quarta-feira, outubro 21, 2009

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna squatted!

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8 comentários:

free access to university for everyone disse...

hey,

just to inform you, we are right now blocking the biggest lecture hall at
the university in vienna, austria, to protest against the cut backs on the
budget for education and for free access to university for everyone! keep
on fighting for free education for everyone!!!

greetings form austria!

http://derstandard.at/1254312155865/Studenten-besetzen-Audimax-der-Uni-Wien

Agem agora! disse...

Agem agora!

A Educação na Europa está ficando mais e mais economizada por causa de processo de Bologna.

Isso significa que a faculdade serve como uma institução para emprezas particulares.

A Universidade de Viena já foi mobilizada. Nos conseguimos a occupar o prédio da faculdade e estamos defendendo a nossa universidade.

Estamos chamando vocês para mais accoes, solidaridade e resisténcia em todas as faculdades da Europa.

Nos exigimos:

* Dinheiro suficiente para todas as vagas na universidade

* Acesso livre para educação

* Uma Democratisação verdadeira da universidade

* estudar e viver com a propria dispocição de tempo – SEM PRESSÃO!

* Acesso livre para estudios de Master

* Ensino e sciencia independente

* Abolir as condiçoes de trabalho precárias para professores, empregados e trabalhadores

* Escolher disciplinas facultativas individualmente

* Recusam o movimento de Neo-Liberalism!

http://freiebildung.at/wordpress/audimax-besetzung-grenzenlos-in-unterschiedlichen-sprachen/

our demands disse...

our demands (in english)
http://www.malen-nach-zahlen.at/?page_id=274

Academy of fine arts squatted - english translation disse...

The Bologna process aims at an extensive convergence of european Universities with the Anglo-American education system. The aim is to enter competition in the global education market in order to strengthen universitie’s economic position and increase their research dependent revenues. The establishment of regulative norms and the harmonization of standards are the basis and at the same time the precondition of this process: without standardization there can be no measurability, without measurability no comparability, without comparability no competition. Economization and the logic of competition are imposed at every level of knowledge production.

The result is intercontinental as well as inter-EU competition, in which single universities and their departments compete amongst themselves for the best results and statistics. The processes involved in the creation of an education economy with knowledge as the commodity correspond to the general tendencies towards privatization and commodification of all spheres of life under neoliberal capitalism. They lead to educational institution’s increased dependency on their sponsors, cynically defined as the autonomization of universities.

In this context autonomy is a euphemism for the new forms of governing institutions. The autonomized universities are not autonomous in the sense of self-determined at all. They are rather directed to fulfil the needs of economy and industry, as well as to subjugate themselves to market logic: efficiency, competition and managerial ruling structures. The democratisation of universities, implemented in the 1970s, is successively abolished - democratically legitimized bodies are disenfranchised and replaced by top-down hierarchical structures.

In the composition of the Bologna 3-level study model, a paradigm change has manifested itself, in the last few years there has been a shift from a pluralistic ideal of education to an economy-oriented model of education. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna has repeatedly and explicitly positioned itself against this degradation and the establishment of the Bachelor-Master system.

We refuse to subjugate ourselves to the logic of politics and economy! We’re fighting to define learning, teaching and research for ourselves!

We declare solidarity with the education protests in Bangladesh, Brazil, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Croatia, Netherlands, Serbia, South Africa, USA!


Edited by teachers and students of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Academy of fine arts squatted - english translation disse...

1. We oppose ourselves to university-based organisational structures that are determined by economic ends, as well as to the privatisation of teaching, research and knowledge production more broadly. We demand the full public funding and re-democratization of all educational institutions as well as the unconditional abolition of university fees!

2. We oppose ourselves to the pseudo-autonomy of universities. We demand the immediate withdrawal of §8* of the UG 2002!
§8.: ’Upon the proposal of the minister of education, the government may impose the installation of a branch of study on a university or several universities, given this is necessary on the basis of political decisions in the fields of education or science, and given there is no related former agreement as in a contract regarding university performance.’
We demand the freedom to define what teaching and research, as well as science and art, mean in the context of our universities.

3. We oppose ourselves to quality assessments concerning science and art when these operate by economic criteria. We are against the forced imposition of self-marketing strategies on universities, and against the conflation of education with competitiveness and elitism.
We demand the abolition of knowledge surveys and agreements on productivity!

4. We oppose ourselves to the degrading transformation of universities and schools into training facilities oriented by the labour market.
We want education as space for thinking, not training as the mere reproduction of workforce!.

5. We insist that the government refrain from taking teaching and art, science and research to be seperable as objects of thought and administration. We demand that the corresponding ministeries be merged immediately.
We insist that the rector defend the position of the Academy – and not his private view - when it comes to negotiating the terms of productivity with the ministry.
We demand that the rector make sure all existing courses of study remain in place, according to the decisions taken at the academy.
We demand that all financial activities within the term of the current agreement on productivity (2007-2009) be immediately revealed.

Edited by teachers and students of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Statement by the students of the University of Vienna, occupying the Audimax disse...

