Squatting the Crisis

Lina Dokuzović and Eduard Freudmann

Squatting the Crisis

“We won’t pay for your crisis!” has echoed throughout universities worldwide. The significance of this is that its momentum has not only spread throughout educational institutions, but has also been present in other areas of society, bringing attention to the general failure of neoliberal capitalism and its appropriation of all spheres of life.

What has been defined as the “crisis in education,” which should be remedied through a wave of reforms, has been dealt with in terms of economic crisis-based measures, with measures for increasing profit. A homogenization in the way of a reform wave has taken place through the Bologna Process for establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Through this regulated norm of educational standards of comparability, EUrope aims to enter and be at the forefront of the growing competitive knowledge economy and of research-based profit, through the parallel establishment of the European Research Area (ERA). In Austria, a systematic removal of democratic structure within universities has been taking place. Democratically elected bodies have been degraded to a kind of staff committee while the dean’s office has been upgraded to a CEO-like, singular leading body, which is checked and balanced by a university-external supervisory board, the so-called University Board.

Universities are not only increasingly being run like corporations, but a smooth transition to what much of Anglo-American or international private schools have been subjected to is taking place. They are being run BY corporations. The international media corporation, Bertelsmann, has recently sold their shares in Sony, stating they would begin investing in education instead, since it is becoming more profitable than the music industry.1

Through the reform processes, an education economy with knowledge as a tradable commodity has been created, the result of which is that not only is education considered profitable, education itself can be measured and sold. This correlates to the principles of all-embodying privatization and commodification within neoliberal capitalism. In Australia, for example, one of EUrope’s competitors in the international education market, education services were the third largest export industry according to 2006–07 figures, behind coal and iron ore.2

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is squatted! Following the dissatisfaction resulting from a lengthy process of attempts to democratically negotiate the future of the institution, a public meeting was called by the Academy’s students and staff in front of its main building on October 20th, 2009. A statement was read out, which called for the reinstatement of the democratic structures which had been systematically removed in the course of establishing a system of increased competitiveness and commodification of the institution and everything within its walls. A list of precisely articulated demands was then read out to the dean. He was called on to fulfill his duty and represent the position of the institution rather than taking a gamble on his own professional and profitable interests in the negotiation of the Budgetary Agreement with the Ministry of Science and Research on the following day. A proclamation of solidarity was then expressed with all the protestors against educational reform around the world, which then included: Bangladesh, Brazil, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Great

Britain, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Croatia, the Netherlands, Serbia, South Africa and the USA. Subsequently, the approximately 250 individuals entered the building and occupied the assembly hall, the most representative space in the institution. The squatters installed a plenum in a grassroots democratic structure, whereupon it was decided that the space would remain occupied until the demands were met. Two days later, a group of Academy staff and students protested in front of the Ministry for Science and Research, expressing their dissatisfaction and dismissal of the Budgetary Agreement, a legally binding contract that defines the performance of the former in relation to the amount of financing by the latter, which was being negotiated in an entirely nontransparent and non-democratic fashion at that very moment. The demonstrating group continued to several other university auditoria and major spaces presenting the situation, bringing the students and staff present along with them, increasing the group’s size, snowballing, until it ended up in Austria’s largest lecture hall, where a plenum was held, declaring that space squatted. The representation and size of that space was significant, as it brought immediate media attention, which has focused primarily on the events of that singular space ever since, although over the following days, the protests expanded rapidly to a number of other universities throughout Austria and expanded to or joined those existing across Europe, bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest. There are 76 universities in nine countries throughout Europe, with more being continually announced, squatted at this very moment.3

The processes within the context of the protests have taken place through a grassroots democratic structure of collective decision-making, carried out in regular plenums. Tasks and insights are assigned to work groups, which maintain a dynamic fluctuation of participants. The intention of non-hierarchical forms of communication, established through some basic rules, have aimed to encourage all those present to actively contribute in discussions. Since representing the protests are a task which no one person can or should accomplish alone, it is vital that no spokesperson(s) is selected, but rather that a consistent rotation of speakers takes place. The consequence is a low rate of NLP (neuro-linguistic programmed) speeches, presenting the demands and expressions of the groups in a manner which is not trained or conditioned, implying both direct communication, and more importantly, an emancipatory speech act which does not adhere to codes of commodification by rejecting the sale of speech through its very mechanism of presentation. These characteristic structural elements have had a strong effect on the general political practice of the protestors.

