Update 4.05 p.m.
The protest has ended -YOUvA out!
Update 4.00 p.m.
LVSB and #nietmijnschuld call-up all students to transfer one cent to DUWO on the 12th of February. ‘All these transfers will overheat their servers, then they can’t ignore us anymore’, say the organisations.
Update 2:10 p.m.
The march has begun!
Update 2:05 p.m.
Politicians from the ChristenUnie, BIJ1, PvdA, Volt and PvdD are up at the stage.
The ChristenUnie and CDA see possibilities for more compensation.
The song ‘Ik betaal me Stufi niet terug’ is being performed live by HangYouth: ‘We can’t be compensated by hot air.’
Artist Gotu Jim is also on stage.
Update 2:00 p.m.
Politicians are speaking.
Lillian Marijnissen from the SP: ‘We want compensation. The loan system experiment has failed completely’. Marijnnissen also had something to say about the CDA speaker: ‘This is bullshit. Don’t be fooled by the CDA. It is these parties that created your problems.’
Politicians from CDA and VVD are being boo-ed at.
Update 1:50 p.m.
Next speaker is the founder of student association Tribe. ‘To politicians: We hope you learn from your mistakes. Listen to our demands. We don’t need to go from inequality 2.0 to inequality 4.0.’
Update 1:40 p.m.
Several journalists from national media are present at the protest. They’ve counted six to seven thousand attendants on Museumplein.
A video about the victims of the loan system is being played. ‘This compensation is a middle finger to my generation’, says of the victims.
Update 1:25 p.m.
The first speakers are students Anna and Alina. They explained the history of the loan system and that there were already protests against the system back in 2015. ‘We demand more, we want fair compensation. We’re all part of the pechgeneratie’, says Alina.
The second speaker is an FNV (Dutch Federal Union) board member: ‘The whole FNV stands behind you.’
The third speaker is Joshua de Roos, vice chair of LSVB: ‘One billion euros is not enough compensation’. She’s happy to see that students from all over the country have joined the protests: ‘Also great to see so many parents have joined their children. We are here today as one generation.’
Update 1:15 p.m
Yasmin, the presenter, has opened the protest: ‘This is the biggest student protest in years. Almost all youth political parties support this protest (as well as the UvA!).’ Yasmin also spoke about the current pechgeneratie: ‘The future shouldn’t be ignored – we must be compensated now.’
Update 1:00 p.m
The protest has started! It’s been organised by #nietmijnschuld and LSVB (Dutch Student Organisation).
In 2015 the Netherlands introduced the, now infamous, loan system. The system replaced the so-called ‘basisbeurs’ thus forcing students to loan money, whereas it was previously gifted during your student times. As of 2023, the loan system will be abolished again and the basisbeurs will return. However, students that studied between 2015 and 2023 are in large sums of debts. To compensate them, the new government has announced to use one billion euros, which is approximately two thousand euros per student at most. This is a small amount in comparison to the tens of thousands of euros of debts students face. Accordingly, students take to the streets! At one o’clock the so-called ‘compensation protest’ will start at Museumplein. YOUvA Today will cover the protest live!