The Déjà VU festival kicked off on Thursday June 12 with the ‘Summit for Future Generations’, a series of talks about sustainability in the main building’s aula. As the programme is about to start at 1 PM, a large and quiet group carrying protest signs is lined up alongside the entrance. “Disclose, divest, cut ties”, one sign reads. “No universities left in Gaza”, states another.
Inside the aula, two audience members who just met are having a lively discussion about the Ukraine war and NATO enlargement. Perhaps not so strange, considering the event’s headliner is professor Jeffrey Sachs, an American economist and president of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network who considers NATO as partially responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Muffled chants
President of the Executive Board Margrethe Jonkman welcomes the audience and introduces the summit. As she is speaking, muffled chants from outside the aula can be heard. People appear to be yelling ‘VU, VU, shame on you!’, but Jonkman continues without really pausing.
After some formalities, back-patting and sustainability jargon, professor Jeffrey Sachs is introduced to the stage, albeit via a video call. This may have come to a surprise to some, as the summit’s programme did not mention his physical absence.
“Our [sustainable development] agenda is not in great shape”, Sachs states. He sees many issues regarding the climate, pollution and rising inequalities. But he emphasizes one particular subject, which circles back to the earlier discussion in the audience. “We cannot get our heads around peace”, he states. And he believes tackling all other major issues relies on the condition of peace.
Forgotten diplomacy
Sachs says that there is regress rather than progress. He doesn’t wish to devote too many words to the political system of his own country other than: “It ain’t working”, and he is not very optimistic about Europe’s leaders either. Rather than thinking about sustainable development, they have their eyes set on rearmament, according to the professor. “Absolute fearmongering and completely misdirected”, he characterizes it. “Somehow, our politicians have forgotten about diplomacy.”
Sachs outlines two goals: creating a direct dialogue between Europe and Russia (he doesn’t believe Russia cannot be talked to) and a fully recognized state of Palestine. The latter, he says, is needed for peace in the Middle East and the world. His statement is met with applause.
Shock and hope
Sachs’ stark words – that sustainable development is impeded by war and militarism – are somewhat tempered by the next guests: transition expert Jan Rotmans and climate journalist Bernice Notenboom.
Notenboom starts out with ten minutes of dire descriptions of the state of the world. This part of her talk she describes as “shock therapy”. But she ends with recalling the trips where she brought CEOs to polar regions to inspire change, which she says will “trickle down”.
On his turn, Rotmans speaks of an ‘undercurrent’ of over a billion people engaging in climate initiatives on their own. “Nobody can stop the energy transition, not even Trump or Putin”, he says. “Because it is an autonomous process and sustainable energy is becoming cheaper than fossil fuels.” He ends with the statement that he would rather be twenty-five now than when he was twenty-five, as there were very few ways to get involved in sustainability back then.
“I think I’d rather be twenty-five in your days”, former president of the Youth Climate Movement Aniek Moonen quips when given the stage next. Moonen says that one of the reasons it’s so hard to get people to do something, is because they underestimate each other. She points to research showing that most people say they are willing to personally contribute to tackling the global climate problem, yet they do not think that many people feel this way. “So we feel alone, and that makes it so much harder to act”.
Elephant in the room
On the same day as the summit, Dutch news headlines stated that the youth is less concerned about the climate, but Moonen says they still very much are concerned. “At the moment, the urgency around the genocide in Gaza is more prominent in the youth’s mind”, she remarks, also pointing out protests on campus.
As the moderator talks with Moonen after her presentation, he wishes to address “an elephant in the room”. His language remains very vague, referring to things that have been happening on campus for the last few days, hinting at the removal of the activist encampment. During the summit, there are two police vans on standby across the main building. Moonen says that sustained positive interactions are required, “because those students out there really feel abandoned and they need to get the trust from the people on this campus.”