Showing posts with label students fees riots U.K.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label students fees riots U.K.. Show all posts

Monday, January 3, 2011

15 years old English school student speaking about his generation







Void Network publishes here an inspired speach of a wonderfull 15 years school student speaking about his experience of participation to the riots against austerity measures and cuts & fees on education in England during November and December 2010. His speach characterises the end of a social delusion created by totalitarian economic and political elites describing the new generation as apolitic and indifferent. We invite you see this video and welcome the new generation to the terrain of global revolutionary struggles of this century.
 

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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Report From U.K. Student Struggle: More than 150000 students abandoned their classrooms in 24th November 2010 in U.K.




























Void Network
[Theory, Utopia, Empathy, Ephemeral Arts]
http://voidnetwork.blogspot.com/
More than 150.000 students abandoned their classrooms in 24th November 2010 in U.K. participating in occupations of universities, demonstrations, sit-ins and teach-ins all over U.K. making it the biggest wave of student protests and occupations in a generation.


First reports say around 20,000 on today's march in London. Marches in Leeds (1,000), Hereford (1,000), Manchester, Bristol (2,000), Sheffield (2,500), Liverpool, Brighton (3,000), Newcastle (2,000), Durham (1,000) Cardiff (200) Exeter, Bournemouth, Milton Keynes (200) and Ipswich.
Occupations include University College London, London South Bank University, Birmingham University, Warwick University, Oxford, Strathclyde, Cardiff, Dundee, University of East London, Portsmouth, Leeds, Royal Holloway, SOAS, Manchester Metropolitan and UWE Bristol, Nottingham, University of Plymouth.


Round-up of some of the actions



In Bristol, several thousand students, along with teachers and lecturers, held a protest in central Bristol. Large numbers were able to break out of the police kettle and some went on to occupy Bristol University Student Union building. The Students Union stands accused of denying its own members the space and opportunity to discuss the proposed cuts to higher education as well as failing to take a stance on the issue. Earlier in the week, the main building of the Frenchay campus of the University of Western England was also occupied. Cops in Bristol were spotted here and here during the protests on Wednesday without their numbers displayed.
Hadn't we been told this would never happen again?


In London, around 5,000 people demonstrated in Trafalgar Square before heading down Whitehall, where the progress of the march was blocked by riot vans. Police moved in to create a kettle of around 3,000 people, herding youngsters out of McDonald's and into the kettle on the way. There were maybe 2,000 others outside the kettle and in the surrounding area. Skirmishes took place between police and some of the kettled protesters, fires were lit and an abandoned police van, which some have said amounted to entrapment, trashed. Some of those kettled were still being held late into the evening, and mounted police charged peaceful crowds which included children. There were reports of 32 arrests and 17 injuries, including two police officers. During the day, occupations were reported at Royal Holloway, UCL, South Bank and Roehampton. At the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), already occupied for several days, management attempted to get an injunction to remove the students on Wednesday, while many were at the London protests. The High Court allowed an adjournment until Thursday to allow students time to seek legal advice, with the Judge dismissing management claims that the occupation might become a focal point for the wider demonstrations taking place in London.


In Oxford, after a march which began at 1pm at Carfax tower, a group of students and Oxford residents, together with a sound system, took the authorities by surprise and occupied the iconic Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library, with reports of over 100 inside. The authorities had been preventing others from joining the occupation during the day, but a group managed to gain entry by means of critical mass in the early hours of Thursday morning to swell numbers. A statement issued on Thursday declared the occupiers' intention to open the 'Rad Cam' as a 'free space for mutual education, in resistance to the neoliberalisation of higher education announced by the coalition government' and to stay there indefinitely.


In Edinburgh, a protest by around 300 students, starting in Bristo Square, joined up with another by 50 workers and benefit claimants outside the offices of A4E to create a march down Lothian Road and on to the Lib-Dem HQ where there was a sit down protest. The march then continued through Edinburgh, with sit-down protests on the roads as it went. There was a brief occupation of the University's Registry Offices before hundreds took possession of Appleton Tower Lecture Theatre 2, with a plan to remain in occupation until demands are met. Early on Thursday morning, the Lib-Dem HQ was targeted again: locks were glued and the handles chained, with a message that 'Lib Dem Lies are Locking us out of our Education.'


