Af: Niklas Zenius Jespersen, aktiv i HUMrådet
I over en måned har studerende over hele Pakistan protesteret imod indførelsen af online undervisning i et land hvor flertallet ikke har internetadgang. Studenterbevægelsen, der har samlet sig om sloganet #SayNoToOnlineClasses, kræver at staten enten sikre alle studerende adgang til online undervisning eller i stedet udskyder undervisningen til det igen er sikkert at studerer fysisk. Nu får de pakistanske studerende støtte fra studenterbevægelsen i Danmark, hvor HUMrådet på Københavns Universitet har vedtaget en støtteerklæring!
Støtteerklæringen fra HUMrådet, der repræsenterer over 8000 studerende på Det Humanistiske Fakultet på Københavns Universitet, kommer på et vigtigt tidspunkt, da studenterprotesterne i Pakistan bliver udsat for voldelig undertrykkelse! Vi opfordrer vores læsere til at følge HUMrådets eksempel og tage sagen op i andre dele af Elev- og Studenterbevægelsen, samt i Arbejderbevægelsen og på venstrefløjen, og foreslå lignende støtteerklæringer.
Læs mere om protesterne i Pakistan i vores tidligere artikel: ”Støt de pakistanske studerendes kamp for lige adgang til undervisning”
HUMrådets støtteerklæring er blevet godt modtaget i Pakistan, hvor en række studenterbevægelser allerede har bragt erklæringen på deres facebooksider, heriblandt Revolutionary Students Front, Progressive Students Federation i Islamabad-Rawalpindi og BNT – Bevægelsen af Unge Arbejdsløse/Berozgar Naujawan Tehreek. Ligeledes har Socialistens pakistanske søstermagasin, Asian Marxist Review, bragt erklæringen på forsiden af deres hjemmeside.
Læs den fulde støtteerklæring fra HUMrådet på KU her (på engelsk):
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HUMrådets støtteerklæring til de pakistanske studerende
Letter of support for the Student Action Committee (SAC) from the Students’ Union of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen
“Since 1984 student unions have been banned in Pakistan, and even though the issue has been raised several times through the years, protests in different ways are still a valuable and necessary tool to fight for this change. Such protests should not be met by violence and arrests from the local authorities.
Furthermore, we have seen the introduction of online classes during the global outbreak of COVID-19, which impacts the availability to education in a socially skewed way. Large parts of Pakistan are without electricity and internet, which results in the inability of especially the students from poorer backgrounds to participate in the online classes. Large protests have recently tried to make this issue known, for instance under the hashtag and slogan #SayNoToOnlineClasses where students in more than 30 districts have tried to make their voice heard. Sadly, some of these protests have been met with violence, as seen in Quetta on June 23, where several protesters were beat with batons and subsequently arrested. These violent repercussions are especially problematic, as Pakistan has a past with ‘disappearing’ students, torture and otherwise horrible treatment of protesting students.
We ask that the students of Pakistan receive the necessary relief packages to support them in the current situations, as we have seen in several other Pakistani industries.
We implore the Pakistani authorities to not maltreat the students. We implore the Pakistani government to listen to the students. We implore the Pakistani people to support the students.
Students’ Union of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen.”
