Colombian Students Mobilise Against Education Reforms
Click here to access article by William Lloyd George from Upside Down World.
Natalia Amado, a student leader, says they are not rebels. “We are not just protesting for the sake of it,” she says untying a colourful flag from her back. “Colombia needs decent public education so the masses can attend universities, it is their right.” She added that the introduction of profit-making universities would mean that the public universities would be neglected and important subjects like humanities would most likely be dropped for business-minded studies. “This would really damage our society,” she says.
In an otherwise good report on a neo-liberal attack on higher education in Columbia, I don't understand why this alternative news source parrots the words of mainstream propagandists. In this case I'm referring to the use of the word "reforms" in the title and throughout the article. Here is a standard definition of the word "reform":
Noun
- A change for the better; an improvement.
- Correction of evils, abuses, or errors.
- Action to improve social or economic conditions without radical or revolutionary change.
The writer instead uses a newspeak definition of the word commonly used by ruling class media to obscure measures which benefit their class at the expense of working people, or in other words, that benefit the one percent to the disadvantage of the 99 percent. Whenever you see the word "reform" used by ruling class media, you must assume that it is bad for you.