In Sheffield, there was a demonstration in the city centre, following which students occupied Sheffield University Hicks Building. During the night, the occupiers reported that security officers were denying undergraduate Astronomy students access to the roof to observe the night sky, and that postgraduates weren’t being allowed in to do their work. The occupiers have expressed their intention to negotiate with tutors to allow all lectures to go ahead. On Thursday, security guards mounted a failed attempt to evict the students forcibly after another group managed to join the occupation, then set off fire alarms to force the evacuation of the building on health and safety grounds. The students have now regrouped and are occupying the space outside the Vice-Chancellor's office in Firth Court.


Brighton students held a lively demo, with brief occupations of the Council Tax offices, a Vodaphone store and reported looting of a chain store. Several police lines were broken and although some groups were kettled, others managed to escape. Pavillion Parade building, part of the University, was occupied by about 70 students. There were reports of police using batons against young students, many of whom were under 18, as well as threatening them with pepper spray. At least two arrests were reported.


In Nottingham, there was a rally outside the Portland Building at the University of Nottingham and more than 50 marched to the Trent building with banner. Later, there was a ‘Teach In’ inside the Portland Building. The Tory Party HQ in Nottingham was also closed all day, apparently in fear of further attack.


In Leeds, a thousand students walked out, with the demonstration being joined by many school students.


In Cardiff, 200-300 students stormed the main building of Cardiff University and laid siege to the Vice-Chancellor's office before occupying the Shandon Lecture Theatre. There are currently around 50 students still occupying this space, teach-ins have been taking place, a local co-operative has been supplying food and the students have announced their intention to stay.


In Birmingham, over 30 students occupied the Aston Webb building at the University of Birmingham, with others prevented by security guards from gaining entry. The occupiers have issued a list of demands.


In Manchester, police violence erupted during otherwise peaceful protests. There were reports of four arrests. Roscoe Building of the University of Manchester has been occupied and the occupiers have issued an invitation to others to join them.


In Lancaster, sixth formers and school students led the action, massing at the Town Hall and marching through town, with some university students lending their support and sounds.


In Cambridge, several hundred students took to the streets and then occupied the front lawn of Cambridge University's Senate House, with baton-wielding cops occupying the House itself to prevent the students from doing so. There were reports of two arrests. A decision was made after several hours to leave the occupied lawn en masse.


Warwick students occupied a campus conference hall, calling on the university to take steps to resist the cuts. The occupation ended on Thursday morning, in large part because of obstructive behaviour by the university.


In Newcastle, 60 students peacefully occupied the Fine Arts building of Newcastle University after a demonstration and march involving thousands of school, college and uni students. Eldon square shopping centre was taken by storm at one point, by hundreds of students with a sound system.


In Plymouth, the Roland Levinsky Building of the University has been occupied since 23 November.


Students from local schools, colleges and the University in Southampton walked out, many attending a rally at the Uni, no thanks to the Student Union, which refused to support the action, which they declared 'too political' as well as claiming to be worried that people might swear.


See: Lasthours for a map charting the occupations so far.


Even though the preasure from the police was strong and the efforts of corporate Mass Media to produce fear and dissapointment to the students was massive the most of the students participated in the action day and created a front against stupidity and apathy. The old game doesn't work anymore.
As an anarchist student occupier from Sheffield university said in a recent interview:
"People, students in particular, are coming to the realisation that simply asking politicians to do something doesn’t work. The result is that they are starting to take matters into their own hands, collectively and at a grassroots level.Anarchist education workers and students are very much a part of these struggles but certainly a minority within them. The tactics – of self-management, non-hierarchy and direct action – have been adopted in many places quite spontaneously. This is, of course, far more preferable to us! It’s ultimately what we want – not a struggle controlled or led by anarchists, but one that shares our goals, tactics and principles."


