Courant Alternatif has already published an in-depth article on universities (see CA no. 344, "French Universities in the Age of Neoliberalism" ) and reported on the 2025 university movement (CA no. 350: "(Small) Movements in Universities" ). ---- In this article, I report on the current situation at the University of Brest (UBO: University of Western Brittany), which is characterized by a general apathy in the face of the attacks it has suffered, but also by attempts at resistance that are taking place despite the existing repression.
Apathy
As detailed in the CA articles cited, UBO is bearing the brunt of the state's disengagement. There are currently 2,500 staff members and 20,000 students. The staff is divided between teaching staff (1,400 colleagues, 33% of whom are on fixed-term contracts) and administrative and technical staff (1,100 colleagues, nearly 50% of whom are on fixed-term contracts). In short, the university is becoming increasingly precarious, and this situation is set to worsen. The university administration, led by a president as authoritarian as he is responsible for the decline of public services, is willing to implement the financial policies imposed by the state: reducing the number of tenured faculty, increasing the number of contract staff (who cost less), closing programs, and so on.
Opposition to the current policies is primarily voiced by unions, each representing only a few dozen colleagues at most. The union landscape is typical: an offensive front led by the CGT, SUD Education, and FO (some key members of these unions are affiliated with revolutionary, Trotskyist, or anarchist organizations), and a class collaboration front led by UNSA (the majority union among administrative and technical staff) and CFDT (the President's union, though it can sometimes oppose him). Finally, there's a swamp comprised of... SNESUP, the higher education and research branch of the FSU, which represents many teachers... but never actually does anything. On the student side, UBO is dominated by FédéB (a branch of FAGE, a student union similar to the CFDT for staff) and the Pirate Union (which is rather close to LFI). The more proactive staff unions try to mobilize whenever they can... but with limited success. On March 10th, all higher education and research unions called for a national day of action. This was echoed by five unions at UBO (CGT, FO, SUD, CFDT, and UNSA) through a general assembly held during union information hours (i.e., during working hours): 25 colleagues were present, 15 of whom participated remotely (there are many remote sites). This represents a pathetic turnout of 1% of colleagues, especially considering the number of union members. In short, there is widespread apathy. Consequently, working conditions are deteriorating, suffering is becoming more widespread, and interpersonal conflicts are increasing.
Repression
The government is pursuing a policy of stifling any attempt at resistance: a bill aims to make even the slightest attempt to mobilize staff or students on university campuses punishable by fines; a recent circular allows for the prohibition of any "political" meeting on campus. As an extension of this policy, university presidents are increasingly calling on the police to remove any attempt to occupy university premises. It's worth remembering that the police can only intervene on campus with the president's approval (this is known as "university autonomy"). Therefore, until a few years ago, it was rare for a university president to authorize police intervention on campus. Today, this is becoming widespread. But, for the past few months, university presidents have not only been calling in the police as soon as there is any sign of movement, but they are also preemptively closing campuses before any mobilization takes place. For the 10/09/2025 movement, various universities closed their buildings... including Brest, which closed the Faculty of Arts and Humanities on the Segalen campus, located in the heart of Brest. Similarly, this campus was closed on 18/09, a day of mobilization called by the unions, under the pretext that the demonstration passed by the campus. Anyone familiar with Brest knows that all demonstrations pass by this campus... except for the one on 18/09, which, for once, had a route far removed from the campus. In short, the goal is to stifle any risk of mobilization. Even more absurdly, on May 1st of this year, the director of this site announced at 7:00 a.m. that the faculty would be closed (as if we were going to work on May 1st) along with the parking lot, which angered colleagues who were driving to the demonstration because the parking lot is very convenient.
Furthermore, repression in French universities has taken a more radical form in an attempt to break any solidarity with the Palestinian people. Dozens of students have been accused of complicity in terrorism, notably at Sciences Po Paris. In Brest, there has been no such movement, and therefore no repression. However, the CGT and SUD unions tried to pass a motion in the Board of Directors denouncing the research partnerships between UBO and Thales (accused by various NGOs of complicity in crimes against humanity), whose local director has not hesitated to say in the press, "There are wars, and these conflicts bring us activity, jobs." The university president refused to put the motion to a vote on the pretext that UBO does not engage in politics. The student branch of Révolution Permanente, Le Poing Levé, has had all its association rights revoked (including the right to organize meetings and send messages to students) because it published an article criticizing UBO's partnerships with war-mongering companies. This repression was justified as "damaging UBO's image." The CGT, SUD, and FO unions denounced the action, but without managing to spark even the slightest mobilization.
