Manifest in defense of Brazilian Federal Universities
Brazil has a system of federal public universities that offer the population free access to college education, to attend graduate’s, master’s and doctoral courses. This educational system also has affirmative actions for the access of students that come from low-income backgrounds, public schools, black and indigenous and people with disabilities. The reservation of positions via quotas is a public policy that directly affects the lives of many individuals, as many of these people are the first in their families to have access to College Education and better material living conditions. It is worth remembering that such affirmative action policies are the result of the struggle of black and indigenous movements for access and rights due to the colonial history of exploitation and slavery, which resulted in structural and racial inequalities that persist to this day.
The fascist government of President Jair Bolsonaro has made several cuts in the public budget, as well as dismantling in other state sectors while also emphasizing that our scenario today is the epicenter of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. The pandemic, however, is not the only problem for the return of in-person classes. The assessment is that even if the entire Brazilian population were vaccinated, many federal universities would not be able to open due to lack of funds for basic bills such as water, electricity, security and general maintenance, as well as scholarships, student access and student permanence programs.
As commented by the deans of the Institute and the Federal Universities of São Paulo, “the budget of the federal universities in 2014 was R$7.4 billion. Assuming correction only for inflation, the expectation for 2021 would be R$ 10.4 billion, but the reality is R$ 4.5 billion. In the case of institutes, in 2021, the levels of 2010 were returned, when the number of students was half of the current one.”
We ask for your support by signing with full name, institution, city and country, field of work/research and e-mail so that we can publicize and put pressure on the government against the cuts, in defense of the free and quality public universities!
We launched this manifesto recalling the support for the politically persecuted during the years of civil-military dictatorship in Brazil (1964/1985), such as the international solidarity with those killed by COVID-19, the demonstrations against the black genocide in the Brazilian favelas, the struggle in defense of the Amazon and indignation and search for justice for the murder of Marielle Franco!
Our fight also adds to these!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE MANIFEST!
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