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From
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crazycows@interfree.it ()
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Date
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2 May 2002 13:27:13 -0000
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Subject
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Re: ls: Studenti: support call education is not for sale!
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please tell me something more....
>We are looking for somebody who can translate the call education is not for sale
>into Italian..
>We have started to mobilize for the EU-wide demonstration (and forum about
>education) of students, schoolstudents and teachers against the European
>education policies and the GATS treaty during the EU summit in Sevilla (20-22
>June 2002).
>
>We are looking for organizations and persons who want to support the call
>education is not for sale by signing it (read the call below and see wich
>people and organizations already signed it...) in order to expres the broad
>support for the campaign in several countries. You can sign the call by sending
>an e-mail with the text Signature in the subject line and with your name or the
>name of your organization, city and the country where you are coming from.
>Send this information to: info@education-is-not-for-sale.org
>
>Here is the call:
>
>EU-wide protestcampaign in 2002:
>
>Education is not for sale!
>
>Forum about education and international studentblock at demonstration Sevilla
>(Spain) June 20-21-22
>
>Decentralized protests in Europe during the summer-semester
>
>Study fees, budget cuts, deregulation, privatisation, lack of democracy... In
>all European countries (and beyond) education is changing rapidly. A change in
>education policy is also what we want, but not the neo-liberal changes
>that are being pushed forward by the European Union and its member states.
>
>Why do they want to change the education systems ? While the UK's schools might
>one day be worth £25bn a year to potential
>"investors", the US system has been valued at $700bn. Worldwide, education is
>worth trillions (for exact figure: OECD). If a country can seize an early and
>substantial share of this market,its economy can overcome a crisis by that and
>it ensures itself a big advantage in the competition with other ones. And
>they are not only thinking like that in the UK, it`s EU policy and it`s the main
>reason for many changes in the European education sector. Education is
>increasingly not "only" a provider of new human resources for big business, but
>big business in its own right.
>
>New laws in Europe
>In Germany study fees are being introduced through the back door. There are
>various kinds of fees, which aren't named as such. In Berlin students have to
>make a contribution to the university-bureaucracy of 50 € per
>semester, and in some states (Bundesländer) there are fees for students who have
>studied for more than 13 semesters. In July 2001 one of the highest courts
>declared this legal. Though these examples show the existence of study fees in
>Germany, politicians still pretend that there are no fees and that the
>discussion about their introduction was open.General study fees seem to be a
>question
>of time. Labeled as autonomy; universities shall and do search for funding
>beside the stately budgets. Sponsoring increases. The present developments do
>not only serve economical goals but can also be described as diciplination of
>students. So is it possible now at some universities to drive out students who
>studied more than a certain number of years without passing their final
>exams. In Austria the government introduced study fees last year. In the UK an
>increasing number of higher education and business leaders talk openly of a
>completely privatised system of deregulated fees, while the government has
>introduced privatisation into the school system for the first time. In Italy the
>government have plans to privatise schools and universities. In the
>Netherlands, Minister of Education "Hermans" is a great fan of GATS. In Spain
>the goverment has introduced a new law called L.O.U. (In Spanish: Ley Orgánica
>de Universidades). This law is reforming universities and will suppress the
>joyce bodies of the universities, operate universities under strict managing
>criteria, let the managerial class into the University, and encourage
>Universities to finance themselves by competing for private money. The present
>Directive that the Popular Party is proposing imposes the most conservative and
>capitalist postulates of the right-wing policy. In Denmark the new neo-liberal
>government has a majority in the parliament to make budget cuts specific to
>education of 15 % within the next 3 years, and futhermore they are letting 6.000
>extra students (which is a lot in Denmark) into the system without extra
>funding. In France, for many years, university reforms have been intended for
>diminishing the state financing and have been carrying an hiden privatization
>planning. In 1998, the Attali Report recommended reforms in order to make the
>colleges pay as they do in Anglo-saxons countries, what would destroy the
>public services of education. This report particularly recommended a new system
>of diplomas with degrees after 3, 5 and 8 years of study. Since this report, the
>reforms by the former secretary of Education Claude Allègre, the "3rd
>Millenium University" development plan (U3M), and most recently the reforms
>engaged by the actual French secretary of Education Jack Lang, put into practice
>these recommandations. The secretary of Education Jack Lang is now going
>further, instituing points-scored degree i.e. the ECTS (European Credit Transfer
>System). Students strike actions try to oppose this free market logic (the
>firms will soon be allowed to invest in the Universities) and to stand up for
>everybody's right to gain access to a good-quality knowledge. Such strike
>actions particularly took place in November and December 1998 and March 2001. At
>the French speaking university of Brussels most students have to pay for
>language courses, only the exams are for free. The Belgium government stated
>that they will never privatize higher education. What they mean is that the
>public universities will always give the diploms etc. In praxis universities can
>let companies do the courses. Students can follow the course for a fee by the
>company and do the exam at the university for free. In Ireland tuition fees of
>€3,000 to €4,000 are being discussed . The reintroduction of fees
>for full time students is one of two stark options set out in a
>confidential draft report to the Irish Government. In Turkey the government
>proposes new laws to get "ready" for GATS.