Another significant element resonating throughout the protests on all levels has been decentralization. It has derived from the very process of university’s de-democratization within which all democratically legitimized regulating bodies have been degraded to a pseudo-democratic facade, and thereby entirely disabled. The fact that the protests have not been led by representatives elected through procedures of representative democracy and have not been associated with parliamentary parties, left politicians, such as deans or the Minister for Science and Research perplexed, not knowing how to handle the protests. The decentralization not only refers to the aforementioned fluctuation, but also to direct actions, such as the temporary squatting of the vice dean’s office at the Academy of Fine Arts, squatting the cafeteria at the Ministry for Science and Research or taking over the stage during a play at the Burgtheater, Vienna’s most renowned theater.

Overall, the protests have not been limited to de-hierarchization, appropriation of space(s), self-organization and the examination of the conditions of work and study. They have rather been dominated by demands, criticism and claims that go beyond the immediate context of education and universities, expanding to the identification of how neoliberal capitalist market logic has infiltrated all parts of their own lives, commodifying and isolating them through racist and sexist policies of exclusion, deteriorating the very collectivity the protests have aimed to reestablish. The realization that the fight for an improved educational system cannot be made specific but must instead reflect and depend on changing the very structure and system that produce it, not through homogenizing top-down reforms, but through grassroots democracy, evidences the authenticity of the protests. They haven’t been asking for a bigger piece of the pie or taking the whole thing, rather the whole damn bakery.

Strategies of appropriation by related political players began two weeks later. They culminated into absurd declarations of solidarity, consisting of groups such as the Burgenland State Government. Such groups, as well as the deans and representatives of various universities, began instrumentalizing the impetus of the protest for their own aims, such as additional budgetary policies and agreements. Even the Minister of Science and Research thanked the protestors as they improved his position within the budget negotiations with the Minister of Finance. However, the violent repressive measures taken in the U.S. and Germany against the peaceful protests4 stand in contradistinction to the “reformed” measures of appropriation or “non-hostile takeover.” The rebellions and protests of the 1968 movement left behind an understanding of how to strategically deal with future protests, resulting in repressive measures becoming counter-productive. The instrumentalization of protests enables the neutralization of all subversion. The appropriative strategies then progressed into the developing neoliberalized system, in which many people from the 1968 generation now hold key power positions. Beyond appropriation, there have been strategies of infantilization, which could be seen as being rather well-meaning. This is inherent in the very structure of traditional education, with the learned master gaining control of the unlearned one through structures of stultification, strategically imparting knowledge when seen fit. Based on their own Marx-to-market-biographies, the system representatives accept a certain dose of rebellion, as they understand it as an educational process in which their assumed successors are being taught political skills and strategies that are fundamental for successfully fulfilling their future functions and handling their future task area – turning the education protests into educationalized protests.5

The fact that the protests in education in Austria were initiated within an artistic institution is not to be disregarded. As (neo-)liberalism is based on the freedom of the individual, the artist and his/her artistic liberty perfectly fills its shoes. In fact, not only does the desire and trend of bringing artistic institutions closer to marketable creative industries exist, rather art and the art school can be seen as a paradigm for neoliberal capitalism, with the artist and the cultural producer as role models for an increasingly neoliberalized job market.6 The flexibility and infinite creativity, teamed with self-discipline and precarious work relations lie at the core of the artist’s profession.

