Ich komme in die erste Klasse und werde gefragt warum ich diesen Button trage. Den mit der Flamme und dem Haus drauf, der so bunt angemalt ist. Ich überlege kurz und stelle eine Gegenfrage. Weiterlesen »
Es ist bezeichnend für unsere Bewegung. Die Protestwelle rollt. Und trotzdem hört man immer mehr Stimmen, die meinen, wir würden schlapp machen. Bei uns sei die Luft raus. Dabei sprechen die Fakten eine ganz andere Sprache. Über 30.000 Fans auf Facebook, Twitter zählt 33. 654 Tweets, heute wurden weitere 4 Unis besetzt (unter anderem in Basel, Birmingham und Berlin), womit die Zahl der besetzen Unis auf 30 steigt. Die Vernetzungs AG (Arbeitsgruppe) hat mittlerweile Kontakt zu Unis auf der ganzen Welt, von Moskau über Süd Afrika bis nach Californien, es wird nachgedacht und dann besetzt.
Im Plenum seien kaum mehr über 300 Leute da heißt es dann meistens. Die, die so denken, möchte ich beruhigen (sofern es das tut). Im Audimax sitzen 300 Menschen, im Presseraum schreiben 10 an Pressetexten, 8 programmieren an der Webseite, 12 Leute kümmern sich um Flicker und die Videoseite. Im ORGA-Raum diskutiert auf der einen Seite die AG MigrantInnen über ihre weitere Partizipation (Beteiligung), während in der anderen Raumhälfte die AG Plenum das Abendprogramm vorbereitet, in der Mitte sitzen zwei und pressen Buttons. DieVolksküche ist voll und voller Elan bei der Arbeit und nicht vergessen, in Wien sind noch vier andere Unis besetzt.
Wir sind nicht fertig, auch wenn’s im Stream anders ausschaut.
I know, that some of you are folloing my blog eventhough not speaking german, waiting for more material written in english. Those of you, that do not speak any german might have slumbert away that something basic has happend in austria, in austrias universities and also in my life. Here is a thrilling and well-written article about it, what is happening. viennareview is a monthly English language newspaper in Austria, here what they had said in this article.
01/11/2009 Students Say, ‘Now!’ Luca Haraszti and Philip Kubaczek
Chronic mismanagement, crowding & chaos trigger Uni demos nationwide
More students are pouring into the University of Vienna’s Main Building on the Ringstrasse. They are coming in through the left-wing gate of Uni Wien – almost no one through the main entrance – headed to the Audiomax, the university’s largest auditorium, which has been occupied, day and night, since Thurs., Oct. 22.
The scene is full of young people involved in burning debates about politics, particularly regarding the Austrian university system. Speeches, concerts and discussions are being held on the main stage. The walls are covered with posters and slogans scribbled in chalk. People from the press, photographers and interviewers can be spotted everywhere. The collective feeling is that of aspiration, irrepressibility and power.
It all started with a demonstration by Viennese art students that same Thursday, which later led to the occupation of the Audiomax in the old University Center near Schottentor. The protest is about a lot of things, including administrative chaos and overcrowding, but perhaps most against the outcomes of the Bologna Process, a pan-European effort launched in 1999 to apply academic quality standards and ensure compatibility among European education systems.
Walking through the halls of the University towards the Audiomax, banners are everywhere with slogans covering a surprisingly wide range of ideologies. Commenting on the multitude of opinions, a young political science student – whose ragged appearance suggests he has been holding out at the University for several days – tells us he considers it entirely positive.
“The multi-valence is a product of the self-organized nature of this protest,” he says. “It helps the demonstration stay ideologically and politically independent. We don’t want our cause to be linked to a movement or a party.”
The students occupying the University do not fulfill the cliché of disorganized, littering vandals – quite the opposite is the case, in fact, although there is a lot of smoking going on in the facilities, and at one point a glass door was smashed. As a fundamentally democratic system without a lead, the students have formed working groups and allocated responsibilities. There is a soup kitchen, a pressroom, even a group responsible for cleaning up after their fellow protesters.
Although the students are treating the facilities – and consequently the Republic of Austria – with respect, there doesn’t appear to be any reciprocity. Johannes G. Hahn, the Minister of Sciences and Research, was invited to a talk with students, but didn’t appear. Now, as the situation becomes more critical, Hahn, instead of facing the conflict and debating the demands, left to Brussels for talks on his possible appointment as the next Austrian representative to the EU Commission, which has since happened.
“Hahn is an idiot,” students say repeatedly. Others, more respectful towards authorities, simply say that they feel neglected by their government – in spite of stating their purpose and demands, they fear their cries have fallen on deaf ears. This may be the reason why the majority of people present during the first days of the occupation didn’t believe that any changes in the educational system would result. The organizers stated that “no end was in sight” unless the government agreed to negotiate. Seeing as this wasn’t the case, the protesting kept on and even expanded during the following days – by Tuesday, Oct. 27, the second biggest auditorium, called C1, was also occupied.
Austrian students with similar demands at other universities followed the Uni Wien example – scholars at the Technical University in Vienna showed their solidarity through demonstrations, and an auditorium at University of Graz has been taken over by local activists.
The issues themselves are as legitimate as they are emotive. Students have to deal with overfilled lectures and inadequate faculties because of chronic under-financing. One outcome, say faculty, is that university data-processing systems are buckling under the complications of the new curricula, often paralyzing the academic program.
And to add to the chaos, the federal construction agency has chosen this time to tear up the hallways in the majestic old building to meet new environmental building codes. On the above floor, right over the Audimax, students and faculty squeeze along a narrow makeshift walkway of boards and burlap, past the torn up corridors that look like a bomb zone.
