AAC occupation
On the 16th of January 2023, the Amsterdamse Academische Club (AAC), a building owned by the University of Amsterdam (UvA) was occupied by a coalition of UvA students, including groups such as University Rebellion UvA, who came together in 2020 to encourage universities across the Netherlands to act according to their social responsibility. The intention of the occupation was to apply pressure on the university to fulfill the coalition’s demands: UvA must cut all ties with Shell, become transparent in terms of funding and collaborations with the fossil fuel industry, and for the AAC be turned into an “autonomous space for students and staff to discuss and educate themselves on decolonisation and decarbonisation” (UvA Rebellion).
The building has remained unused since the beginning of July and was thus considered to be “promising as an autonomously and collectively run space, where people could meet, learn and organize away from university’s rotten hierarchies and power structures” (Autonomous Student Struggle). According to University Rebellion, the UvA’s ties with Shell include guest lectures, invitations to career events, funding for student associations, facilitation of internships and visits, and research grants. This, in turn, legitimizes Shell’s actions as ties with institutional academia falsely portrays the company as being ‘socially responsible’, adding to their all-too-recognizable attempts at ‘greenwashing’. During the evening of the occupation, the coalition organized a lineup featuring fun and lighthearted entertainment, encouraging demonstrators to dance and keep warm, as well as speeches and poems about the reason they were all there: the damage caused by the fossil fuel industry and the University’s blatant disregard for this. Unfortunately, a peaceful occupation soon turned violent when the UvA’s executive board (CvB) called the riot police on their own students.
The CvB handles the “general management of the university” and currently consists of Prof. Geert ten Dam, Prof. Peter-Paul Verbeek and Drs. Jan Lintsen. During the demonstration the board made an executive decision to respond by filing a report with the police, knowingly exposing their students to police violence. In the following hours, thirty demonstrators were arrested from inside and outside the premises. Students present at the occupation described the police force as “violent”, “scary” and “unreasonable”, with videos surfacing on social media of police beating demonstrators with batons, pushing them to the ground, and driving into them using police vehicles. It was reported that at least one demonstrator was taken to hospital and many were left with minor injuries and bruising — not to mention the psychological and emotional stress the police inflicted.
Following the eviction, there have been many actions, discussions and general assemblies: rather than deterring protestors, the CvB’s actions fuelled students’ motivation. During subsequent events and open general assemblies, many students and supporters have been seen wearing red felt squares pinned to their clothing. This small scrap of material is a symbol of a much larger international movement. It became emblematic of the 2012 Quebec student protest movement during which thousands of students hit the streets in protest of, among other issues, planned tuition fee increases. The movement was somewhat successful, with their actions leading to a tuition freeze on September 5th 2012.
Another source of inspiration for the AAC occupiers was those who came before them in 2015 when students and staff occupied the Bungehuis and the Maagdenhuis buildings of UvA. The Bungehuis occupation lasted 11 days, from February 13th until February 24th, and the Maagdenhuis occupation lasted from February 25th until April 11th. Although some remember the 2015 occupations as having ‘failed’, a week following the eviction of the Maagdenhuis occupation, the chair of the CvB resigned. However, at the time, the occupiers (known as The New University), did not feel their demands were sufficiently attended to by the CvB.
Students present at the occupation described the police force as “violent”, “scary” and “unreasonable”,
To end on a somewhat brighter note, on February 8th 2023, the UvA announced a moratorium on research with Shell, announcing that “the UvA will not enter into research collaborations with Shell or similar companies for the time being.” Albeit only a small win, it is a win nonetheless!
“A small step for humanity, one giant leap for the UvA executive board”
(UvA Rebellion).