A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #361 - The University of Brest, between apathy, repression and (small) reactions (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Courant Alternatif has already published an in-depth article on 
universities (see CA no. 344, "French Universities in the Age of 
Neoliberalism" ) and reported on the 2025 university movement (CA no. 
350: "(Small) Movements in Universities" ). ---- In this article, I 
report on the current situation at the University of Brest (UBO: 
University of Western Brittany), which is characterized by a general 
apathy in the face of the attacks it has suffered, but also by attempts 
at resistance that are taking place despite the existing repression.

Apathy
As detailed in the CA articles cited, UBO is bearing the brunt of the 
state's disengagement. There are currently 2,500 staff members and 
20,000 students. The staff is divided between teaching staff (1,400 
colleagues, 33% of whom are on fixed-term contracts) and administrative 
and technical staff (1,100 colleagues, nearly 50% of whom are on 
fixed-term contracts). In short, the university is becoming increasingly 
precarious, and this situation is set to worsen. The university 
administration, led by a president as authoritarian as he is responsible 
for the decline of public services, is willing to implement the 
financial policies imposed by the state: reducing the number of tenured 
faculty, increasing the number of contract staff (who cost less), 
closing programs, and so on.
Opposition to the current policies is primarily voiced by unions, each 
representing only a few dozen colleagues at most. The union landscape is 
typical: an offensive front led by the CGT, SUD Education, and FO (some 
key members of these unions are affiliated with revolutionary, 
Trotskyist, or anarchist organizations), and a class collaboration front 
led by UNSA (the majority union among administrative and technical 
staff) and CFDT (the President's union, though it can sometimes oppose 
him). Finally, there's a swamp comprised of... SNESUP, the higher 
education and research branch of the FSU, which represents many 
teachers... but never actually does anything. On the student side, UBO 
is dominated by FédéB (a branch of FAGE, a student union similar to the 
CFDT for staff) and the Pirate Union (which is rather close to LFI). The 
more proactive staff unions try to mobilize whenever they can... but 
with limited success. On March 10th, all higher education and research 
unions called for a national day of action. This was echoed by five 
unions at UBO (CGT, FO, SUD, CFDT, and UNSA) through a general assembly 
held during union information hours (i.e., during working hours): 25 
colleagues were present, 15 of whom participated remotely (there are 
many remote sites). This represents a pathetic turnout of 1% of 
colleagues, especially considering the number of union members. In 
short, there is widespread apathy. Consequently, working conditions are 
deteriorating, suffering is becoming more widespread, and interpersonal 
conflicts are increasing.

Repression
The government is pursuing a policy of stifling any attempt at 
resistance: a bill aims to make even the slightest attempt to mobilize 
staff or students on university campuses punishable by fines; a recent 
circular allows for the prohibition of any "political" meeting on 
campus. As an extension of this policy, university presidents are 
increasingly calling on the police to remove any attempt to occupy 
university premises. It's worth remembering that the police can only 
intervene on campus with the president's approval (this is known as 
"university autonomy"). Therefore, until a few years ago, it was rare 
for a university president to authorize police intervention on campus. 
Today, this is becoming widespread. But, for the past few months, 
university presidents have not only been calling in the police as soon 
as there is any sign of movement, but they are also preemptively closing 
campuses before any mobilization takes place. For the 10/09/2025 
movement, various universities closed their buildings... including 
Brest, which closed the Faculty of Arts and Humanities on the Segalen 
campus, located in the heart of Brest. Similarly, this campus was closed 
on 18/09, a day of mobilization called by the unions, under the pretext 
that the demonstration passed by the campus. Anyone familiar with Brest 
knows that all demonstrations pass by this campus... except for the one 
on 18/09, which, for once, had a route far removed from the campus. In 
short, the goal is to stifle any risk of mobilization. Even more 
absurdly, on May 1st of this year, the director of this site announced 
at 7:00 a.m. that the faculty would be closed (as if we were going to 
work on May 1st) along with the parking lot, which angered colleagues 
who were driving to the demonstration because the parking lot is very 
convenient.
Furthermore, repression in French universities has taken a more radical 
form in an attempt to break any solidarity with the Palestinian people. 
Dozens of students have been accused of complicity in terrorism, notably 
at Sciences Po Paris. In Brest, there has been no such movement, and 
therefore no repression. However, the CGT and SUD unions tried to pass a 
motion in the Board of Directors denouncing the research partnerships 
between UBO and Thales (accused by various NGOs of complicity in crimes 
against humanity), whose local director has not hesitated to say in the 
press, "There are wars, and these conflicts bring us activity, jobs." 
The university president refused to put the motion to a vote on the 
pretext that UBO does not engage in politics. The student branch of 
Révolution Permanente, Le Poing Levé, has had all its association rights 
revoked (including the right to organize meetings and send messages to 
students) because it published an article criticizing UBO's partnerships 
with war-mongering companies. This repression was justified as "damaging 
UBO's image." The CGT, SUD, and FO unions denounced the action, but 
without managing to spark even the slightest mobilization.
A few weeks ago, an autonomous collective, RESSAC, was forcibly removed 
from the university (by security guards, the director of the Segalen 
building, and the director of the presidential office). Legally, 
official requests must be submitted several weeks in advance to hold a 
meeting on university campus, and official approval must be awaited 
because the purpose of the meeting must align with "UBO's values." 
However, the campus, located in the heart of the city, has always been 
used by groups or collectives who use university facilities for their 
meetings. At ENIB, a small engineering school that recently merged with 
UBO (through what is known as an EPE, an experimental public 
institution), students published a satirical newspaper last summer to 
denounce the director of the INP (National Polytechnic Institute, within 
which ENIB now finds itself). The result: a lawsuit against the 
newspaper's editor (a former ENIB student). All of this illustrates an 
increasingly authoritarian drift in universities, with university 
presidents zealously echoing this trend. That said, these forms of 
repression do not explain the collective apathy, as we are still far 
from the forms of repression experienced by activists in certain 
industrial groups. These are merely pressure tactics, and the university 
community still has ample resources to organize a real response without 
fear of repression.

