A mass movement on the issue of fees and education cuts, organised and determined, has the potential to defeat the government and inspire all those who are coming into direct confrontation with the bosses and their cronies in parliament.
Ben Robinson
David Cameron, Vince Cable and education minister David Willetts want to make these brutal cuts as quickly as possible, to limit debate and cut across the developing movement. Willetts has said that he wants university fees legislation written into law by April 2011. This gives the movement a real sense of urgency, and young people are rising to the challenge.
Youth Fight for Jobs demonstration against education cuts
Demonstration to Parliament
24 November 2010
1pm
Meet Horse Guards Avenue, London SW1
24 November is the date for the next big series of protests. Students in local areas are organising demonstrations, occupations, walkouts and more. In London Socialist Students and Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) are calling for walkouts from universities, colleges and schools to join a demonstration to Parliament, assembling in Horse Guards Avenue at 1pm.
This will build on the spontaneous walkouts by students going to the National Union of Students (NUS) and UCU lecturers’ union demonstration on 10 November. We also appeal to all workers who can to join in this protest.
A National Union of Students worthy of the name should be at the head of this movement – it should be calling national action before Christmas, on or around Saturday 11 December – and building for further mass action after the holidays and exam period of January and early February. It should be organising ‘strike pay’ for college students who are fighting for their rights and miss out on a week’s worth of EMA as a result, and crucially building links with workers on and off campus to fight back.
But instead the NUS leadership have offered no way forward whatsoever. Their despicable attitude to victimised students have done far more to discredit the NUS than even the anti-democratic reforms of a few years ago.
But if they will not fight, we will. Anti-cuts campaigns around the country have sprung up to organise the action locally, and where they do not yet exist Socialist Students and YFJ members should help to initiate them. But both the cuts and the fees are an attack from central government; we need a national fightback to link up and coordinate these campaigns.
To have your say and take part in building such a campaign, come to the YFJ and Socialist Students conferences on 4 and 5 December.
Youth Fight for Jobs and Socialist Students say:
- Strike against fees and cuts
- Unite the anti-cuts campaigns on a national level
- No victimisation of student protesters
- Build a democratic mass struggle
- Fight for a socialist education system
