Students protest education in Argentine capital

Thousands of young Argentines marched to the presidential palace on Thursday to protest the quality of public education, joining a student rebellion that accuses politicians of neglecting schools and universities that were once the envy of Latin America.

High schoolers have occupied about 30 public schools in Buenos Aires to protest their deteriorating conditions. The takeovers later spread to public universities, with students occupying a half dozen, this week, teachers joined the rebellion, putting 700,000 students out of school.

Students carrying a giant model of a pencil on their shoulders like a coffin and crosses symbolizing the death of public education on Thursday marched from Argentina's Congress to the presidential palace. They cite abysmal conditions in schools, including a lack of heating gas, poor electrical systems, leaky ceilings and broken windows, among other problems.

"For a long time, years, decades, a policy of cutting funding to public education has been carried out and this policy has reached such an extreme that the conditions needed to study almost do not exist," said Itai Hagman, president of the Buenos Aires University Federation.

Early in the 20th century, Argentina had a public education system considered a model for Latin America that assured most citizens access to free schooling. But that system came under fire during Argentina's dictatorship and was later subjected to financing cuts under market-oriented democratic governments.

Thursday's march coincided with the 34th anniversary of the "Night of the Pencils" remembering a group of high school students who were abducted and killed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

Continue to read this news...The protesters' ire is directed at conservative Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri, who handles high school financing, and center-left President Cristina Fernandez, whose government administers public universities.

"Our recent governments have not paid attention to public education. We want that to change," said Agustina Scattolini, 20, who is one of the students occupying a Buenos Aires high school for almost two weeks.

Buenos Aires' Education Ministry says that only 100 of the city's 1,200 schools have budget problems and that its education budget for 2010 is the highest in the last eight years. The federal government says it spends 6.45 percent of GDP on public education, one of the highest figures in recent decades. In both cases, however, most of the money is spent on teacher salaries and not on infrastructure.

"Unfortunately we have been very patient over the years, but out patience is over. We want practical solutions," said Hagman.

Student occupations in Argentina

Students in Buenos Aires have taken to the streets in protest against the appalling conditions to be found in many of the city’s schools. A lack of heating in the cold winter just coming to an end has brought to a head a state of neglect which has been building up for several years. In the inimitable style of Argentine tradition, there have not only been occupations of at one point as many as forty of the city’s secondary schools, but classes have been taking place in the street. The protests have been going on for a month, and have now been been joined by university students belonging to several faculties where buildings are in similarly bad condition.

This was not what I was expecting to find when I arrived in Buenos Aires to give a talk about teaching documentary at an event promoted by the Ministry of Education and intended primarily as a showcase for creative practices in the universities. I was also supposed to be speaking at the University of Buenos Aires, which was cancelled when Social Sciences, the faculty where this was due to take place, was occupied when a window fell on one of the students. So instead I go to film the occupation, and the demonstration being mounted outside the Ministry of Education. Here’s the result.

Occupations by secondary school and university students in Buenos Aires, September 2010. A video by Michael Chanan.

Student Loans, Gateway Drug to Debt Slavery

One of the most important lessons students learn in college is how to get into debt and stay there. It's crucial to the success of the Republic. An indebted population is easier to control; needing to pay off crushing debt - a debt that if defaulted on has been stripped of many normal consumer protections and rights - graduates more willingly shuttle into cubicles, becoming the square pegs demanded by the square holes. After a few futile years of floundering idealism, their souls have been successfully jackbooted into powder and they're ready to keep the thumb on the next generation of would-be drones so as to protect their empire of matchsticks. But how did we get here? This chunky infographic examines the origins and (d)evolution of the student loan leviathan.

Government of Canada expects student loan debt to surpass $15 billion this month

The total value of student loans owed to the federal government will surpass $15 billion this September, according to a regulatory change filed by Diane Finley, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSDC).

"Student debt has reached epidemic proportions", said David Molenhuis, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Instead of investing funds to make education more affordable and reduce the record levels of student debt, the government is attempting to quietly sweep it under the rug".

On August 20, the Governor General approved a request by the Minister of HRSDC to change the method of calculating the amount of outstanding student loans. To justify the issue the Minister wrote, "As currently calculated, the legislated ceiling of $15 billion in outstanding student loans, as specified in section 13 of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, is expected to be reached in September 2010".