>
>The European Round Table Of Industrialists (ERT) In Europe, the reforms required
>to privatise state education are gradually
>being put in place. Under pressure from the European Round Table of
>industrialists (ERT), the European Commission has decided to take things in
>hand, and new information and communication technology offers an ideal pretext
>for doing so. Every six months, the ERT holds a meeting with the president of
>the
>European Union to discuss priorities. Since 1999, this pressure group has been
>chaired by Morris Tabaksblat, president of the Anglo-Dutch company
>Reed-Elsevier, which has declared its intention of becoming the world leader in
>the education and internet publishing sector. The ERT has also set up a working
>group on external economic relations to supervise the progress of the WTO talks.
>This is headed by none other than BP-Amoco chairman Peter Sutherland, who is a
>former director-general of GATT. This lobby group is very clear about what it
>wants governments to do: 'Responsibility for training must be assumed by
>industry once and for all... education should be considered as a service to the
>economy.' National education systems will not be completely eliminated.
>Under the logic of the neo-liberal economy, in which profit-making entities are
>privatised and loss-making ones are subsidised by the taxpayer, governments will
>still have a role to play. The OECD wrote: 'The only role of the public sector
>will be to ensure access to learning for those who will never be a
>profitable market, and whose exclusion from society in general will be
>accentuated as others continue to progress.'
>
>Bologna proces and GATS
>In the Netherlands, minister Jorritsma(VVD,Dutch liberal party) has said
>that the universities should be jugded by their market-ableness. His comment fit
>in the framework of the Bologna declaration of the European ministers of
>education and the General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS) of the WTO.
>European schools and universities have to transform so they will be competitive
>for competitors from non European countries . In Germany the education system is
>getting re-structured according to the proposals of neo-liberal
>think-tanks like the CHE (center for university-development which is closly
>linked to the Bertelsmann Group). The study-structure for example is supposed to
>be
>transformed from a more open diploma- or magister-system towards a restrictive
>Bachelor/Master-system . This structure means: a light version of education for
>everyone and special skills for some chosen few. It means more pressure to
>finish your studies (although 75% of the german students have to work in
>order to finance their studies), it means a reduction of content, especially
>such that can be considered as critical. The Bachelor-Master structure is part
>of the Bologna proces. With this system the universities can easylier compete
>with eachother. They are trying to sell it to students with the slogan about
>mobility, but who`s mobility? The mobility of the ones who can afford it!
