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

France: the University is NOT a firm!

By Farfahinne and Hanzala

February 9 and 10/2009 were not ordinary university days: in most universities of France courses were replaced by General Assemblies in which students and professors expressed their anger towards the Sarkozy reform plan concerning universities.

France: Student General Assembly Against the LRU
par farfahinne

A rare scene was witnessed in La Sorbonne where the presidents of many prominent public universities declared their full support for the demands of the teachers and students' movement. And they solemnly demanded, in a declaration called the "appel de Paris", the repeal of the LRU.
The LRU or the Law about the Liberties and Responsibilities of the Universities, threatens what the French university stands for and the social value it advances. In fact, this reform promotes for the financial autonomy of the univesity which by itself destroys the fundamental right to a free and equal education which has been one of the main pillars of the french social system for decades. The french government will withdraw a considerable funding it currently provides for the university, forcing it to seek this vital money elsewhere: who else can provide other than firms?! Thus, the enterprises will systematically submit the acadamic sphere to the logic of the market, i.e. the university will have to obey to the law of market profit when offering its majors to the students. therefore, "unnecessary" majors such as philosophy, theater, humanities etc... will simply disappear and university fees will rise pushing students with limited financial possibilities to the margin of education. Moreover, universities will be forced into competition in order to attract funding, putting in danger the principal of equality amongst the diplomas they deliver.
another aspect of the reform seeks to generalize the model of the Sarkozy governance to the university: the power of the university presidents will accrue considerably in such a way that they will have the "privilege" to recruit and to decide on the path of staff careers and more importantly on the remuneration.
A third aspect deals with the status of the teacher-researcher: the law suggests an increased production of publications and in the same time more charges in terms of teaching. These requirements are added to the fact that 3 thousand positions are threatened by suppression increasing the burdens on the teacher- researchers.
The LRU has provoked a large resentment among the students last year when it was first proposed: demonstrations were held but they were ineffective due to the absence of professors and researchers.This year, the law was voted with amendments concerning the status of professors and without any kind of negotiations with the parties concerned. this is what pushed the teachers to react and declare a general, unlimited , and reconductible strike starting from the 2nd of February 2009.
The 9th and 10th of February were crucial to this movement. in fact, the general assemblies that were held witnessed the generalization of the movement to the whole academic community.
the students voted on the general strike calling for the repeal of the law.

France: Students voting for the strike
envoyé par farfahinne

the voting on the general strike was followed by a large demonstration in which 50 .000 teachers and students marched from the Pantheon to the National Assembly in Paris.

France: Demonstration of the students and the teachers
envoyé par farfahinne

the movement is gaining scale due to the fact that it was launched by the teaching body which is a first since many years. However, the survival of the movement depends on the student-teacher solidarity (where Sarkozy will probably seek to break in order to liquidate the movement) and more importantly on the linkage with other sectors like transportation, the heavy industries, and more generally the public and the private sectors.
In launching these major reforms, Sarkozy is unknowingly catalyzing and radicalizing the protestation movement and generalizing it to certain categories that were for long time on the margin of any mobilization. This is an opportunity for the Left in order to regain the trust of the people and to present a real alternative to the current system.