London Met is occupied

Students and staff are fighting cut backs which could see 1/4 of staff sacked at the university. They need our support!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46966049540
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/commercial-road.cfm

Remember Gaza.. End the Siege now! Free Palestine!

National Demonstration 16 May 2009

Assembling 12noon in Malet Street WC1 London, Followed by Rally in Trafalgar Square

Protest at the UUK conference: education for learning, not profit

Universities UK, the Association for University Research and Industry Links and the Higher Education Funding Council are holding a conference to decide how to offer up our education system to profit-making businesses.

This conference will be attended by executive/managerial staff including Vice-Chancellors of universities all around the UK.

Join the action against the marketisation of our education, and save our universities from the demands of corporations.

***Marketisation does NOT mean better education***

In response to the economic crisis, university bosses and the government want our universities to completely reform themselves into institutions which serve business interests. Just as the bank bail-outs used taxpayers’ money to prop up a failing, moribund financial system, the people inside this conference want to use our collective resource, our public services and public institutions, to prop up an unfair and unworkable system of private profit over public good – the assumption that private profit always equates to public good is a false one, the financial crisis has shown us that we cannot trust the profit motive to make important decisions in a rational fashion.

Not only do Universities UK and the AURIL want limit our education to teaching us how to make profit for big business, many of them also want to charge us huge amounts of money for the dubious privilege.

Many members of Universities UK recently supported a report that called for tuition fees in higher education to be raised to £5,000, or even £20,000.

It is our belief that the University, as a public institution, should serve the public good and the interests of its students, not the interests of profit.

Help us preserve our education system as a free space, free from the harsh competition for profit, free to nurture critical thinking and support active, fulfilled people.

Universities can be environments from which ideas about positive social change and justice can flourish, NOT an environment which engenders only raw individualism and narrow-minded profiteering.

Join us on May 7th to call for a free, democratic and accessible education.

The action is also being held in solidarity with a protest on the same day being held at at London Met, who have seen huge cuts in staff and learning spending, as a result of the same narrow-minded thinking which the Universities UK conference demonstrates – LETS SUPPORT OUR FELLOW STUDENTS, AND STOP THIS NONSENSE!

Bring anything you have to make a noise and GET YOUR VOICE HEARD AND HELP SAVE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM!

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=90552618392&ref=mf

Reports of April 18

Here are some reports written about the April 18 student coordination meeting. They do not necessarily reflect the views of everyone present. If you know of other reports that have gone up, or would like to write one, please email studentcoordination@gmail.com and of course feel free to comment here.

 

A decent start to building a new student movement – Revolution – http://www.worldrevolution.org.uk/index.php?id=24,1025,0,0,1,0

Keeping it broad backfires – Communist Students – http://communiststudents.org.uk/2009/04/keeping-it-broad-backfires/

After the Gaza Occupations – Workers’ Liberty – http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2009/04/22/after-gaza-occupations

Student coordination details

————————–————–
STUDENT COORDINATION :: SAT. 18 APRIL
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:: BACKGROUND + PURPOSE ::

A couple of months ago, a bunch of students involved in the uni occupations for Gaza put forward the idea for a national coordination of the occupations starting with a meeting on April 18th. This was to be an opportunity to further coordinate the occupations but also to broaden out the movement to include other struggles and post-occupation activities. It was felt that the coordination should remain grassroots in its organisation, aiming to be fully inclusive to all participants, and student/participant-led, and an opportunity to start a process of dialogue and coordination.
————————–————–

:: DETAILS ::

. 11.30 am to 6.30 pm, Jeremy Bentham room, University College
London, Gower Street (with pub social at the Grafton Arms to follow)

. Nearest tubes: Warren St, Russell Square

. Google Map:http://tinyurl.com/d6mksx

. If you need accomodation please call Ed (07775 763 750) or John (07966 405 998)

————————–————–

:: DRAFT TIMETABLE ::

— [[[This is a tentative schedule since the programme will be
determined on the day of depending on participants’ interests.]]]

12pm – 2pm :: WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON?

. Introductions and open discussion of recent activism on campus from the Gaza occupations to the living wage campaigns to the fight against cuts. What’s been happening? What has worked? What has not?

. Special guest speakers from the new anti-capitalist party in France and the vibrant French student movement as well as a member of the lecturers union who will talk about how students and university staff can struggle together.

. Discussion will be focused on sharing experiences and strategies and getting to know each other.

Facilitated by Jo C. (UCL)
With guests Jean Baptiste (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste, France) and Sean Vernell (University and College Union)

2.15pm – 16.15 :: WORKSHOPS

. Break-out into smaller groups for planning and networking:

1. Coordinating the occupations: following through on our demands and next steps
2. How to stop climate chaos
3. The fight against cuts; the battle against fees

16.30 – 18:30 :: CONCLUSIONS: BUILDING CAMPAIGNS AND ACTIVISM ON CAMPUSES

. Workshops reports back on the issues discussed and present proposals for this final meeting.