>
>GATS By means of GATS (General Agreement on Trade on Services, a WTO - World
>Trade Organisation - treaty) state (public) services like education services and
>healthcare are declared a tradable commodity. At the moment the
>liberalisation of education and healthcare sectors are being negociated under
>the umbrella of GATS. The USA, New Sealand and Australia made proposals for the
>GATS-negociations about education. The European Commission ( The unelected
>"government" of the EU, which negotiates in the WTO on behalf of EU member
>states) has also demonstrated its commitment to the liberalisation of public
>services. The European Union already accepted to open their markets for primary
>education services, secundary education services, higher education services and
>adult education services for public - private partnerships. And since the
>negociations about education are not finished yet, there is a danger that the EU
>will even go further. Given that the Commission's 'Towards GATS 2000' statement
>of intent calls GATS "first and foremost an instrument for the benefit of
>business", the coverage of education by GATS will contribute to the extension of
>private initiatives to education at all levels throughout the world (at January
>1st 2002 144 countries were member of the WTO). At the WTO ministerial
>meeting in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001 the WTO member states have agreed that
>requests for countries to open up their services sectors will be submitted by 30
>June 2002 and initial offers of countries to liberalise will be submitted by 31
>March 2003. Negotiations on services, as with the other agreements, will be
>completed by 1 January 2005. GATS rules may effectively prevent
>government subsidies from being selectively applied to public services. There
>are two key trade principles at the core of the GATS. These two principles are
>designed to limit government interventions in the service sector. For example
>under the national treatment principle, once a government signs up a service, it
>could face WTO challenge if it implements legislation which favours local
>suppliers over foreign suppliers. This has implications when it comes to the
>granting of subsidies. For example, where a GATS commitment has been made,
>governments providing subsidies to domestic service suppliers also have to make
>an equivalent subsidy available to foreign providers operating in the country.
>This raises the possibility of having a basic government-funded education
>system, with funding given to all providers (private- and public), and then
>allowing individuals to enhance this by paying top-up fees to providers with
>varying so called "elite universities", or for the provision of 'optional
>extras' at an additional charge. In other words, GATS could dramatically boost
>the
>trend even further away from universal and equal access to free, publicly
>provided quality education (wich is something we`ve never had, but it`s one of
>the goals we want to achieve), towards the spread of education systems based on
>the ability of pupils and students to pay. Another big problem is that the
>education programms will change when there is more and more competition between
>private- and public schools and universities. Private institutions will only
>learn people what "big bussiness" wants them to know. State schools and
>universities will follow, otherwise they will lose pupils and students. Perhaps
>the biggest threat posed by GATS is the threat to democracy. Once decisions are
>reached under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), government
>activities in the services sector that are seen to 'interfere' with trade
>faces the threat of WTO legal action. GATS means that if a government listens to
>the voice of its people and responds by making appropriate policy changes it
>also faces the threat of WTO legal action. For commercial and political
>reasons it may be easier to "trade" higher education in particular for access to
>other countries' markets for EU businesses. But the stakes are high: Pascal
>Lamy, the EU Trade commissionair, stated, "For the EU, services are central. We
>are number one in the world: 26% of world trade. Services account for two thirds
>of EU GNP" and on another location he said about the trade in
>services:"If we want to improve our own access to foreign markets then we can't
>keep our protected sectors out of the sunlight. We have to be open in
>negotiating them all if we are going to have the material for a big deal. In the
>US and the EU, that means some pain in some sectors but gain in many others, and
>I think we both know that we are going to have to bite the bullet to get what we
>want". Alexa McDonough, the leader of Canada's National Democratic Party,
>stated that the GATS constitutes "the greatest transfer of economic and
>political power in history... from communities and nation states into the hands
>of a small number of global corporations".
>
>The consequences:
>- More and more schools and universities in Europe are being privatised
>- Studyfees are being introduced or the fees are getting higher and higher
>- The right to get a good education is more and more a question of money
>- Democratic rights for pupils and students at schools and universities are
>being cut
>- The things we learn are increasingly the things companies want us to learn
>
>We want an education system for people, not for profits! We will not allow
>education policies to be dictated by undemocratic
>organisations such as the European Union, the World Trade Organisation and
>private companies. Students, teachers, parents and pupils have to decide what
>kind of education they want. We will have to act at the local and international
>level to stop these developments since they are happening everywhere.
>
>For an international campaign during the summer-semester of 2002! We propose to
>start an international campaign against these developments
>during the summer-semester of 2002. In December 2001 students of several
>European countries protested against the privatisation of education with
>strikes, occupations and demonstrations. We think this short campaign was a step
>into the right direction. We want to put more pressure on the decision-makers
>and develop alternatives for a different kind of university. Therefore we call
>on all students to join the forum about education and culture and the
>international student demonstration in Salamanca (Spain) during March 17-19 and
>to join the international student block and the forum about education in Sevilla
>(Spain) during June 21 & 22. In the months between the protests and forums we in
>Spain call all students to increase local protests against the privatisation of
>education and to fight for our democratic rights at OUR universities!
