NUS backs Campaign to Defeat Fees
MASS ACTION CAN DEFEAT FEES
Join the national day of protest on 22 February
The National Union of Students (NUS), representing five million members, has published a message of support for the Campaign to Defeat Fees (CDF), and is backing the protests on 22 February!
Ben Robinson International Socialist Resistance national co-ordinator
The NUS has the potential to build a mass campaign for free education – so far it hasn’t done what is needed but the key task now is to organise action in every area and build support for the protests that are already planned.
From Durham to Southampton, Swansea to Ipswich, students have been protesting over fees – £3,000 every year added to students’ debt. Socialist Student members, and others who are involved in the Campaign to Defeat Fees, have met students who are angry about fees, and want to join in and fight the attacks that we face against our education.
On 22 February, Brighton Socialist Students and some of the Brighton students’ unions have organised a demonstration through their city. In London, there will be a Campaign to Defeat Fees protest outside Downing Street at 5pm – students from across London will be coming together and showing Tony Blair and Gordon Brown what we think of their policies, which close the door on university to thousands of young people. We will be calling for free education for all, and no to cuts, closures and privatisation.
In Cardiff, students are planning protests on 7 and 22 February (see box). Other protests are being planned up and down the country, see www.socialiststudents.org.uk for more details.
It will be mass action that will have the biggest effect on MPs whose anti-youth, anti-working class, warmongering policies have incurred the hatred of millions across the country. It is the only way that we can make our voices heard, against fees, against rent prices, against rising canteen prices, against debt, against low pay and against the other attacks that we face.
If you want to join the actions, add your voice to those already protesting, get involved in the Campaign to Defeat Fees now!
