Old times are coming back. Whereas student protests seem to be rather unique today, they were actually commonplace around 1970. “This manifested itself, among other things, in the occupation of several university buildings,” Brabers reflects. “Although there weren’t any tent camps the way there are now. That’s because at the time, there was no such thing as a campus. In Nijmegen, for example, the various University buildings were far apart. Today, those buildings are closer together, and separated by lawns. As a result, there is now literally space to set up a protest camp at a central location.”
From student participation to global themes
There is a reason why Brabers specifically mentions Nijmegen, the University where the first students in the Netherlands protested by occupying the University Auditorium for one day in October 1968. “These protests were inspired by protests in major cities abroad, such as Tokyo, Berlin, and Paris,” Brabers explains. “A difference with today's situation is that those protests weren’t about issues from outside the University. Whereas the current protests focus on the conflict in Gaza, the students of the time wanted more democracy within the University. They demanded a say in all kinds of issues related to research and teaching. After that first occupation day in 1968, a second occupation followed in Nijmegen in the spring of 1969, this time lasting several weeks, during which the auditorium was converted into a ‘permanent discussion centre’. In the Netherlands, this turned out to be a prelude to the famous student occupation of the Maagdenhuis in Amsterdam, which was ended by police intervention in May of the same year.”
But the student protests were nevertheless successful: the Dutch government adopted the University Administration Reform Act in 1970. This led to all Dutch universities instituting university and faculty councils and departments, which were given various powers and to which students could be democratically elected. In practice, this change did not happen without a struggle: professors did not simply give up their old powers, and not all new rules were adhered to. “In the early 1970s, new student protests were organised here and there, with students demanding the appointment of Marxist professors,” Brabers continues. “This mainly led to occupations at social sciences’ departments, including a large-scale occupation in Nijmegen in the spring of 1973, lasting nearly four months. In addition, after 1970 and in the wake of the protests, various socialist student unions emerged that officially championed the leftist cause, but in fact mostly fought among themselves. From then on, global themes also increasingly appeared in student protests. For example, there were student protest groups against dictatorships in South America and nuclear power, as well as for the squatting movement, and the emancipation of women and homosexuals.”
Differences and similarities
Looking at the current protests, Brabers sees a number of differences and similarities. “The protests around 1970 focused on several democratisation issues, while today's protests revolve around one issue so far: Gaza. The 1970s’ protests also attracted a larger following. For example, during the first occupations in the late 1960s, there were sometimes as many as 1,500 students meeting in the auditorium. A similarity with the current protests is that some students are clearly taking the lead, and ultimatums are being issued to the Executive Board. Another parallel with the past is that now too, some lecturers – perhaps even more than then – are joining the student protests. They applaud the students’ activism and their wish to think with the world, as long as the protests don’t involve vandalism.”
Breeding ground for idealism
According to Brabers, it is understandable that students feel the need to improve the situation in the world. “Students inherently carry a kind of promise: they are young, intelligent, and they want to do something with their lives and for the world. Moreover, they sense that they are the generation that will have to face important responsibilities in the future. That realisation forms a breeding ground from which idealism emerges. In the 1970s, as now, the student protests were mostly led by students from the social sciences, theology, and philosophy: study programmes in which human and social views provided direction. Compared to other students, philosophy students, for example, were best equipped in the ideological struggle to articulate, express, and give direction to Marxism.”
Following a flurry of student protests in the 1970s, the protests subsided in the early 1980s. One of the last large-scale protests of this period was the protest against the introduction of the Two-Phase Structure: a structural reduction in study time. After that protest, there were occasional small-scale protests, such as against the increase in tuition fees or plans to abolish certain disciplines. Over the years, according to Brabers, the study landscape changed considerably: students had less time for activities outside their studies due to the shorter study time.
Looking back, one question that arises is whether students were always on the ‘right side’ of history with their protests. Brabers does not believe that this is a fruitful inquiry. “By talking about a right side of history, you automatically imply that there is also a wrong side. I think the danger of mass protests is that an activist group claims to have the moral high ground. This eliminates any nuance: after all, concepts like right and wrong have never been an adequate description of living reality. What we do know for sure is that the 1970 generation of students had an impact on society with their social engagement. Think of the introduction of legal aid and medical centres in neighbourhoods. This gave every citizen free and access to legal assistance and healthcare. The position of women has also improved, partly thanks to student protests. Bit by bit, ideas from the time have become commonplace, and are now taken for granted. This was achieved thanks in part to the efforts of students.”