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Poster making session on Wednesday!




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Hello everyone:

We have scheduled a poster/placard making session for the Protest against
the political repression committed by the Mexican riot police against
student strikers of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM).

When:		Wednesday, February 8, 2000
Where:		Graduate Students Association (6th floor University Centre,
Carleton University)
Time:		6-9 pm

* please bring any postermaking materials that you can*

For further information please e-mail: 

Stuart Ryan: sryan@ccs.carleton.ca
Soha Al-Haddad: sahaddad@ccs.carleton.ca  (you can also reach me at 236-9188)

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Background info re UNAM Strike:

On Sunday the Ministry of the Interior sent in riot police to end the
nine-month student strike at the Autonomous University of Mexico. Some 500
students and supporters were arrested. 

The police action was taken on the breakdown of negotiations with the
leaders of the strike last week. 

While the mainstream media in Canada is saying the ending of the strike was
peaceful, TV coverage on CBC news Sunday night showed otherwise. Parents of
the arrested students were shown accusing the government of ruining their
children's lives. 

The strike began over an increase in tuition hikes, but as the strike
progressed, the demands grew. The Mexican government, in response to the
peso crisis of 1998, made drastic cuts to its funding of universities and
imposed restructuring of the university system. 

The student demands were in response to this restructuring:

1. Elimination of the automatic pass - if you don't have a certain grade
average you will be told what degree to pursue - at present due to reforms
only those finishing within 3 years and with a grade point average of 9
may make their own choices
2. The elimination of what they call illegal fees as a result in the cut
of government funding and the elimination of the new limit of time to
finish their university career - an extension of 1.5 years would improve
the situation greatly.  At that point 36.6% of students could be given the
opportunity to complete their degrees
3. The elimination of the vigilante forces and the extra police presence
that is
monitoring those who are organizing and those taking part in protests and
student activities
4. The creation of a democratic congress who will fairly represent the
situation of the students and will restructure the administration/decision
making mechanisms - at present students have only 26 representatives for
270,000
students - students are not taken into account when management decisions
are made.
5. Students should recover all lost classes during the strike (9 months worth)
6. The severing of the university's ties with Ceneval - a private corporation
put in charge of running the university structure-in terms of who
gets in, where do they go and what they do when they are in. Ceneval is
charging students fees for a test that has to be taken when they complete
High School. Most people are poor and often as a result are allocated into
programs of a technical nature. Ceneval is not providing students with the
ability to choose their own degree programs.



------------------------------------------------------------------
CANADIAN GRADUATE COUNCIL 
2137 Union ST Windsor Ontario N9B 3S7 
http://www.cgc-cces.org/index.html 

Soha Al-Haddad
Vice Chair of Administration 
e-mail: sahaddad@ccs.carleton.ca
6th Floor, University Centre
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario
(613) 520-2600, ext. 8270
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------------------------------------------------------------------
CANADIAN GRADUATE COUNCIL 
2137 Union ST Windsor Ontario N9B 3S7 
http://www.cgc-cces.org/index.html 

Soha Al-Haddad
Vice Chair of Administration 
e-mail: sahaddad@ccs.carleton.ca
6th Floor, University Centre
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario
(613) 520-2600, ext. 8270
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