"Record high tuition fees have left today's students graduating deeper into debt than any previous generation", added Molenhuis. "Addressing Canada's student debt crisis requires a national strategy to reduce tuition fees, not an administrative change to hide the level of student debt".

The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's largest student organisation, uniting more that one-half million students in all ten provinces. The Canadian Federation of Students and its predecessor organisations have represented students in Canada since 1927.

Chittagong University on indefinite Strike

On [last] Monday, July 26th, students at the public Chittagong University protested (simultaneously with students in Dhaka) against tuition fee hikes.The students called for an indefinite strike to begin the next day and thousands of students have continued to participate since then.

Student Labour: Demo and protests in Slovenia

Several thousand Slovenian students took the streets of Ljubljana and voiced their opposition to the “little labour” act. After several rounds of talks, the heads of the student organization ŠOU and Prime Minister Borut Pahor did not come to any acceptable solution regarding a legislative proposal that both limits students’ ability to work during their studies and places a maximum wage on their earnings.

Approximately 8,000 university and high school students from all over the country gathered on the morning of Wednesday, 19th May in the centre of Ljubljana to protest a new bill that would limit students’ work and thus their income during their studies.

While students are ones most loudly protesting the bill, the proposed change in the law applies not only to them, but also to pensioners, the unemployed and other “inactive” people. The measure is a part of a wider campaign, implemented by the government, in order to make the country more competitive.

What worries the students most is the fact that the so-called little labour act foresees the limitation of student work to 720 hours and EUR 6,000 per year. Students are naturally upset, explaining that many hold down jobs during their studies to pay their living costs in the face of dwindling scholarships. According to their leader, Katja Šoba, they have every right to earn their money, as it is often the only way to pay their studies and any kind of limitation would further worsen their financial situation. As she described, the politicians, while young, “... had sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. We’ll have ‘little labour’ and loans to pay.”

Continuar a ler o artigo...Loss of Control

The student protest, peaceful at first, later turned into a riot, when some of the students, who had gathered initially at Prešeren Square, then marched to the Slovenian Parliament. Despite the presence of hundreds of police officers in riot gear, some protestors began to throw eggs, granite blocks, signposts, even a molotov cocktail at the building, breaking some windows and forcing the parliament to suspend its session. The assembly suffered severe damage, estimated at EUR 27,000. To restrain the angry crowd, the police used pepper spray and arrested 31 rioters, 15 of whom were minors, many under the influence of alcohol.

Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, Ivan Svetlik labelled the violent protest a sad and regrettable event and added that the student organisation would have to accept full responsibility for what happened. In contrast, the organizers distanced themselves from any association with the violence by condemning it. As Šoba explained, she called on the group in front of the parliament to leave when the protest was over, but they were very angry and “difficult to control.”

“A Hotbed” of Irregularities

Why is student labour such a contentious issue? Perhaps the answer lies within the following facts: student jobs in Slovenia are the least taxed of all types of labour, students do not have to contribute to the public pension fund, nor do the employers have to pay for students’ social and health services. Since student workers are much cheaper than fulltime employees, many employers prefer hiring students or even demand to pay to somebody else’s student referrals. At the same time, there is very little paper work to do: everything that a student needs is a so-called student referral (i.e. a proof of student’s status) and he or she can start working immediately.

Since is almost impossible for young graduates to find a job directly after the completion of their studies, many decide to prolong their study and thus continue working via referrals. No wonder that Slovenia is facing a clear trend of prolongation of education: on average, studies last seven years – the second longest in Europe, after Poland. Since student labour is so appealing, many young people enrol in university not to study but to get proof of their student status and therefore be able to enter the student labour market.

The mediators between students and employers are the student employment services. There are approximately 80 such agencies across the country, which are financed from student labour. However, many believe that these agencies are totally unnecessary and that they live off the sweat of the students. According to the most recent data available, more than one million student referrals were issued in 2008 and the students performed 84 million hours of labour. The average annual income per student amounted to EUR 2,700, while gross disbursements came to EUR 340m. From this amount, some EUR 15m went to student organisations while another EUR 15m was divided between student employment services. Despite part of the student job taxation being channelled directly to student organisations (which do in fact support students with many benefits) some individuals have found a way to take advantage of the situation to become incredibly wealthy, the so-called “student barons”.

