This Tuesday the 20th, students and teachers from the University of the Republic (Udelar) occupy the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences (FHCE) and the Faculty of Social Sciences (FCS).
The Humanities Intergremial, made up of the Association of Teachers of the University of the Republic (ADUR), the Federal Association of Officials of the University of the Republic (Affur) and the Federation of University Students of Uruguay (FEUU), is the one that advance the occupation in that faculty. In this way, there will be no classes this day at FHCEas confirmed by the president of ADUR, Héctor Cancela, to The Observer.
On the other hand, the official Instagram account of the Social Sciences Student Center (Cecso) reported on Monday night about the occupation at the FCS. This was also confirmed by the Secretary of Communication of the FEUU, Andrés Fernández, on the morning of this Tuesday in Double click (Of the sun).
Both Fernández and Cancela confirmed to The Observer that, in the case of Social Sciences, the occupation was called only by students; however, “this will be evaluated by the respective unions, since it is clear that the concern and platform are shared,” said the president of ADUR, who also confirmed that there are no classes at this institution.
In both cases, the students, teachers and civil servants demonstrate “in defense of the budget” of the UdelaR, “against the policy of cuts and salary lossfor better study and work conditions” and “in defense of the right to education”.
On the other hand, Fernández referred to the recent statements of the Secondary director, Jenifer Cherro, who maintained that the students “do not have the right to extend the strike” because they are not workers.
“The ANEP has nothing to say about the occupations of the Udelar […] The statements are an attempt to squeeze the students out of occupying and having discussions about the budget and do not resolve measures to make themselves heard”, said the Secretary of Communication of the student union.
In that sense, expressed the support of the FEUU to the students of the other systems of public education “who have shown that they don’t care if they are cutting the education budget”.
Likewise, when asked by the journalists of the radio program about whether the students consider that the occupation continues to be an effective protest measure, Fernández confirmed that “yes, historically it has been.”
“If there were dialogue and listening to the government, we would not have to reach” the occupation instanceassured.
“New and more drastic measures”
On the other hand, Cancela shared the resolution taken on Monday night in the Expanded Federal Council of ADUR.
Given the various consequences in terms of budget and teaching time that this Rendering of Accounts would entail for Udelar, teachers understand it is necessary to “adopt new and more drastic mobilization measures, which can change the budgetary exclusion policy towards Udelar,” according to with the document.
In this way, it was decided to deepen the conflict and the measures of struggle. Therefore, as of this September 20, they will be held, every day, scheduled and surprise stoppages in different university servicesasserted the teachers.
“General or partial strikes will alternate with occupations of faculties and mobilizations in the street. All stoppages will imply the suspension of both face-to-face activities and virtual classes“, indicates the statement.
Meanwhile, it was decided to convene an extraordinary Federal Council for next Monday, September 26 “in order to analyze the situation.” If there is no progress, a new deepening of the fighting measures will be evaluated in this instance, “including the possibility of declaration of a general strike for university teachers“.
There was already a strike of 24 at the level of the entire Udelar scheduled for this Wednesday 21, prior to this Extended Federal Council; Likewise, this Tuesday a partial strike (from 9:00 to 11:00) was confirmed at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism (FADU) for this Thursday.
It’s not the way
However, for the University Guild Current (CGU), declared their “absolute rejection” of the occupation in FCS; “We are convinced that it is a measure that only has the consequence of harming all the students who want to attend our university to carry out our activities normally,” they declared in a statement released on Tuesday night.
The students stand for “all rights and freedoms,” but are “emphatically” opposed to “overriding the legitimate right” to education and to enter university spaces.
In this way, they sympathized with the students of Social Sciences and stated that they hope “that it can be reviewed so that it does not extend into more services, in the understanding that it only aggravates access to education” of the Udelar.
Montevideo, September 20, 2022 pic.twitter.com/67rfXMPePq
— Central.CGU (@CentralCgu) September 21, 2022
(This note was made on Tuesday 20, but was updated on Wednesday 21 to include the CGU statement)
