Mila Hughes (Maneet Matharu), West Midlands Socialist Party, spoke at a solidarity rally in Birmingham on 24 October.
It’s incredibly inspiring to see the events erupting all across India. The initial wave of protests that hit the streets of India, started from the anger and frustration felt by the majority of exam takers and has now spread to take on much more. We’ve seen thousands of young people continue to keep that pressure on, forcing a resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan the education minister too. The BJP thought that would’ve killed all of the anger felt around the employment and cost-of-living crisis, and they were wrong!
The BJP government has been absolutely repressive at targeting any voice that speaks against it. We’ve seen the CJP (Cockroach) leaders and activists mysteriously arrested, mass police brutality, with 2,000 protests detained.
These events also show that police detentions and scare tactics can stop a protest for a couple of days, but this cannot remove the causes as to why young people remain furious. Graduate unemployment is at an all-time high, wages can’t cover the cost of living, there is a workforce squeezed by Trump’s tariffs, and a government that answers protest with internet blackouts. All are still there and as long as they are, we will continue to have young people frustrated!
We know it is not enough to continue like this. It’s clear that the movement needs to link up with the already striking workers and trade unionists, because the power to stop the economy lies with the working class.
This needs to be armed with a socialist programme that goes beyond the resignation of one official but to fight for jobs, decent pay, democratic rights and a society run in the interests of the many.
We know that’s not just unique to the events of India – we’ve seen young people in Albania, Austria, France, Germany and Spain take to the streets to fight for a future that’s worth living. We have governments that are more interested in funnelling money and resources to defence and war than funding young people’s future. We have mass unemployment here, a cost-of-living crisis and many people who see that we’re paying more and more for less. I don’t think that’s fair or right!
If you’re angry about that too, Socialist Students and other organisations are linking up to join with the youth for an international youth strike on 20 November, to fight for our futures and not their wars!
