Day of UNIversiTY – United for free education! Appel de Graz (Autriche) pour une journée d'action le 17/12/09

Voir aussi: Education is not for sale: un mouvement international.

et Calendrier: décembre 2009.

Message des étudiants en lutte de l'université de Graz (Autriche):

Appel pour une journée d'action le 17 décembre 2009.

Dear friends and occupants,

We are still here, those cr itical students who are not prepared to accept the current situation at our universities. The sale-out of education, access barriers and the de-democratization, which is going on at our universities, still need to be stopped, since the people in charge haven't yet realized that it's high time they reacted to our claims and angle off 180 degrees into the only right direction there is: the direction of free education without barriers.

Thus, the struggle against those who want to take us for fools a nd want to sell out our education, must continue – even before, during and after Christmas holidays.

Many people in Austria and other European countries have no idea about the fact that there are many more universities occupied than only the ones in their country. Many people don't have the slightest idea that there are more than 100 universities either occupied or somehow involved in the protests. You can see the occupied universities under: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=de&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&source=embed&msa=0&msid=116283369278129786033.0004778dfa81fb402d565&ll=49.781264,12.348633&spn=11.357555,23.291016&z=5

Many people have not yet realized that thousands of students all over the world are standing up for their rights, and not only fight for themselves, but also for the next generation and for a better future in general. It is now our job to stop the ignorance!

The people out there should realize that the protests are not only a “local” problem of each country, but that the whole society all over the world is affected by the grievance which we, the students, are pointing out and which against we are defending ourselves. Therefore, we would like to invite you to participate in the

DAY OF UNI(versi)TY – United for free education!

on Tursday, 17^th Dezember 2009

Especially before Christmas, the majority of the consumption-oriented population is busy with shopping, instead of getting concerned about the real problems, whose solving is long overdue! Let's wake up those people and let's show them that we are standing behind our claim for a free education in unity and that this issue concerns each and every one of us.

The "International Day of Action“ was yesterday. Tomorrow, we will appear before the public in unity under the slogan DAY OF UNI(versi)TY, far beyond our own country borders.

There are some universities which are not yet as widely mobilized as universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. That is why we have come up with the idea to plan a common operation/campaign/activity, which can or even should be carried out by all participants of the protest movement for free education in their cities. Of course, it would be great if this could happen simultaneously, in order to demonstrate our unity, despite spacial distances.

Our ideas:

On the 17^th of December 2009 at 11 o'clock in the morning, students go out on the streets in numerous cities in Europe and worldwide. We will be equipped with signs, posters or banners which carry the names of all occupied or involved universities. The signs might say: “We are Heidelberg”, “We are Paris” or “We are Vienna”. The people should see in which cities universities are occupied and in which cities there are student protests.

At the same time, flyers can/should be handed out to passer-bys to inform them about the current situation. In the centre of each city a flashmob or different activity should take place. There are no limits as far as creativity is concerned!

Possible actions could be, for example, a “reading-demo”, which is a silent demo where all participants sit or lay down on the street and read or study something. Another possibility would be to act out some kind of choreography with the signs or to form a certain figure, like a country or a university. Another idea is to act out a scene in the style of a street theatre. Or what about a big pillow fight?

Anyway, it is important that we all have the signs with the occupied universities in common in order to demonstrate unity and solidarity. The more we are, the less they can ignore us!

Let's not hide but stand up for our rights together!

The actions should, if possible, be video-taped. Afterwards we will put the sequences together and create a small documentary about the “Day of Unity”, including all the activities from the participating universities, which we will publish on YouTube.

Please let us know, whether you are interested in participating in the “Day of Unity” If yes, then please organize yourself, mobilize and join the united movement. Inform the people out there, whether the media, friends, acquaintances, relatives, students of high schools, etc. Invite everybody to participate in solidarity in the event.

Everyone should know that and why we are here and that we won't be gone too soon!

If you have any further questions or just want to establish contact with us, please do so under:

skype: international.unigraz email: internationalunigraz@gmail.com

We are looking forward to communicating with you about projects, news, reports, etc.

Solidary greetings,

Work group „Internationalization“ –

Occupants of Graz University

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Dear friends and colleagues,

after some days of intensive preparation, today we had some worrying moments in the morning whether enough people would come and participate. But in the end we were around 30 people (according to police sources 20 ^^) and after some group photos we left our occupied building and the university campus and headed to the city centre of Graz. It was a very chilly (around -3°C) but clear and sunny day. On the way we got some really bewildered and surprised smiles because of the signs we carried, which said “Wir sind Istanbul”, “Wir sind Berkley”, “Wir sind Berlin” etc. (“Wir sind” means “we are”). In the main shopping area of the centre we distributed the group all over the length of it and started giving out our leaflets with informations about the international dimension of this protest.

We had some really interesting discussions with the passengers and after 45 Minutes we gathered again and started chanting, one calling the name of a city and the rest of us responding “Besetzt!” (occupied).

Then we sat down on the pavement for a short flash-mob reading our self-published protest-newspaper silently which we distributed to the passengers directly after getting up.

Then we all went to the main square of Graz and started using our megaphone: First we explained to all the passengers why we were there and talked about the fact that students protests are going on in so many countries. Then we passed around the megaphone, and the Human Rights article No. 26 about the Right to Education was read in English, German, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Greek, Swedish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Latin, Esperanto and Portuguese. It was also presented in the Austrian Sign languages at the same time. One of the most moving moments of this day was the Turkish girl and the Kurdish boy standing side by side and reading a Human Rights article.

After that we went back to our occupied lecture halls to warm our frozen bodies again and have a hot soup.

It has really been a funny day with interesting experiences and talks and a strong feeling of solidarity with all the other protesting students.

We hope you can enjoy the pictures and we are looking forward to hear about your experiences!

In solidarity

Occupants and activists at University Graz