{"id":100,"date":"2013-12-01T19:05:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-01T19:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dph2.humanities.uva.nl\/?page_id=100"},"modified":"2014-02-22T11:24:38","modified_gmt":"2014-02-22T11:24:38","slug":"the-maagdenhuis-occupation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.occupytheuniversity.uva.nl\/the-maagdenhuis-occupation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Maagdenhuis Occupation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Provo's<\/a>
Provos throwing smoke bombs at the parade on royal ‘Prinsjesdag’ 1966.<\/strong> Courtesy of Nationaal Archief, Den Haag; NL-HaNA, ANEFO \/ neg. stroken, 1945-1989, 2.24.01.05, bestandeelnummer 919-5794, licentie CC-BY-SA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Provo Inspires<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The occupation of the Maagdenhuis in 1969 was the result of the increasing discontent among the student generation. The unrest started with the Provo<\/em> movement in Amsterdam, which demonstrated against authoritarian governing structures and the rise of mass consumerism from 1965 to 1967. Provo became a symbol of the dissatisfaction among post-war youth. Pictures of the smoke bombs thrown during the wedding of the Dutch Princess Beatrix (1938) and her fianc\u00c3\u00a9 Claus (1926-2002) went around the world.<\/span>
\nOther Provo manifestations took place on Spui Square in the center of Amsterdam. Dutch students were greatly impressed by them. In other countries, similar movements popped up. Taking action suddenly became an option for people to show their anti-authoritarian ideals.<\/span>
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The Summer of 68<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Internationally, the year 1968 was an important year in student protests. The year before, the Summer of Love had turned into a great anti-war movement. In 1968, the press images of the Vietnam War undermined the belief in authoritarian action even more. They showed the American Army in Vietnam burning down villages and crops, resulting in many casualties and famine. Consequently, American students started demonstrating on their college grounds. In Ohio, at Kent State University, the police opened fire on demonstrating students. In Mexico, a student demonstration aiming at democratizing the one-party state into a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcreal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 democracy, resulted in the Tlatelolco Massacre. The mass demonstration in Paris against Vietnam and the French president Charles de Gaulle (r. 1959-1969), combined with several strikes across France, ended in the collapse of the De Gaulle government. Again, the police acted violently against the demonstrators.<\/span>
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\"Manifestaci\u00c3\u00b3_de_dol\"
The student protest in Mexico against the one-party state ended in massacre.<\/strong>
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baby Boom Voice<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Moved by these historic events, the board of the University of Amsterdam had already engaged in the first discussions on democratizing its administrative structure. Small changes were made, but not for the students. The baby boom generation went to university, and the giant wave of students led to standardization: exams were not held orally anymore, classes became bigger. This was not what the students wanted. Consequently, they demanded joint decision-making and transparency on all levels. <\/span>
\nRector Guus Belinfante (r. 1968-1971) was not impressed by this call for democratization. Joint decision-making and transparency were empty slogans, he said. He soothed the students by saying that initiatives would be taken into consideration. But not all students were convinced by his statement.
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The Empty Slogan<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n