punisa
24th April 2009, 10:27
Well dear comrades, I seldom have any news to report from my home country, but it seems this has also changed :)
For the last few days students from the Zagreb college of philosophy have taken the campus over and are guarding it day and night, rotating groups and sleeping there.
Their mission is to make higher education in Croatia free.
Since then the situation is evolving rapidly, spreading to colleges all around the country.
They did propose such treat only if the student shows capabilities to achieve certain amount of points. Obviously to avoid "free" education being exploited by those that don't fancy working :lol:
They also clearly state that "knowledge is not a commodity".
So here's a little background facts for you that I know:
colleges in Croatia are state owned, that is "public"
there are just a handful of private colleges in Croatia, mostly US colleges (for example NY Rochester division RIT)
These public colleges still demand fees, but are not too high, in US currency it would be something like 250-300 $ per year
"Student Revolution" has quickly spread in the last few days to other large cities in Croatia, notably Split
Just how "left" the whole situation is now I'm not certain, (I'm no student any more, I finished some years ago :)) but there is a handful of red/black flags out there and I've seen some nice slogans printed such as "students and workers unite" and "we have nothing to loose except of our scholarship"
who actually leads the revolution as they call it is still unknown, but there are certain speculation that the whole event is politically staged by the largest opposition party - SDP, the social democrats. Why? Because national elections are just days away and this *could* be a nice way to discredit the ruling party (HDZ - right wing center)
what will become of it is still to see, today I heard that students are actively talking with workers unions. So this whole thing might blow up into a large scale anti government demonstrations.
I'm working class myself, but live in Zagreb so I could report from time to time if you want
This bit is from their official page in English:
PRESS RELEASE OF THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT INITIATIVE FOR THE RIGHT TO FREE EDUCATION
At a moment when the right to education for all is being tacitly eliminated under the bureaucratic code of "participation", by an administrative decree and without prior public discussion, despite the fact that the right to education is recognized as the universal and binding goal of civilization even in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, we feel that we must stand up in defence of that right not just in our own name, but in the name of society in general. We believe that the right to education is constitutional to any democracy which is more than a name.
The only public space immediately available to us is the space of the public institution where we are educated. Transforming it into space for the articulation of demands in defence of democratic public interests, we assume our part of responsibility in defending universal social interests from socially destructive processes of commercialization and social polarization according to income. As the problem of commercialization is not present only in Croatia, this action is being undertaken at the same time as other similar actions around the world, during the international week of fight against commercialization of education. During the occupation, we will hold our own educational programme instead of the normal classes, which will be open to all the students and general public. All decisions about further actions will be made by the students together through the direct democratic process at public plenary sessions.
We demand the elimination of all types of fees that have been introduced in higher education at all levels: undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate. The taxes we pay must provide a sufficient guarantee for basic rights and acquired institutions of social justice and equality. Anyone who claims that this is not possible within the existing fiscal framework is only confirming the acute reality of the need that the policy which has set up that framework be fundamentally redesigned.
We ask all students and professors to support us, and we extend that plea to all other citizens as well because universal education available to all is not only in the interest of students but is of significance for the future of the entire society.
We will not agree to the auctioning of rights – equality is not for sale!
Video of when it all started a few days ago, cancelling classes etc, unfortunately it's only in Croatian, but you can see a bit of the atmospehere:
nyE7atsB2hY(the part shows a student walking into a classroom and saying "from now on classes are cancelled")
IMAGES:
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3518/dsc01011b.jpg
http://www.vecernji.hr/system/galleries/pics/090423/student-txt4.jpg
(upper left: education to all, not just to some
lower right: professors, join us !)
http://jutarnji.hr/EPHResources/Images/2009/04/23/fak2.jpg
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/besplatnoskolstvo/dan1%20preuzimanje%20faksa/P1080154.jpg
http://jutarnji.hr/EPHResources/Images/2009/04/23/stu1.jpg
http://www.jutarnji.hr/Modules/Galleries/GalleryImageThumbnail.aspx?width=720&height=560&url=http://www.jutarnji.hr%2fEPHResources%2fGalleries%2fstude ntskarevolucija%2fdva.jpg
For the last few days students from the Zagreb college of philosophy have taken the campus over and are guarding it day and night, rotating groups and sleeping there.
