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

!Attention please!:

Constitutive on the
"International Day of Action against the Commercialization of Education"
on Nov.5^th 2008,
the "International Students Movement" is calling called for a

G l o b a l   W e e k   o f   A c t i o n

in April 2009 (20/04 – 29/04):

Get involved - Join the discussions in the forum here - and Get organized!

An overview of the protests during the global week of action can be accessed here.

The next Global Week of Action is being considered for Nov. 2009.

For more info send a mail to: united.for.education[at]gmail.com

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 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 regarding 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. In one state (Hesse) tuition fees were abolished again after years of massive protests and state elections.

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 and commodification of education.  
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 or current political actors.

Anyway, just to give you a few examples of education protests in 2008:

• 10/01/2008 Student activists at McGill University (Montreal; Canada) occupied the James Administration Building in protest against steadily increasing tuition fees and the commercialisation of education. (Grasp.Wordpress.Com)
   
• 22/01/2008 Student fees at the University of California (U.S. of A.) have risen sharply over the years. This school year, undergraduate students pay $7,347 in fees, and graduate students pay $9,481. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recommendation to cut $1.1 billion in higher education funding, with $332 million coming from the University of California, also anticipates that UC would raise fees between 7 percent and 10 percent. Students are getting ready to protest cuts. (SignOnSanDiego.Com)
  
  
• 23/01/2008 Thousands of students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU; Nigeria) on Wednesday took to the streets and disrupted activities on their campus in protest over the recent increase in fees. The students, who trooped out in the early hours of the day, stormed the permanent site of the institution and took over the entry gate from the school guards and locked out all staff members who came to resume work, threatening to make the institution ungovernable unless the policy was reversed. (Tribute.Com.Ng)
  
  
• 25/01/2008 Tertiary students marched through central Wellington (New Zealand) this afternoon to highlight issues and results of a study that found the average student debt was nearly $30,000.
  Earlier in the day Tertiary Education Minister Pete Hodgson, who also spoke at the students national conference held in Wellington today, said the Government would consider increasing allowances in the next budget.
  While criticising banks for targeting students he said the student allowance plus the accommodation allowance had not shifted for many years "and needs to". (NZHerald.Co.NZ)
  
  
• 28/01/2008 More than 300 students at Durban's University of Technology (DUT; South Africa) protested over registration fees. A heavy police contingent was present and campus security staff were armed with batons and riot shields. Registration at the Steve Biko campus' Sports Centre and the financial aid offices on the same campus were forced to close after students marched from the management building. However, security personnel with shields kept the students at bay as police watched from a distance.
  A heavy police contingent was present and campus security staff were armed with batons and shotguns. (News24.Com)
  
  
• 31/01/2008 Manila: six students were illegally arrested while 23 others were injured after police forces brutally dispersed the protest against what the activists call the 'anti-student education summit.'

  Youth groups National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), ANAKBAYAN, League of Filipino Students and Kabataang Pinoy, along with teachers from ACT, staged a protest rally against the Malacanang-sponsored education summit which opened at the Manila Hotel.

  The rallyists criticized the non-inclusion of student and teacher representatives in the summit. They also protested against the government's general thrust of commercialization and privatization of education resulting in yearly budget cuts and a deregulated tuition policy. (WrongBee.Blogsport.Com)

• 01/02/2008 More than 200 students at Durban's University of Technology (DUT; South Africa) protested over registration fees. Police said the protests at the institution stated about 10am and that the situation at the campus was "very tense". There were claims that police had used rubber bullets to disperse students in the early afternoon. Students, let by the DUT's student representative council (SRC), are demanding debt be rolled over for students, especially those receiving financial assistance. (MG.Co.za)
  
  
• 03/02/2008 Students from Cotabato City State Polytechnic College (CCSPC) stage a mass walkout to condemn the commercialization of education. The symbolic protest is part of the student’s ongoing protest in state colleges and universities (SUCs) in Southern Mindanao (Philippines). About 200 students from the state college walked out of their campus and trooped outside where groups from other schools and out-of-school youths supported them.
  “The skyrocketing of fees in SUCs has become burden of students,” Dumamba (spokesperson of Liga ng Kabataang Moro (LKM)) said. “We are supposed to be a “iskolar ng bayan”, but because of government’s neglect, these public institutions for higher learning have to learn to survive by increasing their fees to keep up with their operating expenses. This leads to the increase in the number of drop-outs and out of school youth, as more students could no longer afford to go to school”. (DavaoToday.Com)
  
  
• 06/02/2008 In Bonn (Germany) more than a 100 students stormed the ballroom of the university to protest in front of the presidents' room against tuition fees and the fact that universities are being systematically underfinanced. The "university coucil" was holding a meeting at the ballroom at that time. During the protest at least two doors were damanged. After a while the police forced students outside again and they continued in a demonstration towards the city centre. (Bafoeg-Aktuell.De [in German])
  