Every Third Must Work

Although students agree that the student labour market should be better regulated, at the same they time warn the government that every third student must work in order to live. In Slovenia only a quarter of all students receive some kind of scholarship in the average monthly amount of EUR 180, but according to their calculations an average student needs at least EUR 400 monthly for his/her needs. Some students receive state-issued scholarships, allocated on the basis of their financial situation and social status. Organisations and employers also give out scholarships, mostly to sponsor prospective students in their field of work.

Since most Slovenian students do not receive any scholarship, they must finance their years at university with part-time work. Therefore, apart from their everyday student obligations, many work in restaurants, bars and shops. The students do not work for a little extra spending money, the student organization explains, but because they are forced to and they would not do so if they had scholarships. In their eyes, student work is a form of a social corrective for under-privileged students and before the state implements the changes of student work, it will have to change its inadequate and insufficient scholarship policy first.

Minister of Labour Svetlik is convinced that the new Act regulates a number of students’ rights. An individual, for example, who would perform student work would be included in pension and health insurance programs. Moreover, working part time would be included in the working period. He also promised that the government would increase the number of scholarships, while part of the money from student work would be earmarked for the construction of student hostels and different student projects. Students should focus on studies, pointed out Svetlik, while the state should provide education to everyone, he added.
As the protests were organized and advertised using a large budget, one question remains: is it really the students who fear changes, or would the new act only cut the profits of those who take advantage of student jobs – the employers and the student services?

Napoli (Italia): occupata Università Orientale in solidarietà con gli attivisti della Freedom flotilla

Oggi, 1 giugno 2010, abbiamo occupato l'Università Orientale di Napoli per protestare contro il barbaro assalto di Israele al convoglio umanitario Freedom Flotilla. Un'operazione avvenuta in acque internazionali, contro pacifisti disarmati, che ha fatto almeno 9 morti e decine di feriti gravi, e su cui ancora non si sa nulla, visto che Israele non lascia trapelare informazioni, per manipolare i media e l'opinione pubblica internazionale.

Abbiamo occupato l'università perché di fronte all'ennesimo massacro sionista non si può fare finta di nulla, perché oggi è una giornata di lutto e di rabbia. L'abbiamo occupata perché vogliamo ricordare che da 60 anni Israele imprigiona, tortura, nega i diritti essenziali a milioni di palestinesi, trattandoli con disprezzo razzista, e ormai non si fa scrupoli a uccidere chiunque, anche “occidentale”, osi opporsi. Un'escalation che, dopo l'operazione “Piombo Fuso” del gennaio 2009 che fece 1500 vittime, non sembra avere limiti... A

bbiamo occupato l'Università per dare un segnale forte, contro la nostra classe politica che ancora una volta si rivela il più fedele alleato di Israele in Europa: con il governo che riprende le dichiarazioni dei fascisti israeliani e parla di “provocazione dei pacifisti”(!) e l'opposizione come al solito inerte e complice. Una classe politica che non rispecchia per nulla i sentimenti della popolazione, spontaneamente scesa in piazza ieri in venti città diverse per gridare il proprio sdegno, e la propria preoccupazione per i quattro italiani illegittimamente detenuti dallo stato sionista. Come ci ricorda proprio uno storico ebreo, Ilan Pappe, quello che si sta consumando in Palestina è un vero e proprio genocidio. E davanti a un genocidio non dobbiamo restare a guardare, o perderci in sottili distinguo: come nel caso del Sudafrica, la fine dell'apartheid dipende anche da noi.

Facciamo appello a tutti i compagni, agli studenti, alla comunità palestinese, a chiunque senta un fremito di sdegno davanti a quest'ennesimo massacro a continuare la mobilitazione. Occupiamo le università e le strade, raccontiamo ovunque la verità e la sofferenza del popolo palestinese, intensifichiamo la campagna di boicottaggio, disinvestimenti e sanzioni, facciamoci sentire!

L'Università che abbiamo occupato è aperta a chiunque abbia a cuore la causa palestinese, per discutere ed organizzare insieme le iniziative dei prossimi giorni...

Student fined by University over dating website

A student was fined by his University and told his degree could be forfeit after he created a website enabling his peers to exchange flirty messages.

Rich Martell, 21, was forced to pay £300 and take the site down after University College London (UCL) deemed that the website, FitFinder, brought the institution into disrepute.

The site, which allowed UCL students to flirt with each other online, reached five million hits within four weeks of opening and was soon spread to other universities.

