WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, OCL CA #350 - (Small) Movements in Universities (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

 There have been stirrings of a national movement in universities since

January, but without this leading to a real mobilization capable of
forcing the government to back down. We return to this period with a
focus on the University of Brest, where I am an activist. For a more
comprehensive view of what is happening in universities and to
understand the reasons for the weak mobilization, particularly among
staff, see "French Universities in the Age of Neoliberalism" (CA No. 344).
Reasons for Anger
Staff and students have good reasons to challenge current government
policy. The first is the chronic underfunding of universities. 80% of
universities are currently in deficit, and the budget allocated to
Higher Education and Research (ESR) for 2025 is being cut by more than
€1 billion. As a result, universities are taking austerity measures:
closing courses, reducing the number of students accepted (who will have
to turn to the private sector), not replacing tenured professors,
increasing tuition fees for foreign students, etc. If a university
refuses to self-implement an austerity plan, it is placed under the
supervision of the rectorate, which will then abruptly implement a
"balance-return plan" (layoffs of contract staff, compulsory closure of
courses, blocking of investments, etc.). A second reason for this anger
was the return of evaluations for certain universities by the HCERES
(High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education). This
year, for clearly political reasons, the evaluations were very poor,
allowing the closure of courses deemed insufficiently "excellent" to be
justified in the future. A third issue concerns the attacks in the USA
on the world of research, which echo those undertaken in France (the
so-called "Islamo-leftism" of the teachings of F. Vidal, Minister of the
ERS a few years ago, etc.).

In short, there were many reasons to protest, and thus challenges
emerged, but their objectives were both disparate and unsynchronized,
preventing a truly general mobilization. We will return later to the
movement against budgetary austerity that ran from January to early
April. This movement failed to connect with the protest against the
HCERES evaluations. The latter only concerned certain universities, and
while it was obvious to many that this attack was linked to the broader
political agenda: destroying public universities, the protests
surrounding the HCERES evaluations nevertheless did not seek to join the
movement against budgetary austerity. Furthermore, a movement called
"Stand Up for Science" emerged around support for American researchers.
It was built around specific events relayed by the entire hierarchy of
higher education and research (CNRS management, university presidents,
etc.). It sometimes brought together large numbers of staff (compared to
usual mobilizations) but remained firmly anchored within the limits of
symbolism: rallies with collective photographs. The most interesting
movement was the one that attempted to mobilize against budgetary
austerity. It led to occasional occupations of certain universities
(Rennes 2, Brest, Poitiers, Bordeaux, etc.) but failed to become a truly
national movement. Except in a few universities and on very occasional
occasions, it failed to attract a truly significant number of students
and staff. Movement against budgetary austerity in Brest
We will focus on the University of Brest, which was one of the
universities mobilized and which experienced the same dynamic as the
other mobilized universities. The movement was punctuated by general
assemblies that ranged from 150 to 350 people… out of 20,000 students
and 2,500 staff. The only truly mobilized location was the Faculty of
Arts and Humanities, known as Segalen. To strengthen the mobilization at
Segalen and extend it to other (geographically distant) parts of the
university, the core group (students) distributed a large number of
leaflets, made posters, and so on. Demonstrations and actions were
organized, but almost always only brought together an active minority.
The question of occupying the university to stop classes and free the
students therefore arose, and at a general meeting, the occupation of
Segalen starting the next day was voted on. The presidency immediately
organized the administrative closure of this faculty, prohibiting any
occupation. It was therefore a partial failure: classes were canceled,
but there was no longer a place to meet and organize.

Surprisingly, the mobilization at that time appeared to echo the
mobilization of the university president. Indeed, the president of the
University of Brest (an academic and also a failed local politician
close to Macronism) boasted in the media and to staff about waging a
"tough fight" with "some successes" (in reality, a few tiny crumbs)
against the government. An example of this radicalism: the suspension of
all professional activities one day in December for... 29 minutes
(Finistère = 29). Using this conjunction as an excuse, the student
mobilization asked the president to give them the means to mobilize:
production of leaflets, access to emails (unlike staff organizations,
student organizations do not have access to all students' emails), etc.
The president agreed, but made it conditional on Segalen not being
occupied. The February vacation temporarily halted the movement.

