Statement of Solidarity from the Comisión Internacional de la CAE in Barcelona

Dear Students of the New School in Exile,

I am writing from the Barcelona student movement against the implementation of the Bologna Process, representing the International Commission of the CAE (Student Assembly Coordinator for the assemblies of the four Public Universities of Barcelona), to demonstrate our solidarity with you following the brutal repression of your building occupation.

The sheer quantity of police and police vehicles, not to mention their methods of intimidation, has shocked and disgusted us. However, we must bear in mind that an action of this scale, surreal and out of proportion in contrast to the peacefully protesting students inside the building, shows the institutions’ true face. They are alarmed by the nature of our demands, by our organisation, by the connections we are making and the knowledge we are sharing. They repress us with their base brutality, the last cries of a dying beast, we fight back with the powerful creativity of our movements. They will always be on the defense, because we are the people and we are mobilising against their failing system.

As you may know, we recently suffered our own eviction, of the 4 month-long occupation of the historic building of the University of Barcelona (UB), the largest and oldest university in the city. The riot police, with their helmets, truncheons, body armour and guns entered the building at 5.30am on the 18th March 2009, when 53 of us were sleeping inside in pajyamas. It was sneaky, no media cameras were inside, and there was violence (denied, of course) against which we are taking legal action, however we saw no tear gas or pepper spray. Hopefully our international correspondences will prepare us for repressions on a greater scale, such as those you are experiencing.

We urge you to continue organising and mobilising yourselves. They aspire to intimidate us, to drive us back with fear, but we are fighting for too much to be stopped by something so basic.

Finally, we’d like to add that we take inspiration from movements such as yours, where, despite the dangers, you persevere and don’t retreat into ignorance and comfort. Don’t stop fighting!

Yours in solidarity,

Comisión Internacional de la CAE

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