  
• 19/02/2008 Classes at all the Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT; South Africa) campuses were suspended amid student protests on Tuesday, authorities said. Earlier Tuesday about 300 students were protesting at the university’s main campus in Pretoria West. University spokeswoman, Willa de Ruyter, said the students were protesting over university fees as well as academic exclusion. Student funding in general had not kept pace with costs and grants to universities in recent years, and the burden had fallen on university fees, and students, to make up the shortfall, said Professor Mary Metcalf, head of the education department at Wits University. (Citizen.Co.za)
  
  
• 03/03/2008 College students came together today and protested education budget cuts and the raise of tuition fees for next semester at the steps of the Capitol. With signs in hand and rain slickers on, college students from all over California (U.S. of A.)shouted and created a television studio set to make their voices heard. (media.www.StateHornet.Com)
  
  
• 14/03/2008 A brother and sister at Rancho Bernardo High School (U.S. of A.) organized a school protest Friday in support of teachers who could lose their jobs due to state budget cuts. Students staged a peaceful walkout. With signs in hand, they stood in front of the entrance to the school.
  Co-organizer, Carissa Nigro, a freshman, said the protest was a way for students to express their emotions about the ordeal. She said for her, increased class sizes are her biggest concern. (NBCSanDiego.Com; Video)
  
  
• 19/03/2008 Ten students were arrested after locking themselves to doors outside the University of California regents meeting in San Francisco (U.S. of A.). Around 100 students converged on UC-San Fancisco Mission Bay to protest student fee hikes, the process of appointing regents, and the UC's nuclear weapons labs. A smaller group latched bicycle U-locks around their necks to affick themselves to the glass doors, forcing the police to dismantle the doors to apprehend the protesters.
  "When Rosa Parks refused to give up a seat on the bus, it was illegal," said the first of the protesters to be arrested, responding to the lieutenant governor's statement that illegal protests were inappropriate. "When white and black students sat in at segregated lunch counters, it was illegal. So when an oppressive situation does not provide for normal channels of dissent to be effective, protesters are left with no choice but civil disobedience." (USnews.Com)
  
  
• 11/04/2008 Students throughout New Zealand yesterday protested against the debt burden, with those at Lincoln University dressing as prisoners to match their theme of "sentenced to debt". Student activists also launched a petition asking for all student debt to be wiped.
  More than 700,000 New Zealanders have borrowed from the student loan scheme since its introduction in 1992. New Zealand Union of Students' Association (NZUSA) co-president Liz Hawes said total debt was growing at an alarming $1b a year. (Stuff.Co.NZ)
  
  
• 17/04/2008 Students from three San Diego (U.S. of A.) schools took to the streets to protest teacher layoff notices at their campuses. One of the hardest hit campuses is Jackson Elementary near City Heights. Twenty-four out of 26 Jackson teachers recently got notices. It's the only school in the San Diego Unified School District where 90-percent of the teaching staff could lose its job. Two big rallies are expected to take place in San Diego against cuts to education funding. Students will hold sit-ins at various high schools today. Teachers will march through the streets of downtown San Diego tomorrow. (kpbs.Org)
  
  
• 21/04/2008 (U.S. of A.) Around 2,000 upset students demonstrated around the State Capitol Monday morning in Sacramento, protesting against the governor’s decision to cut $1 billion to California’s higher education system.
  The demonstration was just one of the six rallies organized across the state by the student-led coalition, Students for California's Future. The coalition was formed of organizations from the California State University system, the University of California system and California's community college system. (eFluxMedia.Com)
  
  
• 22/04/2008 Students were today protesting about the standard of tuition and facilities at Mancherster University (England). Student leaders are backing a "Reclaim the Uni" campaign launched by students to draw attention to the problem. (ManchesterEveningNews.Co.UK)
  
  
• 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)

• 24/04/2008 Police officers fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of students marching in downtown Santiago (Chile) in the Parque Forestal area. The students marched from the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts to Plaza Italia. The march was initially calm. However, students clashed with police officers who attempted to stop them from entering Plaza de Armas. Police officers detained more than 250 protesters. Students also gathered near the law school on the University of Chile campus. Protesters attempted to block Santa Maria Avenue, prompting police officers to intervene. Several protesters threw rocks at police officers.
  President Michelle Bachelete has submitted a proposal to Congress to reform education laws and give the federal government more authority, but the proposal maintains the system of municipal schools. Student groups claim that the current system disadvantages schools in poor communities. (HTHtravelInsurance.Com)
  
  
• 30/04/2008 (U.S. of A.) Distance-learning supporters fear budget reductions.
  Bringing song, dance and a burst of color to the state Capitol, hundreds of students, teachers and parents rallied Tuesday, urging Gov. Janet Napolitano and lawmakers
  to spare their distance-learning schools from budget cuts. (AZcentral.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 (Kenya) 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))

