Ndifuna Ukwazi in association with Equal Education presents:
The Struggle for Education: Lessons from Chile
Date: Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Time: 17:30 – 19:00
Venue: Ndifuna Ukwazi Offices, Office 203, 47 on Strand Street
We would like to invite you to attend The Struggle for Education: Lessons from Chile. Our guest speakers Nicolás Rebolledo and Miguel Crispi Serrano will discuss the Chilean students’ movement, which is campaigning for better secondary school and higher education. Miguel is the former president of the second largest student federation, and a key figure in the building of a the movement.
The students’ demands broadly include lower fees and a stronger role for the state in ensuring that students receive equal quality education. To date, the Chilean government has responded with numerous proposals, all of which have fallen short of meeting the students’ demands. There are numerous similarities and differences between the Chilean and South African movements for better education, from which we can learn and share ideas and strategies.
The Chilean student movement has been an utterly remarkable uprising of resistance, struggle and solidarity amongst Chilean youth. Repeated protests of half a million people have convulsed the streets of Santiago. Many high school students have occupied and lived in their school classrooms for months in protest. Innovative methods of protest such as dance, mass kissing, and social media have accompanied traditional modes of mobilisation. The Chilean students have blazed a trail that we have much to learn from.
We would like to invite up to ten members from your organisation to join us at the seminar. Please RSVP and/or contact Jonathan Dockney (email: jonathan@nu.org.za, cell: , tel: ) for further information.
Sincerely,
Ndifuna Ukwazi
Equal Education
SPEAKERS
Michael Crispi Serrano is the former president of the Student Federation of the Catholic University of Chile (FEUC). The son of José Miguel Crispi and Claudia Serrano, who was Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in the cabinet of socialist prime minister Michelle Bachelet. In 2005 he joined the Socialist Party of Chile and in late 2008 topped the list of New Action University (NAU). In 2012 former NAU leaders, among them Crispi and Giorgio Jackson, decided to form a new political movement called center-left Democratic Revolution (RD), together with various stakeholders. Like NAU, RD is an autonomous movement, independent of political parties. RD aims to contest political power in Chile.
Nicolás Rebolledo is an architect (PUC, 2004), MSc. Technology Entrepreneurship (UCL, 2012). He has played a key role in the communications platforms of the Chilean student movement. Nicolás has been involved in projects involving the Internet, new digital media and publishing markets. He has founded two companies and one NGO. His work has been published in journals in Europe, Asia and South and North America, such as Domus, Casa Brutus, AMC Moniteur, 2G Dossier, The Phaidon Atlas of XXI Century Architecture and recently the Harvard Design Magazine.
DIRECTIONS
From N2:
Head along N2 to Cape Town CBD
Pass CTICC on left
Exit N2 onto Buitengracht Street
Continue along Buitengracht Street
Turn left into Strand Street
The Ndifuna Ukwazi offices are on the corner of Long Street and Strand Street.
Office 203, 47 on Strand Street
