Mexico: 60,000 March in Solidarity with Student Strikes

MEXICO, September 30 — Students from different colleges that are part of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico went on an indefinite strike and led a large demonstration of more than 60,000 students and workers from several universities to support this struggle. On September 24, the former General Director of the IPN had imposed new study guides and regulations, which not only undermine IPN student rights but also open the door to make higher education more technocratic and reduce the quality of education at the intermediate level. In addition, these changes not only affect students but also teachers and workers in general.
In spite of the significance of the demonstration, the IPN General Director failed to respond. The government Secretariat immediately agreed to a dialogue, and promised to give a positive response to students. Politicians, however, such as Osorio Chong, Government Secretary, and the parties they represent, are the capitalist class’s loyal servants, and always advance their class interests over those of the working class. Proof of that is the “Human Resources Strategic Program for Energy Matters.” Public Education Secretary Emilio Chuayffet  and the officials Pedro Joaquin Coldwell (Economy Secretary) and Emilio Lozoya (PEMEX) claimed, “we must train 135,000 energy experts in the next four year.”  However, “8 out of 10 graduates will have technical profiles or vocational careers, while 20 percent will have higher training or postgraduate education.” To respond to the demand for qualified cheap labor the federal government will offer 60 yearly “scholarships” and will transform educational curriculums… (Eje Central.com.mx 10-9-2014)
The attacks on education are not only taking place at IPN and other universities in Mexico, but all around the world. Students in Spain are fighting against cuts in education and education reform at the high school, college, university and polytechnic level (La Jornada, 3-28-2014).
In Chile students are fighting for a free, quality and public education (Pacarina del Sur: revista de pensamiento crítico latinoamericano, 10-12-2014).
The objective of the capitalist class is to privatize education, which means that a handful of millionaires will own the educational system to turn it into a commodity. Primarily, education is also the most important means of exerting ideological control of the workers; public and private universities are capitalist ideological factories.       
The imperialists and their governments are not willing to invest more in education; the money, product of the taxes all workers pay, is used to purchase weapons and hire soldiers to fight for the control of markets through wars with other countries.  Imperialists, after all, want to increase their profits and expand their businesses by eliminating other imperialists. That’s why our struggle must be geared toward the construction of a new society where education is designed to develop the working class.
To struggle for reforms alone creates fascist, individualistic and racist conditions that divide the international working class; it only offers a temporary solution and the conditions to attack workers at the point of production. That is how bourgeois dictatorship disguised as democracy works: it imposes its laws, ideology, economic and political interests; when this strategy fails it resorts to an open military dictatorship through fascism.
The attacks on education are global; our goal should be to build working-class unity internationally, to confront capitalist attacks and destroy their system. We can only achieve this goal with an anti-electoral, revolutionary, international party like PLP.