• 07/05/2008  Hundreds of UC Berkeley (U.S. of A.) students rallied in Lower Sproul Plaza in protest against proposed budget cuts to the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
  The rally was largely coordinated by the Committee to Save Korean Studies, a coalition formed to protest the proposed cuts. UC Berkeley professors, students and others addressed an attentive crowd at noon, saying the funding the department currently receives is integral to its survival.
  Next semester, 54 percent of Chinese language courses, 40 percent of Japanese classes and 66 percent of Korean language classes will be cut, which means over 1,500 students will have to stop their language study. (news.NewAmericaMedia.Org; DailyCal.Org)

• 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. Protests also took place in Madrid were students blocked roads. (official blog of the student movement in Barcelona: BastionDelConocimiento.Blogspot.Com; ElPais.Com; YouTube.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)
  
  
• 12/05/2008 About 50 Melbourne University (Australia) students protesting against academic staff cuts at the arts faculty invaded a building in an attempt to disrupt a university council meeting, trying at one stage to break through security guards blocking a liftwell. The raid came as vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said the staff cuts were needed to counter a funding hole in the faculty following a significant drop-off in full-fee-paying international students.
  Protesting students yesterday were angry at what they claim is a decline in teaching standards as stretched academics have less time to tutor students and some courses are cut. (AussieIndoLanka.Com)
  
  
• 14/05/2008 Chanting, “Regents, regents, can’t you see? You’re creating poverty!” 16 student activists from UCLA (Los Angeles; U.S. of A.) Students for a Democratic Society, the UCLA Student Worker Front and other University of California campuses temporarily brought a meeting of the University of California Regents to a halt to protest a hike in student fees.
  The students locked arms and continued chanting until they were physically removed by UC police officers. All were charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to disperse. Those arrested were part of a larger group of more than 100 student demonstrators from across the UC system that attended the meeting to protest the proposed fee increases. (FightBackNews.Org; DailyNexus.Com)
  
  
• 22/05/2008 Staff and students at Victoria University's College of Education protested today at proposed cuts to staff numbers and resources at the college which they say pose a serious threat to the future quality of teacher education in Wellington (New Zealand).
  About 60 students and 20 staff took part in today's protest with many staff preferring to remain anonymous for fear that their actions could have consequences for their future employment in the proposed restructure. (Scoop.Co.NZ)
  
  
• 22/05/2008 On 22 May, about 8,000 students in Berlin (Germany) demonstrated through the inner city. But the central demand is for "free education", since most states have introduced some kind of fees for universities in the last two years. School students in Berlin have to pay up to €100 for their books (that measure was introduced by Berlin's "red" government of the Social Democrats and the Left Party!). (JungeWelt.De [in German])

• 23/05/2008 DC (U.S. of A.) Public School Students Walk-Out in Protest of School Closures & School Restructuring. They raise their voices courageously and defiantly to resist the illegal and unfair take-over of their public schools. (YouTube.Com; NextStudent.Com)
  
  
• 26/05/2008 A policeman and security officer were injured when North West University students staged a protest at the Mafikeng campus (South Africa) at the weekend, police reported on Monday.
  Superintendent Lesego Metsi said the students were demanding the reinstatement of their fellow students who had been barred from the university for inciting violent protests.
  They barricaded the entrance, burning tyres and throwing stones. The police were called in and a policeman and a security officer were injured," said Metsi.
  Four students were arrested during the incident on Sunday evening.
  The initial protests which resulted in their friends' exclusion from campus, revolved around a 13 percent increase in tuition fees.
  The situation calmed down when members of the Student Representative Council addressed the protesters. (IOL.Co.Za)
  
  
• 26/05/2008 (New Zealand) Staff and students from Victoria University’s College of Education gathered at their Karori campus to protest proposed cuts to staff and resources, describing the plans as being “entirely without justification.”
  Those present were protesting the plans by the University to cut over 15 per cent (29 members) of college staff and close the college’s resource centre.
  According to Association of University Staff (AUS) branch organiser Michael Gilchrist, who led the protest, the planned cuts are part of a University plan to focus on research in education rather than the education of future teachers, and “threatens to leave teacher education in the dust.” Close to 100 staff and students gathered outside the main entrance to the college last Thursday (22/05/2008), with various signs and masks expressing people’s displeasure with the planned cuts.
  VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove was present and spoke about the cuts, stating that there was “no justification to cut these staff” as the university was on course for a $9 million profit while giving the college a $1.8 million deficit.
  Some former and current staff and students also spoke, expressing their anger at the university’s plans as well as the government for a lack of appropriate funding. (Salient.Org.Nz)
  
