FMPR & UPR - Bronx Resurrection Church #1 - Feliciano

Puerto Rico: Colonialism & the Struggle Against the Privatization of Education

Severe economic austerity measures have escalated under the pro-statehood Governor Fortuño. The colonial corporate-government alliance seeks to privatize public education from kindergarten to college levels. The Federation of Puerto Rico Teachers (FMPR), an independent social justice and democratic union, has challenged neoliberal policies in education with job actions and strikes in defiance of prohibitive labor laws. At the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) the student movement has repeatedly galvanized the support of labor and community against ominous tuition hikes in the successful two-month strike in the May --June 2010. These university students are currently spearheading the fight against privatization. UPR students have demanded alternative to budget cuts and a greater transparency of university finances. The government continues in its refusal to dialogue, the intensification of police repression, and the dismantling and selling-off of this prestigious public university. This intransigence has precipitated the new December 2010 the UPR student strike at the various campuses across Puerto Rico .
The teachers and the students have waged exemplary historic battles that have provided invaluable lessons. In Puerto Rico, they have contributed to a new wave of militancy and creativity within the context of the greater struggle for national sovereignty. Both in Puerto Rico and the US, these two movements have influenced a growing interest and rise in the activism and solidarity against neoliberal policies, labor rights abuses, bureaucratic business unionism and US colonialism.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• FMPR
• UPR
• Resurrection Church
• Rafael Feliciano
• Ian Camilo Cintron Moya
• south Bronx
• neoliberalism
• privatization
• resistance
• teachers
• union
• student strike