A human chain as part of the strike (Pic: @LeninChisaira on X).
Workers at the University of Amsterdam (UVA) are on strike over the university’s ties to Israel and ongoing efforts to attack protesters there.
Up to 250 members of the FNV trade union confederation began a four-day strike on Monday this week. Strikers are demanding that the university cuts all ties to Israeli institutions amid its genocide in Palestine and warmongering in the Middle East.
In May this year, UVA was the site of violent clashes between pro-Palestine protesters and the state. Students set up an occupation of the university at the Roeterseiland campus, and riot police subsequently attacked the demonstrators and arrested hundreds.
The protests forced UVA to publish details of all its ties to Israel. On 6 May, the university showed it is engaged in eight research projects with Israeli institutions, including the University of Tel Aviv, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Ben Gurion University.
One research project includes the study of human rights—alongside Israeli institutions who are complicit in denying those very rights to Palestinians.
But the university management has refused to end these ties, claiming they do not “contribute to warfare in any way”. So protests have continued.
FNV official Bernard Koekoek said, “We’re striking here today at UVA because already six months ago, people demanded that the executive board stood up and defended the right to demonstrate and cut ties with institutions complicit in genocide.
“All the while, the executive board has done nothing. We’re saying it’s been too much, it’s been too long and if they aren’t upping their game then we are stopping ours,” he added.
“It’s a four day strike where we are drawing a line in the sand. We’re not trying to stop people getting in, but we are trying to stop people getting in without knowing there’s a strike and without knowing the reasons why.”
A central demand of the strike is to establish an Independent Review Committee to assess how the University of Amsterdam remains complicit in Israel’s genocide.
But strikers and demonstrators are also fighting back against the constant repression they have faced from university management. On 6 May, the university stated that protests are allowed, with “no face coverings, no blockades, no overnight stays, no atmosphere of intimidation, and education and research must be able continue uninterrupted”.
One protester said, “One would expect that UVA would have cut ties with Israeli institutions by now.
“But they have not cut any ties, and the situation has become worse. Students and teachers are not allowed to speak freely about the genocide in Gaza. It violates the philosophy of the university,” they said.
“I hope this strike leads to public awareness. The people here have moral standards, not like the UVA board that doesn’t care about human rights. Let us not forget that Amnesty International calls this a genocide—so what more do we need?”
Like universities in Britain, UVA is trying to silence those speaking out against Israel’s genocide and their institution’s complicity. Strikes are a key weapon in the fight to end Western complicity with Israeli destruction and murder. If UVA continues to ignore its workers and students, FNV should escalate its strikes.
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