. Plans for future communication and grassroots coordination

. What have we learned from the occupation movement? How can we build campaigns? How does our struggle fit into the wider political movement?

Facilitated by Kat M, Edinburgh University.

Note: It has been suggested that throughout the day we submit proposals of no more than 100 words to vote on in the concluding session. These would aim to focus on organisational aspects such as future meetings/campaigns/days of action or broad statements for the coordination to agree on. To give examples – “This coordination will organise for a week of action starting 24th October.” or “This coordination fully supports the occupations in support of Gaza.” The idea of proposals will be discussed on the day.

————————–————–

:: MORE INFO

. Blog:http://studentcoordination.wordpress.com
. Email: studentcoordination@gmail.
. Facebook event:http://tinyurl.com/dxwqa8

European students call for international coordination in Louvain against the Bologna process (28-29 April)

Homepage: http://www.louvain2009.com 

 

 

Draft timetable for April 18 meeting proposed

12 – 2.30 Voices from the student resistance

• The session will provide a platform for students to speak and discuss their work around Gaza or campaigning for free education or around the living wage work. What has worked, what has not, as well as any issues that people would like to raise about the state of the movement. This session will deal with other issues such as the fall out from the implosion of NUS democracy, the Gaza occupations and in the growing deep global economic crisis. This session will also provide space for students from abroad who have been involved in mass movements and campaigns to discuss their actions with us, as well as providing a trade union member engaged in struggles against the world economic crisis to speak.

2.30 – 3.15 Lunch Break

15.15 – 16.45 Workshops: Ideas and debates in our movement

These workshops would be opportunities for students to come and discuss campaigning issues more directly. There are three slots, suggestions so far include BAe disinvestment, NUS democracy and others. Please email suggestions to the egroup by April 7th.

17:00 – 18:00 : Conclusions – Building campaigns and activism on campuses

• Each workshops reports back on the issues discussed and presents the proposals agreed on and to be debated in plenary. What have we learned from the occupation movement? How can we build campaigns? How does our struggle fit in the wider political movement?

For a radical coordination of student struggles in Britain

The past few weeks have seen an explosion of student organisation most notably in occupations against Israel’s war on the Gaza strip. Much of the organisation has taken place outside of and alongside existing student union structures. Many of the occupations saw new networks formed among students which even took on something of a national and international character as blogs, social networking groups and email lists were set up to aid cross campus coordination. Some of the occupied spaces used international links to publicise the actions to students and other youth activists across Europe, the Middle East, Palestine and beyond.

As students from different societies, departments and political groups worked together, some of the occupied spaces starting inviting speakers and holding meetings on a whole range of different subject issues from anti-racism to trade unionism, to education.

Throughout the occupations students have often experienced harsh repression as a response on the part of the university administrations. Denied freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, many students have felt that universities are no longer public educational spaces. From this, many students saw the need to go beyond Gaza and reclaim their rights to voice political concerns about their own conditions.

With the recession deepening in Britain we are likely to see increases in education cuts, student unemployment and poverty, even racism and war. Education is no longer free in the UK and at a time when we need it most. In addition the NUS governance review has now passed destroying all the remaining democracy in an institution dominated by bureaucrats and careerists which has sold out all genuine campaigning and the fight for free education.

All these things point to the need for the networks of activists formed around the Gaza movement to form a national coordination to bring all our struggles to the next level.

Such a coordination could bring together the networks formed around the Gaza occupations from over 20 universities including SOAS, KCL, Sussex, Birmingham, Newcastle etc. It could bring together existing student and youth organisations such as Education Not for Sale, Another Education is Possible, ISR, YCL, SWSS, Revolution, Communist Students, Socialist Students, Antiwar groups and many other student societies interested in this coordination initiative, and seek to draw in further a host of other student organisations and individual students.

It could allow us to better coordinate with students internationally in struggle against other forms of injustices, particularly those fighting the ‘Bologna process’ in Europe. It could be open and accessible and draw in school and college students who face many of the same problems as students at the universities. It could encourage coordinations at a local level, drawing in all these students and allow cross-campus organisation in cities and towns. It could provide an alternative avenue for campaigning both alongside existing student union executive where possible but without them where necessary. It could provide a space to assess and debate what our education should look like and challenge the increasing corporatisation and privatisation of our education system.

Student activists met up on 7 February to discuss issues in this statement. We called for a national meeting for the provisional date of 18 April. We ask all student activists to attend and to add their contact details to this statement by emailing STUDENTCOORDINATION@GMAIL.COM