  
• 27/05/2008 A peaceful demonstration is reported to have turned into running battles between students and riot police at the Bulawayo Polytechnic College (Zimbabwe). 15 students, including the Student Representative Council President Simba Kuzipa and SRC Sports Director Leopold Tapi, were bundled into a police car and taken into custody. Three students and one police officer are reported to have sustained serious injuries. Students say many issues had made a decent life impossible at the institution, but tensions reached a boiling point when the College Administration ordered them to pay top up fees of Z$75 billion. This was after the students were charged Z$140 million last term.
  Problems started when police ordered students to disperse and refused them to address their grievances. (SWradioAfrica.Com)
  
  
• 28/05/2008 Hundreds of students were detained in Chile during a protest against the General Education Law (LGE), currently under discussion in the National Congress. Demonstrations were organized in the major cities of Santiago, Valparaiso and Antofagasta to protest the law. According to an initial official report, a total of 456 students were detained during the protests.
  In Santiago, the demonstration started in the morning. Nearly 2,000 students tried to march through the main streets of the city. Police intervened and forced the protesting students to other parts of downtown Santiago.
  In Valparaiso, a group of students entered the city's Regional Education Ministry. Local police commander Cesar Vargas said a dozen students have been arrested. (News.XinHuaNet.Com)
  
  
• 02/06/2008 Militant student groups trooped to Morayta near Malacañang (Philippines) to protest the tuition increases in private colleges and universities, GMA's Flash Report said.
  The television report said that the protest started around 1 p.m. when members of College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and other youth and student organizations marched toward C.M. Recto avenue from the University of Santo Tomas (UST). (GMANews.TV; GMANews.TV [I; II (in English) short clips])
  
  
• 03/06/2008 Armed with loudspeakers and placards, student protesters marched, shouted and sang their way to a downtown courthouse to convince prosecutors to free 14 fellow protesters charged in an earlier demonstration. The 14 people, most of them also students from the nearby University of Toronto (Canada), were charged after a March sit-in staged to protest recent student fee increases.
  About 80 protesters made their way through downtown streets, accompanied by a police escort, before assembling in front of the downtown courthouse, where the 14 were slated to appear.
  Protesters said in addition to having the charges dropped, they want tuition-free schooling and a university governance system that includes more representation from students and staff. (Cnews.Canoe.Ca)
  
  
• 04/06/2008 Students of the University of the Philippines in Diliman yesterday staged a "cultural protest" to kick off their weeklong action against tuition fee increase.
  With songs, poems and speeches against tuition hike and alleged exorbitant fees in their school, members of the Ugnayang Multi-sektoral Laban sa Komersyalisasyon–College of Mass Communication, an alliance of student organizations in UP, demanded the rollback of the 300-percent tuition increase in their university that was implemented last year in view of the skyrocketing prices of oil, energy and basic commodities. "A laboratory fee of P600 if scrapped, for instance, can mean additional 16 kilos of rice for a Filipino family," Maningat (spokesperson of the League of Filipino Students–CMC) said.
  “The biggest private schools like University of the East, Centro Escolar University, Mapua Institute of Tech, Far Eastern University, Feati, Natl Teachers College, Manila Cenral University, Cebu Doctors University, Velez College, are consistently in the list of the country’s Top 1000 Corporations. These schools register profits as big as P292M annually, and equities amounting to as much as P1.9B,” he said, citing data from the Top Moneymakers feature in the 2003 issue of Graphic. (ABS-CBNnews.Com; LFS.Ph)
  
  
• 04/06/2008 At least 50 people were detained in Santiago (Chile) as a protest launched by students and teachers against an education law under review in parliament turned violent. The protest was organized to support todays strike by the country's largest teachers' union, the College of Professors, demanding the rejection to the proposed law.
  The demonstration in downtown Santiago led to clashes between protesters and riot police. The protesters seized a dozen schools and at least four universities, urging an immediate rejection to the education bill, which is a result of a consensus between the rightist opposition and the ruling "leftists". (News.XinHuaNet.Com)

 

• 05/06/2008 More than 100 public school teenagers and members of student groups rallied in front of City Hall (New York; U.S. of A.) to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed $450 million budget cuts. The students say the mayor's plan will adversely impact their schools. (WNYC.Org)
  
  
• 05/06/2008 Parents of the students of St. Francis Xavier Girls’ High School in Frazer Town (Bangalore; India) staged a protest on Thursday against steep increase in fees. Parents, who had gathered in front of the school early in the morning, alleged that the fees had been increased by over 50 per cent for primary, middle and high school classes compared with last year. (Hindu.Com)
  
  
• 06/06/2008 More than 40,000 of Los Angeles (U.S. of A.) teachers (and parents) held an hourlong demonstration this morning to protest proposed budget cuts, waving signs, shouting to passersby and delaying the start of the school day as students in the nation’s second-largest school district waited in gymnasiums and auditoriums and on athletic fields. District officials have said that they hope to avoid cuts in the classroom, but that about 6,500 probationary teachers could be laid off.
  “I am particularly interested in this because I’m a first-year teacher,” said Ahler, who teaches social studies. “I’m just doing whatever I can to fight to keep my job.” (Articles.LAtimes.Com; LA.IndyMedia.Org; LA.IndyMedia.Org [video])