>
>First supporting organizations and persons who signed this call
>
>Organizations:
>
>1. Appel pour une école démocratique (appeal for a democratic school), Belgium
>2. Offene Linke Liste [oll] der University of Potsdam, Germany
>3. Campaign for Free Education(UK), London, United Kingdom
>4. Scudag-Koordinierungskreis, Network for a student- and schoolstudent
>union, Germany
>5. Observatorio Global de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
>6. Kritische Studenten Utrecht, Netherlands
>7. Aktionsbündnis für Freie Bildung (action-coalition for free
>education),University of Wuppertal, Germany
>8. Rudolf Steineracademie Antwerpen, Belgium
>9. Initiative for Economic Democracy, Yugoslavia
>10. Anarchist Black Cross Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
>
>persons:
>
>1. Susan George, writer, Associate Director of the Transnational Institute,
>France
>2. Rainer Marquardt, Mitglied im Personalrat des WDR (German radio &
>Television), Dortmund, Germany
>3. Sarah Stockmann,Vorstand LSV NW, scudag, Meerbusch, Germany
>4. Özlem Demirel, Vorstand LSV NW,Cologn, Germany
>5. Marcus Wendin, Peace quest, Göteborg, Sweden
>6. Andrej Grubacic, historian, coordinator of Initiative for Economic
>Democracy and SEE Social Forum, University of
> Belgrade,Yugoslavia
>7. Carlos Ruano, grupo activo "otro mundo es posible", Salamanca, Spain
>8. Abel Valenzuela Garcia, University of Barcelona, Spain
>9. Chris Paul, ceo innovation in digital and electronic arts (IDEA),
>Manchester, NW, England
>10. Referat für Frieden und Internationales (Section peace and international
>affairs), AStA Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
>11. René Schuijlenburg, EU Students, FH Dortmund, Germany
>12. HoPo Referat, ASTA BUGH, Wuppertal, Germany
>13. Jochen Vlieghe, ATTAC- university in Gent, Belgium
>14. Sara Olvegård, Göteborg, Sweden
>15. Ole Erdmann, Scudag-network, Bonn, Germany
>16. Joris Verschueren, ATTAC-RUG, Gent, Belgium
>17. Amanda O'Brien, Toronto, Canada
>18. Alison Russell, Brussels, Belgium
>19. Brit Eckhart, Boston-Cambridge Alliance for Democracy, Boston, MA. USA
>20. Klaus B. Jensen, PLS, Copenhagen, Denmark
>21. Info - Referat des ASTA der BUGH, Wuppertal, Germany
>22. Mateusz Kuiavski, New Media student at Ryerson University in Toronto,
>Canada
>23. Margalit Laufer, OPEN POORT, cultural centre for children aged 1 -14
>Zeist, Netherlands
>24. François Josserand, Glasgow, Scotland
>25. Paola Manduca, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
>26. Crystal Chesshire, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
>27. David Hachfeld, Berlin, Germany
>28. Leopold Wonneberger, Attac, HU Berlin, Germany
>29. Meredith de Landelles, Darwin, Australia
>30. Manfred Bergmann, Roman Migrant Social Forum, Rome,Italy
>31. Aslak Orre, CMI, Bergen, Norway
>32. Dr. Eero Carroll, researcher in sociology, Stockholm University, Member of
>Attac, Sweden
>33. Hermann Gendrisch, Übach-Palenberg, Germany
>34. Gunilla Andersson, student at Malmö University, member of Attac, Malmö,
>Sweden
>35. Martin Odalgård, Göteborg, Sweden
>36. Irina Neszeri, member of city council Duisburg, Duisburg, Germany
>37. Joe Rukin, editor educationet.org, Coventry UK
>38. Eva Quistorp, MdEP a.D (former member of European Parliament),women`s
>nnetwork of ATTAC , Berlin, Germany
>39. Sten Rigedahl, secondary school teacher, Sundsvall, Sweden
>40. Toni Segovia-Silvestre, Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)
>41. Andre Wokittel, Halle, Germany
>42. Bianca Kurth, Bielefeld, Germany
