GEO Stands in Solidarity with Students March in Pakistan

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), stands in solidarity with recent student protests across Pakistan over multiple issues pertaining to the country’s higher education system.

In the last few weeks, students in Pakistan’s federal capital, Islamabad, have held protests against the lack of on campus residential facilities. The protests started after the city administration announced an eviction drive targeting student-tenants living in private residential facilities. The student-tenants, belonging to multiple universities, have rented out living space in residential areas due to a lack of such facilities on their campuses in the city. In their protests, they have urged the authorities in the country to recognize the problem of the student housing shortage and devise a solution instead of proceeding with the eviction drive.

In a separate incident at the University of Balochistan in the Pakistani city of Quetta, students have complained about harassment and blackmail by university administrators. Accusations have surfaced that some administrators have used video recordings of security cameras to blackmail students. The ensuing protests have highlighted that such acts are a gross violation of students’ privacy and dignity and demanded action against the perpetrators.

The GEO believes that graduate students share similar concerns across the globe insofar as the university is an institution of higher learning that promotes knowledge and research on the basis of critical inquiry, regardless of national borders. For the university to serve these crucial functions, it’s necessary that access to higher learning remains affordable and that students are provided with basic facilities like housing, transport, classrooms, technological aids, etc.

In this regard, the GEO expresses support for a student march, scheduled on November 29, announced by progressive student groups that have come together under the banner of the Students’ Action Committee in multiple Pakistani cities. The march organizers have linked the recent protests to a general neglect of the higher education sector in the wake of neo-liberalization of Pakistani economy, carried out since the 1980s at the behest of International Monetary Fund and World Bank mandated Washington Consensus policies. This has led to budget cuts and privatization of the higher education sector, with accompanied stratification between a small group of elite universities and a large number of subpar higher education institutions.

The situation of higher education sector in Pakistan isn’t unique. Many countries have faced similar conditions in the wake of forcible neo-liberalization of their economies. In the United States, we’ve suffered similar funding cuts across public-sector universities, particularly in the humanities and social science disciplines.  Graduate Students throughout the University of Illinois system are all too familiar with the struggle against austerity in higher education, as UIUC-GEO and our sister union UIC-GEO have both gone on prolonged strikes in the past two years in response to such measures.

This signals a global crisis of higher education, which mandates a global response by students to reclaim the university for the pursuit of knowledge and research, and not to serve private interests of capitalist investors and their backers in state institutions and governments.

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, represents approximately 2,700 Teaching and Graduate Assistants on the UIUC Campus. In November 2009 and in February 2018, over 1,000 GEO members and allies participated in a strike to secure a fair contract and more accessible UIUC campus. With an active presence in the community, the GEO continues to work for high-quality and accessible public education in Illinois.

For more information, please contact geo@uigeo.org. More information can also be found on GEO’s website at www.uiucgeo.org.

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