#1world1struggle Rally
attacked by Riot Police in Montreal

Hundreds took to the streets in Montreal as part of the Global Day of Action to Reclaim Education -- Direct Democracy NOW! on October 18.

According to activists on the ground 10 people were arrested and at least one suffered a serious eye injury caused by a rubber bullet. He is active for the Concordia University TV (CUTV).

mainstream news reports: lapresse.ca + journaldemontreal.com (incl. 2 videos)

credit: Michelle Moore

 
credit: @rushmew

credit: @rushmew

credit: Michelle Moore

credit: @rushmew

credit: @rushmew

credit: Michelle Moore

Banner Drops and Rally at the
National Taiwan Normal University

Activists involved in the student union as well as the Humanities Club at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) rallied in front of the main university building to hold speeches. Among other this statement was read out.
A highlight was the dropping of banners in nine different languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, Thai, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean) expressing their rejection to the increasing commercialisation and commodification of education. Also in Taiwan people struggle against symptoms of the currently dominating economic system within the education system, such as ever increasing tuition fees.

more details on the protest: ism-global.net

more details on the situation in Taiwan: ism-global.net

mainstream reports: qnews.com.tw + appledaily.com.tw + tw.news.yahoo.com

video in chinese

Rally against Student Debt in New Orleans

People involved in Occupy NOLA rallied in Marconi & City Park. Statements focussing on the increasing student debt many people suffer under. Also other issues, such as increasing tuition fees, budget cuts, outsourcing, school closures, and increased class sizes were pointed out.
One of the highlights was marked by the burning of student loan bills.

details on this action: onola.wordpress.com + ism-global.net

Sit-ins and Rallies across Morocco

In connection with the Global Day of Action to RECLAIM EDUCATION -- Direct Democracy NOW! people organised in a recently founded network called Union des étudiants pour le changement du système éducatif (uecse) called for a national day of action 'We want to study!' including rallies, sit-ins, film screenings and many other of activities in various cities.

Here are the first details coming in:

Sit-in in Casablanca

Freeze, Open-Mic, Free Books in Rabat:

Solidarity Statement from
We Are The University Auckland

We Are The University Auckland stand in solidarity with the International Student Movement and Student organisations around the world fighting for the emancipation of their education. We support the call for a global day of action on October 18th. Last week we held a street party to highlight the University of Auckland's goal of raising our fees again this year. They have done this each year for the past 10 years and our fees have doubled in this time and we now pay the 7th highest fees in the world.

We know only too well the effects that comercialisation of education has had on our studies. We have a massively expanded business school, yet funding is constantly being cut from the arts and humanities departments. Our student union has been attacked and relegated to a tokenistic advocacy service. Access to tertiary education is being restricted to those who have the ability to pay, negatively affecting women and minorities.

But we take inspiration from the Student Movements world wide who are fighting back against this neo-liberal tide. The almost daily reports of student groups staging protests, sit ins, marches, and occupations, give hope that resistance is not dead, and that we are not alone.

In the past year we have seen a resurgence in student activism in New Zealand, with successful occupations around the country and links being formed between different centres. We have seen street blockades, teach ins, education rallies including wider sectors of the education system with primary, secondary and teachers unions uniting. We may be small but we are fighting the same fight!

On Monday our university locked us out of a public meeting to set the fees for next year. The facade of democracy was revealed in the university bureaucracy as they hid away in their locked down bunker, as we occupied the administration building, terrified of the message we promoted. Austerity is full of shit!

We stand in solidarity with the International Student Movement and the international day of action on October 18th!

We Are The University!

sent on October 18

wearetheuniversity.org.nz - facebook.com/WearetheUniversityAkl - facebook.com/FightTheFeesNZ

Speak-out at the City University of New York

Students gathered inside the canteen of the City University of New York (CUNY) to speak out against increasing fees and for free education.

Last Thursday (18 Oct), the Humboldt State Students’ Union implemented a three-prong approach to create awareness about the privatization of the university, as well as to give the students a greater voice. 
The first prong involved heading out to the class rooms and informing students about discriminatory policies, and asking the students to answer the following three questions:
 

1. What is the biggest barrier to your education?
2. What do you want to see more of in your education?
3. What level of action are you willing to take to create a better education system for all?

 
Much of the awareness approach involved telling the students about the voting (although not by the students/faculty/staff) on the so-called “Graduation Incentives” for the California State University (CSU) system; they are as follows:
The Graduation Incentive Fee adds an extra $372 per-unit on students who take more than 150 units to complete their undergraduate degree.
The Course Repeat Fee adds $100 per unit to any courses that a student takes more than once.
The Third-Tier Tuition fee creates another tier of tuition fees by charging students an extra $200 per unit if they take more than 16 units in any term.
The agenda stated that no student would be charged more than one of these fees on the same course taken in a semester; however, the agenda did not clarify which of the three fees a student would have to pay if more than one fee applied.  Either way, it seems rather counter-intuitive to limit the number of units students can take if the goal of these incentives is graduation in a timelier manner. The policies are being voted on by the controlling body of the CSU system (Board of Trustees—most of whom are appointed by the state governor as opposed to voted in by the university community.  Many student activists around the world are calling for and participating in protests, strikes, and sit-ins to combat these types of policies; this information was also conveyed to as many students as possible in order to build solidarity through knowledge and empathy.  Many people in the CSU system are calling for a halt to the “Graduation Incentives” and for a committee to be formed that takes a more comprehensive approach to solving the budget issues; “shaking down” the students for money in three different ways still seems extremely one-dimensional.
The second piece of the approach acted as a support for the first; student voice boxes were placed all over campus and students were encouraged to answer the three aforementioned questions on a slip of paper and to drop it in one of the boxes.  Some people took the information back to their own classes, and made announcements and collected answers from fellow classmates.  The data shall be typed up and sorted; it shall be artistically displayed within a month's time for the university community's viewing and learning pleasure.
The third prong consisted of creating a party-style atmosphere in which people were comfortable enough to express themselves openly.  People spoke about positive and negatives aspects on the university system from their own perspectives, and others expressed their emotions and ideas through song.  Also, revolutionary music was played for continued inspiration and information.
            Overall, the students showed distaste for the policies of the regulatory boards and university administration.  It would be difficult not to be perturbed, it seems, when said policymakers are increasing your tuition up to double its current amount while simultaneously taking away much of your funding.  So only a certain group of people—those with the money to finance it—will be able to keep attending these universities?  That sounds awfully like a private university system masquerading as a public one, right?  RIGHT.