Student protests end in violence (50000 in Italy)

[struggle4progress]

Protests have broken out in several Italian cities against the government’s university reform package, being voted on in the chamber of deputies on Tuesday. In Rome it is estimated that over 50,000 students and professors took to the streets between the central railway station and Piazza Navona, and violent scuffles broke out between police and students close to the parliament buildings in the centre of the city. Protests have also taken place in Genoa, Bologna and Milan.

Students and professors have staged sit-ins at universities throughout Italy in recent weeks in protest against the reform that threatens the independence of the universities and will set national standards for the appointments of professors and researchers.

http://www.wantedinrome.com/news/news.php?id_n=1100


Italian police seal off part of central Rome because of student protest

15:23 2005-10-25
Italian police sealed off part of central Rome Tuesday as several thousand high school and university students marched in the capital to protest a university reform by Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Among the areas being cordoned off was one that included Berlusconi's private residence in central Rome. The area was patrolled by police and helicopters.

The protest took place as the lower house of parliament took up the university reform bill, pushed by Education Minister Letizia Moratti.

The measure received approval at the Senate last month, the AP reports

http://newsfromrussia.com/society/2005/10/25/66118.html


University: Moratti invites students; the answer is no

(AGI) - Rome, October 25th - To the mass student protest taking place in Piazza Montecitorio, Minister Moratti sent a "peace message": undersecretary Valentina Aprea, spoke to the teenagers informing them that the minister is available to meet a delegation of university students that have occupied the universities. The reply, however, was negative. " The minister should put an end to her parliamentary duties", was the overwhelming reply of the students whom articulated the fact that there exists no authorised delegation to speak on behalf of all.

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200510251720-1178-RT1-CRO-0-NF82&page=0&id=agionline-eng.italyonline


Universities: Centre-left MPs join protesters

(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Oct 25 - Members of the Lower House are supporting student protesters with tokens of solidarity, by lowering bottles of water on a string into the crowd. Communist Party Secretary Oliviero Diliberto, DS party MP Walter Tocci and Green party MP Paolo Cento dei Verdi at one stage joined the crowds. "Alleanza Nazionale - says Cento - has made things worse by defying a peaceful protest. It's an extraordinary event with some 100 thousand persons invading Rome. We are facing a new political movement which should lead Minister Moratti to stop the reform in its tracks", says COBAS union leader Piero Bernocchi. MPs Alba Sasso, Pietro Folena, Titti De Simone and Fiorello Cortianasono all took part in raising the cortege's banner which reads: "Stop cultural genocide. Stop the Moratti counter-reform". (AGI).

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200510251724-1183-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia


Education: Universities to strike against Moratti reform

AGI) - Rome, Italy, Oct 24 - "The country continues to protest against Moratti and her so-called reforms. Universities are to strike tomorrow, but in fact not a day has gone by without protests from within one or other level of public education <...>. Moratti is just like Berlusconi when it comes to subjecting parliament to confidence motions. So much so that the Moratti reform could be rightfully claimed as being the brainchild of one person only", according to RFC communist party Secretary Fausto Bertinotti. "The reform - he added - does little to tackle public universities' problems; if anything it makes them worse. That is the cause of such overriding dissent. We are faced with a poor piece of legislation whose sole purpose is to sell the idea of a minister's technocratic efficiency. It is causing untold damage to public education". (AGI)

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200510241536-1135-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia

[bobbieinok]

1. could you provide some background for the planned reforms

and why the students and professors are so opposed???

[struggle4progress]

2. The Student Struggle in Italy

... 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 ...

http://www.counterpunch.org/yeaw10142005.html

[bobbieinok]

3. thanks