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Dear education activists in Croatia,
I'm a student representative at the Philipps-University of Marburg (Germany) and initiator of the "International Day of Action against the Commercialization of Education", which took place on Nov.5th 2008. Groups in more than 20 countries on 5 continents participated. You can access a presentation summarizing all the actions on that day here (.pdf/~3MB).
As a result of the co-ordination efforts ahead of the international day of action an open network was created, which now calls itself "International Students Movement" (because most groups involved are dominated by students, but of course the platform is open to all social groups struggling against the commercialization of education and for free and emancipatory public education; i.e. teachers, parents, pupils, workers,...). This concerns the whole of society after all.
Since you are also struggling against the increasing privatization of education and the consequences of the Bologna process in Croatia, I was hoping that you are interested in uniting internationally.
After the international day of action the platform called for the "Reclaim your Education - Global Week of Action" in April this year, during which massive protests could be observed in Croatia as well.
Check out this pamphlet (print in duplex & fold) for an overview of the actions during that week.
The purpose of the "International Students Movement" (ISM) is to unite groups and movements around the world and promote the global perspective of the struggle. In the end the aim is to increase the political pressure on a global scale and get governments to implement free public education systems, that are based on an emancipating approach and are accessible to all.
With each internationally co-ordinated protest the global movement gets stonger. Therefore the "ISM" is once again calling for a Global Week of Action in Nov. 2009.
The following tools were set up to co-ordinate things together:
* a website
* various forums
* regular international chat conferences with "group representatives" and inidividual activists; the next one is coming up on Sept.6th (details are always sent to the mailing list)
* a mailing list (with more than 500 contacts from around the world)
* and a group on facebook (especially for those registered there already)
If you have any questions or suggestions, then just drop me (international.students.movement@gmail.com) a line.
It would be great, if you decide to also unite with groups and movements around the world for free and emancipatory public education, at least for the Global Week of Action in Nov. 2009.
If you do so, then please get involved on the international level and ensure a constant flow of information, so that this will really be a united week of action!
So far groups in Germany, Austria, Italy, England, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Marocco, Nepal, Canada, Liberia, France, Spain (Catalunya) and Bulgaria confirmed their participation; others around the world are currently discussing it.
Please also consider to join the list of supporters: http://www.emancipating-education-for-all.org/content/supporters
Feel free to discuss and network inside the forum in Croatian as well.
In Solidarity,
Mo.
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