The reformist and hierarchical left tendencies inside the student struggle are not infuential, the people are using horizontal forms of assembly and decision making processes and the free mind initiatives are strong. These are the elements that can bring this strugle further: Solidarity, Commitment, Direct Action, Active Fantasy, Initiative, Horizontal Open Assembly, Direct Democracy, Non-Hierarchy and the Rejection of representatives.
The next step of the struggle is already born in the hearts of all these people of this generation. Now all of them they know that politicians are just liers and puppets to the hands of economic interests, no one from the high elite cares about them and trhey have to wait nothing from anyone else than themselves and their comrades. Now all of us we have comrades. We gave a fight together. We will continue fighting!   


for more info and pictures see at London Indymedia:
student cuts protest - pics and account (part one)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/11/468461.html




Void Network

[Theory, Utopia, Empathy, Ephemeral Arts]
http://voidnetwork.blogspot.com/
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Sunday, November 21, 2010

WALKOUT OF YOUR SCHOOL, COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY ON 24 NOVEMBER





WALKOUT OF YOUR SCHOOL, COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY ON 24 NOVEMBER

Make the walkout happen
Walkouts have been one of the major ways school and college students in Britain have traditionally shown their discontent.
They took place at hundreds of schools and colleges against the Iraq war in 2003, against “third world” debt in 2005, and several colleges walked out against cuts and privatisation in 2009-10, including the Dover Christ Church Academy this month.
University students haven’t staged a walkout for a while in Britain. But last year we did manage an impressive wave of occupations against the attacks on Gaza, and many universities occupied lecture theatres and even management offices against cuts.
Now, with the very nature of further and higher education under threat school students, college students and university students need to fight together. This isn’t just phrasemongering – if we are to defeat the proposals of the Browne Review we need to build a mass movement like the current general strikes in France.
That’s why a school, college and uni walkout out is a vital first step for us to take, demonstrating our unity in action.

Organise a time
First off, we need to find and talk to the small groups of students in our school/college/university who are most in favour of walking out.
Agree what time you will meet up on the morning of 24 November, BEFORE the official walkout time of 11am – 10am is probably a good time, at school, 8.30am might be better. This will allow you to catch students on their way into school/college/uni and get them to join the protest on the day itself.

Spread the word

Use email, facebook, texts, phone calls to advertise the time AND PLACE of your protest. But it may be wise to set up an anonymous email address and facebook profile so you don’t end up getting personally victimised.
If at any point you are asked who has organised the protest, say it “has been organised collectively by lots of students together”
You should organise some leafletings by downloading our NATIONAL LEAFLET at ANTICUTS.COM, writing on the details of your local meet-up point. Take it to your local cornershop for photocopying, cut them up and hand it out to as many students as possible.
If you go to school, you should be discreet about doing this, don’t hand them out openly next to the entrance of your school or you will get in trouble. But as long as you are not on school property, you have a democratic right to hand out leaflets.

Coordinate
In towns and cities where colleges, schools and universities are close together, we want the protests to converge.
In the weeks before the walkout, contact us if you need help finding the people organising walkouts at other schools/colleges/unis in your area.
In particular, we would like to see university students planning to march around their campus, bursting into lecture theatres and spreading the word.
Then they should march to the next school/college/uni, picking up local protests, so the demonstration gets larger and larger. This is called a “flying picket”.

