Brazil: Combative Student Resistance at the University of São Paulo
Imagen de cabecera: estudiantes confrontan las fuerzas represivas que intentan desalojar la ocupación estudiantil en los bloques K y L de Administración Central de la Universidad de São Paulo (USP).
On June 8, dozens of students from the University of São Paulo (USP) occupied buildings K and L of the Central Administration on the Butantã campus to protest the worsening conditions of the student dormitories, the conditions in the university dining halls, the crackdown on the strike, and the cancellation of transportation support for Education and teaching degree students attending the 4th National Meeting of Education Students (ENEPe).
Shortly after the protest began, university security guards and military police stormed the building in an attempt to evict the students. At least six students were arrested.
The occupation was described as a “new leap forward” by the Marimbondo Independent Front, and the People’s Revolutionary Student Movement (MEPR) and Dawn of the People (AP) issued a joint statement calling the occupation “a victory for the independent and militant student movement.”
The MEPR shared a video posted by students from the Marimbondo Independent Front showing the struggle of the students against the security guards and military police:
Six security guards and a military police officer were injured. AND reports that these events were criminalized by “media monopolies and opportunistic leaders within the student movement.” The director of AND denounces that “At the core, the far right and the opportunists are united in their support for the police. They worship the police; they are their sycophants—some covertly, others openly.” The students denounce the silence of the Central Student Directorate (DCE) regarding the arrests of six students at USP.
The students’ struggle at USP has received numerous expressions of support from various student organizations. The São Paulo Executive Committee of Education Students (EEEPe-SP), the state representative of the National Executive Committee of Education Students (ExNEPe), condemned the role of the repressive forces and hailed the “independent and combative student movement.”
The Minas Gerais Executive Committee of Education Students (ExMEPe) released a video stating that the USP students “demonstrated, in practice, the highest form of student struggle and serve as an example to follow.”
The Student Union at Machado de Assis State School in Vespasiano (MG) also recorded a video in solidarity with the students at USP.
The Jataí Student Collective at the Federal University of Frontera Sur (UFFS), Chapecó campus, stated that “no right is won without organization and combat.”
The DCE at the UFFS Laranjeiras do Sul campus also expressed solidarity with the “heroic and combative occupation of buildings K and L” and condemned the role of the repressive forces.
At the St. Thomas Aquinas Academic Center (CASTA), students in history, geography, philosophy, and social sciences courses at the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) denounced “the silence of the DCE and the entire opportunistic student movement that sought to criminalize the occupation.”
The DCE of the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR) praised the occupation on the very day of the protest, and saluted the “USP students who today set an example of determination and independence by carrying out this tough occupation strike.”
The Remís Carla Collective, affiliated with the Education program at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), also released a video expressing solidarity, sent greetings to the participants in the sit-in strike, and emphasized that they “bravely resisted” police repression.
The sit-in strike at USP has sparked strikes at other Brazilian universities. At Unicamp (State University of Campinas), students occupied the General Administrative Office on June 8, the same day as the occupation at USP. This occupation is taking place amid the strike that began on May 18.
At UFPE in Recife, more than 30 students occupied the office of president of the university on May 25 and secured transportation for the delegation that will participate in the 43rd ENEPe.
A Nova Democracia is the source of all the images used in this article.