Authorities at UCL deemed the website an undesirable distraction from academic work, and representatives of other universities also contacted UCL to complain about the site, The Times reported.

The final-year computer sciences student was told he could put his degree in jeopardy unless he disabled it. He reportedly described the action against him as harsh.

An online petition to reinstate the site had more than 4200 signatures on Sunday night. A message from Mr Martell on the web page said: "We have been placed under increasing pressure to take the website offline by Universities.

"Subsequently we have decided to remove FitFinder BUT we hope this is only temporary. PLEASE PLEASE sign our petition to being fitfinder back online! With your support we can be a nation of fitties once again!"

A University spokesman said: "UCL does not approve of or condone this site. UCL has no jurisdiction over it.

"We have, however, taken disciplinary action against the student for bringing the college into disrepute and he has been fined."

Violent student protests in Slovenia

Slovenian students violently protested against planned Government reforms that would limit their work during studies and thus lower their income.

The protest began in Slovenian capitol Ljubljana's city center where about 15,000 students gathered to protest against the planned Government reforms that would limit the ammount of work they can do alongside their studies. This would further worsen their financial situation on top of the negative stipend politics of Slovenian Government. In the afternoon, they moved in front of Slovenian parliament building where they started throwing stones, eggs, signposts or anything that could be thrown into the parliament building or the police. On several occasions they attacked the police that responded with pepper spray. Eventually, they caused severe damage to the parliament building, many windows were broken, a molotow was thrown in front of the building, about 30 students were arrested.

Student protest in Republic of Macedonia

Today once again students of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia are protesting demanding (among other things) free/state subsidized higher education, as well as a new way for student organizing consisting of a student parliament based on direct democracy.

We feel that the present structure of the student union (which was recently only renamed to "student parliament" but the people there are the same) works only for the selfish needs of the few people that are in that institution, does not protect and promote the students' rights and does not care about students' needs and problems. On the last elections for student leader, the new leader was elected and according to their statute - he is legitimate, with only 26% (~7800) of all students voted, out of which supposedly around 6000 students voted for him. And the total number of students is 30 000! And they call that legitimate. And the university and the state recognizes him.

Therefore a year ago, as some of you probably know, a group of conscious students arose and formed the independent student movement "Sloboden Indeks" (which is a non-hierarchical movement with no leader or executive board) whose goals are not to replace the student union, but to change the way the present system works by making education available for all classes of citizens regardless of social status, as well as by introducing a new way of student organizing - direct democracy where there are no elections, no student representatives, but where every student is a representative of himself or herself. This way we feel that students will have greater input in solving their problems at their faculties, plus the chance for manipulation by a political party (which is defacto the case with the student union - government controlled) will be minimal if not extinct.

On the question of the Bologna process which was introduced some 6-7 years ago, opinions are divided amongst the activists and students. It did introduce the tuition, yes (before, there were only very small administrative fees) but at *some* faculties the new teaching program contributed to a better quality of education in comparison to the previous system, according to students of those particular faculties. In other faculties on the other hand the problem is that the Bologna process is not fully implemented or respected by the administration and/or professors. So the situation is complicated. While at its core, most of us activists agree with the general statements against it, we decided not to articulate it and be against/for it as is, but instead we will focus on the concrete problems every faculty or student at a particular faculty has.

And in the end I would like to apologize for the lack of communication from our side during this period since the international student day last year. Reason is that the number of committed activists dropped unfortunately and it's very hard especially in a largely apathetic society like Macedonia and in a grassroots movement like Sloboden Indeks to stimulate people to take responsibility by themselves and contribute to the movement without having any personal gain.

Anyway, we are not giving up and we are continuing our global struggle one way or another.

~ One world, one struggle ~

Move it on over: time’s up, students are told

University goes to court to serve protesters with eviction notice.

Middlesex University is applying for a High Court injunction against its own students in a bid to end an occupation sparked by the closure of philosophy courses.
About 50 philosophy students and their supporters occupied the Mansion Building at the university’s Trent Park campus in north London, after it was announced that Middlesex would phase out all undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in the subject.

There are fears that the decision could spell the end for the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, which was Middlesex’s highest-rated department in the 2008 research assessment exercise.

The students first occupied a room on 4 May in protest at the failure of senior university managers to attend a meeting to discuss the course closures. They later extended the occupation throughout the building.

