23 days ago, when Austrian students occupied the the biggest lecture hall of the University of Vienna (the Audimax), we were told we wouldn’t make the first weekend.
Guess what. We are still here. And we are not alone.
Plenum at the occupied Audimax, University of Vienna
In Austria students have occupied lecture halls of the Technical University of Vienna, the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, the Technical University in Graz, the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz, the University for Art and Industrial Design in Linz, the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, the University of Salzburg, the University of Innsbruck and the Alpen-Adria-University in Klagenfurt.
The protest also spread into Germany where students occupied lecture halls in over 30 Universities, including Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Mainz, Hamburg, Hildesheim and Würzburg. Lecture halls in Münster, Bielefeld, Marburg, Darmstadt and Tübingen have already been cleared by the German police.
Students of the University of Basel (Switzerland), the London College of Communication and the University in Lublin (Poland) also joined into the protests.
Declarations of solidarity came from all sorts of people and organisations in Austria, Germany, France, Serbia, Moldova, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, and Denmark and even from as far as the United States, Argentina and Nicaragua.
On the wrong side of the microphone, press room, Audimax
For more than three weeks I spent almost every second I could working for the Workgroup Press Relations of the Audimax-occupants. Not always easy next to studying (yes, we all still have to study) and working and after being hit by some nasty virus (no, not the swine flu). I haven’t seen family and friends a lot lately (except for worried calls after a zombie-like appearance on national television), but it’s definitely worth it. The cause is great and the people fighting for it even better. The experiences we all make and the things we learn every day will help us long after all of this is over.
But it’s not.
Demands in English: http://unsereuni.at/?p=383&lang=en
Online-Petition: http://unsereuni.at/?page_id=4149&lang=en
Map of occupied Universities: http://zurpolitik.com/2009/11/10/unsere-unis-eine-karte/
Information about protests in Austria
http://www.unsereuni.at
http://www.facebook.com/unsereuni
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=163329887062
http://twitter.com/unibrennt
http://flickr.com/unibrennt
Press contact: presse.uniwien@unsereuni.at
Information about protests in Germany
http://www.unsereunis.de
http://www.bildungsstreik.de
