INC stands in solidarity with ReThink Uva and Uva Rebellion. This is ReThink Uva’s statement:
ReThink UvA is the main action group of UvA staff members formed in solidarity with the Maagdenhuis occupation of 2015. Many of us remain active in the formal and informal politics of the University. With this statement we wish to firmly condemn the CvB’s decision to call the police on the protesting students. We also wish to express our support for the demands of the activists from UvA Rebellion, Mokum Kraakt, and the other action groups.
The tiny BG4 building which was occupied had been closed since July. One of the activists’ demands was to have an autonomous space for students and staff to discuss decarbonization, decolonization, and democratization. BG4 would have been ideal for that, at virtually no cost. The CvB claimed to be interested in open debate with the action groups, yet in the same breath chose to file a criminal complaint, knowing full well that this would trigger a brutal riot police intervention. We find the CvB’s actions inexcusable, and their rhetoric hypocritical. The CvB talks the talk of a democratic community, but walks the walk of a greedy private landlord. This is no basis on which to genuinely debate anything.
The CvB learned from the 2015 Maagdenhuis occupation that an autonomous space in which students and staff can come together to discuss how the University is run is a threat to their grip on power. This CvB broke a promise by ignoring the results of the reform referendum held in 2016, and then violently repressed all related protests in subsequent years. For our part, we will continue to support efforts to remake the University into a community of self-governing students and scholars.
Onwards!
-ReThink UvA