Middlesex threatened the students with an injunction today. When they refused to budge, the University moved ahead with an application in the High Court.

Earlier this year, the University of Sussex issued an injunction preventing students from protesting on campus after an occupation of management offices sparked by its plans for more than 100 redundancies. The Middlesex notice, from law firm Nabarro LLP, states: “Your occupation of the Mansion Building constitutes an unauthorized trespass.

“Our client has sought to deal with this matter amicably but in light of your failure to vacate the building despite our client’s requests, our client has no choice other than to take legal action to secure your removal.

“Our client will apply to the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, at the earliest opportunity for immediate injunctive relief unless all protesters in occupation of the Mansion Building vacate within one hour and return control of the building to our client (...) Our client must reserve its position in every respect including the issue of the costs of this action.”

In an email to staff, Middlesex’s vice-chancellor, Michael Driscoll, describes the student occupation as “illegal” and says it “raises serious concerns surrounding health and safety, disruption to the working of the University and costs of security”. He adds that students did not respond to the legal notice. “The University is now seeking an emergency injunction to end the occupation and recover the Mansion Building,” he says.

State of Puerto Rico locks students inside UPR

Humanities Action Comitee: To Students and Civilians Worlwide

Just yesterday, May 13th, the students of the Rio Piedras’ campus of University of Puerto Rico ratified the 22 day strike with an evident majority of votes in favor at a General Assembly that was proposed and organized by the institution’s own administration. Today that same administration backed with full government support have intensified and reinforced their represive schemes against the student movement stepping over our constitutional right to protest. We condemn rector Ana Guadalupe’s decision to activate the police forces against us and we reiterate yesterday’s vote demanding her resignation as well as president Jose Ramón De la Torre’s. Since 4am there has been heavy police presence around the campus; different police units have been brought to guard all posible entrances and to restrict access of students and those in solidarity. We wish to publicly alert the national and international media that up until now they have prohibited not only the entrance of civilians, but also and more alarming, the entry of food donations and supplies needed by the hundreds of students that are currently occupying the campus. The students that reside on campus are being forced to move out and are being threatened with the nonrenewal of housing contracts. We also expect water and electricity on campus to be cut off by 1:00pm.

We exhort all students, professors, workers and civilians; every member of every community, to surround the university gates as they have done themselves. We exhort everybody’s presence here today; we need everyone’s solidarity and support if we are to endure this struggle. We want to let the administration know that their attempts to intimidate have been not only represive but exagerated and unnecesary. We will not allow that the democracy the university’s administration proclaims to practice be arbitrary and partial. Those who participated in the General Student’s Assembly yesterday, experienced a real democratic process in action. The assembly is sovereign and in assembly we voted to continue the strike. We are here to defend the right of all puertorican students to a public education and here we will remain until the administration decides to cooperate and negotiate.

We need everyone’s solidarity and support. Ten out of the eleven campuses that make up the UPR system have declared themselves on strike. All are participating of the same struggle. The same struggle being fought all over the World.

United we stand, divided we fall.

Humanities Action Comitee,
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus

Don’t Panic, Organise!

A «Mute» special on Struggle in Education Today

The cuts, lay-offs and tuition-fee hikes that are besetting higher and further education internationally are naturally a direct response to the drama of the financial crisis and its ricocheting bomb of personal, commercial and national debt. But they also have deeper roots. They should be understood as part of the more gradual process of what George Caffentzis, in his analysis of the international situation, calls the ‘breakdown of the edu-deal'; the inability for capital, and therefore the state, to pay for the costs of producing a well educated workforce or to guarantee that investment in education will result in a more vigorous economy and increased living standards for those with qualifications.

This breakdown, and the dogmatism of free market economics which seeks to alleviate it, has seen the imposition of a business rationale onto what previously had been regarded as the provision of a public service, sometimes even a public good. From the investment of endowment funds on the market, to the conversion of students into (badly ripped off) consumers, to the no-frills fixed-term contracts being doled out to staff, to the speculative purchase of the future IP generated by scientific and technical departments, to the intended exchangeability of all qualifications under the Bologna Process, education has been infested by the value form.