On the day
Make sure you turn up to your initial meeting point (which should be in a highly visible location) with placards, whistles, and good chants. We will list some suggestions below
Grab students planning to go into their lessons, and persuade them to join your protest.
After creating lots of noise and pulling in lots of students it is time to take to the streets! Don’t be afraid to block traffic if you have enough people and most importantly:
AS SOON AS YOU WALK OUT SEND TEXTS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS IN DIFFERENT SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES TELLING THEM YOU’VE WALKED OUT AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO DO THE SAME.
When you’ve linked up and converged with other walkouts in your area march around your local town and city.
You can finish up with speeches, a meeting on how to continue the struggle, or even occupying a building at the local university if uni students agree this is possible.
[Text above taken from National Walkout Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/3xgs9d8].  See also National Campaign Against Cuts and Fees:  http://anticuts.com]

PLANNED PROTESTS AND WALKOUTS SO FAR

London:
9.30am QMUL students gather at Library Sq.  Circle Line tube to ULU for approx 10.30am.  (See QMUL Facebook below).
10.30am Walkouts begin across London
11am Carnival of Resistance procession from Malet St, ULU to Trafalgar Square – all welcome
12noon Students from across London and surroundings assemble at Trafalgar Square (called by National Campaign Against Cuts & Fees)
1pm March from Horse Guards Avenue to Parliament (called by Youth Fight for Jobs)
5.30pm Mass protest at Downing Street to link student action with wider trade union movement

Manchester
12 noon Assemble at Uni Place (tin can)
12.30pm March to MMU
1.30pm March to town hall

Glasgow
12 noon Co-ordinated walkouts of educational establishments throughout the city.  Glasgow Uni gathering point from 12 noon at main gate; Strathclyde Uni from 12noon at McCance building.  Feeder marches into city centre.
3pm UNITED ACTION in the city centre.  All Glasgow students assemble from 3pm at Royal Concert Hall (Donald Dewer statue), Buchanan St.
5pm Rally in George Square for all workers and students, supported by student groups & trade unions. Speakers include Dave Moxham (STUC), Pete Murray (NUJ), Phil Whyte (NUS) etc.

Liverpool
11am LJMU walkout, head to Guild of Students, Mount Pleasant for noon.
12noon All students (school, college, university) from across the city to assemble outside Guild of Students, Mount Pleasant.  Followed by a march through the city centre to the Town Hall.

Bristol
All are welcome – Universities, schools and public alike – from across the South West.
11:00 UWE Walkout begins across all campuses
12:00 UoB Walkout begings
12:30 All students (school, college, university) from across the city to assemble opposite Senate House, Tyndall Avenue
13:15 March to Wills Memorial Building

Leeds
8.30am Leafletting begins at Leeds University
11am Leeds University students walkout
12.30am Leeds University students march from Parkinson Steps, past Leeds Met and other colleges from Leeds, to unite students across Leeds, to a protest outside the Art Gallery to be joined by school students.
Thereafter – Really Open University programme runs at Leeds University:  http://reallyopenuniversity.wordpress.com

Edinburgh
Pick your nearest meeting point then march to Lib Dem HQ at Haymarket.
1pm Students from across the city (Edinburgh University, QMUC, high schools, Jewel and Esk College etc),  gathering at Bristo Place (one of two meeting points) and marching to Tollcross.
1.30pm All other students from across the city (Napier, ECA, Heriot Watt, high schools, Telford and Stevenson Colleges etc), meeting in front of the Bank of Scotland, Tollcross (second meeting point).  March to Lib Dem HQ, Haymarket.
2pm onwards, March arrives at Lib Dem HQ.

Brighton
2pm  University, school and college students from across Brighton assemble on Dyke Road Park, just up the road from BHASVIC, march to Churchill Square and end up in Victoria Gardens.

Oxford
1pm Students from across the city gather at Carfax, Cornmarket

Bournemouth
10.45am BU students meet outside the Atrium and march to join AUCB protesters at 11.00.
11:00am – Students and teachers from both uni’s will congregate outside AUCB canteen.
11:30am – Leave the campus and march on the Town Hall, via Meyrick Park where we will combine with hundreds of teachers students, from local schools and sixth-form colleges.
12noon – March from park to Bournemouth Town Hall!