Reactions
There have been reactions here and there. A prime example: the president 
of UBO, who suppresses all critical expression under the pretext that 
UBO doesn't engage in politics, took it upon himself to publish a 
message in the local press between the two rounds of the municipal 
elections denouncing the PS-LFI merger list (and thus calling for a vote 
for the right-wing list). Non-unionized colleagues launched a petition 
denouncing this, which was then circulated by unions in the media and 
among colleagues. The petition garnered 300 signatures, which is quite a 
lot but reveals the colleagues' reluctance: many in the corridors said 
they were "shocked" by the president's message... but didn't dare sign 
the petition (for fear of appearing publicly opposed and subsequently 
incurring the president's wrath). But the most ironic thing was that 
this affair was covered by the national media (France Inter, France 
Info, Le Figaro, etc.) because a university president is not allowed to 
use their position to give voting instructions. And so, our president 
was grumpy because he doesn't like being mistreated by the media. This 
appeared as a small victory for the signatories.
Another, more significant reaction was the rally in support of the ENIB 
student during his trial. This case came at a time when ENIB students 
were mobilizing against the deterioration of their study conditions. 
ENIB was blockaded for three days, a historic event (however, no police 
were sent to remove them because you don't send the police against 
engineering students), and a rally of 120 people was held on the day of 
the trial. The dynamism of the students at this engineering school was 
heartening to see.
Finally, our president agreed to hold a meeting on the university 
premises, entitled "The People of Finistère Facing War: Bringing 
Citizens Closer to Defense Issues in the Era of New Conflicts," led by a 
local Socialist Party MP and the Secretary General for Defense and 
National Security of Finistère. There is a small anti-war activist group 
at UBO. The CGT, SUD Education, FO, and the Pirate Union called for a 
rally in front of the meeting venue under the slogan "We affirm our 
opposition to any war collaboration by UBO, first and foremost to any 
propaganda in this direction." Indeed, war propaganda also affects 
universities: Aix-Marseille University awards 0.5 points to the overall 
average of students who attend "seminars" organized by or affiliated 
with the military; the University of Lorraine has signed an agreement 
supporting operational reserve policies with the Ministries of the 
Interior and Defense.
This gathering attracted very few people from UBO (7 activists) but drew 
35 others (political activists or members of collectives in Brest). We 
began by demonstrating outside the meeting room, where the Socialist 
Party MP tried to engage in conversation but refused to say how she 
would vote the next day on the military programming law... prompting 
mockery. Then we entered the amphitheater, filled with 40 (older) 
military personnel (all decked out in their medals) and a few elected 
officials, some of whom were from the far right. Mixing slogans and 
anti-militarist speeches, we finally got the MP to crack, and she left, 
along with her audience, after an hour, having been unable to get a word 
in edgewise despite her attempts, all of which were drowned out by our 
slogans. Everyone was very pleased because it had become a meeting 
opposing the war and the military, in front of stunned military 
personnel and other reactionaries. As the local newspaper headline put 
it, quoting a student: "You wanted a debate with the youth, you got it." 
At least we hope that the Socialist Party and the university president 
will think twice before coming to spread pro-war propaganda on campus, 
but we mustn't ignore the very low turnout of colleagues and students.

Conclusion
For years, universities have been crushed under the steamroller of 
capitalist politics. Yet, in a city of 150,000 inhabitants, the 2,500 
staff members and especially the 20,000 students would have the 
political clout to make a real impact if a movement were to emerge. 
Moreover, the hospital is just a stone's throw from the Segalen campus; 
the much-discussed convergence of struggles could easily happen if the 
energy were there.
We're not there yet, and apathy is the prevailing sentiment. But let's 
try to be optimistic: the small-scale reactions of recent weeks offer 
hope for a remobilization, because the capitalist and climate crisis, 
the war propaganda, and the rise of reactionary ideas are not leaving 
colleagues and students unmoved, nor are they being ignored by activist 
networks in Brest (even if there's still a long way to go before this 
translates into a physical mobilization). The outlook for universities 
is catastrophic in terms of resources. Since we cannot experience it 
now, we remain hopeful that the anger, currently individualized, will 
transform here as elsewhere into a collective wave against the barbarity 
of the modern world.

A CA reader, UBO agent

https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4724
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en