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Since October 2010 MaxwellDlamini has been president of theSwaziland National Union of Stu dents (SNUS) and a popular face inSwaziland. For the past years he hasbeen actively involved in thestruggle against tuition fees, for betterstudy conditions and the right toeducation. Furthermore he is part of 

the regional democracy movement.The Kingdom of Swaziland is consi dered an absolute monarchy. Inspiredby the recent uprisings in NorthAfrica, as well as the Middle East,thousands took to the streets withinthe capital Mbabane for a just anddemocratic society and against thepredominant balance of power. Theprotesters were attacked by thespecial police forces hundreds werearrested. One day later, Maxwellwanted to support the democracymovement with a 3,000 studentstrong demonstration.It did not come to that, however, as hewas taken into custody on the flimsypretext that he was allegedly in pos session of explosive materials duringthe protests on the same day.Maxwell denies that. For the local de mocracy movement as well as variousactivists around the world, who knowhim personally, it is undeniable thatthe selective criminalisation of Max well's activities is supposed to harm

and intimidate the movement as awhole.In reaction to these circumstances aFree Maxwell campaign was initia

ted. Furthermore, activists on thenewly created International StudentMovement Africa (ISM Africa)platform decided to call for the

"Global Day of Action to Free Max well and All Political Prisoners" onSeptember 5th to support the demo cracy movement in Swaziland, espe cially the political prisoners:„We call on all progressive organisa tions, youths and concerned peoplearound the world to march to Swazi land embassies/consulates on Sep tember 5th 2011 in their region to addtheir voices to demand the immediaterelease of Maxwell Dlamini and allpolitical prisoners. Of course alternative forms of action are also wel come, if you have no embassy orconsulate of Swaziland near you.“In total at least five political prisonersare currently held in custody by theSwazi government. They are kept im prisoned simply because they havebeen part of the struggle for demo cracy, human rights and social andeconomic progress. These activistsand leaders have been routinely tortu red and denied access to family mem bers and friends. Their health is deter

iorating each day and they are deniedproper medical assistance. They areheld on trumped up charges becausethe government considers their acti vism for democracy and freedom adanger to the rule of King Mswati III.This Global Day of Action calls forthe unconditional release of all poli tical prisoners in Swaziland andaround the world, as well as for con certed action to prevent moreactivists being detained as thestruggle for democracy and freedomcontinues. Please useism.africa@gmail.com to announceyour actions in advance and send inyour reports with pictures and videosafterwards. This is important, so thatyour activities can also be included inpress releases and people worldwidewill get to hear about them.

For more basic details on theMaxwell case:http://ism global.net/free_maxwellVideos to learn more about the

situation in Swaziland:ism global.net/videos_swaziland For a complete call for the GlobalDay of Action see:http://ism global.net/ global_action_day_sept5The Free Maxwell campaign:

 freemaxwelldlamini.wordpress.comHashtag on twitter: #freeMaxwell

Turning Global Solidarity into Reality!

August 24th: After a two day debateparliament passed a new law whichaims to change things on differentlevels. The changes target the powerof student groups which have in fluenced university politics fordecades, controlling the election of directors, staff appointments andeven examination grades.

Furthermore the university asylumlaw was scraped.The bill paves the way for"independent" evaluations of univer sity academics and for restrictions onthe length of time students have tocomplete theirdegrees. Critics say theoverhaul puts undue emphasis onbusiness oriented degrees to the

detriment of academic disciplinesless in demand by employers.Many students and lecturers arecurrently on vacation, therefore inreaction "only" up to 2,000 peopletook to the streets of Athens on thesame day. But that was just the firststep.The struggle continues – everywhere.

Sunday, 28th August 2011 vol.02 issue.4

This newsletter is part of the com munication infrastructure of the in dependent platform "InternationalStudent Movement" (ISM). TheISM is being used and shaped byeducation activists and groupsaround the world w ho arestruggling against the increasingprivatisation of public educationand for free emancipatory educa tion for all.This newsletter is the result of vol untary work done by a few indi

viduals who are passionate aboutthe cause. The positions expressedare not in any way representativefor any group or the "InternationalStudent Movement" as a whole.

