All workers in educational institutions.
Submitted by x344543 on Thu, 03/08/2007 - 2:51pm
Fellow workers,
Glasgow University IWW Job Branch and the Save Crichton Campus campaign in Glasgow are calling another phone lobby on the success of last week’s event, which saw the University implement a telephone protocol for complaints about Crichton and lay on extra staff to deal with the volume of calls.
See: http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/crichton-struggle/
The campaign is starting to score victories against the decision. The Scottish Executive, previously immovable in claiming Crichton’s closure had nothing to do with them (an article in a Dumfries paper alleges they knew about the decision 8 months ago and gave the University the OK) is now pressurising Sir Muir Russell, principal of the university to meet with them to discuss the issue. The campaign is building momentum on campus with flyposting and creative publicity stunts and resistance is planned, however time is very short as the University has accelerated its attempts to shut the facility down in light of the media exposure. Pressure however is starting to tell.
Submitted by x344543 on Wed, 02/28/2007 - 3:38pm
Regional Organizing Committee
- Mail - PO Box 1158, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE99 4XL, England
- E-Mail - rocsec@iww.org.uk
Bread & Roses Editor
Fellow workers, Glasgow University IWW Job Branch workers have asked me to circulate this to the wider union. Hopefully some of you might be able to lend a hand here. Solidarity, Nick Durie, (Central Scotland Organiser, Clydeside GMB)
Glasgow University is proposing to close its campus at Crichton in Dumfries and Galloway. This campus has been really important in widening access to higher education, particularly amongst mature women. All its students have or are really enjoying the experience and feel really good about what it has done for them. There is overwhelming support from the local community and massive anger at the proposed closure. Crichton apparently has a deficit of £800,000 per year. However, Glasgow University had a surplus of £2 million this year and the principal, Sir Muir Russell, has just awarded himself a massive increase. Crichton was also not properly funded from the start and lacks some of the facilities that other campuses make money out of. Most important, universities should not be about money and making a profit. Universities should be about education and research, about opening up opportunities and changing lives. Crichton is doing this - opening up opportunities for people, changing their lives and being a focus and source of pride to the local community and hopes to continue to do so.
Submitted by x344543 on Sun, 01/14/2007 - 11:40pm
The Twin Cities Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is pleased to announce the Winter session of the WORK PEOPLES COLLEGE. The WORK PEOPLES COLLEGE continues the legacy of working-class education for emancipation carried out by the Duluth, MN IWW in the first part of the 20th Century.
The first Winter class offering is "Imagination and Social Liberation."
This class is dedicated the concept of the ‘imagination,’ which is increasingly used almost as a code-word for modern struggles for social justice and liberation. But what do we mean when we use the word? This class will examine the history of the word in philosophy and practice, from Greek and Muslim philosophers to contemporary social thinkers, and rely on the participation of the students to create a practice-based definition of the word, and justification for why we might (or might not) care about ‘liberating the imaginary.’
This class may be of interest especially to workers and students involved in such movements but lacking a philosophical background, or students of philosophy and psychology with an interest in such movements.
Submitted by x344543 on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 3:12pm
By Nacho, November 14, 2006 - Originally posted at chiapaspeacehouse.org
SEPTEMBER 26, 2006
Firefight at the Camino Real
Well, they had guns at least, and fired around 40 shots at us (a group of about 100, mostly Oaxacans) who had just taken, occupied, and searched a fancy hotel in central Oaxaca City. There may have been some shots from our side, but most of us -- unprepared for the news that the hated governor might actually be inside Oaxaca City, and inside this hotel -- had only thick sticks, expropriated police billy clubs, or just a little solidarity in our hearts.
The result: two wounded (on our side), several beaten (on our side), and two kidnapped (first quickly beaten, then shoved into cars). The battle took maybe 1 minute.
Submitted by x355621 on Wed, 10/25/2006 - 4:03am
Over forty people squeezed into a tiny room at this weekend's London Anarchist Bookfair to sow the seeds of a network of anti-authoritarian left education workers. Members of the IWW, Solidarity Federation and Anarchist Federation were all present, along with a large number of unattached workers and students from education institutions all over the UK.
The meeting discussed pressing issues in the education sector, including privatisation, job cuts, pay cuts and casualisation, and a productive debate ensued over how we can form a strong network to combat these problems in our individual workplaces and on regional and national levels. The answers were encouraging, alluding to principles and practices of democracy, industrial organising, direct action, militancy and disrespect for the business unions that the IWW has used for the last 101 years.
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