FIRST STATEMENT TO THE NATION
Consejo General de Huelga
March 25, 1999
In the last years the government has cancelled the most significant social
rights for the Mexican nation, such as the social security, services of public
health,the labor rights and the land possession, impelling a series of
privatization policies. It is exemplified with the proposal of sale of the
electrical industry. It is in this context where the initiative of the increase
of quotas registers promoted by Barnes director.
In a country where 50% of the Mexicans live in the poverty and
where six of each ten Mexican young people between 20 and 24 years, they do not
have a fixed activity to make, because only 14% are enrolled in some
institution of superior education and only 26% are located in the formal sector
of work, is unacceptable the economic course by which we have journeyed these
last years. The best example of the economic direction that has followed our
country was the approval, in September of 1998, of the initiative to turn into
public debt the expenses derived of the financial rescue from the banks; with
the reorientation and the budgetary cut of 1999, derived from this great
national fraud it was mainly affected the headings of social attention.
Before this we affirmed that the proposal to break with the principle of
gratuitous university in the UNAM, is part of a project that looks for to
reconstruct our institution, to still more modify its social composition and
its public aims.
We are against the quotas because:
1. It represents the poor care that the State takes on its responsibility to
grant gratuitous superior education, even though thus is briefed in the 3�
constitutionalist article.
2. They were approved authoritarian, behind the back of the community by means
of an irresponsible action of Barnes director.
3. The quotas only means the 0.78% of the annual budget in the first year of
their application (considering that all paid their quota) with which
demonstrates that it is a measurement that does not solve any financial
problem of the institution and neither any problematic of academic order.
4. The superior education already is paid by everyone with the taxes. If they
increase the quotas it will create a precedent against this right. The
collection of quotas means a double payment by a constitutional right.
5. It is an initiative originating of international organisms like The OECD or
the World Bank, who have like main interest to diminish the social cost of the
underdeveloped countries.
6. Transparency in the handling of the resources in the UNAM does not exist.
The diverse frauds that have been committed against the university are public.
The university patronage (the one in charge of the economic resources of the
UNAM) is an instance controlled completely by the university authorities with
which
any guarantee of the transparent handling of resources and the criteria of
budgetary allocation does not exist.
To this, the student movement declares:
1. The decision taken by the authorities does violence to the university
legality, lacks legitimacy and against it the student movement will act.
The director is acting with deep political irresponsibility in order to impose
a measurement that implies a very high social cost for the university. The
civil employees of the UNAM bet to the individualismo of the students and that
was its first defeat. Ours it is a shared in common movement with the
generations that come.
2. The UNAM must respond to the interests of the Mexican nation and not to the
ones of a group of civil employees.
Whereas Barnes director tries to direct to the university as if it was a police
quarter, we have constantly demanded open and public dialogue; we have made
multitudinal assemblies; more than 35 thousand voices we demanded to be
listened in the second manifestation; we stopped the classes in 18 schools to
be able to discuss with our companions. Nothing concerned the director, he has
responded with the imposition mounting a whole police apparatus to protect its
advisors, striking to professors and students. They photograph and they film to
those who thought different from the director, threaten to us with the jail and
the expulsion from participate and they even organize "porros" to attack to us.
3. El movement is in ascent.
As an answer to this climate of provocation, the conviction to defend our
university is growing. In agreement the discussion in the schools is developed,
more and more companions add themselves to the fight because we have the
reason.
Yesterday they were added to unemployment, in addition to the participants at
March 11, the Faculties of: Accountant, Medicine, Engineering, Chemistry,
Architecture, preparatory 4, 7 and 8, the National School of Music, the
University Center of Movie studies, the Center of Ecology, as well as other
organizations that were declared in active unemployment.
Therefore, we demand:
To the federal government:
- Inmediate increase to the budget destined to the education and superior
education in individual.
To the director of the UNAM:
- the derogation of the general regulation of payments.
- the democratization of the government system of the UNAM.
- the retirement and stops of the sanctions to the students who have
participated in the student movement.
- the dismantling of the police apparatus that has mounted in our institution.
- the derogation of the modifications to the inscription regulations,
permanence and evaluation made in June of 1997.
- the nonimplementation of the EGEL and the elimination of the unique
examination of entrance.
Strike as a last resort
Barnes has closed all possibility to the dialogue. Before the negative that has
shown the civil employees of the UNAM do not leave another resource that the
General Strike. We did not forget that was by means of a university strike as
the university obtained its autonomy and were also through a strike as in 1986
it managed itself to back throw the reforms that Carpizo had imposed.
With the unemployment day of yesterday we put to discussion of all the college
students, the exploding of the general strike in the UNAM. We are making the
greater effort to add everyone to this movement and to begin the most supported
and strong strike of the UNAM.
From today we put to discussion of the schools to demand the resignation of
Barnes, we cannot allow that it is a police and not an academic the one that
directs to the Maxima house of studies of the country.
We summoned all the social organizations, to all the college students of the
country, to the primary and secondary teachers, to the electricians and all the
workers to unify the resistance, to unite all of us to stop the project of
country that the government is imposing.
This declaraiton was published in the newspaper "La Jornada", page 16 at march
25, 1999.