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Earlier this month, SAIH-Tromsø sent three of its members to participate in the national spring gathering outside Oslo in Røyken.  The event lasted from April 13-15th and was packed full with information, strategy, and lots of fun!!

The first night started off with getting to know each other.  There were over 70 from the local chapters, the central office in Oslo, SAIH’s member organizations, and our guests from Zimbabwe and Belarus!  After dinner, our guests gave presentations about the situation for students in their respective countries.  First, we heard about the work that one of our partner organizations in Zimbabwe, Student Solidarity Trust does.  Next we listened to representatives from different student groups in Belarus and learned about the challenges that they face as students living in Europe’s last dictatorship.

The next day began with a sneak-peek into SAIH’s strategies and goals for this fall’s campaign.  We also received a deeper picture of the situations in Zimbabwe and Belarus.  After lunch, we went on a tour of the 5 countries that SAIH works in and learned about some of the organizations and programs that SAIH supports.  After dinner we had a debate about the Kony 2012 campaign.

Sunday was a relatively light day in contrast to the rest of the weekend.  We received a report on the board’s progress to this point in the year, and heard about what they were planning on doing from now to the fall.  We then broke into groups for specialized workshops to give the local chapter activists some relevant skills.

The evenings were spent socializing around a bonfire on the beach (or inside for those that got cold) and were a great opportunity to meet people from other local chapters, share experiences, and trade new ideas as well.

All in all, it was a great weekend and really energized those that were there to get to work!  We’re already looking forward to the fall gathering and eagerly planning our next event.  Thanks to the central offices for doing a fantastic job organizing and putting everything together and to everyone who took part!

SAIH has released a report on systematic attacks on academic freedom in Zimbabwe entitled “The Language of the Police Batons: Attacks on Teachers and Students in Zimbabwe”.  Students and teachers are targeted because they are questioning and critical of society, authorities and politics.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is himself a former teacher and understands the power that they hold.  He fears them because he cannot control them.  Teachers are dangerous because they are well-educated, powerful people, that are shaping the next generation.  Mugabe’s tactics of violence and of making it economically infeasible to be a teacher in Zimbabwe has led to approximately 65,000 teachers leaving the profession in the last decade.  Laws have been passed to restrict students’ ability to organize and protest against high tuition.  Those that are able to finance their education and still protest are often expelled from school.  In 2008, schools and universities were only open for 23 days uninterrupted.  Learn more by downloading the report here!

This Thursday March 8th is International Women’s Day.  We in SAIH – Tromsø are celebrating by showing some TED Talks by women, about women.  There is a link between investing in women and a rise in economic growth, political stability, and public health.  Women are agents of change in developing countries and are innovators in the West.  We’ll be showing the talks in the student bar Bazinga (formerly known as Grillen) at 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00.  Come by and learn how women are reshaping the future!

This coming Thursday, March 1st, there will be a lecture on the education rights of indigenous peoples.  The lecture is a part of the weekly International Seminar that takes place every Thursday, 20:00, at Kulturhuset.  This week’s seminar is being organized by The Research Group on Comparative Indigeneity at the University of Tromsø and will discuss the UNESCO project Education for All, that was launched in 1990 with the goal of offering basic education to everyone by 2015.  Some of the questions to be adressed are, why is there so little participation by indigenous peoples in public education, should only indigenous peoples learn about their history, and are there any similarities between the conditions in southern Africa and northern Norway?  Join as at Kulturhuset at 20:00 this Thursday!  As always, the event is free.  Hope to see you there!!

This coming Wednesday (15.2) we will be showing a documentary about Diego Marin, a former student leader in his native Colombia that was forced to flee and seek asylum here in Norway.  The documentary is called “Wake Me In Stavanger” and will last about 35 minutes.  The movie will begin at 17:00 at the Center for Peace Studies (Nedre Lysthus).  Hope to see you there!