• 10/06/2008 The League of Filipino Students (LFS) and other militant youth groups marked school opening on this day with various protests in major unversities and campuses. Students from UP, PUP, UST, UE, FEU, TIP, Mapua, PLM, and many others, held rallies and noise barrage activities to protest increases in tuition and other school fees and low government spending in education.
  Crisostomo (LFS national chairperson) said that due to the government’s refusal to regulate tuition rates in private schools, tertiary education has been abused by “capitalist vultures,” turning campuses into profit-making enterprises by collecting “unjust and exorbitant fees” from parents and students. (LFS.Ph; GMANews.TV; GMANews.TV [a short clip])
  
  
• 13/06/2008 Students at Makerere University (Uganda) have rejected the hike in tuition and accommodation fees.
  "Many of us come from poor families and the university should recognise this. If Makerere is a public institution with a vision to serve Ugandans and not making profit, why should it raise fees unnecessarily?" asked the private students' chairman, Nehemiah Katantazi.
  Abdul Kirembeka, a social sciences student, complained that lecturers spent more time pursuing their private business than teaching at the university. (AllAfrica.Com)
  
  
• 17/06/2008 More than 2,500 students protested in Düsseldorf (Germany) against (the lavishness of) tuition fees. (WDR.De [in German]; YouTube.Com [in German])
  
  
• 18/06/2008 Teachers in Chile end a three-day strike and call for meaningful education reforms in opposition to an education reform bill currently being debated in Congress. The teachers argue the General Education Law (LGE) does nothing to protect public education and will hurt low income students. The President of Chile's Teachers Association estimates that 15,000 teachers and students marched in solidarity. (FSRn.Org, including audio file)

• 19/06/2008 Up to 5,000 students protested in Hannover (Germany) against the education politics of the conservative-liberal state government and tuition fees. (De.Indymedia.Org [in German])

• 19/06/2008 Students representatives in Austria (ÖH) are preparing protests against further restrictions to take up a Master degree. These proposed measures are part of the Bologna process. (DiePresse.Com)
  
  
• 24/06/2008 Approximately 40 students were detained in Santiago for protesting against the General Law of Education (LGE), currently being discussed in the Chilean Senate. A march by approximately 1,000 high school students through the Central Station district west of Santiago was broken up by military police officers, who said the demonstration was unauthorized. Further demonstrations are expected. (HTHtravelInsurance.Com; News.XinHuaNet.Com; YouTube.Com)
  
  
• 04/07/2008 Students marched in Auckland today, in protest of the ever-increasing student debt. New Zealand Union of Students Associations claims more than 90% of students have to work while they study full time, and are forced to take on big loans and credit card debt to pay for the basics. They are calling for the current system of means testing, for under 24's to be scrapped, and a universal student allowance introduced.
  Students say their $10 billion worth of debt, which they describe as a debt monster, is rising every year and is a burden on them for years after their degrees are completed. NZUSA co-President Paul Falloon says student debt is increasing by $1 billion each year, which is totally unsustainable. (TVnz.Co.NZ; 3News.Co.NZ [+ a short clip])

• 08/07/2008  Hundreds of Chilean students and teachers fought riot police armed with tear gas and water cannons in Santiago, the latest protest against an unpopular education reform bill.
  Police said they arrested 150 people, 82 of them youths, after police were pelted with stones and two officers were injured.
  Protesters say the bill does not address concerns that Chile’s education system is being privatized, and they believe that the education of poorer students will suffer at ill-funded state schools as a result of the measure. "We are protesting against a bill that does not take into account or develop the aspirations of students or teachers," said history teacher Luis Vicencio, a protest leader.
  "The responsibility of the state is to provide public education, so that the children of the poorest can study free," he added. "With this bill, that is lost."
  As he spoke, medics tended to one protester lying on the capital’s main artery, the Alameda, who suffered a head injury after he was doused by a water cannon.
  "We are going to keep protesting," said Arturo Martinez, president of the CUT, Chile’s largest umbrella workers’ union, which joined the teachers’ protest. He said his group was planning a two-day nationwide strike but did not announce a date. (Tiscali.Co.UK; YouTube.Com)

• 15/07/2008 A student poured cold water on Chile’s unpopular education reform -- literally. The 14-year-old schoolgirl threw a pitcher of cold water in Education Minister Monica Jimenez’s face at an event to discuss reform of a sector that students and teachers complain is underfunded and neglects the poor. Respect! (Tiscali.Co.UK)
  
