Friday, December 10, 2010

المظاهرات الطلابية في لندن

لم أستطع من أن أحجب فضولي لحضور المظاهرات الطلابية في لندن، خاصةً وأنها بدأت بدق الطبول ولعب الموسيقى، كما سترى عزيزي القارئ في لقطات الفيديو الملحقة بالمقالة. أجواءٌ سعيدة و تراقص على أنغام الموسيقى و روح حماسية مليئة بمشاعر متناقضة و متناثرة. المتظاهرون يبتسمون و يضحكون و يشجبون و يغنون، مما جعلني أتذكر أجواء المظاهرات في مصر ولكني لا أتذكر أن الموسيقى والطبول كانت تصتحبها! الطلاب في المظاهرة كما سترى عزيزي القارئ في لقطات الفيديو لا يشعرون باليأس و قلة الحيله، بل يشعرون أن هناك من يسمعهم، يشعرون بقدرتهم على الظغط. فالصوت لا يرتفع للتنفيس عن الغل والكبت بل يرتفع لبث الحماس وإظهار الرفض.

التعليم العالي في إنجلترا الأن في صدد قرارات تاريخية، قد تغير من مسارة إلى الأبد. فالسياسات المطروحة لإصلاح التعليم تشمل زيادة مصاريف الجامعات من الحد الأقصى 3,290 جنيه إسترليني إلى 7,000 جنيه إسترليني و ذالك لتفيذ سياسات التقشف الناجمة عن الأزمة المالية العالمية. الطرح يستند على منطق المحافظة على جودة النظام التعليمي في إنجلترا بزيادة مصادر دخلة و تفعيلاً لتنافسية التعليم بجعل الطلاب يشاركون في دفع المصاريف بدلاً من دعمها من الحكومة بشكل مركزي، مما يفقدها حافز التنافس. المصاريف ستفرض على الطلاب على شكل قرض أجل دفعة لحين التخرج من الجامعة و دخول ميدان العمل براتب لا يقل عن 21,000 جنية إسترليني في السنة. مما يعني أن القرض سيدفع بشكل شهري كما تدفع ضريبة الدخل.

المجتمع الطلابي في إنجلترا يرفض مبدأ خصخصة التعليم و يعتبر الدعم الحكومي الحالي حقاً لا يساوم فيه. كما يرى المجتمع الظلم في هذه السياسات على الطبقة الفقيرة التي سيفرض عليها ضريبة تعليمهم لمدد طويلة. هل سينجح الطلاب في الضغط على الحكومة، كما نقول في مصر "هنشوف."








3 comments:

  1. i can honestly not see what their problem is !!! what is wrong with a young person aged 22 or 23 spending the first few years of his/hers life paying the price of having a good education !! in egypt we suplement the government with parents who are obliged to pay for their kid's education which doesn't seem fair - and people with limited means receive a "free" education which is worthless at best !! i think they should concentrate on making sure that the "law" is sound - meaning that the job market should be flourishing to accomodate them and that all the details are ironed out ie what would happen if they cant get a job ? would the debt be suspended till they do ? are they expected to pay it out of the dole ? etc etc etc

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  2. Seif,

    I had to comment on this because I believe that you perspective on these demonstrations is biased, seeing as we all have this built-in "3o2det el khawaga", leading us to believe that anything that happens in the "West" must be better than anything we have ever had in Egypt.

    First of all, just because a demonstration has some nice music playing does not mean that this is a civilized demonstration. In fact, the demonstrations were more violent than any forms of protest that we have seen in Egypt for at least a couple of decades.

    Secondly, the attack on Prince Charles' motorcade proves that these people have a lot of bottled up anger. What exactly made you feel that these demonstrators do not feel despair?? I happen to think that the only reason a British person would attack a monarch in such way would be because this is their last hope at getting what they want.

    I do not think that they feel "heard" or that they represent a "strong pressuring force" as you mentioned. The violence of their protests proves the weakness of their position, especially that all analysis on this issue points towards a near impossibility that the government retracts the tuition hikes.

    Misho

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  3. I appreciate your opinion very much Micho. You are definitely right. I am biased and I have not captured the violent moments in the demonstrations. Also did not join in the hitting of Prince Charles, thought might be worth saving energy for hitting others!!

    I may disagree though on being affected by 3o2dat el khawaga. I did not say that the demonstrations were more civilized or less civilized. All I tried to say that the relaxed environment, at the beginning of the demonstration at least, had some indications.

    This in my opinion, that may be wrong, be an indication to being less frustrated and more at ease. And also in my opinion frustration comes mainly from the lack of capacity to influence. The capacity to influence is not necessarily a veto power. i.e. You might have a big stake in a policy, this does not meant that you have the final say.

    In my opinion the student community in London could be categorized more as rebellious rather than frustrated. Extreme rebellion could lead to violence and extreme frustration could also lead to violence, but rebellion is a much healthier state.

    Actually as a matter of fact there is a whole literature developing to question the minimizing role of research and universities in public policy in the UK. So the situation in London is not ideal in anyways.

    I may also differ with you on the level of violence point that you mentioned. This demonstration was violent at the end, but not more violent than our protests. I guess the difference here is the source of the violence, i.e. coming from the protesters or from the security.

    I really appreciate your feedback and happy to have triggered you to comment.

    Seif

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