Next week, Wednesday 18/1, we will have our first meeting of 2012!  On the agenda is the election of a new president and planning our activities for this semester.  As always, we will be at the Center for Peace Studies, Nedre Lysthus, at 16:30.  Hope to see you there!!

SAIH – Tromsø’s celebration of SAIH’s 50th Anniversary starts next week!!  Tuesday the 16th on campus at the Center for Peace Studies (Nedre Lysthus) we will be having two lectures, followed by two documentaries.  The first lecture will be from Nils Vidar Vambheim and will focus on Education as a Transforming Agent.  Next, we will hear about The Student Struggle in Nepal from Krishna Giri.  The documentaries being shown are God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan, followed by Pray the Devil Back to Hell.  The event will start at 16:00.  The next day, Wednesday the 17th, there will be a free concert at Studenthuset Driv!!  Tromsø native Peter Estdahl, winner of the Amnesty International Songwriting Competition, will take the stage at 21:00 and will be followed by Cazadores, another popular Tromsø band.  As many students here in Tromsø know, we have been working with the campaign Student’s Fight for Democracy this fall.  We’ve received a great response from that and are very proud that there are so many engaged students here!  We want to invite everyone to these two events, not only to celebrate SAIH’s anniversary, but also to show our gratitude to the students here in Tromsø!!

In connection with SAIH’s 50th anniversary here is a video greeting from SAYWHAT, one of our partners in Zimbabwe.  Thanks SAYWHAT!!

Etter en veldig vellykket kampanje uke tidligere i måneden, vil vi i SAIH – Tromsø takke alle som deltok!  Lokallaget delte ut 500 goodiebags, 2000 flyers, 200 program, 400 kopper med popcorn, sto på stand, gjorde stunts i forelesninger, og hang opp 50 plakater!!  58 mennesker møtte opp for å se dokumentaret “Bringing Down a Dictator” og vel over halvparten ble med videre for en diskusjon med Sinisia Sikman etter filmen!!  Lokallaget holdt årsmøte 19. oktober og ser nå framover til SAIHs årsmøte 29 – 30 oktober i Oslo, SAIHs 50 årsjubileum 14 – 16 november, og markering av HIV-dagen 1. desember.  Mer informasjon om 50 års jubileum kommer snart!!  Og hvis du har ikke fått med deg alt oppmerksomheten plakatene våre har fått i år, se her!!

After a very successful campaign week earlier this month, we in SAIH – Tromsø want to thank everyone that participated!  The local chapter handed out 500 goodiebags, 2000 flyers, 200 programs, 400 cups of popcorn, stood at stands, performed stunts in lectures, and hung up 50 posters!!  58 people attended the showing of the documentary “Bringing Down a Dictator” and well over half of them stayed for a discussion with Sinisia Sikman afterwards!!  The local chapter held its annual meeting October 19th and is now looking forward to the SAIH annual meeting in Oslo the 29th – 30th of October, SAIH’s 50 year anniversary celebration the 14th – 16th of November, and the marking of World AIDS Day on December 1st.  More information about the 50 year anniversary celebration will be coming soon!!  And if you haven’t noticed all of the attention we’ve gotten with out posters this year, look here!!

Da er kampanje uke i gang!  Årets kampanje handler om studentenes kamp for for demokrati.  Studenter er ofte de første som protesterer når et samfunn beveger seg i feil retning. Derfor blir studenter og akademikere ofte overvåket, forfulgt, fengslet eller bare forsvinner.  Her er en oversikt om hva som skjer denne uke!!  Og sjekk Kampanje 2011 siden for mer informasjon om kampanjen og Bilder siden for å se lokallaget i action!

Its campaign week! This year’s campaign is about the students’ struggle for democracy. Students are often the first to protest when a society is moving in the wrong direction. Therefore, students and academics are frequently monitored, persecuted, imprisoned or simply disappear.  Here is an overview of what is happening this week!!  And check out the Kampanje 2011 page for more information about the campaign and the Bilder page to see pictures from the campaign!