The implementation of Bologna Process-related reforms at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, such as the replacement of the old master class system with the B.A./M.A. structure, was delayed due to a perculiar alliance between the individuals of the older tradition and the more progressive ones, keeping the developments in limbo. Many of the former felt threatened by the reforms due to their orientation towards science and scientific models, an academic sphere which threatened both their knowledge and their refuge in the “autonomy of art.” The more progressive generation, however, did not believe in the autonomy of art; but subject to precarious labor conditions and the economized market logic, they opposed the reforms. Thus, a dubious symbiosis stalled the new system.

The story of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, by Goethe, begins with an old master sorcerer leaving his apprentice to do his chores in his workshop. Tired of the tedious task, he makes his water-fetching more efficient by enchanting a broom. Not being skilled enough to control the enchanted broom, he tries to destroy it with an axe, splintering it to pieces. Nevertheless, all of the pieces become new brooms, continuing the tasks, out of control. The progressive brooms turn against their new master. The story ends, however, with the spell being broken as the old master returns, the brooms disenchanted and all restored to their old order. Neither the system of the old nor the new master could retain stability without a bit of magic, but the old master’s method managed to direct the brooms correctly for the time being.

In the case of the Academy, the cooperation between the old master class system supporters and the more progressive individuals functions, while the uncontrollable enchantment of the new neoliberalized system brings things out of order – not because it is necessarily the worse system, but because those who have depended on the old structure for a long time adapt any progressiveness to their own model. The irony, however, is that this inclination towards artistic “autonomy” tends very closely to the artistic “liberty” that allows the artist to create the perfect neo-liberal mold. The whole logic starts chasing its own tail in circles at that point.

A profession greatly based on individualization, image and uniqueness has come to its own crisis, where the striking students and teachers have stopped training each other and themselves in how to continue a greater individualizing of themselves, at the moment when they joined to collectively resist the structure. After running in circles for years and being seriously endangered by vertigo-induced collapse, it marks a point where the protagonists finally caught what they were chasing, which made them realize that it was in fact their own tails they have been chasing for years. A kind of crisis point is met in which the very structure of art paralleling education has been reached. However, one must not remain in the celebration of that moment, but rather continue to challenge and question this as a moment of transition, instead of utilizing collectivism as a training ground for one’s future career as a unique, innovative persona. The structure which has been ruptured and challenged must not support a cycling back to the same structure. In fact, the great irony of how these protests were catalyzed in Austria, thereby surfacing and resurfacing, creating alliances elsewhere internationally, is in the fact that this position of training the art star has exposed the paradox of the entire system being implemented around it.

How can this transition be utilized in a constructive way in order to continue these occupations and resistance, and more importantly to restructure the problematic apparatuses of education and related structures, such as the arts, from the bottom-up for the future? Some protestors have referred to creating an “infinite scenario” model of protest, in which the spaces that were reclaimed and appropriated remain self-organized without compromise. In fact, after the long-lasting history of neoliberal reforms, the deepest point of de-politicization may have been reached, and the worldwide education protests could mark the turning point for a re-politicization to follow. In this regard, similar to its inherent structure itself, the current “crisis” in education is in direct proportion to the economic crisis. It very visibly shows the attempts of making education a new frontier for the capitalist crisis to invest its dwindling assets into, and therefore we repeat... WE WILL NOT PAY FOR YOUR CRISIS!

An economic crisis, which in fact reflects the very failure of capitalism itself – a system fundamentally rooted in inequality, exclusion and the creation of the “other,” actually leading to the death of the “other” for profit7 – shows a very extreme level of general social crisis. This must be taken into account while battling all related crises, the one in education as well. If this is not taken into consideration, then an undeniable repetition and reproduction of an all-embodying reality will result.

