[News] Puerto Rico: Decisive moment 50 days into the Student Strike

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Puerto Rico: Decisive moment 50 days into the Student Strike

Posted By Firuzeh Shokooh Valle On 11 June 2010 @ 23:24 pm

Students of the state-run University of Puerto 
Rico (UPR) have sustained a student strike that 
enters its 50th day today. On this decisive day, 
the students' National Negotiating Committee has 
another round of negotiations with the UPR's 
administration. Students have transmitted their 
second message to the country via the website 
<http://www.upresunpais.com/>UPR es un País [1] 
[ES] in which they explain their proposals:


Students' message to the country on the 50th day of the strike.

Ten of the 11 campuses of the UPR -in which 
approximately 62,000 students are enrolled- have 
been paralyzed in protest against massive budget 
cuts and the elimination of fee waivers that 
would unfairly affect low-income students with 
federal grants and talented students (in 
academics, sports and arts). Students have been 
living inside the UPR's main campus in Río 
Piedras -with 22,000 students registered- which 
has become the focus of demonstrations, artistic 
performances, urban agriculture, and academic 
workshops. (Please see 
<http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/puerto-rico-student-strike-2010/>Global 
Voices' Special Coverage page [2]

<http://www.rojogallito.blogspot.com/>There have 
been a number of violent confrontations with 
police special forces [5] at the 
<http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/05/21/puerto-rico-violent-confrontations-against-demonstrators/>Hotel 
Sheraton [6] [En], the Río Piedras and Aguadilla 
campuses, and outside the UPR's central 
administration. Students and parents have been 
beaten and arrested. The pro-statehood Governor 
Luis Fortuño imposed a “mediator” to intervene in 
the conflict, the Episcopalian Minister David 
Alvarez, 
<http://www.claridadpuertorico.com/content.html?news=E3DFECCA304856266F1FA71D4802E7A5>who 
was rejected by the students [7] [ES]. The 
student strike has catalyzed a national civil 
society movement that has supported them 
throughout these 50 days. Students have also 
creatively used online media and Internet-based 
radio to speak for themselves (please see 
<http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/puerto-rico-student-strike-2010/>Global 
Voices' compilation of online citizen media resources ). [8]

The students' National Negotiating Committee has 
been negotiating with the UPR administration. 
They have made important advances: the UPR's 
Board of Trustees changed the language of the 
Certification 98 regarding the fee waivers so 
that students will not be penalized. 
<http://rojogallito.blogspot.com/2010/06/presentaran-contrapropuesta.html>Two 
fundamental issues remain on the table [9] [ES]: 
the elimination of the recent UPR's proposal of 
imposing a special fee of $1,100 per semester in 
addition to the registration costs, and the 
guarantee that the administration will not incur 
any disciplinary actions against the students who 
have participated in the strike.

In the meantime, an interesting and passionate 
debate is taking place online. Historian and UPR 
professor 
<http://www.laacera.com/posts/illustrious-guest/2010/06/la-estrategia-del-cierre-de-la-universidad-por-carlos-pabon>Carlos 
Pabón questions the strategic usefulness of 
continuing the strike [10] [ES] and of closing the campus:

Lo que viene en término de políticas hacia la 
Universidad es mucho más que lo está en juego en 
los reclamos de la huelga. Los estudiantes en 
huelga deberían consolidar y certificar lo que 
han logrado hasta ahora (que son algunas de sus 
demandas principales), proclamar un triunfo y 
levantar la huelga, dando paso a que se abra la 
Universidad. De lo contrario, se corren el riesgo 
de quedar entrampados en la estrategia del 
gobierno, que es quién apuesta al cierre de la 
Universidad y en este escenario lo que nos espera 
será nefasto (ya ayer se anunciaron algunas 
medidas de recortes presupuestarios y reducciones 
salariales que tendrán efectos drásticos sobre 
los distintos componentes de la Universidad). 
Cada día que pasa este escenario se hace más 
probable, pues el tiempo y el cierre favorecen al 
gobierno y a la alta administración universitaria.

