UEL clampdown

Shut down the university! The call went out loud and clear on the evening of 30 March. And it came from the management of the University of East London.

The aim is to stop the alternative summit planned for 1 April as a counterweight to the G20 a little further down the road at the ExCel centre on the following day.

Citing security fears, the announcement was made unilaterally, without any consultation with lecturers, staff or students that the whole university would be shut on 1 and 2 April. And, early in the morning of 31 March, security guards were in place checking people’s IDs.

This is an attack on fundamental democratic rights. Authoritarian powers are being used to suppress opposition to the effects of the recession and the capitalist system responsible for it.

All that the establishment politicians and mainstream media bang on about is the alleged threat to the rich elite in society, the architects of the economic crisis ruining the lives of millions of people around the world.