On the 17th 18th and 19th of May an important event, the G8 University Summit, will be held in Italy, in the city of Turin
sponsored
by the CRUI (Conference of Chancellors of Italian Universities), to
whom will participate the chancellors and presidents of the
universities of the member states of the G8, together with those of
many other countries around the world.The
object of the meeting is to propose itself as a direct referring point
for the G8 of the heads of State and Government who will meet in the L’Aquila (Italy) next summer. The meeting has given itself
island of Sardinia (Italy)
the objective to advise the great leaders of the world about the
problems the humanity and the planet are facing, basing on the supposed
"neutral and objective" character of the knowledge produced by
universities. We are all well aware of the fact that the G8 has no
credibility being clearly responsible for the current global crisis.
Furthermore it’s evident that it’s a paradox that is this same institution the
one who wants to solve a crisis that has been responsible for creating
it by letting the few decide on the fate of billions of people over the
course of the years, influencing the international relationships and
the economic and social politics. It’s therefore unacceptable that the
chancellors, considering themselves representative of the whole world
of the university, are now going to speak with the member states of
the G8 legitimizing, in such a manner, the political-economic system
proposed by them. Obviously this has not surprised us considering the
central role that the university and the production of knowledge have
in the restructuring process of the global system that today is keeping
on reproducing itself with great difficulty through the crisis. During the summit will be proposed the winning picture of a transformed
and globalized university. In reality we now have a university in
crisis, contradictory, with a worsening of the transmitted knowledge
and exploiting the people that are producing it condemning them to a
life and working condition of uncertainty.
If will be each university
the one who still continues to administer the low financial resources
by acting with a logic typical of financial companies, education (no
longer a public service and a common good) will continue to legitimate
itself in the form of an efficiency to buy at increasingly heavy costs,
generating an unsustainable system for its inners students and
workers. We do not want to discuss the concept of "sustainable
development" (now a container term, often used in rhetoric), but
rather start from the real processes and understand the operative
choices this word refers to. If for sustainable development they mean
the way in which the supranational organizations extend the property
and the profit on natural resources (allowing, for example, the
commercialization of renewable energy), and if the politics based on
this concept allow the constitution of new mechanisms of control and
exploitation of territories, we won’t stand for it! As students from
Turin and other Italian cities, we are organizing meetings and
assemblies to discuss and deal with all the international experiences
that have been committing themselves to the issue of the relationship
between global crisis and the crisis of the university.
We will also
discuss with people acting, like we are doing, against the crisis
and with all the movements that have risen to defend their territories
from "unsustainable" development models (such as the movement against
the High Speed Train (Tav) in Piedmont, against the construction of a
military USA post in Vicenza, against the privatization of water
resources, ragainst nuclear, etc.).. During the G8 of the universities
we will organize a national (and international!) demonstration on the 19th of May in Turin, in clear contrast to the Summit and we invite everybody to participate. The assemblies will begin on the 17th of May. During this day we will discuss with the movements risen in defence of the territory, the common goods, etc.
On the 18th will
take place the debate organised by Edu Factory and dedicated to the
university and crisis of the university, its transformations, global
crisis and students movements.
During the same night we will focus
on the international issue with speakers from Greece, France and all
the other countries that want to participate.
Programme (in Italian, but with a cool photoshop collage)
