The tools made available to high school students to fight against sexist
and sexual violence are often very weak, if not totally non-existent.
How can we organize the fight against this violence? But also, what are
the most relevant tools for the high school movement in general? This is
what we suggest you see through the example of the fight led by students
from the Bergès high school in Grenoble. ---- In September 2023, M.
testifies to D. about a sexual assault he suffered at the hands of the
PE teacher. Both are students at the Bergès high school and activists at
UCL Grenoble. They decide to make it the main fight of the brand new
high school commission. A phase of collecting testimonies over several
months follows: six additional cases are reported to them. In September,
supervisors informed the CPEs, who were supposed to alert the management
in turn. However, until December, no form of protection for high school
students was implemented. Later, the management would say that they had
not been informed of the facts of VSS. In the meantime, the activists
insisted and came up against walls.
The union failure
In November, D. asked for the support of teachers from the CNT or those
close to it. They admitted that they were not surprised by the
revelations about this teacher but refused to accompany the students to
the management. The union path was also blocked on the side of "Sud
Lutte de classes" (splitters from Sud Éducation in Isère who still use
the name Sud as an imposture). The high school committee had contacts at
the CGT Éduc'action through the UCL but could not find a way to get it
to intervene in a high school where it was not established. On the
students' side, it was disappointed by their experience within the
Mouvement National Lycéen ("union" more or less close to Solidaires)
that the libertarian communist high school students of Grenoble founded
the high school commission in September 2023. By campaigning in the MNL,
they came up against the structural problems of high school "unionism".
How can strong union sections be built in three years, in high schools
atomized by the baccalaureate reform, one of the objectives of which is,
like modern management, to break up class collectives? Is there a "high
school class consciousness"? In addition, high school struggles, and
this one demonstrates it, are often too trying for young activists who
are not solidly supported by their structure. The UCL provides the
practice of concrete struggle, the political framework and the strong
camaraderie essential to these high school struggles that the MNL lacked.
The FCPE (Federation of Parents' Councils) will be the only structure
able to support the students in the struggle in the office of the
principal and his deputy. On December 7, the students set an ultimatum:
if nothing is done before the start of the school year in January, when
a swimming cycle begins, they will make the matter public. The following
week, the teacher is suspended. However, the activists continue to be
subjected to various pressures from the management. M. is summoned under
false pretenses and is accused of spreading rumors about the aggressor.
During an interview with the students in the struggle, a CPE expresses
the great suffering caused by the structural impossibility of welcoming
victims of VSS. As for the management, it alternates between hostility
and false, powerless compassion. For example, it admits to the activists
that high school girls had already reported "strange" behavior from this
teacher. The management chose to speak directly to the teacher in
question, without any particular follow-up, a sign of a profound lack of
understanding of patriarchal violence. Subsequently, it will transmit
what is happening at the level of justification the names of these high
school girls to the police without their opinion. Less surprising, but
just as violent, the police automatically requested by the rectorate to
provide an investigation report put pressure on M. by asking him to push
the other victims to file a complaint. On the other hand, the OPJ did
not interview either the management or the CPEs.
January return to school: UCL in battle order
Although the teacher had been suspended since December, the high school
maintained its policy of opacity and there was no guarantee that he
would not return after the investigation. The high school committee then
called on the rest of UCL Grenoble for a massive leafleting on January
17. Although the principal lectured the students fighting in front of
the gate at length, 700 leaflets entitled "Victory for the mobilized
high school students of Bergès!" were distributed. In another misstep,
the principal then asked all the teachers to condemn the leaflet in
front of their classes on the grounds that it was wrong, since the
aggressor was not "suspended" but "suspended"... A leaflet that was
condemnable because we had inadvertently mitigated the sanction? Here
again, the management played hardball while it was losing its cool!
Prior to this show of force, the UCL had provided legal support as well
as shared experience on high school and student activism. Above all, it
provided vital moral support.
The high school committee draws several political conclusions from these
events that confirm pre-existing analyses. First, the political
organization must provide long-term support to the activists on the
front lines in the fight against VSS and organize visible and massive
actions. In the same circumstances, a high school union would have been
helpless as soon as the teachers and CPEs abandoned it. Furthermore, our
libertarian analysis grid highlights the role of state institutions such
as the National Education and the Bergès high school in the silencing of
victims and the stigmatization of high school activists. To date, the
teacher has not returned. This victory allowed us to bring a good number
of high school students to demonstrate on March 8 for feminist
struggles, against the "clash of knowledge" and in support of the
Palestinian people. Building a strong high school movement means first
fighting in our high schools.
The fight has only just begun. At the very moment we were writing this
article on the terrace of a café, a student from another high school
came to see D. and M. to tell them about a new case. It is difficult to
better illustrate the effects of the fight: we recognize each other, we
talk to each other and we self-organize. Even in high schools, we will
not let anything go! Sexist violence, feminist response!
UCL Grenoble High School Commission
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Grenoble-Violences-sexistes-et-sexuelles-au-lycee-l-UCL-s-en-mele
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
and sexual violence are often very weak, if not totally non-existent.