Other:
BROCKENHURST COLLEGE (HAMPSHIRE):  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162283583810492
NEW CROSS, HABERDASHER’s ASKE’s HATCHAM COLLEGE:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177738032241069

Teachins and events between now and the 24th:
CAMBRIDGE “FREE UNIVERSITY”:  http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/?p=3847



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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Void Network : Statement of Solidarity to the U.K. Student struggle


Statement from the occupation of Sussex University:



This afternoon, over 170 students occupied the lecture theatre in the Fulton building at the University of Sussex in protest of the trebling of tuition fees and the attack on our education system.
In light of Wednesday’s demonstration, which saw 52,000 people come out in opposition to the government’s proposed cuts to education and raising of fees, we feel it is necessary for further action to consolidate the efforts made so far and push on in the opposition to these ideologically motivated cuts to both education specifically and public services as a whole.

We reject the notion that these cuts are necessary or for the benefit of society. There are viable alternatives which are not being explored. While the government has suggested that ‘we are all in this together’, we completely reject this and are insulted that these cuts are being pushed through alongside reductions in corporate tax. We feel these cuts are targeting those who are most vulnerable in our society.

Furthermore, not only are these cuts damaging our current education, but are changing the face of the education system as we know it. The hole in finances left by government cuts will inevitably be filled by private interest. This marketization of education will destroy the prospect of free and critical academic enquiry, on which universities should be based. The trebling of tuition fees will further exclude another swathe of society and make university accessible only to the rich.

We reject the media manipulation of the occupation of Millbank. The cost of the damage to 30 Millbank is less than insignificant when set against the damage of lost livelihoods and destruction of public services for future generations.
This occupation recognises that Aaron Porter’s statements condemning the demonstration are counter-productive and serve only to divide and segregate the movement. We are disappointed that, as a national representative of students, Aaron Porter’s statements have detracted from the real issue at hand by focusing on the events at Millbank Tower.
We believe that this Tory led coalition government has no mandate for lifting the cap on tuition fees. Nick Clegg has openly manipulated student voters in his campaign for election, and following the recent exposure of plans to drop his pledge to reject any rise in tuition fees, this occupation condemns his dishonesty and undemocratic methods.
Education is a right, not a privilege.

- We demand the University of Sussex management makes a statement condemning all cuts to higher education and rise in tuition fees

- We are opposed to all cuts to public services

- We oppose a rise in tuition fees

- We call for solidarity and support for those arrested or victimised on Wednesday’s demonstration
- We stand in solidarity with others taking action, both nationally and internationally, in the fight against austerity measures.
- We call for all other university, college and school students and staff to strike and occupy in defence of the future of our education system, and to participate in the national day of action on the 24th November 2010.



please print in A3 black&white photocopy this
poster and spread it to your schools, universities and
local social centers





Statement of Solidarity to the U.K. Student struggle

VOID NETWORK // ATHENS GREECE
http://voidnetwork.blogspot.com

All we,…

the students, the working people, the unemployed and the lazy ones, girls and boys from Void Network / Athens Greece section we express our solidarity to the occupation of Sussex university and to all people that will participate in this and all other actions until the great demonstration of 24 November and beyond that....

.

The news coming from U.K. about the student’s struggle are making us all here in Athens having great hope about the arising of critical mind and the radicalization of a whole generation in all U.K…. Our thoughts and hearts are there with you…

We believe that Now(!) is the best moment for all students to deny their position in the machine, to break the process of reproduction of themselves as slaves to the economic system, to destroy the hegemonism, ignorance, apathy and racistic domination of the scientific, academic and economic elite of this planet, to create the conditions of constant free sharing of global knowledge and free distribution of the productions of it, to bring their emancipatory understandings to the center of the city, at the center of the political agenda of their society, to unite their struggle with all other people in struggle (the older and the younger ones, the immigrants and the family people, the retired ones and the workers, the excluded ones and the homeless ones, the lovers, the travelers, the ravers, the squatters, the freaks and the romantic ones, the employed, the unemployed and the lazy ones, the angry ones and the disappointed ones, the destructive ones and the creative ones).