28. - October - 2009

1. Education, not qualification!
We want education for all, to strive for a reasonable society, not just qualification according to economic profitability! Our aim is to enable all students to study independently and self-organized. We are against restrictive curricula. Therefore we demand a thorough transformation of the BA-MA-architecture. We demand:
• No more STEPs (introductory stages) as hidden access restrictions. STEPs should be genuine periods of orientation for students, not mechanisms of social selection through knock-out-tests.
• Self-determined studies – No more „Voraussetzungsketten“ (pre-conditions that have to be met in order to get access to courses) leading to unnecessary delays.
• Free choice of courses instead of „Erweiterungscurricula“ (restricted, pre-structured modules)
• Do away with non-transparent application systems
• Free acccess to Master- and PhD-Studies
• Guaranteed possibilities to finish the „old“ diploma curricula.
• Guaranteed allowability of credit points and certificates from other universities, both national and abroad.

2. Free access to higher education
We demand free access to higher education for everybody and the complete abolition of student fees. Access restrictions are by no means an adequate way to establish higher quality in teaching or better studying conditions. Free access to higher education and high quality teaching are not at all contradicting each other. We are not too many students – there are just not enough places to study!

3. Democratization of the universities
We strive for a democratic administration of our universities. This includes equal democratic participation in decision.making processes by professors, students, assistants and non-professorial teaching staff and administrative staff. We demand:
• Redistribution of voting rights in the senate, in order to achieve genuine democracy
• No changes in curricula without consent of the students
• Introduction of democratically elected bodies on all administrative levels
• Guaranteed transparency in decision making processes on all administrative levels
• Anti-discrimination as basic principle in all areas of the university
• Complete abolition of the „Universitätsrat“ (non-elected body, similar to a supervisory board; members are appointed by the government)
• Abolition of the „Top-Down-Principle“
• Re-introduction of the direct vote in the ÖH-elections (elections for the student’s representative body) that had been abolished by the „ÖH-Wahlrechtsreform“ in 2004.
• Protection of students’ spaces.

4. Full financing of the universities
• Transparency of the university funds
• Democratic participation in the decisions regarding funds of the university
• Abolition of all forms of student fees
• Financial security for students
• Abolition of all social barriers in higher education.

5. Implementation of the law for the legal equality of persons with disabilities. At all universities

6. End precarious working conditions!

7. Mandatory quota of 50 % female employees on all university levels

Education is NOT for $Ale disse...

--- BREAKING NEWS ---

University of Vienna (Austria) is occupied

University of Graz (Austria) is occupied

University of Klagenfurt (Austria) is occupied

University of Linz (Austria) is occupied

Academyof Fine Art in Vienna (Austria) is occupied

Technical University of Graz (Austria) is occupied

Technical University of Vienna (Austria) is occupied

Demonstrations are scheduled to take place across the country today [28/10].
_________________________________

We have a VERY unique situation right now:

Protestes are spreading across Austria, groups are preparing protests
across Germany [esp. on Nov.17th], Italy [esp. on Nov.17th], the U.S. of
A. [especially on Nov.10th; 2 buildings of the University of California (Santa Cruz) are still occupied], Canada [esp. on Nov.5th], Croatia [to begin soon] and in Bosnia Herzigovina [warming up already].

Further protests are expected in Ireland, Nepal, Bulgaria, Marocco,
[f.Y.R.o.] Macedonia, the UK, Switzerland, Indonesia, Spain, Bangladesh and elsewhere in the coming month.

Most of the actions will also be part of the "Education is NOT for $Ale - Global Week of Action", which is called for by 60 groups in 24 countries on the independent platform "International Student Movement".

Details: http://emancipating-education-for-all.org/content/global-week-action-reloaded-nov-2009

Austrian students squat Universities! disse...

Mass-demonstrations and broad solidarity throughout the country

Throughout the last years studying conditions at Austrian universities have dramatically declined. The introduction of tuition fees, a massive cutback
of democratic structures and the lack of course availability are only some examples for that development. Reasons for that process can be found in the huge decline of university funding on one hand and the introduction of the three level "Bologna" system on the other hand. In that context the implementation of admission reductions and limits was conducted.

Obviously several reasons constituted an insufficient status quo. On Thursday, October 22, the insatisfaction turned into savage protest.

At 12:00 PM several hunderd students of the Academy of Fine Arts (which was squatted the day before) and the University of Vienna gathered to make notice of their desperate situation. In a spontanious action they squatted Austrias largest auditorium in the main University building. The news of the squatting spread rapidly and soon after students from several other departments joined.

What started as a spontanious act of protest within the course of just a week, evolved into massive student protests throughout all major Austrian university cities. The University of Vienna for example is constantly being seized by several thousand people. Self-organized action groups have build up an efficient infrastructure that includes i.e. a public kitchen, first aid and legal consulting. In addition to that 100 work groups have been formed, whose main subject is the discussion of strategic and content related issues.

On Wednesday October 28th , seven days after the initial squatting, Vienna witnessed one of the largest education related rallies in Austrian history, with 40.000 attendents. The following day, in Graz, Austrias second largest city, a demonstration with several thousand people took place.

The students have presented a broad catalog of demands to public and university policy makers. Those demands include among others the democratization of all aspects of university life, a massive increase in funding, free and equal admission modalities and a 50% women clause in all positions of university adminisration and education.

Along with various organisations and groups from all corners of society and the world, many university professors and administrative staff have demonstrated their solidarity with the protesting students. This and the incredible power and hope that have developed, encourage the movement to persist and grow until the students' demands are met.