Occupation Protests against Cuts at the University of Helsinki

On Wednesday, September 16th Prime Minister Juha Sipilä went to unforeseen lengths to convince the Finnish people of the need of full-on austerity measures by televising a 15-minute monologue in the vein of Urho Kekkonen, the hallowed leader of his Center party. At the same time, the University of Helsinki board had decided on and published the need to cut 1200 university jobs by 2020. The decision is a direct result of the attack on research and higher education brought on by the current government that plans to slash a whopping 20% from the total funding of the University of Helsinki. Two days later, 30000 people demonstrated against the government's proposed measures to cut overall wages through legislation. Later in the afternoon, when the immense crowd on Rautatientori had dispersed, a group of 200 began the occupation of Porthania, one of the main buildings of the university and home to the Faculty of Law, in a peaceful but purposeful demonstration looking for ways to act against the decision of the board.

The more famous 'Stick Innovations Up Your Ass' -sign is MIA.

The occupation continued until October 26th in Porthania with assistance and sympathy from janitors and faculty, showing similar mentalities as the US Occupy movement, especially in its adherence to consensus practices. On the first day of the demonstration, much of the crowd was seemingly leftist, some anarchist, but so far the occupation has not appeared to be controlled by any old-school political agenda, striving instead to become a grassroots movement that could unite students, scholars, and other university workers to persevere and fight against the trying times that loom ahead.

So far, activities have included several General Assemblies outlining the goals of the movement (more on those below), a soup kitchen, a library, renaming Porthania into Hall of Innovations, and various discussions on topics close to the spirit of the occupation. Support has rained on the occupation from abroad as well, for example, from the Free University of London, philosopher Simon Critchley of The New School in New York, and Wendy Brown from UCLA Berkeley. Furthermore, after the occupation of Porthania ended, the Arabia campus of Aalto University followed suite.

I talked to Teivo Teivainen, Professor of World Politics, about how the university has ended up in this drastic situation. He does not rule out the possibility that the suggested cuts to 1200 university jobs might serve as a foghorn at the Finnish government, signaling what austerity measures fully mean when directed at institutions of higher education. At the same time, he finds problematic the way decision-making in the University of Helsinki has been changed from a three-way bottom-up model to an authoritarian top-down system, where the rector and board of the university have the final say. According to him, the university board hammered through the decision to move into the authoritarian model, even when it did not enjoy support among the ranks of professors.

Concurrently, Teivainen sees that there are several elements in the Finnish government that explain its stance towards universities and especially the University of Helsinki. First of all, there's the combination of ignorance and anger toward the academic elites – especially expressed by some True Finn MPs – but also a fair share of regional politics. In a way, it is no surprise that a government led by the traditionally rural Center party directs a major share of cuts to the biggest institution in Helsinki.

In addition to this background, Teivainen connects the government's current plans to an overall privatizing agenda. He sees in the government's measures a partially unspoken of goal of reorganizing the whole university system in Finland. Through such “shock therapy” it might be easier to introduce forms of payment, privatization, and a dissolution of departments and branches of science that do not function in a way that directly benefits governmental goals. He does not think that the current government is hostile toward education as such, but has an agenda based on a certain set of beliefs. Teivainen is still hopeful that the National Coalition Party could be made to understand that this is not the way to develop the universities. Their platform has been, at least traditionally, one of those with a strong emphasis on education – even if their stance, for example, towards universal basic education has not always been the most liberal.

So far, the Occupation has reached consensus on three primary goals in their vivid General Assemblies. First, the opposition to austerity in general as well as the against cuts to education in particular. Second, demanding the return of direct democracy and the bottom-up decision-making to the whole system of education. Third, an agenda guiding institutes of higher education that is based on education and culture politics rather than the needs of companies, product development, and commercial innovation. Furthermore, they are actively pushing towards a general strike that would spread from the universities to high-schools and more.

With the overall debate about austerity and negotiation attempts between labor unions, employers, and the government going on, it is unclear when the occupation starts to see results from its first days of activism. Already, it is the longest occupation at Finnish universities and seems to be still gaining momentum. There will be a time when politicians need to take this movement seriously and reopen the discussion on their plans to maim Finnish civilization. A 15-minute TV-monologue will not be enough.

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