The upcoming policies that will be applied to the 
University are much more than what's at stake in 
the strike's claims. The striking students should 
consolidate and confirm what they have 
accomplished up to this point (which are some of 
their principal demands), declare victory and end 
the strike, thus paving the way for the opening 
of the University. If they fail to do so, they 
risk being entrapped by the government's 
strategy, who's betting on the closure of the 
University, and within this scenario what awaits 
us is dreadful (yesterday they announced some 
budget cutting measures and salary reductions 
that will have drastic effects on diverse 
components of the University). With every day 
that passes, this scenario becomes a more 
probable one, since time and the closure favor 
the government and the University's top administrators.

In the comment section of Pabón's post in 
<http://www.laacera.com/>La Acera  [11] [ES and 
EN], graduate History student, activist and 
blogger 
<http://multitudenredada.blogspot.com/>Iván 
Chaar-López  [12] [ES] 
<http://www.laacera.com/posts/illustrious-guest/2010/06/la-estrategia-del-cierre-de-la-universidad-por-carlos-pabon#comment-2364>argues 
that students have unveiled the administration's 
project and urges professors to make proposals  [13] [ES]:

Si bien puede ser cierto que la huelga viabiliza 
el proyecto destructivo de la administración 
universitaria y el gobierno, también es cierto 
que la huelga ha desenmascarado el programa. En 
ese sentido, la huelga ha viabilizado la 
articulación de resistencias en cada sector 
comunitario de la Universidad. Los profesores no 
se habían expresado ni habían producido documento 
alguno sobre la anti-democracia y la implosión 
del proyecto universitario hasta que los 
estudiantes rompimos con el ritmo monótono del 
curso lectivo. Desde esta perspectiva, la huelga 
ha abierto camino para reflexionar y pensar la 
Universidad desde otras coordenadas.

It may be true that the strike has facilitated 
the destructive project of the university's 
administration and the government. But it is also 
true that the strike has unmasked this program. 
In this sense, the strike has facilitated the 
formation of manifestations of resistance in 
every community sector of the University. The 
professors had not expressed themselves, nor had 
they produced any documents on the 
anti-democratic movements and the destruction of 
the university project until the students broke 
the monotony of classes. From this perspective, 
the strike has opened a pathway to reflect and 
think about the University from different coordinates.


<http://promesapolitica.blogspot.com/>Law 
student, activist and blogger Mariana 
Iriarte  [15] [ES] questions the effectivity of 
prolonging the strike and proposes the 
formulation of new strategies to strengthen the student movement:

Las negociaciones finalmente comenzaron, sin 
embargo, nunca parecen haber estado destinadas a 
la reapertura de la Universidad. Por un lado, la 
administración se sienta con el Comité Negociador 
mientras que por el otro desarrolla campañas 
publicitarias, anuncia la imposición de una cuota 
especial ridículamente alta y empiezan a llover 
en el Capitolio proyectos de ley destinados a 
enmendar la ley de la Universidad. Ante este 
escenario, es preciso que empecemos a reflexionar 
en qué momento comenzamos a permitir que fuera la 
administración quien dictara cómo y cuándo íbamos 
a desarrollar nuestra huelga. Que nos preguntemos 
si la dilación de los procesos no está, 
maliciosamente, destinada a mantenernos en una 
huelga que parece no tener fin. Que pensemos si 
no estamos dando vueltas como el perro que 
intenta, infructuosamente, de morderse la cola.

The negotiations finally started, but they never 
seemed to be destined to open the University. On 
one side, the administration was talking with the 
Negotiating Committee. But, on the other side, 
they developed ad campaigns in the media, 
announced the imposition of a ridiculously high 
special fee, and law projects destined to amend 
the University Law started to fly in the 
Legislature. In this scenario, it is fundamental 
that we start to reflect on the moment that we 
started to let the administration dictate when 
and how we were going to conduct our strike. We 
have to ask ourselves if the dilation of the 
processes is not maliciously destined to keep us 
on a strike that seems to have no end in sight. 
It is time we start to think if we are running 
around like the dog that unsuccessfully tries to bite his own tail.

