From owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu Thu Dec 16 10:15:08 2004
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 13:13:03 -0600 (CST)
From: nytr@olm.blythe-systems.com
Subject: [NYTr] 15,000 Greek Students Take to the Streets
Article: 199240
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
http://www.kne.gr
More than 15,000 Green Students Take to the Streets of Athens
Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), 13 December 2004
Thousands of University and Technological Institutes' students from all around Greece responded to the call of all Greek Coordinator Council of the Students' Union and demonstrated in the centre of Athens.
The same time thousands of secondary students participated in the demonstration that was organized by the Coordinator Council of Athens'Secondary Schools.Teachers and workers of PAME (All Workers Militant Front) demonstrated in solidarity with them. The main target of the demonstration was to express youth movement's opposition against the new right wing government measures in education. These measures are the continuation of the social democrats' policy and are being taken with their consensus.
These measures aim to promote the Bologna's and Berlin's decisions in higher and secondary education. Some of them are the following: foundation of private universities, privatization of board and lodging of university students, degradation of studies' generalization of the 3 years of Bachelor undergraduate degrees (now in Greece are 4 or 5 years) and equalization with private colleges, the sponsorship of secondary schools by monopolies etc.
The massive participation express also young peoples' disaffection for all governments' continuous policy-not only in educational matters. This demonstration was a great slap for the pro-EU forces in the students' movement, for the supporters of the right wing government and the socialdemocrats, for the directors of the schools that made any possible effort to blockade students' participation in the demonstration. They announced that the demonstration was illegal, that it was organized only by the Communists. They tried to terrify young people, especially the secondary schools students.
After the demonstration, 3 massive assemblies of the Coordinator councils' of university students, technological institutes and secondary schools declared that this was only the first step and decided that they are going to continue the mobilizations after Christmas' holidays and to coordinate along with the workers' movement for their future actions.