Action alliance against tuition fees
The Action Alliance against Tuition Fees (ABS) was created in April 1999 as a protest against the lack of determination of the then red-green federal government of Germany to implement its election promise of a nationwide ban on tuition fees . The programmatic platform of the ABS is the “Krefeld Call”, which fundamentally advocates a comprehensive exemption from fees for university studies . It states in particular:
“Tuition fees are to be rejected for societal, social and educational reasons. They do not solve a single problem, but exacerbate the crisis in the education system. "
So far, over 300 organizations have joined the ABS by signing the Krefeld appeal. The student representatives involved, including the student umbrella organization fzs , represent around 1.7 of the more than 2.0 million students in Germany. The ABS is a broad social alliance that includes the Education and Science Union (GEW), political youth and university organizations (e.g. Juso university groups , Campusgrün , alliance of left and radical democratic university groups ), the Union of Democratic Scientists (BdWi ), the Bundesjugendwerk der Arbeiterwohlfahrt, the Evangelical Student Community and, as individuals, a number of scientists.
At the plenary meeting in summer 2006, the alliance decided to respond to the introduction of tuition fees in several federal states with the "Hattinger Declaration" . This policy paper confirms the position and the advocacy against any form of fee-financed study.
activities
The ABS can be found in student strikes , collections of signatures and protests against tuition fees. In addition, ABS is one of the voices in the media fighting against tuition fees. The ABS has also been invited to hearings of parties and parliaments as an expert organization and initiates and accompanies political and legal disputes in the field of tuition fees, social access barriers to the disputes about the actual enforceability of the right to demonstrate and assemble in protests on this topic.
In addition, together with the alliance partners, it develops campaigns against restructuring and the social exclusion of sections of the population in the education system. The Jena Declaration, adopted in Jena in August 2013, adheres to a fundamental criticism of all education fees such as "long-term, second degree, senior, guest student, further education or administrative fees", opposes neoliberal reforms in the education system and connects them with one fundamental criticism of capitalism and the rejection of the “ debt brake ”. She closes with the words:
"The foundation for an emancipatory understanding of education can only be laid through a comprehensive reform of the education system."
In January 2016, at the general assembly in Würzburg, a renewed appeal against education fees was resolved with the Würzburg signal. In addition to renewing the criticism of long-term tuition fees and fees for students from non-EU countries, the Thuringian red-red-green coalition is called upon to abolish the fees and charges classified there in 16 different areas. According to the paper, the universities would collect a total of 8.3 million euros a year.
No new management was elected at the last general assembly, and there is also dissent with the fzs about the financing of current and past activities of the alliance. As part of the protests against tuition fees, especially in Lower Saxony and Bavaria, the alliance is in a phase of reactivation. For example, an open letter was published against tuition fees in Bavaria. In the future, the ABS wants to deal more with the “non-traditional fees” such as those for students from non-EU countries, long-term fees, administration fees or for further training offers.
structure
The ABS does not maintain its own infrastructure, but uses the possibilities of the organizations that support it. The fzs keeps the account of the alliance; The ABS office and its postal address are also located there, while the student association uebergebuehr from Hessen hosts the website. Except for special campaigns, the alliance is mainly financed by the student bodies.
Managing directors
The campaign alliance against tuition fees had a management until 2011. The managing directors were:
| Managing directors | Term of office |
|---|---|
| Olaf Bartz | 1999-2001 |
| Christian Schneijderberg | 2001-2002 |
| Klemens Himpele, Markus Struben | 2002-2003 |
| Klemens Himpele | 2003-2004 |
| Sascha Vogt , Ernest Hammerschmidt | 2004-2005 |
| Jochen Dahm, Amin Benaissa | 2005-2006 |
| Frederik Dehnert, Christiane Schmidt, Mike Niederstraßer | 2006-2007 |
| René Held, André Schnepper | 2007-2008 |
| Jessica Castro Merino, Malte Clausen | 2008-2009 |
| Christina Schrandt, Alexander Lang | 2009-2010 |
| Amin Benaissa, Nadine Berger | 2010-2011 |
| organization | |
| Kurt Stiegler | 2013- |
| Press work | |
| Kai Inboden | 2014-2015 |
| Kevin Kunze | 2015- |
| Fundraising | |
| Johannes Struzek | 2014– |
The general assembly of November 6, 2013 decided to set up a “working committee” of three people, responsible for organization, press work and fundraising, in order to promote a structural improvement and reactivation of the alliance. The committee has been leading the alliance since March 2014, succeeding the previous management.
Coordinating body
There is a coordination body (ABS-KO or KO), into which alliance partners are elected, for networking between the alliance partners, planning campaigns and other content-related work. It is determined anew at each assembly and represents the organizations united in the alliance. The following organizations are currently part of the KO:
AStA Uni Hannover, AStA Universität Frankfurt, Juso-Hochschulgruppen, AStA Universität zu Köln, AStA Universität Marburg, Student Council University Jena, KTS , GEW-BASS, free association of student bodies
General Assembly
The plenary assembly has the task of confirming new allies, electing the management and the KO and (further) developing the political principles and advising on larger political-public actions. The general assemblies take place every six months.
Sponsoring association
The sponsor of the campaign alliance is the sponsoring association of the campaign alliance against tuition fees eV based in Darmstadt .
Support association
In the course of efforts to establish a (legal) structure independent of the alliance organizations, a development association was founded on February 29, 2008, which later traded under the name “Association for the Promotion of the Right to Education” for tax reasons. The planned structure turned out to be not registrable at the registry court in Berlin-Charlottenburg and the intended public benefit could not be achieved. Therefore, the establishment as an independent structure was initially not pursued any further.
Publication about the ABS
- Klemens Himpele, Torsten Bultmann (ed.): Tuition fees in the social debate. 10 years alliance against tuition fees (ABS): review and outlook . BdWi-Verlag , Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-939864-07-3 (290 pages).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jena Declaration
- ^ Action alliance against tuition fees: statutes . Accessed March 11, 2017.