  
• 15/07/2008 Students in Bonn (Germany) protested against the closure of Slavonic Studies at their university. They collected over 800 signatures and are preparing a petition against the closure. The dean of the faculty of philosophy argues that they have no choice since they need to economise 2 millions Euros and that's an absolute priority. (General-Anzeiger-Bonn.De)
  
  
• 30/07/2008 Once against students in Santiago (Chile) were protesting against the proposed education reform known as LGE. (News.Yahoo.Com)
  
  
• 13/08/2008 Addressing a gathering of about 100 students outside the Department of Education in Dublin (Ireland) Mr Kenny (president of the Union of Students in Ireland) said third level education must be funded through taxation and not fees. The protest was called in response to suggestions by Minister for Education Batt O’Keefe that fees for third level might be reintroduced.
  President of the Labour Party, Michael D Higgins, TD, said the issue went beyond fees but was “a democratic issue”.
  “Anyone who has any sense of the real world knows that more and more it is required as a basic level that you have a third level education. It is anti-democratic and anti-republican to suggest that access to it would be restricted to those who could afford to pay for it.” (IrishTimes.Com)
  
  
• 22/08/2008 Despite strong opposition expressed by students, mothers, midwives and concerned members of the community, Miami Dade College (U.S. of A.) has closed the Midwifery Program. Students have called and written the College President, Dr. Eduaro Padron to request reconsideration and a meeting with the College Board of Trustees yet Dr. Padron has refused to meet with them.
  The students are now planning a rally to save the Midwifery Program on Monday August 25th (MiamiHerald.Com).
  The College claims tough economic times have caused them to close programs with low enrollment and high costs. Midwifery students, who had been accepted in May were devastated by the sudden cancellation of the program. Some students had relocated to South Florida, and many had already taken out loans to cover tuition costs. (NaturalMomsTalkRadio.Com)
  
  
• 12/09/2008 Dozens of students at Brown University (U.S. of A.) held a Parade for Accessible Education. (dbPatterson.SmugMug.Com)

• 20/10/2008 At least two students were arrested at UCD (Ireland) last night during a protest against the proposed re-introduction of third-level fees.
  Around 100 students gathered at the college's Clinton Institute as Finance Minister Brian Lenihan arrived to chair a function. The minister had to enter through a side door after the protestors staged a sit-down blockade outside the building.
  They say they were protesting against the possible return of third-level fees and the €600 increase in annual college registration fees announced in last week's Budget. (BreakingNews.ie)
  
  
• 20/10 - 23/10/2008 Protests across Italy continue. Faculties are being occupied and blocked, huge demonstrations held. (UniRiot.Org)

• 22/10/2008 About 10,000 students took to the streets of Dublin this afternoon to voice their opposition to the possible reintroduction of student fees. The Union of Students of Ireland - which arranged today's protest - claims that the imposition any additional costs would be a disaster for students and their families, and would put the idea of a knowledge-based economy at risk. (BreakingNews.ie, youtube.com)

• 22/10/2008 Students in Ottawa (Canada) deliver petitions containing more than 65,000 signatures to "their" premier's office demanding lower tuition fees. (TorontoSun.Com)
  
  
• 22/10/2008 In about 30 cities across Spain activists protested against the Bologna Process and in defence of public education. In Milan about 5.000 and in Bacelona 3.000 people attended the demonstrations. The day of protest served as a warm-up for massive protests on Nov.13th!
  A few faculties were occupied by students in Valencia. (SindicatoDeEstudiantes.Org)

• 23/10/2008 Thousands of university and high school students staged demonstrations across Italy to protest at planned school reforms by the conservative government. (youtube.com)
  

• 29/10/2008 Protests across Italy continue. Up to 50.000 people protested on the Piazza Navona (Rome) alone. During the protest fascists tried to lead the demonstration, which resulted in clashes. A few students were injured and 20 of them arrested. Twelve schools are being currently occupied by students in Rome alone and more than 150 + 20 faculties across the country. In Milan students clashed with police forces. Acording to the ministry of internal affairs more than 300 demonstrations took place in Italy since Oct.1st. In Naples students occupied the central train station. A general strike is planned for tomorrow. (corriere.it, uniriot.org [for more pictures and clips; in Italian])

• 30/10/2008 Up to 3,500 students protested against the introduction of tuition fees in Munich (Germany). Student representatives announced more protests in the coming weeks. (De.Indymedia.Org, StuVe.Uni-Muenchen.De [more pictures])

• 30/10/2008 As part of a national general strike in Italy against the proposed budget cuts in education huge demonstrations took place across the country. Workers unions and student groups called for the strike and protests.
  In Milan about 200,000 people, in Rome up to 1,000,000 and in Bologna 30,000 teachers, workers, parents and students protested for close to 10 hours. In Bologna groups also clashed with riot police. In Brussels a hand full of students arranged an act of solidarity with the students movement in Italy. (Youtube.Com, NewsWeek.WashingtonPost.Com, ESIB.Org)

