3 - ‘We no go sit down’: CAFA and the Struggle Against Structurally Adjusted Education in Africa
Journal of Higher Education in Africa,
Vol. 6 No. 2-3 (2008): Journal of Higher Education in Africa
Abstract
This paper is a short history of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa (CAFA) since its founding in 1991 to the present. It describes CAFA documenta- tion of the formation of an Africa-wide student movement against the structural adjustment of African universities. It also details some of CAFA’s campaigns in defence of student struggles against both the World Bank’s role in propagating the introduction of tuition fees and the cutting of housing and food subsidies to stu- dents and the repressive action of the African governments against protesting students. We argue that academic freedom also includes the right to be involved in the production of knowledge and hence to have access to the means of its produc- tion. To deny Africans such a right in this period in history is to condemn them to the fate of being the damned of the earth once more and to put the ability of Africans to manage their own resources in peril.
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- Academic Staff Union of Universities, 1986, ASUU and the 1986 Education Cri- sis in Nigeria, Academic Staff Union of Universities: Ibadan, Nigeria.
- Africa Watch, 1991, Academic Freedom and Human Rights Abuses in Africa, New York: Human Rights Watch.
- Caffentzis, G., 2000, The International Intellectual Property Regime and the En- closure of African Knowledge’, in C. B. Mwaria, S. Federici & J. McLaren, eds., African Visions, Literary Images, Political Change and Social Struggle in Contemporary Africa, Westport (CT): Praeger.
- CAFA, 1991, Newsletter N.1, Spring. CAFA, 1995, Newsletter N.9, Fall.
- CAFA, 2001, Newsletter, N.16, Spring/Summer. CAFA, 2002, Newsletter N.17, Fall/Winter.
- Federici, S., Caffentzis, G. and Alidou. O., eds., 2000, A Thousand Flowers: So- cial Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
- Federici, S. and Caffentzis, G., 2000, ‘Chronology of African Student Struggles: 1985-1998’, in S. Federici, G. Caffentzis & O. Alidou, eds., A Thousand Flow- ers: Social Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
- Juma, C., 1989, The Gene Hunters: Biotechnology and the Scramble for Seeds, London: Zed Books.
- Laubscher, M. R., 1994, Encounters with Difference: Student Perceptions of the Role of Out-of-Class Experiences in Education Abroad, Westport, CT.: Green- wood Press.
- Newswatch Magazine (Nigeria), 1989, December 6.
- Pit ouse, R. ed., 2006, Asinamali: University Struggles in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
References
Academic Staff Union of Universities, 1986, ASUU and the 1986 Education Cri- sis in Nigeria, Academic Staff Union of Universities: Ibadan, Nigeria.
Africa Watch, 1991, Academic Freedom and Human Rights Abuses in Africa, New York: Human Rights Watch.
Caffentzis, G., 2000, The International Intellectual Property Regime and the En- closure of African Knowledge’, in C. B. Mwaria, S. Federici & J. McLaren, eds., African Visions, Literary Images, Political Change and Social Struggle in Contemporary Africa, Westport (CT): Praeger.
CAFA, 1991, Newsletter N.1, Spring. CAFA, 1995, Newsletter N.9, Fall.
CAFA, 2001, Newsletter, N.16, Spring/Summer. CAFA, 2002, Newsletter N.17, Fall/Winter.
Federici, S., Caffentzis, G. and Alidou. O., eds., 2000, A Thousand Flowers: So- cial Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Federici, S. and Caffentzis, G., 2000, ‘Chronology of African Student Struggles: 1985-1998’, in S. Federici, G. Caffentzis & O. Alidou, eds., A Thousand Flow- ers: Social Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Juma, C., 1989, The Gene Hunters: Biotechnology and the Scramble for Seeds, London: Zed Books.
Laubscher, M. R., 1994, Encounters with Difference: Student Perceptions of the Role of Out-of-Class Experiences in Education Abroad, Westport, CT.: Green- wood Press.
Newswatch Magazine (Nigeria), 1989, December 6.
Pit ouse, R. ed., 2006, Asinamali: University Struggles in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.