Nantes: Students vote to continue occupations

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April 4th, 2006 by jef costello

Updates on General Assembly votes on high school occupations in Nantes, France in opposition to the CPE.

Lycee Goussier-Perrin: occupation continues. The headteacher demanded that all students be present for the general assembly (AG) so that they could vote to return to lessons. 62% of just over 1,300 students voted to continue the blockade.

Lycee Livet: Of the school's 1,600 pupils, 600 attended an AG where the continuation of the blockade was voted for by 70% of students.

Lycee Viale: The AG failed to function correctly (we are short on details) the blockade was continued by default until tomorrow morning at 8am

Lycee Bourdonnieres: An Ag on monday with 1,120 students present voted to continue the blockade with 60% voting for and 37% against after a letter was sent by the headteacher telling students would resume on that day.

Lycee Carcouet: Out of 680 students 59% voted to continue the blockades until wednesday morning.

Lycee la Herdrie: A secret ballot was held. The continuation of the blockade was voted for by 60% of students, with 33% voting against.

Lycee Coliniere: Motion passed, out of 951 students, 696 voted to continue the blockade with 198 voting against.

News is still pending from other schools, Lycee Clemenceau has not issued the results of the AG yet, but the blockade was visibly still holding when other during the student action at the station.

Article translated for libcom.org from Nantes indymedia

Comments

Comandante Gringo April 5th,

On October 9th, 2006 Anonymous says:

Comandante Gringo
April 5th, 2006 | 6:42 am
It’s good to see the students standing firm in the face of official intimidation. The headmasters are one of the first real lines of defence of the state, in any serious student struggle which moves beyond the garden-variety weekend police baton-charge.

I wonder how many students who voted against continuing the blockades were actually only intimidated by the local authorities’ playing on their insecurities for the school year? The state must be trying to figure out more ways to scare students and their parents, by playing on fears of their losing their ‘place’ in society by foregoing getting their grades… But if the students hang tough and stick it out, and support for this mass strike action grows, I expect the votes in their AG to increase to more than 2/3, as more students lose their conditioned, unthinking fear of authority figures.

The longer the students hang tough — and get the workers to back them up — the more the state will have to fall back on serious repressive measures. And the more the mask of the bourgeois order will slip from the face of naked class oppression. But what other way to defeat this neoliberal assault on young workers’ futures? The neoliberal regime considers this struggle a matter of strategic concern, and that it must win at almost any cost (not quite ANY cost YET…) It had expected the working-class to be as divided now as it appeared to be in November 2005, and is in a panic at the sudden turn of events. And so now is not the time for this movement to lose steam — as the students and workers are winning this thing.

The state forces must be fearful of the students and workers losing