The School Strike 4 Climate organisers are keen to involve unions and other community and faith-based organisations in their struggle for action on climate change. Below is a model motion to help you get organised.
students
School students are calling on universities, unions, faith groups and others to join their next strike for climate on March 15.
Student groups nation-wide registered their opposition to the government’s proposals to raise student fees and lower the HECS threshold at an action in Canberra on budget day on May 9.
The $2.8 billion in cuts would see fees increase by a maximum of $3600 for a four-year course with students paying for 46% of the cost of their degree on average — up from 42%. The cuts propose a lowering of the HECS threshold — down from $55,874 to $42,000.
About 50 people attended an action in solidarity with students in Papua New Guinea outside the PNG Consulate on June 10. On June 8, PNG police shot at protesting students at the University of Port Moresby.
Sydney-based Papua New Guineans were joined by students, academics, unionists and NGOs to call for an immediate stop to the repression and for the students' demands to be met.
Spain: Education sector strikes against privatisation
Professors and students in more than 40 Spanish cities went on strike on March 24 against the government’s education reform aimed at privatising the public sector.
According to the unions who organised the strike, there was an 85% participation rate. High schools reached 90% participation around the country, according to a statement by Workers Commissions, FETE-UGT, the Independent Central of State Officials and Students of Spain in Movement.
In 2006, a generation of Chilean secondary students learnt how to mobilise, blockade streets, raise demands and carry out occupations. But they also learnt how they could be defeated by a system capable of accommodating and coopting mobilisations.
It is important to note that this revolt, referred to as the “penguin revolution”, did not arise out of nowhere. Its origins lay in the mobilisations for student transport concessions in 2001 and the creation of a series of collectives and small groups.
Demands
Staff and students from across all six University of Western Sydney (UWS) campuses protested on November 21, in opposition to university management plans to axe several courses.
Among the courses to go are Arabic, Spanish, Italian, the Bachelor of Communication sub-majors in writing, performance and animation, and the entire Economics degree. Along with these, the jobs of 29 academics in the School of Business and a further 25 in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts will be cut.
The university semester is coming to an end, so now is a good time to take stock of developments in Queensland student politics.
In recent months there has been a rise in political consciousness and activity on campuses. Most big universities have had students protesting against alleged corruption in the student union or university.
Resistance members have been heavily involved in many of these campaigns.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of Queensland (UQ) and Griffith University are the three major campuses in south-east Queensland.
The following statement was released by the Socialist Alliance in Australia. Visit www.socialist-alliance.org for more information.
* * *
Socialist Alliance salutes the millions of French workers and students who have taken to the streets in a wave of sustained demonstrations and strikes against the Sarkozy governments’ attack on pensions.