With the Con-Dem coalition’s brutal attacks on young people already in the pipeline, the need for democratic, fighting student unions has never been greater. At many freshers fairs students have queued up to sign the Socialist Students petition against cuts and fees and for free education, with hundreds expressing an interest in joining the organisation.
Claire Laker Mansfield, Socialist Students national organiser
However, at some universities Socialist Students members have faced a struggle to be allowed to run a stall or even give out leaflets.
Several unions have attempted to charge Socialist Students extortionate amounts of money for having a stall, making no distinction between large profit-making commercial companies and not-for-profit campaigning student groups.
At Greenwich University, a union representative demanded £200 for a stall, then ‘frogmarched’ Socialist Students members off the campus and threatened to call the police.
Even stalls outside university property have been attacked. At City University in London, the police were called to a stall held on the pavement outside the campus. The officer who attended threatened an arrest for ‘obstructing a public highway’, despite the fact that the stall allowed plenty of room for members of the public to pass. At Swansea Metropolitan, the police recognised that it is not against the law to hand out leaflets or run a stall (see report left).
It is not a coincidence that these attacks on democratic rights come at the same time as massive attacks on the public sector. It is important that we defend our right to organise both on our campuses and in wider society