A New Front in the Fight Against Climate Change
By Gil Abend-David | Campus | December 6, 2022
Cover Illustration: Barrels of gasoline. John Cameron/Unsplash
Campus reporter Gil Abend-David investigates the decentralized student activist group University Rebellion and their fight against climate change from within universities across the Netherlands.
They have no leader. They’re not even sure how many members they have. But when the threat they are fighting is of existential magnitude, bureaucracy is the last thing on their minds.
University Rebellion is a student activist group that takes the fight against climate change to the university level. Formed in February 2020, University Rebellion has nine chapters in universities across the Netherlands. The group uses a decentralized structure in which chapters operate independently to recruit students across the Netherlands to campaign for one shared goal: to get universities to acknowledge their responsibility in the fight for climate justice.
Each chapter of the organization utilizes nonviolent direct action in order to achieve localized goals tailored to the perceived wrongs of each university. The University of Amsterdam chapter of the organization has seen a significant rise in membership this year. Its goals include increasing sustainability, transparency and working with other student groups to ‘decolonize’ the campus.
The chapter collaborates with other student activist groups to create a climate that Fabian C.C., a second-year political science student and active member of the Amsterdam chapter of University Rebellion, describes as “a new 2019”. To Fabian, that means an acceptance of radical ideas and a resurgence in left-wing activism that was cut short by the pandemic.
One demand trumps all other hopes the chapter might have. The University of Amsterdam must cut ties with the Shell Corporation. The organization’s online petition demands that the university ends all ties to Shell, including research collaboration and Shell’s recruitment of UvA students in career fairs. The petition already has over 1800 signatures at the time of writing. It highlights the need for alternative research funding sources and permanent mechanisms to prevent any future ties to the big oil industry.
The chapter’s tactics extend further, with constant demonstrations at Shell events and active recruiting of new members across all UvA campuses. The group is committed to removing what they perceive as unethical actors from the university by any nonviolent means necessary.
When asked for comment, the university press office wrote the following about collaboration with Shell: “these projects concern socially relevant research. Our research aims to accelerate the transition to other, renewable sources of energy and reduction of waste. In other words, this research contributes to a sustainable future.”
According to Fabian however, what the university brands as sustainable projects “are pure ways of Shell trying to clean their image or to lure more students into their company”.
This is not the first time Shell has been accused of misleading customers with the promise of sustainable practices. In 2021, the Dutch Advertising Code Committee ruled that Shell must remove an ad that falsely implied that by paying one cent extra per liter of fuel the money will go to projects that offset the carbon emissions from the fuel the customer used.
This ruling is part of a larger trend in worldwide judicial activity. Both Australia and the United States are currently examining claims that Shell is misleading its consumers and regulators in regard to its sustainable activity.
After all, what interest does one of the top ten polluters in the world have in sustainability? A question asked by activists and sidelined by the administration.
Gil Abend-David is a university student in Amsterdam. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Amsterdammer.