With the ground changing this fast under staff and students' feet, the ability for collective action to fight the savage rounds of cuts has itself suffered as a result of a generalised precarity and fragmentation. Despite the hostile conditions, we are nevertheless seeing an intermittent but persistent wave of strikes, actions and occupations, both wildcat and union co-ordinated, breaking out around the world. Other initiatives such as cross-institutional teach-ins, blogs, power-mapping exercises, conferences and demonstrations are also creating a steady hum of background pressure and preparation. All of this begs the question, will it be enough to save any residual quality and equality within education and its institutions? With the state of struggle in education our principal question, Mute has created a mini-dossier of reports, questionnaires and analyses on the education crisis as it unfolds in the UK and beyond.

Bulgarian students protest against subsidies cuts

Hundreds of students and professors protested Tuesday in front of Sofia University against a reduction in state education subsidies, bulgarian media reported.

The protest, in front of the country's oldest university, was staged under the motto "Today's policies kill tomorrow's education." "We are here to show that we care about Bulgaria's higher education," one of the protesters was quoted by local media as saying.

Students and professors warned that Bulgaria's education would "die if there were further cuts in funding" and have asked the government to make education a priority.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said that the country had to do some "belt tightening" and that everyone was facing a crisis. "This year will be very difficult for everyone, but we will survive and the next year everything will be back to normal," Borisov told reporters in Sofia. "Europe is in a crisis, people everywhere are reducing salaries and pensions."

The government in Sofia decided last week to cut all government spending by 20 per cent in order to reduce the budget deficit.

European Education Congress

The European Education Congress 2010 in Bochum will be a place for everyone interested in education from all over Europe to gather, network, exchange experiences and ideas and learn about the educational system in context. A focus will be on the theoretical grounding of differing conceptions of education, as well as the functions education and the educational system have in our society.

Education is a precondition for participation in all social interactions. However, in many aspects, the current educational systems are not geared towards enabling an understanding of social interrelations and taking part in the shaping of social changes. But only with everyones participation is it possible for a society which guarantees the broadest level of freedom for all to develop. It is therefore time to analyse the current and possible future
functions of education and its influence on decision-making processes in a society.

The congress is open to all people and depends on their participation. In order to allow for a maximum of interaction, the number of lectures will be kept to a minimum, instead workshops, discussions and other participatory forms of communication will dominate the program. As the division between active contributors and passive visitors exemplifies one of the many problems of current educational systems, participants themselves are encouraged to offer contributions on educational topics of their choice. These might range from giving inputs to a discussion to offering workshops or other activities.

People are encouraged to register their contribution on our website. For a chance of inclusion in the congress guide this has to happen before the 7th of May. All participants are kindly asked to register on our website, in order to help the organisational team with the planning. Participants in need of reimbursements for their travel expenditures should also register
before the 7th of May. Though financial support for everyone cannot be guaranteed, we will try our very best to make it possible for everyone to be able to participate. Congress attendance will be free of charge, there will be free meals and places to sleep will be offered. In order to support the congress, donations are highly appreciated.

[front of the flyer] [back of the flyer] [placard]

EurEduCon 2010: European Education Congress

Call for the European Education Congress 2010

• slated date: 25th till 30th of May

The Congress is open to all people who are interested in education and depends on everyone to contribute to it. In order to have a wide discussion during those five days, we hope that calls from as many people as possible shall be sent for the Education Congress.

To us, education is a precondition for participating in social processes. However, in many aspects the current educational system is not able to enable people to understand social interrelations and to empower them to a mature taking part in social changes. But only if everyone participates, a society which guarantees the most broad level of freedom for all individuals and thus finds the most broad level of acceptance, can develop.

At the same time we come to the conclusion, that the goal of establishing free education for everyone worldwide seems to have moved out of reach in the last years. The educational system is cross-nationally exposed to different reforms. It is time to analyze these changes, especially in context of the arrangement of the whole society, and to develop alternatives to the status quo.

Therefore we want to discuss together: which functions do school systems and systems of higher education have in different European countries and regions? What does self determined living and learning mean? How can we establish free access to education for everyone? How are educational system and society related to one another? Do institutions of higher education (re)produce social inequality and how could this inequality be broken? How can we establish democratic, self determined structures at schools and institutions of higher education? What is commercialization of education, what influence do commercial enterprises have in this process and how can this influence be broken? How can Europe-wide solidarity be established?

Click here to continue reading...This congress should facilitate an Europe-wide exchange, analyzing the context of education and society. We want to give attention to decision-making processes of society to establish a democratization of society.

