Students draw up protest plans

Student Council will use online media to encourage students to join a demonstration against University of Copenhagen job losses, Tuesday 8 June

by Luci Ellis

As staff mull the consequences of the government’s so-called ’austerity package’, which will mean up to 700 job losses at the University of Copenhagen, a large number of students are expected to express their dissatisfaction with the cutbacks at a demonstration, and a campaign on Facebook and YouTube.

In a meeting 1 June, students brainstormed ways to get as many students as possible involved in the fight against the cutbacks.

The University of Copenhagen’s student council will demonstrate on Tuesday 8 June at 3.30pm. The meeting point is Frue Plads.

Banners and social media

As well as this traditional form of protest with banners and chants, students agreed on a Youtube video campaign.

They promise a bottle of gin to the department that gets the most students to sign up for the demo on Facebook.

On their website (in Danish) the student council writes that, »cutting back on education and research is the same as removing the income foundation for the welfare state of the future,« as »knowledge is Danmark’s future«.

Protest with a paintbrush

They call for help to paint banners in preparation for the demonstration. This creative side to protesting will take place at Fiolstræde 10 on June 5, from 12.00. There will be coffee and bread rolls.

At the meeting on 1 June, Student Council Chairperson, Anne Bie Hansen, stressed the importance of a large student presence at the demonstration:

»There are probably a lot of you who have been to the previous demonstrations, but the cutbacks we have experienced up to now are peanuts compared to what is in store this autumn if the austerity package is implemented,« she said.

luci@adm.ku.dk

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