hello everyone,
we are emerging student rights group from the american university of central asia (www.auca.kg) [univesity that claims to be a liberal arts school, but unfortunately pretty conservative and rigid in decision-making process and freedoms it barely gives to its students]. we will tell you more about education system(s) here in Central Asia in another forum section.
we had found out about the international day of action 4-5 days before the actual Nov 5th. Of course, we decided to gather around our university and have non-violent demonstration, set info boothes and recruit students from other schools, espcially our university is across the street from the Parliament building.
the first challenge was that we needed to get a permit from the city councils, 2-3 weeks in advance. and there are few areas in the city that are allowed to use as space for demonstration and protests. they exclude, of course, Parliament, Square and some other spots protesters would choose as the perfect place to target decision makers. It is due to the multiple protests (few small revolution-type of demonstrations, rallies)and (5-6 people) sit-ins during last couple of years in Bishkek. even one guy keeps getting arressted even protesting alone in the allowed spaces.
so we decided not to try legally allowed 5 persons action without the permit. though we have discussed and brought awareness to our fellow groups and friends. not everyone thinks its good idea. leader of the local youth party of liberals, who is a libertarian, finds this kind of action is non-sense at its core as he believes private education is the best, commented our ideas to be a big mistake, etc.
another issue is that our school is the one of the very few private universities in the country. but we still believe that our university becomes corrupt, focuses more on making profit and doesn't provide us with the liberal emancipating education. anyway, it is important to address the issue of the commercialization of education, corruption, hierarchy and disempowering environment within the edu system here.
we were really happy to find out about this day and the international movement that has united so many student groups to speak up and struggle to bring awareness and changes.
we found out a lot from the resources, information and food for discussion/ideas from learning about the movement and events around the world.
we will definitely join everyone actively and also plan to organize student-led conference next semester, especially addressing the problem of commercialization.
in solidarity,
student rights group from bishkek, kyrgyzstan
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