For further details:website: www.ism global.net contact:united.for.education@gmail.comtwitter: @ISM030

  international student movement

About thisnewsletter

Sept. 5th: Global Day of Action to Free Maxwell and All Political Prisoners

University Reform in Greece sparks Protest

R e c l a i m E d u c at i o nN o t e s o n t h e g l o b a l s t r u g g l e

8/4/2019 Reclaim Education #7

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At the beginning of August a fewfellow activists in South Africa andSwaziland initiated the InternationalStudent Movement Africa (ISM Africa). The purpose is to have a

communicationplatform especially forgroups and activistsstruggling against theincreasing privatisationof education and for freeemancipatory educationanywhere within Africa.It will be used toexchange information,network and make

coordinations across thecontinent and beyond. Allidentifying with this struggleare invited to use and shape it.ISM Africa, just like the ISMplatform as a whole, isindependent from any politicalparties, trade unions or otherorganisations and is being upheldsolely by individual activists.Currently the main focus by peopleon the platform is to prepare for the

Global Day of Action to FreeMaxwell and All Political Prisoners.The communication infrastructure of ISM Africa consists of an online for um: ism global.net/forum/64 and a

group on facebook 

 facebook.com/groups/ism.africa sofar.

Questions and suggestions inconnection with the platform can besend to ism.africa@gmail.com.

During the past two months, in thelast three global chat meetings on theInternational Student Movement(ISM) platform, education activistsfrom around the world decided to call

for"GlobalWeeks ofAction"this No vember. So far the following wasagreed on:Calling for "Global Weeks of Action"(GWA) during the timeframeof November 07 20 withNovember 17 potentiallymarking a highlight.Using the following three ele ments as a basic framework for the GWA:►      the International Joint Sta tement currently endorsedby about 80 groups worldwide(ism global.net/international_ joint_statement)

►     common slogans, such as:

"education is not for $A£ €;one world – one struggle","free education for emancipa tion; one world – one struggle", "forthe social revolution; one world – onestruggle", "education is not a commo dity; one world – one struggle", "abo lish student debt; one world – onestruggle"►      common symbols: education bar

code being attacked by two persons,fist holding pen, fist holding half penand half wrench.The slogans and symbols shouldmake it easy to visually communic ate, both locally and globally, thatyour action is connected to the GWA.Open question: should we try to syn chronise actions globally on Novem ber 17 (Thursday) in any way?Themainchallengerightnow isto ob viously connect the various activities

linked to the Global Weeks of Actionto somehow promote the feeling loc ally ofa commonglobalin communit ies around the world. Ideas so far in clude "live broadcasts" via skype or

phone. Groups in Indonesia and thePhilippines have already announcedthat they will have synchronised ac tions on that day. Discussion on this

will continue during the next globalchat meetings, in the meantime, allare asked to discuss these issues onthe local level and brainstorm ideason how to better link the actions.To do lists in the run up to the GWAwithin the next few weeks on two

levels:►      On the global level: finalisingdesigns for the commons symbols inlow and high resolution (graphic de signers needed for that); creating mo bilisation videos; translating theInternational Joint Statement and the"Latest Newson Coordination for No vember2011"into as many languagesas possible.►     

Suggestions for the local/regionallevel: arrange meetings with fellow

activists to inform them about theGWA, discuss it, and broaden the ini tiative; communicate updates on loc al developments and plans in thebuild up of the GWA to the global le

vel (e.g. through the ISM (global)mailing list).Inviting everyone identifying withthe struggle to the next global chat

meeting on A ugust 28th

(sunday) at 1pm EST/ 5pmGMT/ 7pm CET/ 10.30pmIST to continue coordinationsfor November.The first activities linked tothe GWA were already an nounced in Europe and NorthAmerica. In these turbulenttimes, the GWA this Novem ber can really mark a break through in the global struggleagainst the commercialisationof education (as well as allother aspects of life) and forfree emancipatory education

for all. Subscribe to the ISM (global)mailing list to stay in touch with thelatest coordination efforts and feelfree to send an e mail tounited.for.education@gmail.com. Orsimply participate in the next globalchat meeting to clarify questions and

get involved. It is vital that localgroups announce their actions to theglobal level in advance so that theflow of information on the globallevel generally improves!Fromnow on the latest updates on thecoordination efforts ahead of theGWA can be accessed on this page:http://ism global.net/ coordinations_november2011it will be updated continuously!

      one world one struggle

      

Latest News on Coordination for the"Global Weeks of Action" in November

International StudentMovement Africa founded