The 180 Movement for Democracy and Education is dedicated to helping build a campus-based movement for political empowerment and participatory democracy. Through education and organizing we hope to encourage a radical political presence in our schools to transform them and our communities into truly democratic spaces.
We oppose corporate control of the university and society, inequitable and disempowering elementary education, shrinking access to higher education, and the racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of systemic oppression in our world. We support all efforts in these and other struggles for democratic empowerment; the focus of our organizing will evolve in practice.
Our goal is to help build a mass movement to reinvigorate a political culture of engaged democracy and social justice in our schools, in our communities, across our country and beyond.
Campus Democracy:
The 180/Movement for Democracy and Education stands in opposition to the corporatization of education, and for a 180 degree turn towards democracy. By organizing campus-to-campus, the members of the 180/MDE intend to unite students, campus workers, and all working people in asserting democratic authority over our schools. We are a campus union engaged in a series of struggles, both for immediate improvements in the lives of our members, and also for a change in power in the governance of our schools, and of our society.
Education and Globalization:
Education is a main target in the increasing corporate globalization affecting the world. These forces include: The `structural adjustment` programs of the International Monetary Fund [IMF] and the World Bank; The General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS] undertaken via the World Trade Organization [WTO]; regional trade authorities [APEC, NAFTA, FTAA, etc.]; institutions and foundations which promote neo-liberalism at the national and local levels; and the transnational corporations themselves in their direct interventions into education. 180-Movement for Democracy and Education works to unite students, campus workers, and community members in opposition to the forces behind the corporatization of education and society.
180/MDE stands in solidarity with the millions of people worldwide fighting the corporate takeover of education. We support the UNAM students in their strike and will continue to remain opposed to GATS corruption of the education sector. The freedom from corporate dominance of education is one of the last stands, and we`re making it together.