The Struggle in Italy
Scoula per Tutti, Liberi Saperi per Tutti
By Katrina Yeaw
The protests that have rocked Italian universities over the past week
show no sign of ending. In fact, the movement against reforms proposed
by the Minister of Education, Letizia Moratti, to change the Italian
educational system and admissions process, blocked the beginning of
the academic year at many campuses and in some case resulted in the
first occupations of university buildings.
The demonstrations organized by the l’Unione degli Studenti, the Union
of the Students that is connected to Democratici di Sinistra; Studenti
di Sinistra, the Student Left that is associated with Rifondazione
Comunista and Rete Studenti, Student Network that has a legacy with
left squatter community centers, gaining the support of all the
student associations as well. The main protests have been centered in
Rome, but demonstrations have taken place in over 70 cities including
Milan, Palermo, Trieste, Florence and Naples. The organizers estimate
that as many as 250,000 students have participated in protests and
other action over the last several days. On Tuesday, symbolic
occupations began in the physics department in Rome and the
mathematics department in Florence. Then on Wednesday, 20,000
demonstrated in Palermo in piazza Indipendenza, 20,000 in Rome in
piazza della Republica and 10,000 in Milan against “the political
privatization of schools and of knowledge”.
Teachers have also played a prominent role in the revolt against the
government reforms. Nunzio Miraglia, the national coordinator of the
Association of University Teachers, exclaimed: “the protests of this
week are the best answer to a minister who says she has the good of
the university in mind… The university is under attack, finally
students discuss with us and they expect more from an institution and
that it be democratic.”
The government reforms will create eight liceo or secondary schools:
classic, scientific, language, artistic, human sciences, technical,
musical and economic. The professional institutes would then be
entrusted to the regions with four obligatory years and a fifth
optional one. The opposition to the reforms is rooted in the fact that
they will clearly divide whose who will attend liceo, the stepping
stone for entrance into the university system and whose who will go to
professional institutes. The continued mobilizations of students
across Italy are to make sure that that this does not become a
reality.
The demonstrators have opened a debate beyond the proposed reforms
that has begun to start a discussion about the function of the public
university and its future in Italy. In opposition to Moratti’s
proposed reforms, they are demanding: 1. The implementation of
obligatory scholarships until age 18. 2. Institution of a national
law stating the right to study and to total access to knowledge. 3.
Reform of the national and peripheral collegiate organs in order to
guarantee greater democracy and participation of the students in the
instruction.
However, in spite of mobilizations across the country, the
demonstrators still face an uphill battle. Even in the face of
national pressure expressed repeatedly by students and teachers,
Moratti continues to seem intent on going ahead with the government
reforms.
Katrina Yeaw is a member of Students Against War, a chapter of the
Campus Antiwar Network, at San Francisco State University. She is
currently studying in Florence and can be reached at
Katrina.yeaw@gmail.com