students

A letter to students

Our age difference and the general estrangement make it difficult for us to discuss with you in the streets; this is why we send you this letter.

Tension rose in Athens on the 4th of December as nurses who are on a 48h national strike occupied the Ministry of Health.

When the Minister appeared pleading to do what he can to help them, the nurses replied "then come with us to occupy the Ministry of Economics".

500 students in Rome, members of the movement which has dubbed itself " The Wave", broke in the lecture theatre during the inauguration of the academic year at the La Sapienza public university.

“We will not pay for this crisis” is the slogan of the Wave, the nickname used by students in Italy for their movement against the recent education reforms put forward by the Minister of Education, Gelmini.

2.5 million people gathered last Saturday, October 25th, in Circo Massimo in Rome. The demonstration had been called by the Italian party PD (the Democratic Party, centre-left) whose leader Walter Veltroni was defeated by Berlusconi in the last election (Spring 2008).

Higher education is going through significant transformations on an international, or at least European, level. The UK is not immune to these changes. Whilst there have been various small protests in places around the country to resist these changes, no major local campaign has existed as of yet. Sussex not 4 Sale was born out of this context.

The pension reform raises the retirement age for women to 65 and workers in hazardous industries will have to work an extra two years. Many accuse the conservative government of going back on pre-election promises not to cut pension rights.

In Grenoble today students of the IEPG (Institute of political studies) were setting up the blockade they had voted for. The director of the IEPG, Olivier Ihl, threatened to set dogs on them, although the dogs were reluctant.

Today will be a return to struggle, or in some cases a beginning. The first blockade of Paris VIII began today at 7am. Many universities will be holding AGs this week to decide whether to continue the movement, which up until now has continued to grow.

This update is not comprehensive but it has most of the available information, additionally some universities are still on holiday and therefore no action can take place.

Aix-en-Provence, the AG at the litterature campus, held yesterday, voted to continue the strike and the blockade until the next AG on Tuesday (465 for, 250 against) (09/11/07)

The strike was voted on by the student groups involved in ASSÉ (Student Solidarity union association) in protest at the planned increases which would amount to 30% over five years.

In the last two weeks 48 general assemblies have been held in French universities, 33 of which had more than 100 students and 7 more than 500. The main focus of the students' anger is the Pécresse law (on 'autonomy') which is seen as the first step towards privatisation of universities.*

Working class protest, popular revolt, and urban insurrection in Argentina: the 1969 Cordobazo James P. Brennan

Introduction

Despite apologies for the assault from the government, their withdrawal of troops from Dhaka campus and the promise of an official enquiry, unrest has spread and become a more general protest against the caretaker government and its long-running State of Emergency.

They had been asked to monitor and report suspicious behaviour amongst Muslim students but at the University and Colleges Union annual conference in Bournemouth, delegates rejected the move, saying it amounted to spying on students.

The main demonstration took place on Monday in Caracas, with further demonstrations in
Valencia (100km southwest of Caracas) and San Cristobal (in the south-west of the country). The main demonstration was attended by 5000. There have been no official reports of casualties for this demonstration although the government has confirmed that four people were taken to hospital in Valencia.

A total of four officers were lightly wounded by stones during a large demonstration in Jerusalem on Monday. Roughly 1000 students headed for the parliament building and tried to gain entry, it was at this point that fighting broke out between police and demonstrators.

The video is hosted on YouTube and has English subtitles. The riots included students and farmers protesting against the airport's construction, and involved pitched battles against the police with molotov cocktails and explosives.

The protest disbanded in response to leaders' call, marking an increase in violence but a decrease in independence by student militants.