La Sorbonne Occupied--> French State, Police State!

After more then 8 weeks of contestation, the Anti-LRU movement continues in France and is being further radicalised.

On the 26th of March 2009, the teachers-researchers occupied La Sorbonne university. They are still in the building, liberating the university from the invasion of this Sarkozy reform that wishes to abolish the last remainings of the social state in France. Also the national center for research (CNRS) was also occupied but then cleared.

Sorbonne is on strike
by sorbonnard2009

Upon the occupation of La Sorbonne, leftist student unions called for a solidarity demonstration in front of the university to support and reinforce the occupation. I went to the Sorbonne in order to participate, i found the forces of order (or repression) spread all over the Sorbonne square, they were covered with white resulting from the flour thrown at them from the demonstrators. We were chanting slogans of support, holdding eachother's hands in order to maintain the line in front of the forces of repression. As time passed, the police increased in number, surrounded us and closed every passing to the square. Meanwhile, policemen in civilian cloths filmed us thoroughly ( a good way for profiling). The police circle became tighter as they approached us, they encircled us, 100 protestors. The police chief took a speaker and told the demonstrators to leave the square in small groups, and present their ID cards while doing so.

Shockingly, the vast majority obeyed, we, militants of Marxist Unitaire, were only 10 to refuse but then we caved because we ended up alone. The police threatened us, saying that if we don't do as they demand they will arrest us.

The police controlled each person who left the square, verified his ID card and took the name, adress and place of birth! this is unacceptable in so-called democratic state like France. This act by the Police explicitly expressed that demonstrating, gathering in a public space is a crime, something you can be punished for! Taking our names is intolerable, and shouldn't be neglected. This, and filming us is a clear act of profiling, of constant control and serveillance. This practice showed that the French state is nothing but a police state! The police is trying to spread fear amongst the protestors in order to refrain them from coming back! This control of demonstartors is frequently seen in dictatorships and totalitarian state. "Democratic" states are smoothly slipping into dictatorship, everyone should be watched and controlled in order to protect the politico-economic oppressors who preach for economic liberalisation and privatization. This profiling is despicable, and the police should be brought into justice and courts in order to abolish such totalitarian measures, and hold the responsibles accountable.

What shocked me the most was that the demonstrators easily caved and agreed to submit to the police's orders! Demonstrators shouldn't have left the square nor agreed to give their names. The struggle cannot be won while obeying to the repressive acts of the security forces!

PS: The university was evacuted later on by the forces of repression.

Fin de l'occupation du 26 mars de la Sorbonne
by sorbonnard2009

For more information about the movement: http://sorbonneengreve.revolublog.com/

New York University occupied by students!

On the night of the 18th of February students of the "take back NYU" group occupied the  Kimmel building in the university where the student's activities are held. The demands of the students are clear: We want a socially responsible democratic university!

More specifically, the demands are mainly the following: financial trasnparancy regarding the budget of the university as well as the sources of the fundings and endowments; NYU respects the principle of collective bargaining with all its stakeholders including students and workers; the formation of a student Socially Responsible Financial Committee; tuition stabilization; and granting 13 palestinian students full scholarships. The other claims fall into linking the university to its surroundings by opening the library to the public.

It is an extraordinary movement since the occupation is still going on, and more importantly because the students' demands are not limited to their concerns but also rach the employees, the community surrounding the university and Gaza. The students tried the peaceful channels of dialogue with the university administration, that is they sent a letter last year to the administration in order to voice their demands, however they recieved no answer, hence they chose to radicalize their action in order to be heard. 

The movement is gaining scale and echo, solidarity statements are flowing especially from unversities and labour unions, and activist intellectuals like Noam Chomsly. The occupiers have supported the UK university occupations in solidarity with Gaza. However, the NYU occupation has not yet triggered similar actions in other U.S. universities, nevertheless they are not isolated and they are getting a big support from students. This movement is not to be undermined because it represents legitimate and just demands that ought to be applied in every university elsewhere: transparancy, participative democracy, and social responsbility are prinicples that every university should endorse.

The NYU occupation and the UK occupations ought to give us a lesson: the protestation against the Israeli crimes in Gaza should not have ended when the assault ended in January. When all the demonstrations ended with the end of the aggressions, students in the UK and NYU didn't not end their movement. The Israeli crimes in Palestine are ongoing, why did the voice of protest shut up?

The take back NYU movement, the UK occupations, the greek youth uprisal, the protestation movments in Italy, Spain and France against the Bologna process ( EU decicion to reform the university making them financially autonomous and thus pave the way to privatization) show once again the student activism and militantism is not history. Take Back NYU is a striking evidence that the Amercan Left is not merely a moderate right, but a radical left in its demand and will not accept less than the democratization of university education, making it accessible to everyone.

Those movements ought to be generalized everywhere, the university is not a profit seeking instituiton, it is not a firm and knowledge is not a marchandise!

For more informations go to http://takebacknyu.com/.

Gaza: press release from the Edinburgh occupiers

Press Release – Edinburgh University Student Occupation for Gaza

At 8:45 on the morning of Monday 16/02/2009 the student occupation of George Square Lecture Theatre will come to an end.

We, the occupying students have secured the following…
• A complete end to Eden Springs bottled water on campus by the start of the next academic year (2009/10).
• An opportunity to bring our case regarding the university’s unethical investments directly to the University Court.
• Scholarships for 5 Palestinian students in Gaza to study at Edinburgh University, with consideration for fee waivers, reduced accommodation fees, travel allowances and visa support.
• A collaboration between the university management, student body and an NGO to collect various materials for shipping to Gaza and to fundraise for the implementation of this.
• A lecture and debate series, involving university staff and guest speakers, on various subjects relating to the Palestine/Israel conflict. There has already been interest in this from prominent scholars Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky.

We feel that this is only the beginning of the movement to end the university’s role in the occupation and oppression of Palestine by the Israeli government and military. There remain serious issues to which the university’s response was completely inadequate, including the active role of arms and defence companies in university research and on-campus recruitment.

The occupation also provided a place to stage educational events, encouraging active engagement and participation about the issues in question. Highlights included a discussion on the ongoing occupation of Palestine, with the participation of the President of Scottish Jews for a Just Peace and a workshop on ‘direct action’ with ways of defusing confrontational situations. As the week progressed, we at times numbered over 60 students, with a total of several hundred passing through the theatre doors.

We feel it’s important to emphasize that the student occupation should be understood not simply as a tactic or a bargaining chip in getting our demands. Within the space that we took control of, we used consensus decision making to initiate a radically non-hierarchical way of making collective decisions. At it’s best, the occupation provided a space for a process far more democratic than what conventional university structures are able to achieve. The changes we want to see will be attained through our direct action but also by creating such spaces, and expanding them indefinitely.

Two key outcomes of the occupation…
• A planned open forum for reflection and discussion on the student occupation and the university’s reaction in the context of the Gaza conflict.
• An online network to consolidate the occupation group, welcome all who wish to be involved in future action and to take the movement forward immediately and effectively.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to the countless groups and individuals who provided us with material and moral support.

Lastly, we wish to assure Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank that we will struggle alongside them in solidarity until such time as they are a free and sovereign people.

Please follow the blog for updates… http://edinburghunioccupation.wordpress.com