Thus, for everyone interested in education and education policy: Come to the European Education Congress from the 25th till 30th of May 2010 at the Ruhr-University in Bochum!

We invite you to spend five days with us, analyzing the current educational system and its functions critically. Let us think about the meaning of good education, what the requirements of a progressive educational system are and which paths could lead to such a system. This will be done in different methods of learning such as workshops, plenary meetings, lectures, panel discussions and concrete experiences. All supporting persons and groups are called to bring in such activities of their own, to introduce texts and to contribute to the congress. At the same time there will be opportunity to exchange experiences from different countries and regions and for international networking to enable further cooperation.

Middlesex: Students in Occupation @ Boardroom

Students and lecturers at Middlesex University (Trent Campus), campaigning to stop the closure of the Philosophy department, were stood up by their Dean this [yesterday] morning – and took matters into their own hands. Some students are staging a sit-in in the corridor outside the Dean’s office, others have locked themselves inside, demanding that the Dean turn up and face his accusers.

The campaign has also agreed to send a delegation to the UCU strike demo in Central London tomorrow.

The occupiers have this to say:

“Last week, we were invited to a meeting with Dean of Arts Ed Esche and Deputy VC Margaret House at 10.30 on Tuesday 4th May (the day before our deadlines), to address our concerns about the closure of our Philosophy Department. Re-arranging our commitments at great inconvenience to ourselves, we arrived at the campus for the meeting, only to find it that they had cancelled it the night before.

Security attempted to stop us entering the corridor and called the police, however the police decided to take no action. The students are now sitting in the board room (around 5 feet from the Dean’s office door), waiting for the Dean to show up and address our concerns.

Students are unanimous in our demand: allow us the meeting you promised us. We have voted unanimously to remain here in occupation in protest of the refusal to meet us.”

Esplanada da FCSH/UNL foi reposta pel@s alun@s!!

A blow to philosophy, and minorities

Axing Middlesex's top-rated department is a step back to when philosophy meant white men discussing formal logic over sherry.

Under the banner of the financial crisis, recent months have seen management threaten departments and jobs in post-92 and Russell group universities alike. Although no clear national pattern of cuts has emerged, philosophy has been singled out by several institutions. Threats to philosophy at Liverpool and King's College London were greeted with international outcry and management retreat. Recent news that philosophy recruitment at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at Middlesex University will be terminated is a particularly terrible blow, both to the standing of philosophy in the UK and to the future of critical thought in our universities as a whole.

The decision to cut philosophy at Middlesex appears not to be motivated by any of the "obvious" reasons: economic rationale, falling student numbers or poor research standing. Middlesex philosophy has one of the largest MA programmes in the country, has experienced increasing postgraduate recruitment, and was the highest-scoring department in the university in the recent research assessment exercise. It is ranked 13th out of 41 institutions teaching philosophy in the UK, ahead of Sussex, Warwick, York, Durham and Glasgow.

Middlesex philosophy has been responsible for bringing contemporary thinkers to a wide audience through numerous international events and collaborations with European and American institutions, as well as cultural venues in London, such as the French Institute and Tate Britain. The postgraduate centre for research in modern European philosophy receives research grants from national funding bodies and there are 63 postgraduate students working on MAs and PhDs. It is an important and unique place – without doubt one of the few philosophy departments in the country where you can study contemporary European thought in any sustained way. It is also one of the only philosophy departments in existence that takes seriously philosophy's relation to other disciplines and to the world at large. The research centre at Middlesex is an institution as important to people not in philosophy as to those within it, and plays a critical role in the intellectual and cultural life of London.

There has been a slew of articles on Comment is Free in recent days lamenting the poor showing of women and ethnic minorities in philosophy and at philosophy-related events (Bidisha, Julian Baggini, Hilary Lawson). Middlesex is one of the few departments whose curriculum addresses this imbalance as a problem for and within philosophy, rather than pretending that the discipline itself plays no role in perpetuating class, gender and racial divisions.

The closure of philosophy at Middlesex will send a terrible message: that philosophy doesn't belong in ex-polytechnics, even when they achieve better results than elite institutions. It implies that philosophy isn't for "non-traditional" students (much of Middlesex's intake comes from lower-income and mature students, who juggle work and families in order to attend). It reflects incredibly badly on the management of Middlesex that it would destroy the long-term achievements and potential of its philosophy department in the name of spurious short-term considerations. To close philosophy there would be to fall in line with the increasingly prevalent, but disastrous view, that newer universities should be little more than holding pens for students channelled away from the study of serious subjects.

