Student protests

There have been several European student strikes recently around the issue of privatizing education and the global economic crisis. I think it is extremely inspiring to see how organized these students are! On October 17th, 10,000 students at the University of Rome demanded that the academic year be postponed in order to protest against law 133. A law that will cause definitive privatization of Italian university, massive job cuts and huge cuts of public fundings for research and education. Then on October 22nd, 96% of high school and secondary students and 70% of university students of Spain protested against the governments "Bologna Plan," which would mean further elitisation of higher education, which in the case of Spain would be accompanied by the replacement of student grants (which very few students get anyway) with student loans. The students also brought up issues of capitalism and the global economic crisis which has affected Spain more than it has other countries.

We can definitely take a lesson of the power students can posses in movements. Obviously, the students in the U.S. are not nearly that organized, but I think it is something we can strive towards. And I think this is proof that students are capable of making an impact in the world and what kinds of issues they can talk about.



Strike in Rome
http://slash.autonomedia.org/node/11461









Spanish Student Strike
http://www.marxist.com/spain-thousands-of-students-respond-to-strike-call.htm