My Thoughts on the Student Protests in The Hague 21 January 2011

The reports from the student protests portray the events at the end of the rally incorrectly.

The current narrative, taken directly from the police prior to the event and initially put out that day without changes, was that a few 'radicals' who were not students and were 'infiltrators' wanted to protest afterwards and cause trouble. I think the videos and photos show that masses of students who had been backed into a corner by the government were ready to continue the demonstration and marched together. They refused to be separated by smears and that scared the government. These student were then literally backed into a corner by this government, this time with police attacks on unarmed students. Hundreds of other students wanted to join in the non-violent, peaceful protests that occurred in three separation locations (Binnenhof, in front of Ministry of Education, and a sit-in at a third location) but they were blocked by the police.

I have not seen a single report of an injured police officer or serious property damage. The chaotic element I saw was the MEs. I am not saying the MEs were on the extreme end of police brutality or that they were not, on the whole, professional. This display of force does not necessarily reflect on the morality of every single ME, but rather reflects the mindset of an instable, divisive minority government. A government whose mindset about dissent is that people who participated, even by coming to the approved gathering, should be punished. This was shown in the comments this week from the CDA and from the Nazi-admiring, criminal harboring PVV party that employees who went should be punished. 

With this government, there is no representative for the students, the struggling young worker, the immigrants, the poor. The cooperative polder model is dead to them. In this present government, there is nobody left to represent us. It is a struggle between an openly racist group of rulers (PVV) and a second group (CDA) whose role is to try to manage to be the 'reasonable racist' alternative, a dynamic being replicated across Europe (link).

The reality is that the people protesting afterward were normal students and supported by the real student groups who have done the hard work leading up to this throughout the year. That is how these things go-- the people get angry, fed up, and disobedient, and then the politicians on the left swoop in and pretend to be a part of it. In reality, the politicians are only like the white tufts of the wave underneath.

For me, the entire event was gezellig and boos (friendly/cozy/cool and angry), as described by a reporter on the scene. 

I think it was a good protest. It was also nice of the political parties to show up for the pre-demonstration event. :-)