Now is the time to create a new public discourse that includes all of us, that starts from the anxiety, the fear and the misery of the every-day student life and expands to the anxiety, the fear and the misery of all the ages, all the society.
Capitalism and State Democracy are destruction machines. Our blood and our minds are the powers of this machine. Now all of us, in one way or the other we know that this machine is bringing life on planet earth in extinction.
Our Life is the Death of the machine. Life of the machine is our Death.
Our best moments are these ones when we are together fighting against the machine. In the universities, in the working places, in the city center, in the forests, against the parliament, the royal palaces, the industries, the super markets and the luxury restaurants, in the T.V. stations and infront of police stations, prisons, and courthouses.
Now…you can see us…
We are all together…And, when we fight we are fighting for our lives….
Stay awake in the deep night of the western civilization…We become more and more millions on this planet night after night…and We Are Ready to Fight Back!


VOID NETWORK // ATHENS GREECE
http://voidnetwork.blogspot.com
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Student fees protest in London U.K.: 'This is just the beginning' // Student protest: we are all in this together













Void Network and Void Mirror international blog publishes 

two articles from today's 

Guardian newspaper

about the student struggle in 

U.K. and Ireland, a struggle 

that 

creates hopes to all of 

us about 

the arising of critical thought and fearless action 

against neo-liberal capitalism 

and social, economical and 

political  inequality and totalitarianism 

in United Kingdom. 

We express our solidarity 

to all students and workers 

that participated in the 

attacks against targets of 

authority and control in 

London and all over U.K.

Your Fight is our Fight! 


Student fees protest: 

'This is just the beginning'


• Tory HQ attacked as demonstration spirals out of control
• 35 arrested and 14 injured in violent clashes at Millbank
• Police admit being caught out by scale of student action


Tens of thousands of students took to the streets of London today in a demonstration that spiralled out of control when a fringe group of protesters hurled missiles at police and occupied the building housing Conservative party headquarters.
Tonight both ministers and protesters acknowledged that the demonstration – by far the largest and most dramatic yet in response to the government's austerity measures – was "just the beginning" of public anger over cuts. Police, meanwhile, were criticised for failing to anticipate the scale of the disorder.
An estimated 52,000 people, according to the National Union of Students, marched through central London to display their anger over government plans to increase tuition fees while cutting state funding for university teaching. A wing of the protest turned violent as around 200 people stormed 30 Millbank, the central London building that is home to Tory HQ, where police wielding batons clashed with a crowd hurling placard sticks, eggs and some bottles. Demonstrators shattered windows and waved anarchist flags from the roof of the building, while masked activists traded punches with police to chants of "Tory scum".
Police conceded that they had failed to anticipate the level of violence from protesters who trashed the lobby of the Millbank building. Missiles including a fire extinguisher were thrown from the roof and clashes saw 14 people – a mix of officers and protesters – taken to hospital and 35 arrests. Sir Paul Stephenson, Met police commissioner, said the force should have anticipated the level ofviolence better. He said: "It's not acceptable. It's an embarrassment for London and for us."
While Tory headquarters suffered the brunt of the violence, Liberal Democrat headquarters in nearby Cowley Street were not targeted. "This is not what we pay the Met commissioner to do," one senior Conservative told the Guardian. "It looks like they put heavy security around Lib Dem HQ but completely forgot about our party HQ."
Lady Warsi, the Tory party chair, was in her office when protesters broke in. She initially had no police protection as the protesters made their way up the fire stairs to the roof. Police who eventually made it to Tory HQ decided not to evacuate staff from the building but to concentrate on removing the demonstrators.
The NUS president, Aaron Porter, condemned the actions of "a minority of idiots" but hailed the turnout as the biggest student demonstration in generations. The largely good-natured protest was organised by the NUS and the lecturers' union the UCU, who have attacked coalition plans to raise tuition fees as high as £9,000 while making 40% cuts to university teaching budgets. The higher fees will be introduced for undergraduates starting in 2012, if the proposals are sanctioned by the Commons in a vote due before Christmas. The NUS president told protesters: "We're in the fight of our lives. We face an unprecedented attack on our future before it has even begun. They're proposing barbaric cuts that would brutalise our colleges and universities."
Inside parliament the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg – the focus of much anger among protesters for his now abandoned pledge to scrap all tuition fees – came under sustained attack, facing 10 questions on tuition fees during his stand-in performance during prime minister's questions. He said there was consensus across the parties about the need to reform the system.
Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, said the rise in fees was not part of the effort to tackle the deficit but about Clegg "going along with Tory plans to shove the cost of higher education on to students and their families". She said: "We all know what it's like: you are at freshers' week, you meet up with a dodgy bloke and you do things that you regret. Isn't it true he has been led astray by the Tories, isn't that the truth of it?"
Meanwhile one student won an unexpected concession from the coalition yesterday. In answer to a question from a Chinese student during his trip to China, David Cameron said: "Raising tuition fees will do two things. It will make sure our universities are well funded and we won't go on increasing so fast the fees for overseas students … We have done the difficult thing. We have put up contributions for British students. Yes, foreign students will still pay a significant amount of money, but we should now be able to keep that growth under control."
Additional reporting by Rachel Williams and Matthew Taylor
original article published here:

Student protest: 
we are all in this together


The Occupation of Conservative Party HQ is about so much more
than fees. At last the country is starting to fight back


by Nina Power / Guardian



Today's protest against the education cuts was uplifting: students, staff and others from all over the country gathered in their thousands to walk the route between Embankment and Tate Britain, pausing to boo at Downing Street. The weather was bright and clear, and the mood decidedly upbeat. Staff, students and others marched together under banners from colleges all over the country, while drums and chants protesting at the fees rang out for miles. There were a sizable number of Lib Dems protesting against their own party's U-turn on fees, and a sit-in outside parliament – the peace protesters who reside there were happy to give the students a quick lesson in the true meaning of anarchy.
Numbers were massive too, with around 52,000 turning out – more than double the NUS's original estimate. Police helicopters circled above the crowds, as protesters carried giant vultures, carrots, coffins and effigies of Tory politicians. But media reports will inevitably focus on one thing, namely the spontaneous occupation of and protest in Tory HQ at 30 Millbank Tower. Aaron Porter, the NUS president, was quick to condemn the breakaway protesters, describing their actions as "despicable".
As I write, about 200 people have occupied the building, and bonfires burn outside. Some arrests have been made and eight people – protesters and police officers – have been injured. Protesters have broken windows and made their way on to the roof. Twitter reports indicate that some have taken a sofa from inside Millbank and put it outside, with the quite reasonable argument that "if we're going to bekettled we may as well be comfy".
Direct action this most certainly was, the kind writers such as John Pilgerhave recently been calling for. It is hard to see the violence as simply the wilfulness of a small minority – it is a genuine expression of frustration against the few who seem determined to make the future a miserable, small-minded and debt-filled place for the many.
The protest as a whole was extremely important, not just because of the large numbers it attracted, and shouldn't be understood simply in economic terms as a complaint against fees. It also represented the serious anger many feel about cuts to universities as they currently stand, and the ideological devastation of the education system if the coalition gets its way. It was a protest against the narrowing of horizons; a protest against Lib Dem hypocrisy; a protest against the increasingly utilitarian approach to human life that sees degrees as nothing but "investments" by individuals, and denies any link between education and the broader social good.
The protesters – students and others – who occupied Tory HQ will no doubt continue to be condemned in the days to come. But their anger is justified: the coalition government is ruining Britain for reasons of ideological perversity. The protests in France and Greece and the student occupations here, such as the recent takeover of Deptford Town Hall by Goldsmiths students on the day cuts were announced, are indicators of a new militancy. At this point, what have we got to lose?
The best moments on any protests are when there is a real feeling of common purpose and a recognition that we are all on the same side. This is the true meaning of "big society" – the very thing that the coalition seems set on destroying, despite its rhetoric. This protest – in both its peaceful and more violent dimensions – is a sign of a country unafraid to fight back, for the first time in a long time.
This article published originaly here:
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