<http://poderyambiente.blogspot.com/>UPR Law 
professor and blogger Erika Fontánez  [16] [ES] 
has also weighed in on the debate:

Lo cierto es que la gesta de más de 50 días de 
los y las estudiantes del sistema universitario 
ha visibilizado estos temas, los ha traído al 
debate público, los ha presentado al país. Cierto 
que habría que decir que el debate público ha 
recogido esto en un nivel todavía muy 
insuficiente en cuanto a los términos 
estructurales que se requiere, pero ciertamente, 
como mínimo, es claro que este proceso huelgario 
ha permitido, al menos, rasgar de las paredes de 
la indiferencia, poner en escena el tema 
universitario y el riesgo en que se encuentra la 
posibilidad de la Universidad pública, de 
excelencia y accesible. Para comenzar, como 
mínimo, nos ha hecho ver las caras, incluso, a 
sectores universitarios que dentro de la 
‘normalidad’ universitaria de la UPR (no de otra 
Universidad posible), difícilmente coincidimos. 
Ese ‘saldo’ tendremos que seguir analizándolo por 
mucho tiempo, en la contingencia de su día a día, 
dentro del proceso y tiempo después de éste.

What's true is that the feat of more than 50 days 
of the students from the university system has 
made these themes visible, has brought them to 
the public debate, it has presented them to the 
country. True, we have to say that the public 
debate has picked this up at a level that is very 
insufficient with regards to the structural 
issues that are essential, but certainly, at a 
minimum, it's clear that this strike has 
permitted, at least, a clawing of the walls of 
indifference, placed the university system in the 
scene as well as the risk that the possibility of 
a public University, of excellence and 
accessible, faces. To begin with, at a minimum, 
it has made us see the faces of university 
sectors that within the “normalcy” of the UPR 
(not of another possible University) do not 
coincide. We will need to continue analyzing that 
“remnant” for a long time, in the day to day 
juncture, within the current process and for some time after.

----------
Article printed from Global Voices in English: http://globalvoicesonline.org

URL to article: 
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/06/11/puerto-rico-decisive-moment-50-days-into-the-student-strike/

URLs in this post:

[1] UPR es un País: http://www.upresunpais.com/

[2] Global Voices' Special Coverage page: 
http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/puerto-rico-student-strike-2010/

[5] There have been a number of violent 
confrontations with police special forces: http://www.rojogallito.blogspot.com/

[6] Hotel Sheraton: 
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/05/21/puerto-rico-violent-confrontations-against-demonstrators/

[7] who was rejected by the students: 
http://www.claridadpuertorico.com/content.html?news=E3DFECCA304856266F1FA71D4802E7A5

[8] Image: http://globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/paz_UPR.jpg

[9] Two fundamental issues remain on the table: 
http://rojogallito.blogspot.com/2010/06/presentaran-contrapropuesta.html

[10] Carlos Pabón questions the strategic 
usefulness of continuing the strike: 
http://www.laacera.com/posts/illustrious-guest/2010/06/la-estrategia-del-cierre-de-la-universidad-por-carlos-pabon

[11] La Acera: http://www.laacera.com/

[12] Iván Chaar-López: http://multitudenredada.blogspot.com/

[13] argues that students have unveiled the 
administration's project and urges professors to 
make proposals: 
http://www.laacera.com/posts/illustrious-guest/2010/06/la-estrategia-del-cierre-de-la-universidad-por-carlos-pabon#comment-2364

[15] Law student, activist and blogger Mariana 
Iriarte: http://promesapolitica.blogspot.com/

[16] UPR Law professor and blogger Erika 
Fontánez: http://poderyambiente.blogspot.com/

Click 
<http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/06/11/puerto-rico-decisive-moment-50-days-into-the-student-strike/print/#Print>here 
to print.

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution, 2008 
Global Voices Online. See attribution policy for 
details: http://globalvoicesonline.org/about/global-voices-attribution-policy




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20100611/7191fadc/attachment.htm>