"International Student Movement"

"Warm-up Day of United Action"
What happened?

Movements struggling against the increasing commercialisation and privatisation of public education are beginning to unite worldwide. To give people a "preview" of what is about to be expected in the coming week(s) [Education is NOT for $A£€ - Global Week of Action], some groups decided to unite in their struggle on Nov.5th, as part of the "Warm-up Day of United Action" already.

Canada:

• "Drop Fees" demonstration in Ottawa: more than 2,000.

• About 5,000 joined the demonstration in Toronto.

• Further protests took place in Winnipeg, Guelph, London, Mississauga, North Bay, Orillia, Petersborough, Sudburry, Thunder Bay, St. Catherines, Kingston and Windsor and other cities.

More details here: toronto.ctv.ca - newswire.ca - johnb.smugmug.com (pictures)

Croatia:

• Rijeka: Street performance and rally [NoviList.hr - RijekaDanas.com]
  

• Pula: Rally [youtube.com - barkun.hr - regionalExpress.hr] 

• Split: protest action at the rectors' office
  

Report from activists in Split [received by mail]:

"With regard to Global day of action which took place on 5th of November, Independent students initiative for the right to free education from the University of Split (Croatia) held a mini-action in front of the building of Rectorate and Ministry of education (same building, different entrances). About 15 students gathered and stressed out two big banners which read "Knowledge is not a commodity" and "We study, they make profits out of it!". We blocked the entrance to the Ministry of education for about half an hour, distributed leaflets, sticked post-its with messages on the official tables, then we went to the entrance of the Rectorate where we waited for the Rector itself to show up. When he finally showed up, we demanded answers (he is the president of Croatian Rectors Collegium) because they said that in the next academic year education will be free for all freshmens, which leaves financial penalization for those who do not have enough ECTS during the rest of their studies. Only thing we heard from him was demagogical spins, so further actions will follow. Another blockade is planned soon in coordination with initiatives from other cities.

Solidarity greetings from Split!

One world, one struggle!"

Austria:

• Day of Action: 20,000 protesters + occupation of the canteen at the Ministry of Science by close to 100 students in Vienna, 250 protesters in Bregenz, 500 in Salzburg, more than 1,000 in Linz, 300 pupils in Vorarlberg and close to 1,500 in Graz.

[more details (unfortunately in German only) here: unsereuni.at and AktionstagLinz.wordpress.com]

Colombia:

• Antioquia: General assembly at the National University followed by a demonstration with 3,000 people against tuition fees and president Uribe.

Swizerland:

• Activists in Geneva and Basel went to campuses and informed students about the upcoming "Global Week of Action"

Germany:

• Munich: Hundreds of students and pupils occupied the Academy of Arts. [details (unfortunately only in German) here]
  

• Marburg: after a general assembly with up to 600 students and an international "video-conference" with the activists at the occupied space in Innsbruck (Austria) hundreds of them occupied the second floor of the main building of the Philipps University. [details are available in German here]
  

• University buildings in Darmstadt and Tübingen were occupied as well.

• Goettingen: More than 100 pupils at Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg Gesamtschule selpt in the middle of a hall to protest against the increasing pressure to succeed pupils and students face.
  That pressure increased even further after the decision to shorten the time to graduation [for A'levels] by one year. [more details in German here.]

Bangladesh:

• Khulna: The Bangladesh Students' Union (BSU) arranged a program with various activities at the Khulna University. [details to come]

Please leave a comment or send a mail to united.for.education[at]gmail.com, if you miss some action in this list.