A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #372 - Unionism - Racist and Austerity Budgets: Reigniting the (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation] Struggle in Universities

On Monday, April 20, the Minister of Higher Education announced his 
intention to impose tuition fees of several thousand euros on non-EU 
students, meaning those of non-European origin. This racist measure is 
not new: faced with the planned dismantling of the public university 
system, university presidents have been searching for money everywhere 
for years to reduce their deficits by targeting the most vulnerable 
students. An example can be found at Paris 1 University.

Even before the Minister's announcements, the administration of Paris 1 
University had already decided to serve as a stepping stone for the far 
right by imposing a racist and austerity budget. To finance her 
EUR300,000 private staircase and her new campus bristling with cameras, 
she instituted national preference and increased tuition fees 
fifteenfold for first-time university students from outside the EU. She 
also chose to charge tuition fees to the precarious teaching staff who 
teach there: reducing salaries is no longer enough; now they have to pay 
to work!

Faced with this shameful budget, all institutional avenues were 
explored. Despite the clear opposition of the vast majority of 
university staff, students, and the main unions, the administration 
refused any dialogue. It even went so far as to call the police into the 
university to intimidate a general assembly being held outside its windows.

An exemplary but insufficient struggle. Fortunately, things didn't end 
there. Those targeted by these measures took the initiative to organize 
the struggle themselves. Precarious teachers, for example, built a 
massive grassroots strike movement to withhold exam grades. Students 
also organized general assemblies and public awareness campaigns.

Coordination was also established between all the movements to ensure 
the burden of the strike did not fall on administrative staff. These are 
often lower-paid women who are more susceptible to harassment and 
pressure from their superiors. Unions, notably Sud Éducation and CGT 
Doctorantes, also supported the struggle and facilitated its 
self-organization: booking meeting rooms, organizing office visits to 
discuss the issues with colleagues, and so on.

Unfortunately, the movement resulted in only a partial victory, leading 
to minor modifications to the measure. The authoritarianism of the 
university administration and the fatigue of a movement that lasted 
several months help explain this, but they are not the only reasons. The 
weakness of the student movement, weakened by the collapse of student 
organizations, as well as the lack of support from tenured professors, 
prevented the movement led by precarious workers from gaining momentum. 
These workers were also victims of individual pressure and job 
blackmail. Finally, strategic tensions between the most radical and 
those who preferred to conserve their energy for a future struggle 
complicated the last general assemblies.

Once again, the absence of a national movement and the proxy strike by 
the "left-wing" bourgeoisie forced the most precarious workers to bear 
the brunt of this hard-line movement alone. A glimmer of hope: the 
unions have strengthened, and a new generation of activists has emerged. 
Will they be the ones to build the next struggles?

Hugo (UCL Paris Nord Est)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Budgets-racistes-et-austeritaires-Relancer-la-lutte-dans-les-facs
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