In the world of today, millions of youth are forced to carry on their lives without ever going to school, or entering into a career or even learning how to read and write. An important part of these people cannot even find work or are forced into working in very low paid jobs and are having to survive in a society which forces upon them unequal conditions.
Similarly, millions of students who have completed higher education are unable to forge careers for themselves and millions of graduates who have finished their university studies cannot find work within their chosen path and thus they silently join the ever growing ‘army of he unemployed’.
For the capitalist monopolies a young population means young workers, engineers and scientists. In short, for big monopolies these kinds of highly qualified workers who carry out the ‘brain or arm work’ are what is important. The rest of the youth population are of no interest to them. Due to rapidly increasing poverty and the ever growing costs of education less and less youth are able to go to school. This is the direct result of the imperialist’s economic policies.
With privatisation, the public sector area of Education, (secondary and higher education, universities, nurseries, libraries and museums) Health, (hospitals and nursing homes) Public Transport, Waterworks, Electricity and Postal Services, Telecommunications, Media, Tourism and the likes are being used solely to maximise capital and profit. They say without any reservation that: “above all we will decrease the level of state services, we will request more self-confidence and we will want self-sacrifice from all and everyone”. The privatisation which is talked about within the framework of GATS covers all areas and sectors.
These projects which have been implemented in colonial and semi-colonial countries via IMF and World Bank programmes, have also in recent years been increasingly practised in central capitalist countries as well. The power and control of the government in relation to the market is decreasing day by day, in fact in order to make the functions of the bourgeois democracy more effective, all the power is being redirected to the monopolies. To achieve their aims of further unbridled exploitation in the 21st century they are implementing new laws and amending old ones so that the GATS projects are completed.
Currently education is rapidly being privatised. There can only be one meaning to this: education like any other market product or service will only be available to those who can afford it. The rest will be made to work as the cheap labour force. For monopolies, developments in knowledge and technology are a profit mechanism and a way to train personnel for themselves and the system. The general education of the people is becoming worse and being placed in the background. For monopolies: the assertion of ‘education for a free and just society’ carries no meaning at all. Tuition fees are being forced upon us as government policies and the poor are having their right to education violated. Thousands of university students who are unable to pay their tuition fees this year are having to cut all their ties with schooling in Europe.
In 2002, students filled the streets to protest against the new agenda of Europe and the implementations that were being imposed in relation to tuition fees. On many occasions occupations of government buildings took place. During theses protests the slogans on the banners were not only in relation to tuition fess. There were also slogans such as: “Education is not a merchandise”, “We are not consumers” and “Stop GATS”. Similar protests occurred in other parts of the world.
The plan to put education into the profit making Services sector began in the 1980’s. The first implementation was put into the agenda when Margaret Thatcher was elected. The education sector and many other public sectors were brought in line with the neo-liberal economy. The implementations affected higher education the most. Thatcher radically reduced the budget and public spending in relation to education. At the same time, the tuition fees for oversees students were increased. For Thatcher and her consorts everything had to be in accordance with the market. Therefore the tuition fees paid by oversees students had to cover all of the expenses of the education that they received.
This implementation programmed did not remain static. Within time it expanded into different dimensions. In Great Britain, the number of oversees students within the last 20 years has tripled. The tuition fees paid by oversees students make up to 7% of the annual income of universities. In fact, for some schools this figure is around 1/3 of their income. In time, the education sector transformed into a huge profit making means of trade. The education monopolies that observed these developments and profitable results began opening up schools in foreign countries as if they were opening up more factories.
The EU is in the process of developing new programmes of privatisation in relation to the education sector. Up to the end of 2005, there will be a lenient transition stage where subsidies will be given to state schools from the EU’s budget. From this date onwards, along with the private sector slowly taking control of the education system, millions of euros will be poured into the private sector in order for expand even further. Consequently the rights achieved as a result of the lengthy struggles of the working class and all toilers will be lost to capital. From now on, even the most fundamental of rights will have to be bought just like a commodity. They want to change the law so that “if you have the money – you have the rights’. In colonial and semi-colonial countries and increasingly all over the world, the foundations for a dual/two class education system are being laid down and the students will be marked accordingly. In other words, there will be those who have the money to obtain good quality education in private schools and there will be those who do not have the money or means and therefore will be obtaining second-rate education.
The attacks on the fundamental rights of the youth by way of neo-liberal economy politics is fearlessly continuing in Europe
Although it is constantly imposed upon us that the EU is the cradle of civilisation and that it has brought about the longest peace and highest prosperity for its citizens, it is not difficult to see the true characteristic of this institution behind the façade it puts forward. Especially when we consider the fact that the unemployment rate in Europe in general is on average above 10% and if we were to add to this that in Germany, which is a locomotive force within the European imperialist block, there are officially 5 million people unemployed – then we can see that the truth is very different to what they want us to believe. Of course, it is the youth which is the most affected by this level of unemployed. In Europe, on average 18% of 18-25 year olds are now unemployed. Poland which is a new member of the EU and which was promised that the level of prosperity of its citizens would increase as a result, leads in the table of member states with the most unemployed youth with 37%.
Running parallel to this unemployment, hysteria politics such as: “immigrants are coming into our country and taking over our jobs” are resulting in racism increasing underhandedly in the EU. If we take the recent youth rebellion that took place in the Paris suburbs which became a very important part of the subsisting agenda in Europe and we consider what the Interior Minister, Sarkozy said in relation to how these youths (or ‘scum’ as he used) should be dealt with and if we then remind ourselves that 215 of the youth in France are unemployed – then we can better understand the reasons behind the uprising. Mass unemployment and poverty are the direct results of the capitalist neo-liberal interests. The ever increasing level of unemployment as was demonstrated by the above statistics on the one hand and the erosion of education, health, social security and other hard earned social rights on the other hand, is causing great anxiety for the youth with regards to the future. However at the same time, the reactions against the consequences of the neo-liberal policies are also increasing.
Especially in France and Germany, where the implementation of new laws within the education sector and the attacks against the youth have not been left unanswered. The youth have responded by taking occupation of schools and organising demonstrations and protests, however they have been ineffective. This is because their response comes about from its own accord or because it is led by NGO’s whose policies are to dissolve this response within the system. One thing is certain, as long as these reactions and uneasiness continues among the youth, actions similar to those in the Paris suburbs will reoccur. In time, these reactions will find the leadership which will channel it to the right places. However, what is important is for anti-fascist and anti-imperialist socialist masses to join in these actions and to take control of the youths reactions.