• 12/11/2008 Up to 100,000 pupils across Germany took part in a nationwide school strike to protest the chronically underfinanced education system + tuition and school fees!
  Demonstrations in around 40 cities with thousands of students, pupils and teachers attending took place. The biggest one could be seen in Berlin with close to 10,000 protesters. There the Humbolt University was shortly occupied by pupils. (De.IndyMedia.Org)

• 14/11/2008 Hundreds of thousand of students marched through Rome to protest proposed changes to the education system backed by Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government. The students came to the capital aboard trains and buses from up and down Italy, and marched through central Rome, snarling traffic. It's the latest in a series of protests by the university students. (IHT.com, WSWS.Org)

• 14/11/2008 About 50 student protesters from campus chapters of D.C. Students for a Democratic Society (U.S. of A.) gathered at the entrance of the Department of Education to vocalize their frustration with loan debt. They danced and chanted "Education is a right! Student power! Fight, fight, fight!" (NBCwashington.Com, YouTube.Com)
  
  

• 20/11/2008 Thousands of students in a few cities across Spain protested against the Bologna process. In Barcelona (Catalonia) alone 4,000 people gathered and at some points were also brutally attacked by police forces. A few students were injured by batons.
  Catalan media reported that students and a journalist had been injured when police charged demonstrators in the Catalonian capital.
  Catalan TV said that confrontations began when police tried to redirect marching protesters in the centre of Barcelona.
  National radio station COPE said a 20-year-old have been detained for public disorder.
  Local television said that students and staff from all of the Barcelona's universities took part in Thursday's strike against Europes' Bologna process, which aims to standardise European higher education. Protesters think the process will lead to the commercialization and privatization of colleges and universities.
  Hundreds students failed to storm and occupy the rectorat's office. (ThinkSpain.Com, Blip.TV (video in Spanish), youtube.com)
  

 

• 21/11/2008 Tanzania: The ministry of Education and Vocational Training told the administrations of the public universities to lock out those demanding that the Government fully finances their tuition and accommodation.
  Deputy Education minister Gaudensia Kabaka, addressing a press conference in Dar es Salaam, said the universities had been instructed to re-admit only those students who would agree to be bound by the cost sharing policy.
  She came out to reinforce the policy following the closure of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and other institutions of higher learning due to student protests to demand the scrapping of the cost sharing policy.
  Her remarks underlined the hardline stance the Government has taken to curb the growing student unrest in public universities. "We have directed that the exercise be conducted immediately so that those agreeing to cost sharing can resume studies."
  Seven campuses of public universities and constituent colleges were closed over a week ago, sending home some 30,000 students after protests, some of which turned violent.
  The students were attempting to force the Government to order the Higher Education Students Loans Board (HESLB) to fully pay for their tuition and accommodation
  Besides the University of Dar es Salaam's Main Campus, also closed are Ardhi University, the Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE), Mkwawa University College of Education (MUCE), the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and the Moshi University College of Co-operative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS).
  Following the latest round of strikes, police have arrested scores of students, accusing them of inciting their colleagues. A former student leader at UDSM, Mr Julius Mtatiro, has been charged with incitement, while Ugandan national, Mr Odong Odwar, was arrested and remanded for questioning. Inspector-General of Police Saidi Mwema told reporters in Dar es Salaam that more arrests would be made.
  In a related development, foreign students on exchange programmes, who remained at UDSM after the closure, have been asked to leave.
  The students, who are mostly from Uganda, were told on Thursday that they would have to leave as soon as the administration gives them money to foot their transport costs back home. (TheCitizen.Co.Tz)

• 23/11/2008 A 1,000 strong crowd gathered in Bruin Plaza in the center of the Westwood campus (U.S. of A.) to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts to higher education. The students marched from the campus to the nearby Federal Building outside Westwood Village, where they continued their public appeal. The governor's proposed cuts, they said, would result in higher tuition, lower enrollment, larger class sizes and fewer student services.
  During their protests the college students, angry at what they see as narrowing opportunities, chanted messages such as "They say cut back, we say fight back." They carried signs that read "Bail out education" and "Affordable education now." Schwarzenegger recently recommended a $65-million cut from the $3 billion in state money the UC system expected for the 2008-09 school year. (LAtimes.Com [incl. video]; IndyBay.Org)

• 27/11/2008 Ireland: Students opposed to the Government’s education cuts say a movement against them has been set in motion. A large group of students protested outside a MEP’s office in the city. Over a hundred activists from FEE, the organisation set up by students to protest against the re-introduction of third level fees, began the march from NUI Galway to Prospect Hill. From there they walked with banners and signs through Eyre Square and onto the constituency office of MEP Seán O Neachtain. Students at the protest say this is just the start of a movement against the re-introduction of third level fees. (Free-Education.Info)
  
