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Monthly Archives: August 2011

At least 87 departments under student occupation across Greece, with the number increasing by the hour

At least 87 departments across the country are now under student occupation – General Assemblies are happening all of this and next week and it is very likely that the number will increase dramatically. There seems to be a completely unprecedented agreement between students across almost the entire political spectrum for mobilisations against the voted [...]

At least 45 university departments occupied by their students in Greece, gearing up for another winter of discontent

Only days after the new education bill was voted into law, bringing sweeping changes to Greece’s higher education system (immense funding cuts, abolition of the academic asylum etc), students on the ground have been organising their response. So far, more than 45 university departments have been occupied by their students, following General Assemblies in each [...]

Students target the house of University of Athens vice-chancellor for selling-out the academic asylum; departmental general assemblies across the country, as the student movement gears up for a warm winter

On the evening of Friday August 26th, a small demonstration of 50-60 anarchist students took place in the neighbourhood of Goudi, Athens, where the university’s vice-chancellor Pelegrinis resides. The demonstration came in response to Pelegrinis’ approval of the police operation to evacuate the squat Conteiner at the Zografou campus, only hours after the Parliament had [...]

Update on the bail money raised for the June 28-29 arrestees in Athens

In early July, we posted a call for donations toward the bail of demonstrators arrested at the June 28-29 General Strike in Athens. In less than a week 1,000 euros were donated by people in solidarity across the world. By that time, the amount required for all but one of the demonstrators had already been [...]

In academic asylum my whole life.

I was born in the year 1982. The year when the first CD player came out, when TIME magazine would name the computer as its “man of the year” and here in Greece, the year when Academic Asylum came into law. It is strange to think how seemingly inane objects and conventions shape so much [...]

Greek parliament votes in education reform bill that abolishes academic asylum and free course readers and brings sweeping changes to university administration: first reactions from the ground

On August 24th, the Greek parliament voted in the education reform bill submitted by education minister Anna Diamantopoulou, which included some of the most sweeping changes the country’s educational system has seen in living memory. The law introduces a UK-style administration of universities, with external individuals and non-academics taking part in the running of institutions [...]

Eyes Wide Open in London

Smiling faces, some beneath scarves and balaclavas. This is Hackney, London. Or this was Hackney last night. It is somewhere else tonight and somewhere else again in just a couple of hours. The smiles are because the streets have been taken and nobody is afraid of the police anymore. Some people say the burning of [...]