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Students protest Worldwide against commercialisation (Bologna) of education (2008)
Students protest worldwide against the commercialisation of education (2008)
→ join the group International Students Movement for Free and Emanicipating Education on facebook!!
&
a little note on Novartis
As you might know I tried to summarize all the student protests against the privatisation of education and exorbitant increases of tuition fees as a logical consequence in 2007. You can get to the entry by clicking here.
To just give you a little summary: In 2007 hundreds of thousands of students (together with teachers and workers) in more than 30 countries on 5 continents protested (partly with force and great determination) against the neoliberal reforms within the education system. They blocked highways, city centres, railway stations - occupied ministries and faculties and fought state repression.
This trend continues in 2008. I won't report every student protest as I did in 2007, cos I simply don't have the time. But I hope that the list of protests from last year made very clear that this is a global struggle and that in order to win it, we - the students of the world - need to unite and push forward criticism of the commercialisation of every aspect of our lives, including education.
We have been struggling against the introduction of tuition fees and the commercialisation of education (as part of the Bologna Process) in the past few years in Germany as well. Ten of thousands protested, blocked highways, city centres, railway stations and occupied university buildings.
Some students from Germany, Greece and France are trying to organize a europeanwide or at least international strike. They want to start with three or four universities from different countries in Europe and then hope that other universities will follow.
We need to coordinate protests internationally to increase our pressure.
There are various ways of getting connected internationally. There is a group on facebook: International Students Movement for Free and Emancipating Education and you can also join an international mailing list: Student Struggle mailing list
When you join the mailing list, then please use it to tell the others what protests are taking place in your university, town, state, country, continent or world in connection with the increasing commercialisation. 
We need to exchange more information and let students across Europe and the world know, that students in many countries are protesting for and against the same things!!
Most people don't seem to realize what a vital role education plays in a democracy and that this responsibility can't be taken care of by economic and corporate interests.
Anyway, just to give you a few examples of student protests this year:
- 24/04/2008 Around 350 students occupied a new building at the Manchester University (England) in protest against cuts in contact hours and the business-led approach to higher education after a 'Reclaim the Uni' demonstration. Police attempted to obstruct the march before the occupation, but students broke their lines and side-skirted their blockades. A conference was held inside the building and a set of demands was issued to the University. (a video report by Channel M; ManchesterPolitics.Co.UK; Indymedia.Org.UK; CSUKblog.wordpress.Com)
- 30/04/2008 Also in Pakistan students were protesting again and presented a charter of demands that includes better conditions at their colleges and a reduction of fees. (DailyTimes.Com.Pk)
- 01/05/2008 About 3,000 students from across California (U.S. of A.) rallied at the state Capitol to protest the US$1 billion in budget cuts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed for the state’s three college systems in 2008-09 on April 21st, after students staged a walk-out at the San Francisco University to protest fee hikes on March 5th. The protests continued on May 1st, when over 600 San Francisco State University students walked out of their classes and blocked traffic to protest further cuts to California's education system. (Indybay.Org; TheSpartanDaily.Com; SFSU Fight the Fees [Youtube.Com]; Xpress.SFSU.Edu)
- 07/05/2008 Students at Maseno University have threatened to go on strike unless a proposal to raise fees is shelved. "The administration wants to increase fees behind our back. This is obnoxious," said a second year student. (TradingMarkets.Com)
- 07/05/2008 Close to 5,000 students protested against the Bologna Process in Zagreb (Croatia).
"More than 4,000 students started a protest on Wednesday in front of Zagreb's Mimara Museum from where they headed towards the Head Office of the University of Zagreb and the Ministry of Education, where they expressed their dissatisfaction with the implementation of the Bologna process and studying conditions in general.
(...)
Some 300 students protested in Osijek, several hundred protested in Rijeka, and some 200 protested in Split, blocking traffic for about 10 minutes." (StudentskaRevolucjia.Bloger.hr, Daily.tPortal.hr, YouTube.Com, Youtube.Com (II))
- 08/05/2008 After hundreds of students occupied university buildings at the Universitat autónoma de Barcelona and a huge demonstration with 10,000 participants in Bacelona and more than 3,000 in Sevilla on March 6th 2008 more than 10,000 students and teachers protested against the Bologna Process in Barcelona (Spain) again just two months later. In Grenada a facutly was occupied by 150 protesting students as well (Estrechno.Indymedia.Org) on April 24th. (official blog of the student movement in Barcelona: BastionDelConocimiento.Blogspot.Com; ElPais.Com)
- 08/05/2008 Dozens of students in Los Angeles (U.S. of A.) spontaneously staged a sit-in at the president's office for 5 hours. They demanded to speak to the president of the college to complain about the planned budget cuts and high tuition fees. (YouTube.Com)
For May 22nd a day of action for free education and better conditions at schools and universities is planned in Berlin (Germany). Students are called upon to go on strike and join a demonstration on that day.
But of course students (and a few others) are not only protesting against the commercialisation of education, but also against racism, facism, capitalism or for animal rights, as this clip of 200 people smashing the HQ of Novartis (a multinational pharmaceutical company) in Barcelona shows. Novartis is under fire by animal rights activists for paying HLS (Huntingdon Life Sciences makes money with animial tests, including vivisection of dogs and monkeys. They are the largest contract testing lab in Europe, killing 500 animal per day in tests for products). Many groups are protesting against HLS and trying to force them to close down. But also other groups are protesting against Novartis for lobbying against legalizing generic drugs in India and other developing countries, so that ill people are forced to purchase their originals and pay horrendous prices instead. Those who can't afford them... well, too bad for them. Fortunately they weren't successful in India. (Care.Org)
