International exchange forum
Some notes after Bologna Burns
We, as Uniriot Network, took part in the important days of Bologna burns, both in the demonstrations and blockades and in the workshops, seminars and assembly, so we would like to share some analyses and points of discussions, hoping that they could be useful even towards the meetings we are going to face in the next months (Barcelona, Madrid, Bologna, Bochum). After Wien, we came back to our universities discussing about the great days we spent in Austria, sharing our impressions and analyses, as well as our feelings and doubts, not only among the persons who took part in Bologna Burns, but also with all the students and researchers that could not come with us to meet you. Therefore, this text is the result of intensive discussions inside several italian universities and we make it public to improve connections and continue discussions, hoping you will appreciate this effort.
Our evaluation of Bologna burns' days is completely positive and enthusiastic, as we have shared and learned a lot from all of you, as we think those days have been the constitution of the first step toward a new european space of conflict, inside and outside the university, and the possibility of connection at a worldwide level with other struggles. We came back to Italy excited and satisfied by the fullness of those days and meetings!
At first, we would like to highlight the issue of the practices we have experimented collectively the very first days in Wien. From the movement anti- CPE (contrat premièr embauche- First employment contract) to the anomalous wave in Italy and the austrian movement there is a common way of practicing conflict in our cities. The manif sauvage (wild demonstrations) and the blockades are the main tool through which we are able to stop the traffic, that is to say, the circulation of commodities inside the metropolis; it is a common way through which we express our unpredictability and the impossibility to capture us; it is a practice of invading the metropolis from the university shouting that we are everywhere, as the social figure of the student has a productive role in the metropolitan economy of the services, and we want to communicate to everyone in our cities. We think that these kind of practices are part of a common way to make conflict, aiming to spread and improve them in long terms, as learning others in meeting other groups with other ones. Secondly we would like to focus on the organization of debates and workshops, that have been very rich and multifaceted. As Uniriot Network we decided not to propose a workshop cause we wanted to participate in all the others bringing our experience and contents to discuss with yours, and then because there were already too much workshops. In our opinion the proliferation of workshops caused dispersion of persons and multiplication of discussions that very often could be carried on all together: several workshops discussed the same topic and it was impossible to follow everything. The other risk in an excessive proliferation of discussion consists in the reproduction of similar discourses in different places without a common project: discussing all together allow us to produce a common decision about possible projects or experimentations to connect our struggles and share analyses about the transformations of the university. Maybe, preserving the open proposal of workshops, we could experiment in the next appointments few discussions organized on less specific topics.
The last difficulty we faced in Wien was that there was no continuity of discussion among seminar and workshops, and then among the last assembly. Even if there was always someone taking notes of the workshops, nobody reported it at the last meeting, so that the international plenum was a separate assembly that did not consider our previous work, as starting points of discussion, nor the workshops discussions. In our opinion we should diminish the number of workshop and then highlight the discussions in the final plenum to take in consideration all we have proposed in those places and then implementing the common paper. During the final discussion on Sunday we really liked the participation of different realities and we think it was a very important moment to start a common process with a new website, not based on previous organizations, but proposing a new place to share analyses and information, making constructive proposals and organizing a common route of conflict. The common paper is a very important step to deepen our discussions, but furthermore to start the exciting process of making our university. In fact, we are sure that Bologna Burns opened a completely new space of sharing information, connecting struggles, knowing new conflicts and starting common projects. In Wien we analyzed the limit and reasons for which we are against Bologna Process, but at the same time, because we are inside it, we are trying to build up another university: this was a very important turning point in the constitution of an european space of conflict that can really be able to speak and connect to other struggles spreading all over the world. We really want to thank all the participants to Bologna Burns, above all the austrian students for their great work, cause what we have built up in Wien is the fundamental base to begin our autonomous university connecting struggles and devices of organization.
Make Bologna History, Make Our University!
uniriot network