Interest in philosophy has in fact grown massively in recent years. This is, in part, due to the increased numbers of students taking A-level philosophy, but is also the result of the widespread desire for critical thought and analysis in the face of an increasingly disorienting world. Closure at Middlesex would be a step back to the bad old days when philosophy meant a few young, white and almost entirely male students at privileged institutions discussing the finer points of formal logic over sherry. Middlesex University must be prevented from dismantling one of the finest philosophy departments in the country: fight to keep philosophy alive.

Undercover Police infiltrate registered Student Organization at University of Washington

On Thursday April 8, students, workers, and instructors welcomed an unfamiliar face to a publicly advertised meeting for a campus-wide strike May 3rd. A woman who identified herself simply as “Tani" described herself as an "alum" of UW who was passionate about the cuts. She also said that her father worked with Waste Management and she was in the meeting to find out what the May 3rd strike committee was involved in with regards to the Teamsters' recent call for a strike. "Tani" actively participated in the planning meeting for a large-scale action demanding immigrant and worker justice, student access to UW, and smaller class sizes and writing center to improve education. The following week, however, student activists accidently bumped into “Tani” again—this time, though, as Officer Tanesha van Leuven of the UWPD. We have reason to believe that Tani was sent by the University of Washington to spy on the meeting.

Click here to read all text...The University of Washington has made police infiltration and intimidation its primary tactic for retaliating against workers and activists fighting privatization at UW. In the Fall and Winter of 2009, immigrant workers faced continuous harassment from the UWPD for talking with other workers about their working conditions, clearly violating labor law. That September, two women of color journalists and activists—a childcare worker and a pre-nursing student—were arrested after interviewing immigrant women workers during their break time about the challenges they face in the workplace. With layoffs and arbitrary shift changes being enforced by custodial services, many workers have experienced inhumane amounts of extra work and speed up. UWPD officers also often harass students who choose to organize within on-campus registered student organizations while they are handing out flyers, or even just walking on campus going to class. For example, last Tuesday, while passing out flyers and talking with students, two women graduate students were approached by a bike officer of the UWPD who told them “I wish I could arrest people for no reason.” These attacks, the violence perpetrated against activists in Seattle, Portland, and Olympia, the increase in police killing of unarmed people of color, and now the covert infiltration of a student group by UWPD raise serious and alarming questions about possible violence and surveillance against students and workers at the hands of the University and its police force.

Since June of 2009, workers, students, and community members have been fighting against lay-offs of immigrant workers, increases in tuition that exclude working students and students of color, cuts to quality education, and an ongoing process of privatization that favors revenue for some at the top of the university, while taking funds away from students and workers. While the university’s state budget continues to be cut, the reality is this cut is less than 3% of the total UW budget. In fact, most of the budget shortfall—$469 million—came from the university's risky investments, NOT from the cuts from the state. Since 2004, the UW Treasury has been investing in hedge funds, and hiking tuition, from $4968 in 2003 to $8800 in 2010, to back up these investments should they default. Rather than cutting from the top, and changing its spending focuses, the university continues to perpetuate the myth that tuition hikes go toward ameliorating the state cuts.

On March 4th, while over 700 students and workers were protesting budget cuts on and off campus, and many more were protesting across the country, the UW met with the UAW 4121, Academic Student Employees (ASE’s), bargaining team to start contract negotiations. At this meeting, the UW told UAW negotiators that because they opposed a tuition increase bill in the legislature in February, the University would retaliate against all ASE’s by taking away lay-off protections, increasing healthcare premiums, and firing all tutors and writing center instructors, among other take-aways. Many UAW members are pushing their elected representatives to call a strike, which was already authorized by membership, to begin the first day after contract negotiations if the University continues to bargain in bad faith. The May 3rd student strike was planned to correspond with this day, and to support custodians and other state workers facing cuts.

Through its actions, the University PD has shown itself to be unaccountable to students and the UW community. It does, however, do the work of controlling student movements on behalf of the UW administration. The UWPD and the UW administration seek to curtail organizing by workers and students, but they will not succeed.

UW Student Worker Coalition