Interlinked Struggles

Interlinked Struggles: University Protests in Athens, Budapest and Munich

April 20th, 2021, 7 pm
English

ZOOM link:
Topic: University Protests in Athens, Budapest and Munich
Time: April 20, 2021 7 pm, Vienna

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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85088942489?pwd=SmU2aE1SZXBtOHYxZnlrUTJpVnRFUT09
Meeting ID: 850 8894 2489
Passcode: iEf4zx

In our last discussion in this event series, we brought together positions from the current university struggle against the new universities law in Austria (with participants from AK non-EU Students / bildung brennt) as well as participants from the university struggle from ca. ten years ago in Austria. In an attempt to share experiences, we highlighted some of the similarities and differences as well as the successes and failures of each movement in order to learn from each other and strengthen current actions. One recurring subject was how communication with people involved in similar struggles in other localities was a key element for strengthening struggles in the older protest wave. This translocal exchange was tremendously important for, on the one hand, seeing how similar neoliberalizing reforms had been implemented in more advanced stages in other localities, and, on the other hand, for learning from the successes and failures of other struggles in order to apply those practices locally.

Therefore, in this next event, we want to focus on exactly this practice in a discussion with activists from current university struggles in Athens, Budapest and Munich. Around a decade ago, one key similarity in university transformations was the role of the global financial crisis and the austerity measures imposed in formerly public sectors as a reaction of the failing welfare state. A decade later we see the reverberations of these processes in parallel to other political shifts. Therefore, the commonalities and singularities of these different struggles will be a central focus of this discussion, where we will also attempt to build a toolbox for continuing struggles. We will thus approach, among others, the questions of how to organize political actions during a pandemic, which forms of differential treatment/discrimination exist in the local contexts, and how we can most effectively communicate our experiences throughout translocal networks for future actions.

Participants:
Aliki Angelidou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens
Judit Gárdos, Hungarian Academy Staff Forum (board member)
Eduard Meusel, Spokesperson of the Initiative Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften and the GEW Bayern
Moderation: Lina Dokuzovic (eipcp / transversal texts)

A cooperation between eipcp (https://transversal.at) and ÖH Akbild (https://www.oehakbild.info)

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Interlinked Struggles: University Protests in Austria, 2009 and Today

March 23rd, 2021, 7 pm
Deutsch/English mixed language

ZOOM LINK
Topic: Interlinked Struggles: University Protests in Austria, 2009 and Today
Time: Mar 23rd, 2021, 7 pm, Vienna

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88519147554?pwd=MXgrMDUvT2JIYi9xNkU0dTFIb0R5Zz09

Meeting ID: 885 1914 7554
Passcode: NqNT4j

With the recent introduction of the new UG Novelle in Austria, we see another round of reforms that radically reduce the rights and access of students and teachers as well as the democratic structures within the university. While there are currently numerous lawsuits around the intrusion of these reforms on the principle of autonomy of Austrian universities, large nationwide protests have also ensued, making it clear that there is a necessity to communicate calls to action to more people. However, many students today are unaware of exactly what all this means, how things functioned before these changes, and which rights they can even fight for today. Therefore, there is a strong need to look back to historical knowledges and struggles to fill in these gaps.

This discussion will thus bring together individuals from two generations of university struggles in order to discuss their similarities and differences, continuities, experiences and challenges, successes and failures, forms of communication, and methods of organizing. It will also focus on how inclusivity was approached both within the movements as well as including people from other struggles and how to archive and share these experiences for fighting the neoliberalization of the university and of education.

Participants: Petja Dimitrova and Lina Dokuzovic (uni brennt protests 2009/10) as well as two individuals active in the current university protests from AK Non-EU Students (Bildung brennt).

Moderation: Ruth Sonderegger and Niki Kubaczek (eipcp / transversal texts)

A cooperation between Bildung brennt (https://bildung-brennt.at/) and eipcp (https://transversal.at)