LRU

The march began at the PRG campus (Paris VII) on the South side of the Seine, the march then made its way past the gare d'Austerlitz and finally ended at the place de la Bastille where Police blocked off the exits.

In Grenoble today students of the IEPG (Institute of political studies) were setting up the blockade they had voted for. The director of the IEPG, Olivier Ihl, threatened to set dogs on them, although the dogs were reluctant.

The first motion was that strike committees and coordination with workers and other students were the favoured step and were necessary to win. It refused all attempts to negotiate before the law is withdrawn. and denounced the UNEF for trying to do so.
This was passed by such a massive majority that there was no count.

Results

The meeting eventually voted on the following proposals:

For the meeting to go to the President's office and deliver a statement condemning the intervention of police on campus and the LRU law. Voted for unanimously

For the word abrogation (annulment) to be replaced with suspension (with regard to the LRU law). 7 for, 1 abstention, 3 non-votes and the rest against.

On Monday the government announced a 50% increase in university budgets over the next five years and also vowed to spend 11M on student housing.

Tomorrow many of France's teachers will go on strike as part of a wider civil service action. Some universities have seen staff vote on further solidarity action with students.

Today will be a return to struggle, or in some cases a beginning. The first blockade of Paris VIII began today at 7am. Many universities will be holding AGs this week to decide whether to continue the movement, which up until now has continued to grow.

There were votes for strike action today at Bourgogne, Amiens and Lille II universities. Filtered barrages were voted for at Paris XII, Orleans and Chambery.

The government is now admitting that 32 universities are 'affected by student action' although this is actually closer to the total that are blockaded, with a further 20 universities affected by some action.

The day began badly with the university authorities calling the police. Around 100 Gendarmes were used to break the blockade, tear gas and batons were used on the picketers. There were no arrests, the police satisfying themselves with hitting a few people, although there do not appear to have been any serious injuries.

Many of France's 84 universities are now on strike and blockaded, Rouen, Nantes,Tours, Tolbiac (Paris 1), La Sorbonne Clignancourt, Lille I et III, Rennes II, Toulouse, Perpignan, Caen (Lettres et Sciences), Nanterre, Montpellier I, II and II, Pau, Aix, Lyon II, Metz, Limoges, Nancy and Paris VIII. Some universities have strikes with no blockades, Le Havre, and Toulouse Rangeuil.

This update is not comprehensive but it has most of the available information, additionally some universities are still on holiday and therefore no action can take place.

Aix-en-Provence, the AG at the litterature campus, held yesterday, voted to continue the strike and the blockade until the next AG on Tuesday (465 for, 250 against) (09/11/07)

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NANTERRE VOTES TO STRIKE

The General Assembly (AG) at Nanterre on Thursday 8th of November broguht together over 1000 students, teachers and staff of the university. More and more universities are joining the strike.

A large majority at the AG voted for the repeal of the law on autonomy for universities and for the blockade of the university until Monday.

Yesterday a general assembly (Assemblée générale, or AG) was held at Nanterre, at the beginning around 1200 students were present, numbers dropped as the meeting took two hours but the final vote was over 600 in favour, 199 against and around 100 abstentions. Students voted to begin a strike and a blockade and also to occupy the buildings.

In the last two weeks 48 general assemblies have been held in French universities, 33 of which had more than 100 students and 7 more than 500. The main focus of the students' anger is the Pécresse law (on 'autonomy') which is seen as the first step towards privatisation of universities.*

Resist, go to the AG!

The mobilisation has begun.

The General Assembly held on Tuesday 16th of October at Nanterre, attended by over 300 students, teachers and administrative staff, came out in favour of the withdrawal of the loi Pécresse. [This new law gives 'autonomy' to universities in terms of budgets and is supposed to create a university system better to suited to the job market]

We have adopted the following platform: