Strike at USP: Director of FFLCH criticizes students – 09/22/2023 – Education

Paulo Martins, 61, says he is exhausted and depressed. Since last Monday (18), the director of the FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences) at USP (University of São Paulo) has faced a strike at the unit, which seems far from over.

The strike began among students and affected many teachers and staff. Students complain about the lack of teachers and the cancellation of subjects. That’s why they decided to invade and occupy classrooms for one night on Monday (18). Did not work. The buildings were locked at 7pm, and the police were called.

It was Martins who gave the order to close the buildings of the unit, the largest at USP. A Sheet he states that he learned about the students’ plans and feared that the buildings would be destroyed. He further says that he could be accused of prevarication if it remained inert.

He considers that it may have escalated at some point in the case, but emphasizes that it is his duty to protect public assets. For this reason, it is not considered making any retraction regarding the episode, as requested by the FFLCH academic centers.

Coming from the student movement and affiliated with the PT (Workers’ Party), he criticizes the former’s contemporary methodology. “Here [na USP]left-wing boys use the same weapons as the Bolsonarist right: they offend and naturalize the use of force”, he states.

“The gang locks and chairs for whatever reason”, he reports. “In my time, strikes were discursive, not physical.”

Exchange of insults

The closure of FFLCH caused outrage among some of the students, who went towards the unit’s management to protest. Martins was at his home, in Jardim Marajoara, in the south zone, when he received a call from his secretary that students were threatening to invade administration rooms, where almost century-old documents are kept. He immediately took a taxi towards Cidade Universitária, which is located in Butantã, west of the city.

He claims to have been received by a kind of Polish runner. “When they saw me, they started shouting: ‘Paulo Martins, fuck off. FFLCH doesn’t need you'”, he says. “I came across a leader of that movement and said: fuck off, damn it. Do you want to mess with me?”, he continues. The scene was recorded.

Doctor of classical letters, he says he is embarrassed. But he considers that the reaction he had is normal for a cornered human being.

“They can’t attack someone like that. I’m responsible for a unit with 15 thousand students, 400 teachers and 300 employees”, he declares. “These are days of deep sadness. I thought I had done everything wrong. These guys are from cancel culture. It kills.”

Arrival of new teachers

After the start of the strike, USP began sending daily emails to students about hiring teachers — in addition to FFLCH, students from other units also joined the strike. The rector, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior, 61, recorded a video on the subject, in which he states that the university has never worked so hard to hire teachers.

According to USP management, 879 vacancies have been opened since 2022. Of these, 70 were addressed to FFLCH, which has already held ten competitions.

Martins says there is an internal dispute in the unit over positions. First, each of the unit’s departments presents its demand to a committee made up of representatives from all of them. The positions go to those most in need.

Then, there is an internal dispute in each department, between the courses. In the Modern Languages ​​department, for example, French, English, Spanish, Italian and German are fighting for new teachers.

“I am subordinate to this entire process. I have no power to order anything”, says Martins, who promises that he will do everything possible to carry out the remaining 60 competitions until the end of his term, in September of next year.

For him, given the current situation, the current strike is meaningless. Sees it as a generational problem. “It’s the desire to be a USP, to be an FFLCH, to shout,” he says. “I was like that too. I understand. You just can’t tell the teacher to get fucked.”