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From	eustudenten@gmx.net
Date	Thu, 23 May 2002 23:19:48 +0200 (MEST)
Subject	ls: Student on strike in Germany

Please support us:

Solidarity statements to the striking students in Bielefeld and Wuppertal,
mail to: 

streik@schwur.net (striking students in Bielefeld)

and

streik@asta.uni-wuppertal.de (striking students in Wuppertal)
 

More Student strikes in Germany

In Germany student protests started this week with a strike in Bielefeld and
several actions across the German state of Nordrhein Westfalen. At May 23
the students of the universities of Duisburg and Wuppertal joined the strike. 
In several other universities there will be general assamblees as well in
the coming 2 weeks and there will be a  statewide demonstration in the city of
Düsseldorf on June 8 (meeting point 13.30 at the Central trainstation).  It`s
expected that more strikes will follow. 

At May 22 there was a demonstration of more than 3000 students in Bielefeld,
their number was even growing after workers of a shopping centre who are on
strike as well joined them. The mobilization for the demo was locally
organized. At the same day students of the Highschool of Mönchengladbach occupied a
building of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is the biggest party in
the coalition government in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The students where of a
highschoolgroup of the party and called on all student members of the
youth-section of the SPD not to pay their member fee for the party.

At May 23 there was a manifestation at the university of Dortmund with more
than 800 students. The students decide to organize a demonstration in the
city of Dortmund at Wednesday May 29. 

At May 24 there will be a solidarity strike of school students in Willich
with a demonstration as well. 

In several cities a lot of other protests will follow in the coming days and
weeks.... There is also a mobilization for the European wide Student
demonstration and the social forum about education in Seville, Spain  from june
20-22.

Neo liberal reforms in the German education system

On May 16 the minister of education of the state Nordrhein Westfalen in
Germany informed the directors of the universities in Nordrhein Westfalen about
the plans to introduce a new tax for students and the introduction of
studyfees for people who are studying to long and for students who are doing their
second study. The tax will be 50 Euro and is needed to fill a budget gap in the
general state budget. The fees will be Euro 500 and Euro 650.

The directors of the universities are furious about the taxes since they
will not be used to make improvements at the universities, the money will be
swallowed by the gap in the state general budget. At the same time there where
tax cuts for the big corporations which caused the big gap in the state
budget.

In Germany the government (Greens and social Democrats) promised not to
introduce studyfees , study-ing would be a free service by the state and everyone
could study what they want to. But in the German education sector the
neo-liberal agenda is developing rapid changes as well. In Berlin there is already
a tax for students (called "Verwaltungsgebühr") and there are already
studentfees in some German states like for instance Badem- Würtemberg. A leaked
document showed that there are also plans for a pilot project with general
studyfees of 1000 Euro at the university of Münich and in Nordrhein Westfalen there
is a project called "The independent school" where schools are working
together with the "Bertellsmann Stiftung" (Part of the Bertellsmann Group) in
order to get corporate financing. The corporations that invest in this program
also get more influence on the material that the pupils and school students of
these schools have to learn.
 
A document of the German trade ministers also shows that they are working
hard on neo-liberal reforms in the education sector. In this document they
write about teachers getting paid by "achievments" and the introduction of
general studyfees. The trade ministers also want universities to decide which
students they want and which students they don`t want, the prinicipal that
everybody who has the right degrees can study will no longer exist if they get what
they want. 

We will not accept their neo-liberal agenda and are calling students and
school students to ressist!

Demonstration in Düsseldorf 
Date: June 8 
Time 13.30
Meetingpoint Central Trainstation Düsseldorf

June 20-22 
Forum about education and European-wide student demonstration during the EU
summit in Sevilla

Solidarity statements to the striking students in Bielefeld, mail to: 

streik@schwur.net (striking students in Bielefeld)

and

streik@asta.uni-wuppertal.de (striking students in Wuppertal)
 
More information about the campaign education is not for sale:
www.education-is-not-for-sale.org

Local websites of striking students:

Bielefeld
http://www.asta-bielefeld.de

Wuppertal
http://www.asta.uni-wuppertal.de/

Duisburg
http://www.uni-duisburg-essen.de

-- 
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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