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International Conference
Defends Education
by Dan Kaplan
An "International Conference Against War and In Defense of Public
Education" was held in Paris last June 13-15. I was a delegate to
the conference from the CFT, and a co-convenor, along with French
teacher unionist Jacques Paris (who spoke at the last CFT Convention).
There were delegates from 21 countries present at
the Conference. In addition to adopting a Conference Appeal (see
text below) the conference delegates made several decisions.
It was decided to condemn the U.S. invasion of Iraq
and to demand the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from
occupied Iraq. At the same time, the Conference demanded that workers'
rights be respected in Iraq.
The Conference decided to establish a Continuations
Committee that will be based in San Francisco. This Committee will
publish an ongoing bulletin to document the attacks on public education
around the world. The first issue of the bulletin has just been
published in French and is now in the process of being translated
into English and Spanish.
The Conference also decided to publish a Black Book
on the world-wide attacks on teaching and the dismantling of public
education systems around the world as soon as possible.
The network established by the Conference must obviously
go beyond the 21 countries that were represented at the Conference.
Education unionists and public education advocates across the United
States and from around the world are invited to get involved in
the work of the Conference Continuations Committee.
Conference
Highlights
Some of the highlights of the Conference Declaration include:
We are raising a cry of alarm: With the extension of war throughout
the world; with the destructive "reforms" and counter-reforms in
the schools, in healthcare, in Social Security; and with the destruction
of workers' and peoples' rights, the very basis of human civilization
is threatened.
What we want for the workers and the peoples of the world is peace
and justice ó not bombs and misery. We want schools, hospitals and
public services ó not war budgets. We want democracy, not domination.
Everywhere, in all countries, the very institution of public education
is threatened. We are faced with:
- Cutbacks in public expenses, in particular those designated
for public education, which is threatened with elimination.
- Privatization, denationalization, and schools subjected to the
guidelines of the private sector or even of churches. There is
a concerted effortópromoted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization
and the European Unionóof developing a world market of education
in the framework of the General Agreement on Trade of Services
(GATS). The undermining of free and compulsory education is becoming
generalized.
- In certain countries the public education system has been completely
destroyed (Bangladesh, Mali). In Haiti, education and all public
services have been replaced by Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs), which have no responsibilities and are totally unaccountable.
In Mexico, where education is public, mandatory and free, the
successive budget cuts have reduced the portion dedicated to education
to 0.5% of the GDP (private investment already represents 3% of
the GDP). The application of the system of education vouchers
in the United States, whose logic is to purely and simply put
an end to the public financing of the schools, indicates clearly
that the same policies are being applied everywhere.
Child Labor:
A True Disaster
Currently there are 250 million child workers (under the legal minimum
working age), in total contradiction with convention 138 of the
International Labor Organization (ILO). Half of them, that is to
say 125 million children, have never seen a classroom. This situation
even reaches the developed countries. To give those children an
education would cost US $13 billion a year. This sum is equal to
the money spent on military expenses in only four days. According
to official statistics, nearly a billion human beings are deprived
of the right to read and to write.
In Defense
of the Norms of the ILO
ILO Convention 142 (along with ILO Recommendation 150), which
deal with the valuing of human resources, affirm that the signatory
states will develop complete and concerted orientation and professional
training programs. They establish that "these programs will help
all people, on equal footing and without any discrimination, to
develop and use their professional aptitudes in their own interests
and according to their aspirations." For this reason we decided
to alert labor organizations to speak out against the proposed revision
of ILO Recommendation 150, scheduled for 2004.
Public Education
is not a Rescindable Right
The struggle in defense of public education can only be carried
out in total independence from the IMF, the World Bank and the international
financial institutions. This is so, because the multinationals see
a market in education of US $2.2 trillion dollars a year, a market
that today largely escapes them. We are opposed to the privatization
and dismantling of education in any form.
For more information on the conference, contact Dan
Kaplan.
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