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Night of Solidarity with student struggle in Puerto Rico
LatinaLoca - 10.03.2011 23:27
Friday 11th of March the Puerto Rican community in the Netherlands is organizing an info/discussion evening on the year long student protests against neoliberal reform in Puerto Rico.
The "Amsterdam Night of Solidarity with the University of Puerto Rico" is part of the WORLDWIDE DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE UPR.
Come to learn about the history of this University's struggles and find out more about the long resistance that the UPR student movement have uphold against the new neoliberal catastrophic reforms.
Despite that the present struggle at the UPR, which has lasted almost one year, has been violently attacked by the militarization of the campuses (with police, riot squads, SWAT teams, helicopters and snipers), as well as the violent arrest of hundreds of protesters, and the prohibition and penalization of ‘any type of public expression', the university’s
resistance movement has proved to be consistent, strong and in constant transformation. This activity pretends to stimulate a discussion that connects the UPR experience with the present international context of University movements resisting similar neoliberal attacks, hoping to pay particular attention to the present Dutch situation. This is a call to conscience and historical memory. Come to show your solidarity and share your experience!
When: March 11, 2011
Where: Café Budapest (at the ‘WG terrein’) Pesthuislaan,
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Doors open at 18.30, discussions starts at 19:30
Damage: none.
Language: English and Spanish
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| Lees meer over: Agenda | | aanvullingen | | Press release | LatinaLoca - 10.03.2011 23:31
PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
15 cities join the World Day of Solidarity with the University of Puerto Rico
March 10, 2011
On Friday, 11 March, at least sixteen cities across Europe and the Americas will witness demonstrations and acts of solidarity with student protesters at the University of Puerto Rico. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the Pedro Mir Library of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and the Boston Square Commons in Massachusetts, USA are some of the largest concentrations expected on this, the World Day of Solidarity with the UPR. Other cities include New York, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Manchester, England.
Groups in Madrid and Granada in Spain, and San Francisco and San Diego, California have joined the international initiative to support Puerto Rican students who for more than a year have been struggling to defend public, accessible and quality higher education against neoliberal policies and police repression executed by Governor Luis Fortuño.
The event seeks to frame the turmoil at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) as part of a global struggle. University cities like San Diego, students at the University of California will link the UPR struggle with their own claims, and those of students in Manchester, England, where a building is currently being occupied to protest the rise of enrolment fees. Historic sites linked to the Puerto Rican diasporic communities, such as Spanish Harlem in New York and Paseo Boricua in Chicago will also see manifestations of the worldwide day of solidarity.
This March 11 marks the 40th anniversary of the bloodiest single day in the history of the University of Puerto Rico, when the main campus at Río Piedras was occupied by the police forces, unleashing violent confrontations that ended the lives of two police officers, including the then chief of the notorious Tactical Operations Unit, and one student. Barely a year before that, on March 4, 1970, during a student demonstration, student Antonia Martínez Lagares was shot dead by police. These tragedies influenced a series of decisions that helped reduce the intensity of on-campus conflicts during the following decades, including the removal of the United States' Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), and an institutional commitment to resolving conflicts without police intervention. By recommendation of the island’s governor Luis Fortuño and Río Piedras Rector Ana Guadalupe, police forces returned to University of Puerto Rico’s 11 campuses last December, to quell any form of organised public demonstration.
Activities tomorrow are varied and will include: lectures, photographic exhibitions, artistic and musical events, marches, documentary viewing, and talks. Other cities where solidarity will be observed are Barcelona, Spain, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Santa Ana, California, Amherst, Massachuttsets, and Madrid, Spain and Holguin, Cuba.
For more information on World Day of Solidarity with the UPR, you can visit the website,  http://redaccion-pr.net/ and event page on Facebook, "March 11: International Day of Solidarity with the UPR.
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