DECLARATION OF THE PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS OF THE EASTERN CAPE
UPM media
DECLARATION
OF THE PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS
OF THE EASTERN CAPE
We the undersigned organisations, movements and individuals hereby declare our support and solidarity for the students of the University Currently Known As Rhodes (UCKAR) who are engaged in the historic Fees Must Fall struggle. We believe it is our duty to stand with our students who are waging an important struggle for the emancipation of the black, working class and poor people of our society.
Most importantly, we can no longer stand on the side-lines while our students are being brutalised daily for their unwavering commitment to the cause for free, quality, decolonised education. The police presence and general militarisation of universities in general ,and UCKAR, in particular is an unwelcome and disastrous development. Universities must be free spaces where dissent and the battle of ideas can flourish so that we are constantly improving our society. With the heavy police presence and their heavier tactics of brutalising students, the vision of the university as a free space is quickly being shut-down.
The police were deployed at the UCKAR without the knowledge and consent of the SRC, the wider students body, workers and academic staff members. This was a decision of the UCKR management and the state. The deployment of the police has escalated tension and has rendered UCKR a war zone. On the 18 - 19 October 2016 the police declared a state of emergency at the campus and no students was allowed to walk freely at night after 22:00. Students were locked inside the Union Building and could not leave the room. Remember some of the students were writing exams during that period. Police have been shooting at both the students and academic staff unprovoked. Journalism lecturer, Brian Garman and many students have suffered serious injuries. Some of the police are smelling of liquor. We have also witnessed students collapsing due to recklessness of the police. The police are threatening, attacking and arresting students and others who are not involved in any protest action. This is a completely unacceptable.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of the police from UCKAR. The demilitarisation of the campus must be acted upon with extreme urgency. We have seen that the police presence on campus only heightens tensions and leads to violence, injury and trauma. From the first time that the police were called on to they campus, when they brutally attacked peaceful students, the situation has only got worse. It is imperative that the university urgently halt all functions, sit down with students and seriously work on creating peace and calm on campus. The rapid securitisation of the campus with cameras everywhere and a hideous cage at the entrance to the library must be reversed. A university cannot look like a prison. It must be a free public space.
We acknowledge that some of the actions of some protestors have been unfortunate. But while we urge all protestors to think carefully about strategy and tactics it is vital to also note that there was no violence or destruction of property on this campus until the police were called in by the management. Violence was introduced by the police and the police were introduced by the management.
The struggle for free, quality, decolonised education is a most just one. In a country with a history of the under-development, deliberate impoverishment, exploitation and oppression of the black majority free education is a necessary and urgent step. The emancipation of the black, working class and poor majority will not come through the rubber-bullet, the stun-grenade, tear gas and arbitrary arrest but through accessible, quality education that is meaningful and speaks to the black experience.
Furthermore, we support the following demands of the Fees Must Fall Movement:
1. The state must provide free, quality and decolonized educational system at tertiary level.
2. The racist, colonialist culture, policies and approach to issues of students' governance and academics must be radically transformed.
3. All racist and colonialist symbolism including statues and names must be done away with including the Institution’s name, residence names and all art work and symbols of racist and white supremacty domination must be done away with.
4. Withholding the June 2016 results of students must be abolished as it denies them the opportunity to track their academic progress.
5. The management of Rhodes University must withdraw and cancel the interdict and all legal actions against students arising from the interdict.
6. The police must unconditionally and immediately withdraw from Rhodes University, stop harassing students and political activists and stop unleashing violence, intimidation and arrest of students.
7. All legal and disciplinary action taken against students by the university must be withdrawn immediately.
8. The Final examinations must be suspended until January 2017 in order to create conditions conducive for effective studying and writing.
9. Remuneration, benefits and institutional power of the lower grade workers must be radically improved and given an equal voice and power over university functions and governance.
10. The University must take its role in greater Grahamstown more seriously and become a beacon of radical transformation of our city and society.
Our declaration must be seriously taken by management. It is also a declaration of the ownership of UCKAR by the people of Grahamstown and the Eastern Cape province, represented by the organisations, movements and individuals undersigning this document. We want the university to know that the people of Grahamstown fully support the students. We want the university to know that their struggle is ours. UCKAR's history is steeped in the violent oppression of black people. It must radically change that history and become a beacon of hope for our people. Ending the police brutality and militarisation and working toward the goal of free decolonised education is a necessary step!
Unemployed People's Movement
Masifunde Education and Development Project Trust
United Front
Fees Must Fall
Young Women's Forum
Inyanda National Land Movement
Rural Women's Movement