How can we organize the fight against this violence? But also, what are
the most relevant tools for the high school movement in general? This is
what we suggest you see through the example of the fight led by students
from the Bergès high school in Grenoble. ---- In September 2023, M.
testifies to D. about a sexual assault he suffered at the hands of the
PE teacher. Both are students at the Bergès high school and activists at
UCL Grenoble. They decide to make it the main fight of the brand new
high school commission. A phase of collecting testimonies over several
months follows: six additional cases are reported to them. In September,
supervisors informed the CPEs, who were supposed to alert the management
in turn. However, until December, no form of protection for high school
students was implemented. Later, the management would say that they had
not been informed of the facts of VSS. In the meantime, the activists
insisted and came up against walls.
The union failure
In November, D. asked for the support of teachers from the CNT or those
close to it. They admitted that they were not surprised by the
revelations about this teacher but refused to accompany the students to
the management. The union path was also blocked on the side of "Sud
Lutte de classes" (splitters from Sud Éducation in Isère who still use
the name Sud as an imposture). The high school committee had contacts at
the CGT Éduc'action through the UCL but could not find a way to get it
to intervene in a high school where it was not established. On the
students' side, it was disappointed by their experience within the
Mouvement National Lycéen ("union" more or less close to Solidaires)
that the libertarian communist high school students of Grenoble founded
the high school commission in September 2023. By campaigning in the MNL,
they came up against the structural problems of high school "unionism".
How can strong union sections be built in three years, in high schools
atomized by the baccalaureate reform, one of the objectives of which is,
like modern management, to break up class collectives? Is there a "high
school class consciousness"? In addition, high school struggles, and
this one demonstrates it, are often too trying for young activists who
are not solidly supported by their structure. The UCL provides the
practice of concrete struggle, the political framework and the strong
camaraderie essential to these high school struggles that the MNL lacked.
The FCPE (Federation of Parents' Councils) will be the only structure
able to support the students in the struggle in the office of the
principal and his deputy. On December 7, the students set an ultimatum:
if nothing is done before the start of the school year in January, when
a swimming cycle begins, they will make the matter public. The following
week, the teacher is suspended. However, the activists continue to be
subjected to various pressures from the management. M. is summoned under
false pretenses and is accused of spreading rumors about the aggressor.
During an interview with the students in the struggle, a CPE expresses
the great suffering caused by the structural impossibility of welcoming
victims of VSS. As for the management, it alternates between hostility
and false, powerless compassion. For example, it admits to the activists
that high school girls had already reported "strange" behavior from this
teacher. The management chose to speak directly to the teacher in
question, without any particular follow-up, a sign of a profound lack of
understanding of patriarchal violence. Subsequently, it will transmit
what is happening at the level of justification the names of these high
school girls to the police without their opinion. Less surprising, but
just as violent, the police automatically requested by the rectorate to
provide an investigation report put pressure on M. by asking him to push
the other victims to file a complaint. On the other hand, the OPJ did
not interview either the management or the CPEs.
January return to school: UCL in battle order
Although the teacher had been suspended since December, the high school
maintained its policy of opacity and there was no guarantee that he
would not return after the investigation. The high school committee then
called on the rest of UCL Grenoble for a massive leafleting on January
17. Although the principal lectured the students fighting in front of
the gate at length, 700 leaflets entitled "Victory for the mobilized
high school students of Bergès!" were distributed. In another misstep,
the principal then asked all the teachers to condemn the leaflet in
front of their classes on the grounds that it was wrong, since the
aggressor was not "suspended" but "suspended"... A leaflet that was
condemnable because we had inadvertently mitigated the sanction? Here
again, the management played hardball while it was losing its cool!
Prior to this show of force, the UCL had provided legal support as well
as shared experience on high school and student activism. Above all, it
provided vital moral support.
The high school committee draws several political conclusions from these
events that confirm pre-existing analyses. First, the political
organization must provide long-term support to the activists on the
front lines in the fight against VSS and organize visible and massive
actions. In the same circumstances, a high school union would have been
helpless as soon as the teachers and CPEs abandoned it. Furthermore, our
libertarian analysis grid highlights the role of state institutions such
as the National Education and the Bergès high school in the silencing of
victims and the stigmatization of high school activists. To date, the
teacher has not returned. This victory allowed us to bring a good number
of high school students to demonstrate on March 8 for feminist
struggles, against the "clash of knowledge" and in support of the
Palestinian people. Building a strong high school movement means first
fighting in our high schools.
The fight has only just begun. At the very moment we were writing this
article on the terrace of a café, a student from another high school
came to see D. and M. to tell them about a new case. It is difficult to
better illustrate the effects of the fight: we recognize each other, we
talk to each other and we self-organize. Even in high schools, we will
not let anything go! Sexist violence, feminist response!
UCL Grenoble High School Commission
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Grenoble-Violences-sexistes-et-sexuelles-au-lycee-l-UCL-s-en-mele
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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