European Education Congress (Allemagne, 25-30 mai 2010)

[ Mouvement international contre la marchandisation du savoir ]

European Education Congress

Content :
 1. The basic idea
  2. Infrastructure
  3. Finances
  4. Visa application
  5. Support and getting involved !

1. The basic idea :

Education activists from across Europe and beyond [activists worldwide are explicitly invited to participate] get together to discuss the concept of "education", learn about situations elsewhere, network and co-ordinate future protests. The "congress" will take place May 25-30th at the Ruhr-University of Bochum [Germany].

The "congress" will also be used to discuss and co-ordinate the upcoming "Global Wave of Action for Education", for example by working on a suggestion for a united statement. There has never been a meeting of grassroot education activist groups on an international and even global level such as this before, as far as I know. It will be a great opportunity to get in touch with each other personally
and create a united basis to build on in the future ! The call can be accessed here .

2. Infrastructure :
    - *website*: http://educationcongress.eu
    - *forum*: http://emancipating-education-for-all.org/forum/53
    - *mailing list* for all who want to actively get involved in the preprations of the "congress":
http://www.educationcongress.eu/?page_id=177

3. Finances :
The initiators of this "congress" [education activists in Germany] applied for financial support using the EU programme "Youth in Action". We were granted a total sum of about 18,000 €. Precondition was, that we can prove to have 20,000 available from other sources and that the "congress" is called "European (!) Education Congress". Nontheless we all agree within the preparation group, that we want this congress to be open to education activists worldwide and therefore explicitly invite everyone to take part.
The funds were collected mostly from student representative bodies across Germany. But we are restricted by EU policies on how to spend the total amount of about 40,000 €.
We are NOT allowed to use this money to financially support people coming from non-EU member states.
Travel expenses for activists coming from EU-member countries [+ Norway,
Switzerland, Turkey, Liechtenstein and Iceland] can be covered to some
extend - for those who otherwise can't efford them.

Food and accomodation are free of charge !  Just bring your sleeping bag and mat, there will be enough space at the university  :)

Since we also want to enable people from elsewhere to participate in this congress we will set up a seperate account to collect donations, which will be primarily used to support activists who have no means to pay for the visa or travel expenses. You will all be informed once the account has been set up. Please consider to donate, especially if you are involved in organisations or institutions that support this struggle!

At this stage we can't promise any financial support to activists from non-EU member states. Therefore we ask people who need support to follow these steps :
   - search for the cheapest flight to Germany [Düsseldorf or Cologne
  airport would be best - Frankfurt/M airport would be a third option, but
  more expensive due to a rather long train ride]; transfer flights are
  usually cheaper
  - try to get financial support from local and regional groups /
  organisations to cover travel expenses;
  - if you can't get enough financial support, send a mail to*united.for.education[at]gmail.com* [which I will receive] with the details [flight offer, costs that you are able to cover, funds still needed] *before April 15th* [so that we can get an overview of how much money is needed] !

4. Visa application :
 Débora, an activist in Barcelona, is trying to support all those who need to apply for a visa to enter "fortress Europe". Since this procedure usually takes a few weeks all people who need a visa are asked to fill out this formand send it to *comisioninternacional@gmail.com* *before April 1st*!
An invitation letter, which you need for the visa application, will then be send to you.

We only received application forms from activists [number of people] in Turkey [1], Morocco [4], Nepal [4], Algeria [1] and Nigeria [1].

I know that activists in Indonesia, Ghana, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Gabon also expressed interest in attending the "congress".  What about activists elsewhere?

5. Support & getting involved !

Your group wants to be listed as a supporter of the "European Education
Congress" ? Then just send a mail to: info@educationcongress.eu
 You want to get involved in the preparations of the congress?
Join the mailing list  and consider to participate in the next two international preparation meetings:

  - *April 17-18th *in Barcelona [Catalunya/Spain] --> details to be soon
  announced inside the forum
  - *May 08-09th* in Bochum [Germany]

If you come from an EU-member state [+ Norway, Switzerland, Turkey,
Liechtenstein and Iceland], travel expenses can be reimbused to some extend.

Please send a mail to *info@educationcongress.eu* [activists in Bochum
administer this one], if you are interested in joining any of those two
meetings or have any general enquiries regarding the "congress" as a whole.

*In Solidarity,*
Débora [Barcelona] and Mo [Marburg].


 Let's get organized and unite in our struggle for free and emancipatory public education - worldwide! An independent platform - International Student Movement: http://emancipating-education-for-all.org