The reason for that column was that people around me were asking whether I, as a journalist, should be allowed to participate in demonstrations. Wouldn’t that affect my ‘neutrality’? I already knew then that neutrality is nonsense, and yet it made me doubt myself. In any case, the outside world more often calls me an activist than a journalist; a way to disqualify me. Years later I would an interview met de Volkskrant precisely to point out how little open militancy I see among my colleagues. ‘If you see injustice and don’t say anything about it, in my opinion you are neglecting your task as a journalist.’ Still, I was still a bit uneasy during that first demonstration. “I raise my fist a bit awkwardly,” I wrote.
Since then, I have become much more comfortable and regular at demonstrations against racism, police brutality, the climate crisis and the genocide in Palestine. And I rarely see colleagues there. I have seen for myself how much organization, care and love goes into such protests. They are not reckless or thoughtless, even though politicians and the media frame them that way. Many volunteers provide security, contact with the authorities, transport, speakers and banners. There is protocol and there are agreements. Knowledge is shared and passed on. Encouraged each other. How grateful I am to these brave people, such as the students who want an end to violence against Palestinians and are met with fierce resistance and violence from the police, politicians, media and society.
Faked outrage
Disobedience is not appreciated in the Netherlands. At least not if you disobey on behalf of vulnerable groups. And certainly not if you disobey on behalf of non-white people who are being bombed by the Western cuddly terrorist state of Israel. Even students who demand that their university not invest their contribution money in a state that has been causing a bloodbath for more than six months had to be ‘cleaned up’ several times last week.
