Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/340/5694
From The Socialist newspaper, 27 March 2004
NUS must organise
Mass Action To Defeat Fees
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No to top-up fees
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No to a graduate tax
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Scrap all tuition fees
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A living grant for all students
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For a system that puts education before the profits of big business and the rich
IN 2006, students whose parents earn the average income will have to pay 70% of their fees, instead of the 25% they pay now - according to a recent study by the House of Commons Library.
Zena Awad
New Labour's agenda for turning our universities and colleges into a market for privatisation and selling off our education to big business is going to hit working class students hardest of all.
When it seems that you can't find anyone who is actually in favour of top-up fees why has the NUS failed to effectively oppose this Bill? Had they called and campaigned for a national day of walk-outs and occupations on 27 January (when the second vote took place) and called on the trade unions to join in, the government may not have won over the five MPs needed to get the bill passed!
Socialist Students are campaigning for mass action to be nationally co-ordinated and built for on the ground for the day of the third reading, Wednesday 31 March.
While calling and campaigning for the backing of NUS, Socialist Students are fighting independently against tuition fees through defending non-paying students from expulsion, organising direct action against any attacks on the right to free education and making links with teachers and lecturers in their struggle against cuts in universities and colleges.
These campaigns have engaged both students and workers in the fight against fees and marketisation of education and have had support from tens of thousands in local communities.
Socialist Students and Socialist Party members, through campaigning against student debt, poverty wages and against the war and occupation of Iraq, expose the big business interests behind the government's policies. These policies are carried out in the interest of the capitalists who own the resources in society - they want to make even more money by owning and controlling our education so they can sell it back to us for profit.
Tony Blair says there is no money to publicly fund the universities and colleges but he is willing to spend billions on an imperialist war in Iraq!
Socialist Students link the need to fight and win on these issues to the need to change society as a whole.
Capitalism is a nightmare for students and young workers across the world. Socialism is about using the world's resources for the benefit of the majority - for us - and not for the minority of millionaires and billionaires who back the likes of Blair. If you're a student looking for an alternative then join Socialist Students and fight to change the world.
Lobby of Parliament
Wednesday 31 March
Further details contact:
020 8558 7947
Why not click here to join the Socialist Party, or click here to donate to the Socialist Party.
In The Socialist 27 March 2004:
Job Cuts - Now Is The Time To Act
Socialist Students
Defending Teachers, Defending Education
Marxist analysis: history
Liverpool city council: The Council That Took On Thatcher
Millions Worldwide Say 'End The Occupation'
International socialist news and analysis
Sharon Opens The "Gates Of Hell"
Clarke Exposes Bush's Iraq Agenda
Venezuela: Opposition In Dirty Tricks Campaign
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