  
• 04/12/2008 Over 20 students from UCD occupied the office of Paul Gogarty Green Party TD for Dublin Mid-West (Ireland) and Spokesperson on Education in Lucan Village. This is in protest at the increase in college registration fees to €1500 per year and the possible full re-introduction of fees. The occupation was organised by the campaigning group, Free Education for Everyone (FEE), and is part of a national day of protest across the country against fees organised by FEE. Protests also took place in Cork and Galway. (Free-Education.Info)
  

• 08/12/2008 University students and members of the Progressive Alliance of Nevada (U.S. of A.) lined the capital Monday to protest more budget cuts to education and health and human services that they say is "crucial" to the education system.
  University of Nevada, Reno's student body president Eli Reilly said the university has already been forced to close their free writing and tutoring centers that he says are crucial to helping students graduate in four years. (MSNBC.msn.Com)

• 09/12/2008 Close to 60,000 people marched through Dublin (Ireland) in protest against the education cuts and the re-introduction of third level fees. (WSM.ie [incl. video])
  

• 12/12/2008 Today was the day of a general strike in Italy. The Wave took to the streets once again and targeted banks, PdL, Confindustria, CISL, UIL and Greek consulates.
  According to newspapers 1.5 million people took part in the demonstrations all over the country.
  Various concerns were addressed, incl. the new propossed education law cutting the education budget. (Indymedia.Org.UK, Anomalia.Blogsome.Com)
  

• 17/12 - 19/12/2009 An overnight sit-in and occupation of a dining hall that began Wednesday (17/12) night stretched into early Friday (19/12) morning at the Greenwich Village university [= New School University] (New York City, U.S. of A.).
  On 18/12 security guards and police officers got into a shouting and shoving match with students after the sit-in at the dining hall. What began as a placid protest with the tacit permission of university officials became chaotic shortly after 10 a.m. as the students tried to expand their occupation to other areas of the building, which includes administrative offices.
  City police officers removed some students from the building, and students rolled metal Dumpsters into the hall to block the police, who eventually moved back outside. The police said one person — not a student — was arrested for disorderly conduct.
  The student demonstration began Wednesday evening in the ground-floor cafeteria, with about 50 of them staying overnight citing a list of grievances with the Kerrey administration, dating back to his early support of the Iraq war. They adopted a list of eight demands including a greater student voice in university affairs and the resignations of Mr. Kerrey; James Murtha, the executive vice president; and Robert Millard, treasurer of the board of trustees, who students said was connected to a private security firm working in Iraq.
  On Wednesday night, the students pushed wooden tables against the cafeteria’s front door and blocked a rear corridor to the street with heavy recycling bins. Marcus Michelson, also a graduate student in philosophy, said the sit-in was meant to show that the students were serious about having a seat at the negotiating able. “This is about starting a dialogue, and to do that you have to be seen as an equal,” he said. “People just don’t give equality, you have to take it.” (CityRoom.Blogs.NYtimes.Com; NYC.IndyMedia.Org; YouTube.Com; YouTube.Com [II])

   

• 18/12/2008 High school students demonstrated throughout France against a reform of high schools planned by National Education Minister Xavier Darcos. Press estimates of the number of demonstrators ranged from 80,000 to 160,000, both unusually large figures for a high school demonstration. Darcos' reform has provoked widespread opposition because it would result in 13,500 job losses in teaching and decrease the number of hours spent on several subjects, such as history and geography.
  Darcos announced on December 15 that he would postpone passing the law through the National Assembly, where the ruling conservative UMP has a large enough majority to ensure passage of the bill.
  Demonstrations took place in all regions the country: 5,000 students marched in Rennes and Nancy, 2,500 marched in CaenMontpellier, and 4,000 marched in Marseille. In Lyon, where 10,000 students marched (5,000 according to police reports), police fired tear gas and students threw stones at the end of the march. There were reports that two cars had been overturned and the windows of a bus station smashed. At least 38 people were arrested. In Paris, students mounted blockades at 40 high schools out of a total of 105 in the region. Students from the Maurice Ravel and Hélène Boucher high schools blocked traffic on the Cours de Vincennes thoroughfare, and an estimated 13,000 students marched in the main demonstration along the Boulevard St. Michel, past the National Education Ministry.
  A delegation of teachers from the FSU (Unitary Trade Union Federation) stood at the front of the column, with high school student unionists from the UNL (National High School Students Union) and FIDL (Independent Democratic Federation of High School Students) forming the main body.
  Students are broadly aware that despite the postponement, the government still plans on implementing Darcos' reform. Students also opposed a call for a national strike and day of mobilization on January 29 by the student and trade unions: this was widely understood as an attempt to break up the development of the protest movement, by delaying the next major demonstration for over a month. (WSWS.Org, Salon.Com)
  

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)

tags: commercialisation  education  bologna  students  protest  international  novartis  huntingdon life sciences  animal testing  

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