Autonomous School Zurich

Autonomous School Zurich and Association Education for All ; (ASZ / BfA)
purpose	School as a political action
Chair:	collective
Establishment date:	2009
Seat :	Zurich
Website:	www.bildung-fuer-alle.ch

The Autonomous School Zurich (ASZ) is a migrant education project in Zurich . Free German courses make up a large part of school activities. Other projects are also taking place, such as our own newspaper, plays, caricature courses, exhibitions, readings, concerts, etc. The ASZ has existed since 2009 and is organized jointly by locals and migrants. The Autonomous School is registered as an association under the name Education for All (BfA). It is currently located at Sihlquai 125.

aims

The ASZ sees itself as an emancipatory project. By this she understands the development of independent acting and thinking. She rejects the concept of integration because for her it is synonymous with forced adaptation to the country's culture. She is also critical of multiculturalism because she sees in it tendencies to conceal social power relations and to exoticize the foreign. As part of the right to stay movement, she calls for global freedom of movement for all.

Didactically, it follows the tradition of critical pedagogy and refers to Paulo Freire . The courses should be learning processes for course participants and moderators alike, and not just one subject should be learned together, but rather “a critical understanding of political, economic and social conditions should be worked on”. In doing so, reflection and practice should go hand in hand, because the aim of the ASZ is to change social conditions.

activities

In December 2012, up to 200 course participants attended the German courses. Around 40 volunteers were actively involved in the project. The courses are attended by migrants with different residence statuses, but mainly by asylum seekers and undocumented workers . The Autonomous School is thus one of the few educational opportunities that asylum seekers, for whom no German course is financed by their community, and sans-papiers are accessible. All courses at the school are free. However, assistance in managing the project is expected.

In addition to the German courses, there are also discussion events, concerts, craft courses or courses in other languages. This allows teacher-student roles to be reversed. For the theater performance WG Babylon , the ASZ worked with the Zurich University of the Arts and the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee .

The ASZ regularly takes part in demonstrations, participates in political alliances and organizes political actions itself, e.g. In November 2012, for example, a protest march to the editorial staff of the free newspaper Blick am Abend after the latter incorrectly reported that 60 percent of asylum seekers were HIV-positive.

Paperless newspaper

The ASZ publishes the paperless newspaper once or twice a year . The authors should support each other with their knowledge of conflict areas, cultural backgrounds, spelling, graphics and article design. The aim is to create a counter-public to what is perceived as racist reporting in the established media and to be a publication where migrants can speak for themselves. Issue 5 of February 2013 appeared as a supplement to the weekly newspaper .

history

Occupation of the Predigerkirche in the center of Zurich by sans-papiers and solidarians, December 2008

The German courses for sans papiers emerged from the occupation of the Predigerkirche by the Zurich Residence Rights Collective. After the almost three-week occupation over the turn of the year 2008/2009, according to the school's own account, some sans-papiers expressed their desire to learn German. In a first step, the needs of the participants were determined using a questionnaire. Since the school was founded in an occupied house on Manessestrasse, the school had to move nine times in the first 14 months of its existence. From April 2010 to May 2013 the school was housed in a pavilion on the site of the old freight yard . After the forced move due to the construction of a police and justice center on the site, the activities of the ASZ (Education for All) take place at Badenerstrasse 565.

The «hiking school»

February to June 2009: The beginnings

In the first few months the project took place on a small scale. After the evacuation of the Manesse occupation, the as yet nameless group moved on to the Kasama information store and the Kalkbreite occupation. It began to turn out that for many sans-papiers the ticket costs for bus and train made regular school attendance almost impossible.

Summer 2009: Foundation of the Association Education for All and expansion of the project

As a reaction to the ticket problems, the association Education for All was founded in order to be able to collect donations legally. At the same time, the project was also broadened. From September the association held its courses in an empty school pavilion in Zurich-Oerlikon, as part of the Autonomous School Zurich. This free education project was initiated there by an occupying group called the “Moos family”, with whom the sans-papiers and activists had already lived during the occupation of Manesse.

