Since I have been receiving quite a few messages of activists informing me about their local protest actions I decided to share them with all of you here.
Please feel free to also publish a report about the latest protests in your region inside this forum or topic as well.
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Japan
[09/03/2009]
The Occupation of University of Ryukyus.
A national university in Okinawa region, Japan, was occupied by students.
Here's the statement of occupation written in English.
http://loudaisei.seesaa.net/article/115398821.html
Edu-Factory.Org
Colombia
[16/03/2009]
Press Release to the National and International Community
“They can cut all the flowers,
But they will never stop the spring.”
A deep sadness has fallen upon the entire student community of Colombia.
On March 12th, José Andrés Isaza Velásquez, a 28 year-old law student, was killed within the walls of the Antioquia University. This killing occurs only six days after the student council and its representatives received death threats. Once again, death walks the hallways of the University, once again darkness reigns on campus. The enemies of knowledge continuously bring mourning upon the Colombian student movement. In fact, three days earlier, it was the Guajira University that saw one of its comrades, Éder Enrique Sierra, be killed.
To be against the government’s democratic security policy makes us, students, enemies of the Colombian State and we are threatened at the Industrial University of Santander, at the Technological University of Pereira and at the University of Quindio. In these moments when the schizophrenia of the conflict poisons the dreams of our youth, we must raise our fist higher. We, sons and daughters of Colombia, dream of a country for everyone, a dignified land, free, and built upon the principles of social justice.
The task is not easy. To this humanitarian crisis, that has already left over one hundred people threatened, displaced or killed, we must add the financial asphyxia that the government has brought upon the public universities, the threats of closing some establishments, or privatizing them, as well as the victimization of student leaders, teachers and union activists. Video cameras film all students, seeing in everyone a potential terrorist. Faced with this situation, we must answer with the power of words, strong arguments and conscious mobilizing.
The Colombian government, just like a serpent charmer, attempts to give the idea that the solution to this humanitarian, financial and educational crisis lies in the militarization of university life and in the weight of the military boot on each university in the country and in the political assemblies.
Students, let us assert our selves! May our NO to militarization of university life be heard! No to universities under the military boot. No to universities where violence reigns, whichever it may be. We call upon all mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and family members to come together around our universities and our students, to surround ourselves with hope.
Colombian University Students Union – ACEU
National Executive Committee
Bogotá D.C., March 16th 2009
Catalunya/Spain
[18 & 19/03/2008]
http://especialbolonya.wordpress.com
*Tancada a la Central* http://tancadaalacentral.wordpress.com
*Bolonya.org* http://bolonya.org
*Vídeos de la càrrega a plaça universitat* http://blip.tv/file/1891138
*Declaracions del Dídac Ramírez. Els rectors comparteixen guions*
http://www.3cat24.cat/noticia/369111/barcelona/Noti-nova-anti-bolonya
*Estudiants i professors titllen l'actuació policial de "franquista"* http://www.3cat24.cat/noticia/368870/barcelona/Batalla-campal-a-la-Gr..
*Garmendia diu que els anti-Bolonya "no són prou representatius" per negociar-hi*
http://www.3cat24.cat/noticia/368944/catalunya/Garmendia-diu-que-els-...
*3cat24 fotografies*
http://www.3cat24.cat/galeria/13354/1/altres/El-desallotjament-dels-e...
*El País (vídeo i fotografies)*
http:// www.elpais.com/fotogaleria/Desalojo/Barcelona/6322-2/elpgal
*16:08 El rector de la UB demana ajuda 'als polítics i al Parlament' per resoldre el conflicte*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373889151186650044
*Directe!cat Política 15:49 Brutal desallotjament policial dels estudiants tancats al rectorat de la UB*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373877531211874929
*CGT Catalunya Noticies 15:34 De matinada i sense trucar, els mossos desallotgen els estudiants tancats a la UB*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373868811222760498
*Llibertat.cat Portada 14:56 Incertesa a la UAB després del desallotjament a la UB*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373845781209377635
*Agència Catalana de Notícies Àmbit Metropolità 14:20 Les càrregues contra els estudiants que protesten pel desallotjament de la UB s'escampen pel centre de la ciutat*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373824591211186134
*L'ACCENT.CAT Països Catalans - Actualitat Social 14:09 Càrregues de la policia al centre de Barcelona contra grups d'estudiants de la UB*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373817731112696636
*Vilaweb Vilanova de Sau 13:17 Dures càrregues en el desallotjament de l'ocupació de la UB*
http://titulares2.acceso.com/?12373786641211186131
*L'ACCENT.CAT Portada 13:11 La policia dissol amb contundència els estudiants concentrats davant la Universitat de Barcelona*
http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/noticia?p_idcmp=3557970&p_edi=bisbaldemporda
*Vilaweb La Bisbal d'Empordà El periódico*
*REPRESSIÓ POLICIAL A ESTUDIANTS SENSE PRECEDENTS. Concentració a les 20h a Plaça Universitat de Barcelona*
http://www.3cat24.cat/noticia/368870/barcelona/Almenys-dos-detinguts-...
http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/acn/noticia?id=3557831
For a summary of events in English click here.
Poland
[21/03/2009]
Update from Gdansk, Poland:
On march 21. an artistic group consisting of drummers and poets burnt and sank a hay puppet of Katarzyna Hall, polish neoliberal Minister of Education. The action was a part of a Polish traditional pagan festivity "Topienie Marzanny". The group, calling itself "Revolutionary Poetic Arier-guarde" (RAP) gathered a crowd of families with their children, who came to watch Minister float down the Motlawa river and listen to a call for independence from military domination, economic exploitation and the Clergy.
Later that day, there was an opening of an exhibition satirizing war by a local artist Kuba Pieleszek in nearby Gdynia.
Meanwhile, the Open Comitee for Liberation of the Educational Space (OKUPE) issued an open letter to the Embassy of Spain. Translation:
Gdańsk, 20.03.2009
To: Embassy of Spain in Poland
We, the Open Comitee for Liberation of the Educational Space (OKUPE), wish to hereby express our protest against police agression towards the peaceful protest of students in Barcelona. We cannot fathom how in a country which claims to be democratic, police uses the same methods as the communist regime did in 20th-century Poland. Photographs of students being batoned in Barcelona seem very similar for us to the ones from Poland in march 1968, when peaceful, unarmed demonstrators were being battered by thugs in service of the Polish communist state.
Our question is, how is it possible that people within the European Union, who wish to make use of their democratic rights, are treated with police violence? We demand answers from the Spanish authorities and we demand that police violence against student demonstrators is stopped! In solidarity with students protesting in Barcelona and sharing their demands, we will not let European Educational Space be defined authoritatively by police batons.
- Members of OKUPE
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