>43. H. - W. Hoffmann, Dipl. Des. Dipl. Ing, Dortmund, Germany
>44. Prof. Dr. Ingrid Lohmann, University of Hamburg,Fachbereich
>Erziehungswissenschaft ,Hamburg / Germany
>45. James Redmond, member of socialist alternative, Ireland
>46. Donal Lyons, member of socialist alternative, Ireland
>47. Finbar Dywer, member of socialist alternative, Ireland
>48. Ciaran Murray, member of socialist alternative, Ireland
>49. Daniel Finn, member of socialist alternative, Ireland
>50. Martina Marcet i Fuentes, student of 1st Batxillerat, La Nou de Bergedà,
>Catalunya (Spain)
>51. Oskar Wistbacka, Upper secondary school student, Vasa, Finland
>52. Sabine Teubner, Brunnerstraße 4, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany
>53. Steven Kelk, University of Warwick, England
>53. Patricia Fumière, enseignante, Belgium
>54. Beate Obst, Wuppertal, Germany
>55. Daniel Zettler, Augsburg, Germany
>56. Dominik Ruppenthal,
>FachSchaftsVertreterInnenKonferenz(FSVK)-Spokesperson, Ruhr University, Bochum,
>Germany 57. Eilert Stamm, LandesschülerInnenvertretung NRW, Niederkassel,
>Germany
>58. Frank Rippel, Berlin, Germany
>59. Jiri Nantl, Vice Chairman of the Academic Senate, Masaryk University,
>Brno, Czech Republic
>60. Erich-Günter Kerschke, Cologn, Germany
>61. Heiko Kunert, Regenbogen - für eine neue Linke (Rainbow - for a new left ),
>Hamburg, Germany
>62. Michael Schultze, Politikwissenschaftler, Magdeburg, Germany
>63. Stijn Oosterlynck, Member of Attac, Belgium
>64. Ulla Lötzer, MdB PDS (Member of German parliament), Köln, Germany
>65. Christiane Fey, Journalistin und StudentIn FH Dortmund, Witten, Germany 66.
>Mike RowleySteering Committee, Campaign for Free Education and member of
>Alliance for
> Workers' Liberty, Oxford, United Kingdom
>67. De Marco, Paul, Richmond Hill, Canada
>68. Lars-Olof Karlsson, member of ATTAC, Stockholm, Sweden
>69. Anna Kossack, Vorstand LSV-Hessen, Berkatal, Germany
>70. Glenn Rikowski, Hillcole Groupof Radical Left Educators, London, United
>Kingdom
>71. Jan Buelinckx, ATTAC-University of Ghent, Belgium
>
>Wanna sign this call? Send an e-mail with the text Signature in the subject line
>and with your name or the name of your organization, city and the
>country where you are coming from. Send this information to:
>
>Contact: info@education-is-not-for-sale.org
>
>Websites: http://www.education-is-not-for-sale.org
>http://www.geocities.com/observaglobal/ (in Spanish)
>
>Mailinglists:
>
>English (The international list):
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/international-pupil-and-studentactions
>
>German: http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/int-schueler-und-studentenaktionen
>
>Dutch: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/int-scholieren-en-studentenakties
>
>-- EU-wide protestcampaign in 2002:
>Education is not for sale!
>http://www.education-is-not-for-sale.org
>
>Die Kampagne education is not for sale kostet viel Geld...
>
>Spendenkonto für die Kampagne: Sarah Stockmann
>Kontonummer: 447 282 51
>BLZ: 305 500 00
>Sparkasse Neuss
>Verwendungszweck: Education is not for sale
>
>We need a lot of money to organize the education is not for sale campaign,you
>could help us by transfering a little gift to:
>
>Sarah Stockmann Bankaccount: 447282 51
>Number of the bank: 305 500 00
>Name of the bank: Sparkasse Neuss
>Reference: Education is not for sale
>City: Neuss
>Country: Germany
>
>GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet.
>http://www.gmx.net
>
>
>
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