Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/574/7148
From The Socialist newspaper, 8 April 2009
NUS leaders out of touch
IF YOU judged the atmosphere on student campuses by the policy that got passed at National Union of Students (NUS) conference, you wouldn't have known that there have been occupations and protests against the Israeli invasion of Gaza or that many universities are facing savage spending cuts. But with a NUS leadership that believes a 200 strong lobby of parliament is better than a near 1,000 strong march through London to do something about the crippling debt students face, this was hardly unexpected.
Despite the depressing nature of the conference, Socialist Students managed to make several good interventions, including contributions from conference floor, a rousing 'Bloc of 15' (elected reps of part-time students) election speech and discussions with student delegates about our ideas.
Our mood was kept up by the news of Visteon car workers occupying their plants over redundancies and the fantastic 2 April Youth Fight for Jobs march, which inspired us to do a short lunchtime stall in Blackpool town centre. The conclusion that the Socialist Students delegates to the conference drew was that the leadership of NUS is incapable of leading the struggles of students which will unfold in the coming year.
Iain Dalton, Bangor University Socialist Students
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In The Socialist 8 April 2009:
Visteon car workers fight for their rights
Reports from Visteon plants in Belfast, Enfield and Basildon
National Union of Teachers Conference: Call national action on workload
Youth fight for jobs
Youth march for jobs: This is only the beginning!
Socialist Party editorial
No solution at London G20 summit
G20 Summit protests: Democratic rights trampled on
Socialist Party feature
The battle to defeat the Poll Tax
Socialist Party campaigns
EU presses for cuts in public spending
International socialist news
Stop the slaughter of Tamils in Sri Lanka
Arundhati Roy indicts the Sri Lankan Rajapakse regime
Egyptian regime: 'Scared that independent unions will succeed; scared a revolution will happen'
Solidarity with Kazakhstan oil workers
Socialist Party workplace news
Stockport cab drivers fight deregulation
No cuts to further education in Wales!
Campaign forces suspension of Wirral library closures
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