It feels like a stab in the back that the Ministry of Defence is allowed to recruit on our campuses
During the recent introductory Intreeweek for students, the Ministry of Defence was casually handing out flyers at the Student Fair, while political studentparties were barred from attending by the Commission Intree. “We see that the UvA is seeking ever closer ties with the military industry,” argue Sahand Mozdbar and Tobias Wijnands.
The university should promote freedom, security and peace. Unfortunately, however, we see that the UvA is neglecting this responsibility. For example, during Intreeweek, the official introduction week for first-year students, the Ministry of Defence was allowed to set up a stand, while the Commission Intree did not allow political studentparties to participate. Apparently they are not suitable for participating in Intreeweek.
The Ministry of Defence may not cause much controversy in the House of Representatives, but investment in weapons and the further militarisation of our society is indeed a political issue. This is evident from, among other things, the growth of a new peace movement in the Netherlands and the lack of support among ordinary Dutch citizens for the defence plans of The Hague, Brussels and Washington. In these times of increasing militarisation, in which it is abundantly clear that money for public services – such as education – is being cut in order to finance sky-high defence spending, it feels like a stab in the back that the Ministry of Defence is allowed to recruit on our campuses, but political parties are not. By banning political organisations—which, incidentally, are not always opposed to this militarisation—and allowing the Ministry of Defence to recruit, the UvA is clearly taking sides in this political issue.
Cooperation with the arms industry
We see that the UvA in general is seeking ever closer ties with the military industry. Various Ministers of Defence have visited the UvA campuses on several occasions, and we see that the UvA is closely following recent Dutch and European politics. Austerity measures must be implemented, and closer cooperation with the Ministry of Defence and other parts of the military industry can alleviate these.
In this way, the UvA is allowing itself to be used by politicians who make policies behind closed doors that have been contrary to the interests of working people for decades. By collaborating with the military industry, the basic responsibilities of any university can no longer be guaranteed. This is because the military industry imposes requirements that conflict with the principles of objectivity of universities.
We are therefore concerned that recent developments at the UvA are jeopardising its university responsibilities. Universities should always be a place where different ideas and opinions can be exchanged without a small and unaccountable clique dominating the debate and silencing other opinions. The UvA’s attempts to befriend the military industry, which will demand more of this kind of behaviour in the name of “security”, undermine the university from within. We are therefore afraid that in an already tumultuous world, the university will lose its own principles and succumb to the sinister forces from outside, instead of persevering and being a beacon of light in increasingly dark times through its principles.
The responsibility of the university
In the context of the quiet but steadily growing ties between the UvA and the military industry and the UvA’s excessive crackdown on Palestine protesters, it is clear that freedom, security and peace at and outside the UvA are being undermined. It seems that the UvA has already taken the side of the military industry before any debate on the matter has taken place. What freedom does that give students and lecturers when their friends and colleagues from the Palestine movement are already being oppressed? What security can the UvA guarantee when it works with the makers of weapons of destruction and does not listen to the calls of peace-loving students and staff? It is becoming clearer every day that the UvA does not want peace, but money, with or without peace.
The UvA Committee for Peace and the Asva Student Union are therefore opposed to cooperation between the university and the military industry and in favour of freedom, security and peace. And, of course, they are in favour of political studentparties participating in Intreeweek next year.
Sahand Mozdbar is a philosophy student at the UvA and chair of the Asva Student Union. Tobias Wijnands studies history and philosophy at the UvA and is a member of the UvA Committee for Peace.
This article was slighted adapted on September 15.
