Outside Manchester University's Students' Union
Around 4000 students and workers protested against the education and public sector austerity cuts in Manchester today. The demonstration was raucous, vibrant and – above all – lacking in direction. Originally intended as a rally for young workers, the demonstration evolved into a national march called by NUS and the TUC after NUS refused to back a demonstration scheduled in London for the same date, labelling it as “the wrong tactic at the wrong time”.
The scheduled route was straight along Oxford and Wilmslow road to a rally in Platt Fields Park in South Manchester. Quite what use a march away from the city centre towards a quiet park is supposed to be, I’m not sure. Neither were the protesters chanting “why are we standing in a field?” during the closing rally.
Plenty of Trade Union banners on the march
There was a good Trade Union presence on the demonstration, including UNISON, the UCU, Unite, the NUT, the PCS and NASUWT. The organised left was represented by the usual suspects, as well as the smallest and strangest of the left-wing groups: the Communist League, the WRP, the SPGB, the SEP and even the Sparticist League. There were plenty of school and college students, mainly protesting about the scrapping of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), the cuts to Connexions and the hiking of University fees. A group of young people dressed as clowns also appeared, unintentionally discrediting a serious political protest.
Young people marching past a student halls of residence
One recurring theme of the demonstration was the growing anti-government resistance in the Middle East and North Africa, with placards bearing the words Walk Like An Egyptian or solidarity messages in Arabic. There were also Egyptian flags flying alongside communist, syndicalist and -bizarrely – pirate flags.
Shortly after rallying outside the University of Manchester’s School of Nursing, NUS President Aaron Porter was accosted by angry students. He left, but was followed down Oxford Road by a break-away group of around 400 demonstrators shouting “students, workers, hear our shout! We want Aaron Porter out!” and “Aaron Porter we know you, you’re a fucking Tory too!” After being stopped by police, the break-away group rejoined the main demonstration. Porter did not return.
The Daily Mail labelled the incident a “vicious racist attack”, after one anonymous (possibly non-existent) photographer reported that students were chanting “Tory Jew scum” at Porter. The Daily Mail reports that Porter was driven to his office in the University of Manchester Students’ Union (he didn’t have one when I worked there), when in fact it was the foyer of Manchester Metropolitan Union. It’s not like the middle classes’ hate rag cares much for factual accuracy. Besides, it’s no wonder that the Daily Mail likes Aaron Porter. He helps keep the students’ movement soft and spineless.
“You’re a Tory too” sounds awfully like “you’re a Tory Jew”. I was there and didn’t witness any anti-Semitism. I have also scoured the video footage for the same.
The front of the demonstration
The march down Oxford Road was lively and peaceful, with demonstrators chanting “Egypt, Egypt, everywhere”, “Tory scum, here we come!”, “Banks get bailed out, we get sold out!” and “David Cameron can’t you see, we’ll bring you down like Ben Ali”. There was excessive policing, with a helicopter overhead and police horses. Frustratingly, UNISON members marched with vuvuzelas. There’s not always enough money for strike funds, but plenty for gimmicks it seems.
One of many Egyptian flags
In Platt Fields Park
The rally at Platt Fields Park was interminably dull, with the usual succession of Trade Union bureaucrats informing the listeners that cuts are bad. There were representatives from the TUC, NUS, UCU, the Fire Brigades’ Union and the British Youth Council (met, rather unsurprisingly, with shouts of “Who are you?”). Only Manchester’s Labour MP, Tony Lloyd, was local and there had been no attempts made to invite local anti-cuts groups, workers or students to speak. Tony Lloyd is a relatively good MP – the emphasis on the relative – but he didn’t go down well, narrowly dodging an egg thrown from the crowd. Unite’s General Secretary, Len McCluskey, was due to speak but failed to make it to the rally.
Aaron Porter chose to forgo his speech at the rally, with Shane Chowen, NUS Vice President for Higher Education, taking his place. He was forced off the stage before finishing, unable to speak above the heckling.
During the speeches, several hundred protesters formed the second break-away demonstration of the day, heading to the city centre. It’s unfortunate that it had to happen like this. The march should have gone through the city centre in the first place and rallied in full view of the public, rather than in an almost-deserted park. The excessive length of the rally coupled with the cold January air decimated the rest of the demonstration. The final speaker, UCU’s Sally Hunt, addressed only a couple of hundred people.
Why the Anger at NUS?
The NUS red fist, irony not included
It’s not news to students that NUS isn’t a real Union: in fact, many see it was far more of a playground for future politicians than a protector of students’ interests. It’s also worth remembering that despite it’s name, NUS isn’t even supposed to be a union of students at all. It’s a confederation of Students’ Unions. You can’t really be a member of NUS, only a member of an affiliated Students’ Union. For most students, its only relevance is providing a student discount card (formerly free, now charged for). The NUS doesn’t even support free education.
Aaron Porter isn’t a student now. He hasn’t been a student for over four years. He wasn’t even one of the students affected by Labour’s introduction of top-up fees. Porter isn’t President of the NUS because he cares about students- he’s in it to be the next big thing in the Labour Party (despite standing as an “independent” in elections, Porter is a member). It’s a well-trodden path. Jack Straw, Charles Clarke, Phil Woolas, Stephen Twigg, Lorna Fitzsimmons and Jim Murphy were all NUS Presidents who went on to become Labour MPs. The previous NUS President, Wes Streeting, gave up his consultancy job at PricewaterhouseCoopers to become a Labour Councillor last year.
Porter’s response to criticism by students and left groups was published in The Guardian. Porter wrote: ”While I am certain that those who wrote the pieces care passionately about these issues, they represent few people other than themselves”, before labelling his critics an “unrepresentative, self-aggrandising minority, in pursuit of their own fringe agendas”. Not exactly a way to make friends.
Aaron Porter is also the co-author of the NUS “blueprint”, a graduate tax proposal that was supposed to present a viable alternative to student fees. Unfortunately, Porter’s proposed tax wasn’t proportionate. The poor graduates would pay a much higher percentage of their wages than the rich. Not to mention the over-45s who would be required to pay a percentage of their fees up front.
Aaron Porter shouldn’t fear for his physical safety on a student demonstration- but he shouldn’t feel welcome either. Inspired by the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, plenty of young people have grown tired of self-serving bureaucrats and careerists, more interested in selling a discount card than representing students’ interests.
