Sedan i torsdags 29 oktober ockuperar tusentals studenter Wiens universitet. Detta i protest mot den våg av nyliberalism som också nästlar sig in i universitet och högskolor och som Bologna-avtalet är ett uttryck för. Bl.a. har de protesterande studenterna lagt fram följande krav:
”The students (…) are speaking out against the Bachelor-/ and Master system which is about to be implemented. The main concern of the students of all universities is an amendment of university law 2009 (UG Novell 2009) that allows universities to constrain the number of enrollments henceforth. This development can be interpreted as part of the Bologna process which has the aim of harmonizing the european university structures.
- Full funding of all universities!
- Democratization of the universities and fortification of the participation of students!
- Stop precarious working conditions for lecturers, scientists and workers!
- No restrictions to master degrees, No compulsory STEP* !
- Abolition of the still existing tuition fees for ALL students!
- No study restrictions, across Europe and the world!
- No restrictions to extra curricula, free choice of minor subjects!
- Abolition of preconditions to enter university courses!
- Find alternatives to this restrictive application system!
- Stop the Bologna-process which represents neoliberal trends in education policies!
- For the implementation of a female rate in the administration of the universities!
* STEP (Studieneingangsphase) = compulsory introduction period of each bachelor degree which includes very restrictive preconditions to continue the Bachelor Studies”
På websidan revolution.se skriver en studentaktivist:
”Ockupationen sprider sig för närvarande till universitet runtom hela Österrike och skapar relationer med olika kämpande arbetarkollektiv. Vi har skickat solidaritetsuttalanden från ockupationen till metallarbetarna, tryckeriarbetare såväl som dagispersonal som demonstrerade för högre lön bara två veckor sedan. Studenterna på universitetet känner solidaritet med andra som kämpar mot attackerna som kommit med den kapitalistiska krisen.”
Såhär beskriver en annan aktivist händelseförloppet:
”Everything started with a student occupation of the University of Fine Arts in Vienna. Two days later on Thursday last week a sudden turn happened after a spontaneous student protest at the Main University of Vienna (Hauptuniversität Wien). Hundreds of students invaded and finally occupied the biggest lecture hall of Austria (Audimax). At the end of the afternoon a storm of students flooded the lecture hall. Thousands of present students of the Main University present at the Audimax agreed to form a plenum.
The plenum is based on a „grassroots democracy“. Every day two plenums are hold in the lecture hall. For that the present students elect two moderators twice a day. On this platform discussions are hold about the current state of the movement and „task-forces“ present their achievements during the day.
The movement is participatory and volunteers form and join „task-forces“. Those task-forces have the purpose to tackle certain administrative problems within the occupation. Although they also concentrate on their postulations. In a few days a web of almost 40 task-forces reflect the complexity and the will of this movement. Daily, thousands of students participate euphorically in the occupation and a new critical also political atmosphere can be sensed among the Viennese student’s community.
As a matter of fact, this motivation has jumped on several other universities in Austria and attracted a lot of attention in other universities around the world. Students in Graz, Linz, Klagenfurt and Innsbruck, which are other major university cities in Austria are protesting and occupying their universities. Solidarisation messages and visits of professors from around the world are legitimizing the occupation in the Main University of Vienna.”
