Western universities are taken hostage over the war in Gaza
Some time ago I heard a wise man say: You can’t change the world, but you can change a location.
It doesn’t matter what I think of American students followed by Dutch students in their wake who occupy universities because of their ties with Israel. They are accusing their universities of being complicit in the massacre happening thousands of miles away from their safe homes and warm beds. Universities that are assumed to teach critical thinking. I wonder what exactly happened there.
To look at an estranged world which is barely to be understood, should not defeat those who aren’t echoing the voices that believe blindly to speak the only truth,
those who aren’t called loyal enough to the group they are supposed to support blindly, or those who don’t express their ‘right opinion’ loud enough.
Stifling groupthink won’t change the world, but surely changes a location, such as a university. And not for the better.
However, that also goes for having the freedom to grow a garden. It won’t change the world, but change a location, a place. Mostly for the better, unless you poison the soil and plants that grow in this soil won’t become the fruit your body wished for.
So there’s power in changing locations. We can build or break them. What it will be, is up to us.
Some say you need to break things first before you can build again. For certain things it’s true. Maybe that’s what Dutch universities need to do now. Well, with tearing things down to the ground, groups of students have already begun (they deserve an award for their heroic ‘resistance’), what must follow is the hardest part. To revive the meaning of academic freedom and critical thinking, to let the voice of reason speak, to include all voices instead of one which happens to be in fashion, and to create a safe space for every student regardless of nationality, colour, sex and religion.
Yesterday I saw a video of a ‘liberated zone’ at Groningen University. I thought my heart sunk.
Liberated from what? Liberated from ‘zionists’. Students were chanting and repeating what masked men (students?) told them to shout. A student of International Socialists held a paper and demanded zionists to go away. Ladies and gentlemen, the 1930s are reviving. It’s all happening, this isn’t a movie or a bad joke.
What I want to say is: forget about changing the world, but change your location. A loud minority can demand their universities break ties with what must be to these people the most evil state at the moment. They try to change a location which doesn’t ‘sponsor a genocide’, but what these students try to achieve isn’t necessarily for the better.
But it can be.
A university could be a fruitful place of debate, freedom and critical thinking that opens eyes, minds and maybe even hearts. Like a little plant in fertile soil that must find its way through the elements of life, each day growing a little bit more, a little richer in possibilities to make it to a plant that can survive and hopefully, sometime later, also thrive.
We need environments like that. Environments where young people learn to disconnect from the toxic likes and hearts on their phones. Why? Because it’s like a bag of cocaine in their pocket, I heard a Dutch psychiatrist say the other day.
Environments safe for all. Also for people with other opinions, religions, nationalities, colours etc. Isn’t that what people on the political left always say? Act on it, instead of being so viciously blind. Places where everyone learns to hold a mirror to themselves and look at it, before there’s even a chance to do the easiest thing: always put others the blame.
Locations where people try to grow instead of limiting themselves. Where there’s no room to cancel people for their different takes on certain political issues. Where your passport is not your political beliefs.
Change it, so we can build on it instead of breaking down a location. And who knows? Maybe it can benefit the world.
A university could be a fruitful place of debate, freedom and critical thinking that opens eyes, minds and maybe even hearts. Like a little plant in fertile soil that must find its way through the elements of life, each day growing a little bit more, each day a little richer in possibilities to make it to a plant that is able to survive and hopefully, some time later, also to thrive.
We need environments like that. Environments where young people learn to disconnect from the constant indoctrination and toxic likes and hearts on their phones. Because it’s like a bag of cocaine burning in their pocket (according to a Dutch psychiatrist).
Environments safe for all. Also for people with other opinions, religions, nationalities, colours etc. Isn’t that what people on the political left always say? Act on it, instead of being so viciously blind.
Places where everyone learns to hold a mirror to themselves and look at what they see, before there’s even a chance to do the easiest thing: always put others the blame.
Locations where people try to grow instead of limiting themselves. Where there’s no room to cancel people for their different takes on certain political issues and events in the world. Where your passport is not your political beliefs.
Change it, so we can build on instead of breaking down a location. And who knows, maybe it can benefit the world too.
With hope,
Eva
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