“This, I think, was the last straw,” said Thomas Angerer, Professor of History, who passes the protest every day on his way to his office two floors above. “Why now? Because now that the weather is cold they want to work inside. No one thinks or cares about what is good for the students.
“There is so much hypocrisy,” he concluded. “You wonder sometimes that the students have been as patient as they have.”
As a solution to this problem, the occupiers suggest a redistribution of taxpayers´ money, with a more central focus on public education. Some demand the abolition of the Austrian military, saying it “guzzles public money” and is unnecessary for a neutral country such as Austria.
The alternative to the current, partially tuition-free university system would be one requiring tuition fees from everyone. To this, the protestors cry “social injustice,” saying that many students without financial means would not be able to afford these costs. To compensate for this, an advanced scholarship system could be established. Tuition fees, some say, would also deter the masses of foreign students seeking cheaper studying conditions in Austria.
Students defined their main demands as the following: abolishing tuitions, complete financing of the universities by the government, elimination of entrance exams, access to any master’s course without qualitative admission restrictions and enough university places for all. Others disagreed.
“Don’t you want the doctors of the future to be good?” complains Margaret Childs, a 24-year-old philosophy student in her final year. Many see a threat of declining educational standards due to admissions criteria that are simply too low.
Though the introduction of new bachelor’s and master’s programs is seen as positive by some, thereby unifying standards across Europe and easing mobility between systems and countries, new problems have emerged. “With a bachelor’s in my pocket I can only earn as much as a Matura graduate” says Peter Schneider*, a 23-year-old student from the BOKU (University for Agriculture).
A much-criticized element of the master’s programs is the qualitative admission restriction, effective since October 09. This system dictates that after having successfully earned a bachelor’s degree, a minimum of one master’s course has to be accessible to the student. As for other master’s courses of choice, one has to fulfill a number of conditions not precisely defined by law. These could vary between the grade-point-average, the duration of bachelor’s studies, application interviews, or even an IQ-test. Worries are that this regulation could lead to the financial elite, able to pay for internships and extracurricular courses, being granted the master’s of their dreams, while most students are penned up in the one course that remains freely accessible.
At this writing the protest is still gaining momentum. On Oct. 29, an estimated 20,000 (police) to 50,000 (organizers) protestors took to the streets, covering the Ring much of Vienna’s 1st District city from Schwedenplatz to Schottentor. Sizable demonstrations have also materialized in Innsbruck, Salzburg, in addition to those in Graz, and even students in Hamburg are expressing solidarity with their Austrian colleagues. The sheer size of these protests alludes to the severity of the system’s deficiencies, which has produced the largest protest in nearly a decade. The last demonstration of this size was in 2000, when tens of thousands protested against the inclusion of Jörg Haider’s far-right FPÖ in the coalition government, which generated an estimated 150,000 demonstrators in gatherings all over the city – some 40,000 on Heldenplatz alone.
Given these numbers, students say, Minister Hahn may be forced to address their grievances, whether he likes it or not.
* Name changed at the student’s request.
———
Our education is more then just how to find a job. If you think this is important, support us or occupy your univercity!
Ich habe aufgehört die Stunden zu zählen. 50 sind es mindestens gewesen, die ich jetzt hier bin. Und #unsereruni brennt immer noch. Seit heute haben wir auch einen englischen Slogan: “Our Uni is still on fire.” Und ich brenne mit Feuer und Flamme mit. Die letzten zwei Nächte habe ich im zweitgrößten Hörsaal der Haupt Uni, dem C1 zugebracht. Das ist eine lange Zeit und das Schöne ist, dass man eine Menge Leute trifft und eine Menge Erfahrungen sammelt. Ich möchte hier nicht von aufmerksamen Abwäschern berichten. Ich möchte nicht von hilfreichen Technikern berichten. Ich möchte nicht hinweisen auf rücksichtsvolle Raucher, kreative Buttonstanzer, schlaflose Programmierer, auf köstlich Kochende, engagierte Arbeitsgruppendiskutierende, auf die gründlich Putzenden oder auf versammlungsfreudige Mitprotestierende. Ich möchte nicht von Medienerfahrungen, Putzeindrücken oder Basisdemokratie erzählen (dafür ist später hoffentlich noch viel Raum und Zeit) sondern über ein Gespräch berichten, das mich in einigen meiner Überlegungen bestärkt hat. Das ich sehr wichtig fand. Und das gezeigt hat, dass wir Grüne noch viel zu lernen haben.
Das, was wir – in meinen Augen – noch verbessern können, möchte ich gesondert in einem Blogbeitrag bearbeiten, den ich schon in Arbeit habe. Hier nur kurz zu den Eindrücken, die ich aus dem Gespräch mit einem aktiven österreichischen Piraten gewann. Von denen gibt es übrigens mittlerweile über 300 in ganz Österreich – tendenz stark steigend (verdreifacht in den letzten Monaten). Er war über 12 Jahre Grünwähler. Überzeugter und Überzeugender. Und jetzt ist er weg. Verloren. Als Wähler, als Aktivist, als Ideenliferant. Für uns, für die grüne Idee, und eine grüne Gesellschaft. Nur kurz die Gründe, die er nannte:
Alle vier Gründe schreien eine Message: “Macht euch verständlich! Erklärt euch! Kommt auf mich zu und erzählt mir von euren Ideen, weil ihr habt etwas zu bieten zu Ökologie und Umweltschutz, zu Menschen- und Grundrechten und zu Gentechnik und Gesundheit! Ich weiß, eure Vorstellungen sind durchdacht, aber ich muss sie sehen, um sie glauben zu können!” Wir müssen präsent sein. Wir müssen auf Menschen wie diesen jungen Piraten zugehen und ihn einbinden. Was und wie wir lernen sollten sollte dann im nächsten Blogpost stehen.