Brest, February 6, 2025
After the vacation, the mobilization resumed. A general meeting of 350
people decided to hold a picket line and organize class walkouts for the
following day, still at Segalen. While the picket line numbered around
twenty (a number that reflects the true weakness of the movement), no
real walkout was organized because almost all the teachers had canceled
their classes (some out of solidarity with the movement, but many others
as a precaution). This therefore appeared to be a failure, particularly
because the demonstration planned and voted for by 300 people at the
general meeting only attracted 80. The following general meeting
therefore decided to resume an occupation of Segalen, but to immediately
implement it to avoid administrative closure. The occupation, with
around fifty students at night, lasted three days before the police
intervention ordered by the university president—the police can only
intervene on university grounds at the request of the university
president. A few graffiti attacks were used as pretexts to describe
"unprecedented damage" in the media, relayed by the entire chain of
command within the university. This evacuation weakened the movement.

Subsequently, a few general meetings of between 200 and 300 people were
still organized. The attempt to block the university board meeting
failed because it was relocated. Attempts to extend the movement to the
Faculty of Science yielded little results. Only Thursday, March 20th,
seemed truly successful, but without follow-up. That day, the presidency
announced that it would ban classes for a day of mobilization, as it was
forced to put its supposedly offensive rhetoric into practice. The
General Assembly organized a demonstration attended by 500 people,
including a significant number of staff. The following week, only 250 of
us demonstrated. The exhaustion of the core group, the pressure of
upcoming exams, and the drop in the number of people attending the
General Assembly (50 at the last one) led the General Assembly to halt
the movement.

Summary
The University of Brest experienced what other universities have
experienced: a sporadic movement, led by an active minority but unable
to attract more than a few hundred people to the General Assembly and a
few dozen to action (except for a few demonstrations). On the student
side, the activist core has nothing to reproach itself for in its
method: a lot of energy and initiatives were used to try to mobilize,
the general meetings were sovereign, and no organization interfered with
them (even though some activists in the movement were obviously
organized through unions or politics). The discussions at the general
meetings were rich and allowed even novices to become politicized. The
Brest general meeting adopted the name "General Meeting of Struggles"
from the anti-pension movement and thus brought together non-students,
making it possible to connect different sectors of the struggle
(precariousness, culture, etc.). Added to this are activist initiatives
that enrich movements, such as canteens (allowing people to eat during
general meetings at a free price) and increase the convivial and festive
aspect of a movement.

On the staff side, apart from a very small, fully committed core, not
much happened until mid-March. Various staff general meetings were
organised by combative union members (but with reduced numbers) and what
came out of them was more demoralising than mobilising: at best, 90
staff members met (out of 2,500, let us remember, but this is a
significant number compared to usual general meetings) and to sum up, it
was urgent to do nothing under the pretext that striking doesn't work
and that students should not be penalised (meeting for a photo for
"Stand up for science" is the optimum level of radicalism for most).
However, a few dozen colleagues attempted to increase the mobilization
in mid-March, notably through a parody leaflet that met with some
success: "Take advantage of university bankruptcy, invest in student
loans" - see illustration photo. Furthermore, BIATSS (non-teaching
higher education staff) colleagues held general meetings without
teachers (at staff general meetings, BIATSS are very often overshadowed
by teachers), which helped reconnect with a sense of community that is
often degraded.

Furthermore, Brest staff activists launched an inter-university general
meeting in early February, which met weekly via videoconference, the aim
being to take stock of the various universities. Indeed, the inertia of
the union apparatuses, which did nothing to promote the mobilization,
angered some rank-and-file union activists. If the objective of this
inter-university general meeting was to try to outflank these unions, it
was a failure: apparently relayed by the professional union networks of
at least the CGT and SUD (whose total union membership in higher
education must be 3,500 staff members), only 70 staff members were
connected via a mailing list... and at most, only 20 participated in
these inter-university general meetings.

So, in summary, the movement remained weak and failed to cross a minimum
threshold. However, there are some positive aspects. A core of student
activists exists and has likely been strengthened by new young students
who participated in a movement for the first time. Connections also
exist between staff activists from different universities. The violence
of the attacks will continue, and let's hope that these points of
support will serve as a basis for a more radical movement in the future.

A staff member from the University of Brest

https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4435
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