozers stood UvA students and staff - those who the university should protect and empower.
During the first eight weeks of protests for women’s rights in Poland in 2020, around a total of 80 people have been arrested or detained. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in these demonstrations, with a singular protest in Warsaw on 30 October bringing together around 100,000 people. Earlier the same year, when protests erupted after an arrest of an LGBTQ+ activist, Margot, 48 people were arrested in total, with a few hundred people attending. These protests happened across many cities, some of which were controlled by the Law and Justice party, during lockdown, with the police being in full power to arrest people on charges of breaking COVID-19 rules. Yet somehow, these two instances of demonstrations which went directly against the line of an undemocratic government resulted in ‘only’ 126 detentions or arrests. Meanwhile, during a single day Amsterdam police, on the night of 7 May, have violently arrested 169 students, with further arrests of 32 arrests a day later. Meanwhile many were brutally beaten, pepper-sprayed, and manhandled - also in Utrecht. Over 200 arrests and many brutal assaults in the span of 2 days in a country which we, Poles, used to see as inspiration for the rule of law.
We wish to stand in solidarity and support with those suffering under the conditions of the genocide currently happening in Gaza. To this end, we believe it essential that the UvA, Amsterdam, and the Dutch Government ensure that those supporting the plight of Palestinians can do so without the threat of state violence. We view our experiences from Poland as a lesson and a warning that we should always safeguard the right to protest, ensure the safety of those expressing their opinions, and refrain from hateful rhetoric and brute force. The actions which we see taken, by decision of the UvA and the city of Amsterdam, endanger the public safety, and most importantly the safety of Amsterdam’s students and academic staff. We call on the UvA and the city to fulfil their obligation towards students, academic staff, and residents and ensure the safety of those protesting - for our and Palestine’s freedom.
Signed,
· Alicja Bejm, Political Science, UvA
· Mateusz Bełz, Sociology, UvA
· Antonina Białobrzeska, VAV - Moving Image, Rietveld Academie
· Katarzyna Bielak, Sociology, Human Geography and Planning, UvA
· Małgorzata Czachowska, Humanities, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Ksawery Dutkiewicz, Ancient Studies, UvA
· Wiktoria Dworzak, Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Zuzanna Dzierzędzka, Humanities, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Franciszek Dziduch, Humanities, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Bartosz Fingas, Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, UvA
· Karolina Galli, Humanities, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Katarzyna Gęsicka, Biological Sciences: Ecology and Evolution, UvA
· Jagoda Hanuszewicz, Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Ania Kazimierczak, Sociology, UvA
· Tomek Klaver, European Studies, UvA
· Julia Kowalczyk, Social Sciences, UvA
· Michalina Loch, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Krzysztof Ludwiczak, Human Geography and Planning, UvA
· Jagoda Łęgiewicz, Psychology, UvA
· Julia Łukuć, Humanities, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Amelia Malinowska, Political Science, UvA
· Lena Niedaszkowska, Political Science, UvA
· Jakub Orłowski, Sociology, UvA
· Zofia Pogorzelec, Economics & Business Economics, UvA
· Zuzanna Potoniec, Humanities, Global Arts Culture and Politics, UvA
· Maciej Saja, Human Geography and Planning, Economics and Business Economics, UvA
· Emilia Sternik, European Studies, UvA
· Karolina Szymanowska-Dao, Computational Social Science, UvA
· Axl Szyszko, Social Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, UvA
· Antoni Tymiński, Political Science, UvA
· Maciej Żabiński, Psychology, UvA