Made headlines the statement of the cantonal Justice Director Hans Hollenstein in a report the shipment Switzerland currently on Swiss television to tolerate the German courses for the undocumented, although the law is facilitating illegal residence a criminal offense.

January 2010: Police evacuation of the Allenmoos II school pavilion

On the morning of January 7, 2010, the ASZ school pavilion was completely surprisingly cleared by a large police force. The police justified their action with a carelessly laid power line, which was inspected by a caretaker who was electrocuted. As a protest against the evacuation, which was perceived as disproportionate, activists briefly occupied the municipal school in Wengi that evening. After the eviction, the ASZ experienced broad solidarity from the population and from various parties and institutions. Just in time for the start of school in the new year, the courses could continue in the makeshift facility of the Gessnerallee theater . Soon the move followed in two other occupations, where the project could stay for a month each until it once again relied on the solidarity of a Zurich cultural institution in April: the Rote Fabrik .

2010–2013: settled down at the freight yard

The ASZ at its location on the freight yard area (July 2012)

On April 19, 2010, a group occupied an empty part of a pavilion on the area of the old freight yard and made the rooms of the ASZ and the Association Education for All available for their educational project. It was to be the first place where the ASZ could stay for a long time. The local stability led to a further increase in the number of participants. Since the project became known to the asylum authorities, they often send their clients to the ASZ instead of paying them German courses.

Winter 2010/11: Police checks in front of the ASZ

In November 2010, for the first time in the history of the school , the Zurich City Police carried out identity checks directly at the school building and arrested migrants. There were tense situations between angry ASZ activists and the police. The school protested against the police checks with several demonstrations. Many migrants no longer dared to go to school. Since discussions with the city police and the responsible city councilor Daniel Leupi , there have been no more targeted police controls in the area around the school.

Spring 2012: legalization of the occupation

In spring 2012, in view of the impending demolition, the ASZ succeeded in winning the Solinetz Zürich as a negotiating partner for the landowner SBB . The Solinetz was finally able to conclude a leasing contract with SBB, which initially lasted until the end of 2012 and was then extended until the end of March 2013. During this time, the ASZ, together with the Halgzhan Group and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, also held their first art exhibition: the respected Kurdish-Iraqi painter Ismail Khayat showed his pictures and masks at school.

2013–15: growth in temporary uses

Due to the construction of the new police and justice center, the school had to leave its location on the freight yard area in spring 2013. From the beginning of May 2013, her courses took place in the premises at Badenerstrasse 565. In addition, some ASZ activists occupied a building on the cooking area and are also offering courses there. However, this did not mean a long-term, stable solution to the ASZ's spatial problem. In the summer of 2014 she had to move again - to a temporary use at Bachmattstrasse 59. In November 2015, the school was again without a schoolhouse.

From: 2015: The long-term solution you long for

In order to finally achieve a long-term solution to the space problem, the ASZ started a large-scale campaign in autumn 2015, which received a lot of public response. For example, the Swiss television (SRF) reported on the situation of the ASZ. After public actions on Sechseläutenplatz and in the University of Zurich, as well as an online petition, which over 4,100 people signed within a few days, a solution was found with the City of Zurich in January. The ASZ can now use rooms in the property at Sihlquai 125, which is managed by the city and where it has been using rooms since November 2015 without the consent of the city. This centrally located location is initially secured until the end of summer 2018.

literature

Discussion group ASZ: Autonomous School Zurich - Education for Self-Determination. Emancipatory education in a capitalist society. In: WIDERSPRUCH: Contributions to socialist politics , No. 63, 2013, pp. 103–112.
Felipe Polania, Michael Schmitz: Education for All - A Utopia? In: vpod education policy , No. 166, 2010, pp. 38–39, ( PDF file ).
Paperless newspaper , issues 1/2010 to 8/2016.