Frustrated with the limited climate coverage in the run-up to the Dutch parliamentary elections, the Climate Crisis Coalition (KCC) organized another big climate march on 26 October in The Hague with the motto “Choose future, choose climate!”. Of course, we were there; together with Scientist Rebellion, we formed a strong and visible Science Block.
We assembled early at the skatepark on the Koekamplaan, to hand over our petition to the politicians Christine Teunissen (Partij voor de Dieren), Suzanne Kröger (GroenLinks-PvdA), Laurens Dassen (Volt) and Pascale Plusquin (Vrede voor Dieren).
The skatepark was also a very nice backdrop to show off our trusted “Science not Silence”-banner, which later even featured prominently on the Regio 15 and the AD websites. Meanwhile, we could enjoy the impressive view of thousands of people streaming from the train station onto the Malieveld.
Picture by Margreet
We joined the crowd on the Malieveld eventually, where we showed off our banner some more and caught part of the speeches by Kjelld Masoud Kroon (involved with the climate court case for Bonaire) and Michiel Servaes (Oxfam Novib), who both made it clear that climate change is linked to injustices and inequality. After that, a 3 km march through the city center of The Hague, fittingly taking us along the Hofvijver with the oft-photographed exhibition of large election posters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly due to the timing of the march, several political parties were visibly present with flags. We spotted D66, GroenLinks-PvdA, Partij voor de Dieren, Bij1, the Socialistische Partij and even the Haagse Stadspartij. Volt stood out, as they had managed to mobilize many of their young supporters and dress them in distinctive purple garb. A Bij1 supporter caught our attention from above, suspended from a large traffic sign.
Somehow, the weather stayed dry during the march, despite fairly heavy rain in the morning. The KCC estimates that more than 45.000 people had turned up for the march, making this one of the larger climate marches. In our view, this is a sign that many Dutch citizens are (still) very concerned about climate change. Hopefully, our national politicians will take that into account in the coalition negotiations.