A few weeks ago, an autonomous collective, RESSAC, was forcibly removed from the university (by security guards, the director of the Segalen building, and the director of the presidential office). Legally, official requests must be submitted several weeks in advance to hold a meeting on university campus, and official approval must be awaited because the purpose of the meeting must align with "UBO's values." However, the campus, located in the heart of the city, has always been used by groups or collectives who use university facilities for their meetings. At ENIB, a small engineering school that recently merged with UBO (through what is known as an EPE, an experimental public institution), students published a satirical newspaper last summer to denounce the director of the INP (National Polytechnic Institute, within which ENIB now finds itself). The result: a lawsuit against the newspaper's editor (a former ENIB student). All of this illustrates an increasingly authoritarian drift in universities, with university presidents zealously echoing this trend. That said, these forms of repression do not explain the collective apathy, as we are still far from the forms of repression experienced by activists in certain industrial groups. These are merely pressure tactics, and the university community still has ample resources to organize a real response without fear of repression.
Reactions
There have been reactions here and there. A prime example: the president of UBO, who suppresses all critical expression under the pretext that UBO doesn't engage in politics, took it upon himself to publish a message in the local press between the two rounds of the municipal elections denouncing the PS-LFI merger list (and thus calling for a vote for the right-wing list). Non-unionized colleagues launched a petition denouncing this, which was then circulated by unions in the media and among colleagues. The petition garnered 300 signatures, which is quite a lot but reveals the colleagues' reluctance: many in the corridors said they were "shocked" by the president's message... but didn't dare sign the petition (for fear of appearing publicly opposed and subsequently incurring the president's wrath). But the most ironic thing was that this affair was covered by the national media (France Inter, France Info, Le Figaro, etc.) because a university president is not allowed to use their position to give voting instructions. And so, our president was grumpy because he doesn't like being mistreated by the media. This appeared as a small victory for the signatories.
Another, more significant reaction was the rally in support of the ENIB student during his trial. This case came at a time when ENIB students were mobilizing against the deterioration of their study conditions. ENIB was blockaded for three days, a historic event (however, no police were sent to remove them because you don't send the police against engineering students), and a rally of 120 people was held on the day of the trial. The dynamism of the students at this engineering school was heartening to see.
Finally, our president agreed to hold a meeting on the university premises, entitled "The People of Finistère Facing War: Bringing Citizens Closer to Defense Issues in the Era of New Conflicts," led by a local Socialist Party MP and the Secretary General for Defense and National Security of Finistère. There is a small anti-war activist group at UBO. The CGT, SUD Education, FO, and the Pirate Union called for a rally in front of the meeting venue under the slogan "We affirm our opposition to any war collaboration by UBO, first and foremost to any propaganda in this direction." Indeed, war propaganda also affects universities: Aix-Marseille University awards 0.5 points to the overall average of students who attend "seminars" organized by or affiliated with the military; the University of Lorraine has signed an agreement supporting operational reserve policies with the Ministries of the Interior and Defense.
This gathering attracted very few people from UBO (7 activists) but drew 35 others (political activists or members of collectives in Brest). We began by demonstrating outside the meeting room, where the Socialist Party MP tried to engage in conversation but refused to say how she would vote the next day on the military programming law... prompting mockery. Then we entered the amphitheater, filled with 40 (older) military personnel (all decked out in their medals) and a few elected officials, some of whom were from the far right. Mixing slogans and anti-militarist speeches, we finally got the MP to crack, and she left, along with her audience, after an hour, having been unable to get a word in edgewise despite her attempts, all of which were drowned out by our slogans. Everyone was very pleased because it had become a meeting opposing the war and the military, in front of stunned military personnel and other reactionaries. As the local newspaper headline put it, quoting a student: "You wanted a debate with the youth, you got it." At least we hope that the Socialist Party and the university president will think twice before coming to spread pro-war propaganda on campus, but we mustn't ignore the very low turnout of colleagues and students.
Conclusion
For years, universities have been crushed under the steamroller of capitalist politics. Yet, in a city of 150,000 inhabitants, the 2,500 staff members and especially the 20,000 students would have the political clout to make a real impact if a movement were to emerge. Moreover, the hospital is just a stone's throw from the Segalen campus; the much-discussed convergence of struggles could easily happen if the energy were there.
We're not there yet, and apathy is the prevailing sentiment. But let's try to be optimistic: the small-scale reactions of recent weeks offer hope for a remobilization, because the capitalist and climate crisis, the war propaganda, and the rise of reactionary ideas are not leaving colleagues and students unmoved, nor are they being ignored by activist networks in Brest (even if there's still a long way to go before this translates into a physical mobilization). The outlook for universities is catastrophic in terms of resources. Since we cannot experience it now, we remain hopeful that the anger, currently individualized, will transform here as elsewhere into a collective wave against the barbarity of the modern world.
A CA reader, UBO agent
https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4724
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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