During plenums, interviews, presentations and speeches, people with no prior speaking ability received an opportunity. This has two potentialities, as aforementioned – that of educating better managers and that of creating a decentralized structure of democratic discussion and representation. The benefit to those who are incapable of speaking well by being given a chance to speak is a start. But what needs to be looked at is the difference for those who are incapable of speaking at all, because they are either not allowed to speak (women being sexistically slandered and assaulted, Muslims being booed off of stages, migrants being ignored, etc.), and the difference for those who cannot afford to be present, because they are forced to work precarious illegal or semi-legal jobs at all hours of the day and night as they are subjected to racist immigration laws8 and the racist University Law,9 while having to uphold the best grades and attain a maximal level of productivity in their studies in order to legally remain in the given country. To return to the metaphor of biting one’s own tail rather than chasing it: those who spend their time searching for food cannot afford to occupy themselves playing with their tails. The central demand of the protestors, “free education for everyone!” can only be approached and granted if the freedom of movement for everyone exists beyond national or supranational borders.

The last Lisbon Agreement proposed that the upcoming agreement (December 2009) amend education as the fifth freedom of the EU, along with capital, services, goods and citizens, in order to strengthen the grounds of the EHEA. The structure should allow maximal mobility of people throughout the EHEA, supported by the Bologna Process. The profitable goals of creating a European Higher Education Area, which should supposedly bring about the “new Renaissance”10 in Europe, would begin to crumble if the reality between mobility and migration were confronted.

Accordingly, we would like to amend the statements and demands made until now, stating that until the mentioned social reality is confronted, democracy as such cannot truly function. We, therefore, propose that as a first step, the 34 million euro that was recently “awarded” as an emergency measure to the universities by the Ministry11 be used to create a basic platform for financing and supporting so that EVERYONE – taking those subjected to oppressive racist policies into consideration – can participate in the protests, so the real protest can in fact begin. The next measure would additionally be to use future moneys for creating and ensuring a platform so that that democratic participation is ensured. Only then can we continue to articulate demands and direct moneys towards developing the university structures on other levels. Without directly and primarily battling the structures of oppression, which have consciously been addressed in the protest struggles, a successful advancement, which does not reproduce an unequal and oppressive distribution of advantage, cannot result. The only way to truly accomplish radical change is to link different social struggles, which are all implicated in capital’s appropriation of every sphere of life.

1 See: http://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachrichten/nachricht/2488718.html; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2126f740-631b-11dd-9fd0-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

2 See: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, http://www.isana.org.au/files/AEI%20March%20sshot%20expt%20income.pdf

3 www.tinyurl.com/squatted-universities

4 See, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOI5l2_RghQ; http://ow.ly/Ehjx, http://twitpic.com/qb6qu; http://tinyurl.com/yglzurr; http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/11/22/california.student.protest/index.html; http://www.bildungsstreikhd. de/2009/11/22/gewaltsamer-polizeieinsatz-gegen-landesweite-bildungsstreik-demonstration-in-stuttgart/

5 The “educationalization of capital” is a phrase coined by Stewart Martin in “ Pedagogy of Human Capital,” see: http://www.metamute.org/en/Pedagogy-of-Human-Capital

6 See, for example: http://eipcp.net/transversal/1106/lorey/en

7 “Necropolitics and necroeconomics, as practices of accumulation in colonial contexts by specific economic actors – multinational corporations for example – that involve dispossession, death, torture, suicide, slavery, destruction of livelihoods and the general management of violence.” See Subhabrata Bobby Banarjee, “Live and Let Die: Colonial Sovereignties and the Death Worlds of Necrocapitalism,” Borderlands ejournal, Volume 5, Number 1, 2006.

8 In Austria, a non-EU/EEC citizen must provide proof of possessing at least €6,210 per year, along with other evidence of successful study, minimal course completion, clean legal record, etc. in order to receive approved or extended legal residence under a student resident permit. However, this quantity is not possible to obtain through legal work as income is stricly regulated and limited to under €300 a month.

9 Although often being referred to as “abolished,” tuition fees in Austria are still active. The amendment of the University Law in 2008 merely disburdens selected groups of students, the largest one is Austrian or EUcitizens studying within the prescribed study term, whereas non-EU citizens still pay as if nothing ever happened.