Their mission is to make higher education in Croatia free.
Since then the situation is evolving rapidly, spreading to colleges all around the country.
They did propose such treat only if the student shows capabilities to achieve certain amount of points. Obviously to avoid "free" education being exploited by those that don't fancy working :lol:
They also clearly state that "knowledge is not a commodity".
So here's a little background facts for you that I know:
colleges in Croatia are state owned, that is "public"
there are just a handful of private colleges in Croatia, mostly US colleges (for example NY Rochester division RIT)
These public colleges still demand fees, but are not too high, in US currency it would be something like 250-300 $ per year
"Student Revolution" has quickly spread in the last few days to other large cities in Croatia, notably Split
Just how "left" the whole situation is now I'm not certain, (I'm no student any more, I finished some years ago :)) but there is a handful of red/black flags out there and I've seen some nice slogans printed such as "students and workers unite" and "we have nothing to loose except of our scholarship"
who actually leads the revolution as they call it is still unknown, but there are certain speculation that the whole event is politically staged by the largest opposition party - SDP, the social democrats. Why? Because national elections are just days away and this *could* be a nice way to discredit the ruling party (HDZ - right wing center)
what will become of it is still to see, today I heard that students are actively talking with workers unions. So this whole thing might blow up into a large scale anti government demonstrations.
I'm working class myself, but live in Zagreb so I could report from time to time if you want
This bit is from their official page in English:
PRESS RELEASE OF THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT INITIATIVE FOR THE RIGHT TO FREE EDUCATION
At a moment when the right to education for all is being tacitly eliminated under the bureaucratic code of "participation", by an administrative decree and without prior public discussion, despite the fact that the right to education is recognized as the universal and binding goal of civilization even in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, we feel that we must stand up in defence of that right not just in our own name, but in the name of society in general. We believe that the right to education is constitutional to any democracy which is more than a name.
The only public space immediately available to us is the space of the public institution where we are educated. Transforming it into space for the articulation of demands in defence of democratic public interests, we assume our part of responsibility in defending universal social interests from socially destructive processes of commercialization and social polarization according to income. As the problem of commercialization is not present only in Croatia, this action is being undertaken at the same time as other similar actions around the world, during the international week of fight against commercialization of education. During the occupation, we will hold our own educational programme instead of the normal classes, which will be open to all the students and general public. All decisions about further actions will be made by the students together through the direct democratic process at public plenary sessions.
We demand the elimination of all types of fees that have been introduced in higher education at all levels: undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate. The taxes we pay must provide a sufficient guarantee for basic rights and acquired institutions of social justice and equality. Anyone who claims that this is not possible within the existing fiscal framework is only confirming the acute reality of the need that the policy which has set up that framework be fundamentally redesigned.
We ask all students and professors to support us, and we extend that plea to all other citizens as well because universal education available to all is not only in the interest of students but is of significance for the future of the entire society.
We will not agree to the auctioning of rights – equality is not for sale!
Video of when it all started a few days ago, cancelling classes etc, unfortunately it's only in Croatian, but you can see a bit of the atmospehere:
nyE7atsB2hY(the part shows a student walking into a classroom and saying "from now on classes are cancelled")
IMAGES:
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3518/dsc01011b.jpg
http://www.vecernji.hr/system/galleries/pics/090423/student-txt4.jpg
(upper left: education to all, not just to some
lower right: professors, join us !)
http://jutarnji.hr/EPHResources/Images/2009/04/23/fak2.jpg
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/besplatnoskolstvo/dan1%20preuzimanje%20faksa/P1080154.jpg
http://jutarnji.hr/EPHResources/Images/2009/04/23/stu1.jpg
http://www.jutarnji.hr/Modules/Galleries/GalleryImageThumbnail.aspx?width=720&height=560&url=http://www.jutarnji.hr%2fEPHResources%2fGalleries%2fstude ntskarevolucija%2fdva.jpg