By Chris Moore, Gloucestershire Socialist Party
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/17946/13-01-2014/pupils-chase-hated-gove-around-their-school
Education minister Michael Gove recently accused 'left wing academics' of using Blackadder Goes Forth as propaganda in the teaching of the First World War. On reflection, he may regret his decision to visit the schoolof a former pupil who played the part of one of the characters, Captain Darling.
Current Stroud school students angry at gormless Gove's education policies, chased him for over an hour around Marling, a Gloucestershire grammar school that recently benefitted from a £3.7 million refurbishment. "Education shouldn't be elitist, it should be for everyone, that's why I'm protesting" said Janneke Bax-Pratt.
Hundreds of students were waiting for one of the most despised members of the coalition cabinet. He was left cowering in a classroom with a few officials and the local Tory MP, while students circled the building chanting 'Gove out'.
A handful of teachers tried to hold back students from getting too close to Gove, but were brushed aside by a wave of young people determined to make their anger heard. Other teachers clapped or smiled as Gove was hounded. Several agreed with Socialist Party members who suggested building support with students for their next industrial action against attacks on pay and conditions.
Janneke spoke for many when she said: "Gove is pathetic and cowardly; he should have the guts to come out and speak to ordinary students. I'd like to know if he's making visits to any comprehensives in the area". Will, a sixth-former at Marling school, added: "why doesn't Gove take a cut out of his own salary instead of cutting education and our future".
The coalition government is continuing the dismantling of comprehensive education and replacing it with a tiered elitist system based on ever more testing. Education will be increasingly about teaching students to regurgitate facts for exams. Those in power see no point in spending resources on a decent education for all young people when there will not be enough decent jobs needing highly qualified people. Free Schools and Academies are a way of taking schools out of local authority control and for the private sector to further get their claws into the education system.
Teachers face attacks on pay through divisive performance-related pay and a squeeze on pensions, while workloads and stress increase. Further strike action this year by teachers could get wide support from students and could be part of coordinated industrial action with other trade unions, building to a 24-hour general strike.
Showing posts with label Youth Fight For Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youth Fight For Education. Show all posts
Monday, 13 January 2014
Monday, 25 November 2013
Socialist Students helps force NUS to back education strike
The National Union of Students’ NEC voted “to stand in complete solidarity with workers taking strike action” in the December 3rd strike in higher & further education. Employers must now face education workers & students united as the dispute over pay and equality enters its 4th month. The motion passed, (see below) contained a number of mandates for NUS to carry out in the build up to the strike (though disgracefully, the clearest language calling for students not to cross picket lines was removed by Labour Students). It’s now vital that we maintain this pressure and use the NUS support to help organise students to turn out on the picket lines and bring solidarity. We should also put pressure on students unions to make sure that joint student union, trade union campus meetings that the motion called for are carried out. Socialist Students and NUS NEC member Edmund Schluessel, who submitted the motion, said, “education workers and students are natural allies. I hope this is the start of a long partnership against austerity & in the fight for an education system free at the point of use.”
NUS’s national executive also supported Socialist Students’ policy calling for nationalisation of the energy industry and tighter controls on rents and landlords. Labour Students showed themselves to be in the minority of society who opposes cheaper, more efficient, democratically-controlled public services. As NUS prepares to intervene in the 2015 general election, it should listen to its members and help build a new mass party of the working class that serves the interests of students, not bosses.
Emergency Motion passed by NUS NEC
proposed by Socialist Students member, Edmund Schluessel
NEC believes
• People who work for our universities, from lecturers to library staff, are taking strike action on 3 December. This is the second day of strike action that has been organised this term by the trade unions UCU, Unison and Unite
• The strike has been called over a 1% pay offer, which represents a real terms wage cut. This comes after many years of declining wages. Academic staff have seen a real-terns pay cut of 13.8% since 2009
• Many of the workers taking part in action will also tell you that their reasons for striking include ever increasing work-loads, low-pay, casualistion, zero-hour contracts, bullying and discrimination
• Many students are among those who will be striking, including the many thousands who rely on teaching and part time work to continue their studies
• The strike on 31 October drew wide support from students, many of whom joined rallies and pickets in support of those on strike.
NEC further believes
• The issues the strike relates to directly affect students. Under-paid, overworked and undervalued staff are never going to be able to give students the best possible help and support, however dedicated they may be
• This strike is part of both the fight to defend education and to beat back the brutal austerity policies that are seeing jobs destroyed, living standards decimated and the future for the next generation snatched away
• Strikes are the most powerful weapon working people have to fight to change things for the better – they demonstrate the huge potential power of workers
• For Students, this strike may be a minor inconvenience in the short-term, but the long term damage that’s being done to education will have far more detrimental effects if it goes unchallenged
NEC resolves
• To stand in complete solidarity with workers taking strike action in our universities
• To produce a leaflet for distribution on campuses, explaining why students should support strikes and attend picket lines to bring support and solidarity
• To make the campaign to support the strike a top item on the NUS website and use social media networks to publicise it
• To write to all students unions advising them to host joint public meetings with campus trade unions in the run up to the strike to attempt to raise awareness of the issues
Socialist Students petition supporting the strikes, you can use it on the picket lines and before the strike! http://www.scribd.com/doc/185991444/Socialist-Students-support-the-strikes-petition
Socialist Students leaflet for the strike http://www.scribd.com/doc/185990396/another-Socialist-Students-support-the-strikes-leaflet , this one already includes a public meeting ideahttp://www.scribd.com/doc/185990396/another-Socialist-Students-support-the-strikes-leaflet
Socialist Students strike poster http://www.scribd.com/doc/185990587/another-Socialist-Students-support-the-strikes-poster , and the public meeting on this one toohttp://www.scribd.com/doc/185990502/Socialist-Students-support-the-strikes-poster
Socialist Students original motion can be found herehttp://socialiststudents.org.uk/wp/?p=944
Thursday, 24 November 2011
State intimidation of young protesters
By Dylan Murphy, in The Socialist 24th November 2011 http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/695/13225/23-11-2011/state-intimidation-of-young-protesters
On 14 November, my nephew was arrested after taking part in a protest outside Knowsthorpe incinerator in Leeds against Stericycle. This global waste disposal company has a contract with Harlan Interfauna, the last UK company breeding dogs for research in animal experiments.
Stericycle take the bodies of dogs killed for research purposes from Harlan's laboratories to their incinerators. If Stericycle pulled out of the contract, Harlan would have to build its own incinerators at considerable cost.
My nephew and three other activists chained themselves together and stopped lorries getting into the incinerator. Thepolice arrested them for aggravated trespass, handcuffing them and putting them into a police van.
After two hours in the cells my nephew was arrested again on suspicion of causing intimidation to persons connected to an animal research organisation. Two officers aggressively interviewed him. His solicitor says the police approached this like a terrorism case, with Homicide and Major Enquiries Teams drafted in from Hull.
Six police officers turned my nephew's house upside down, seeking 'evidence' and confiscated an animal rights poster, two computers, three memory sticks and internet router.
Four teenagers face blatant intimidation as the state tries to stifle democratic protests. The labour movement must stand up for them.
On 14 November, my nephew was arrested after taking part in a protest outside Knowsthorpe incinerator in Leeds against Stericycle. This global waste disposal company has a contract with Harlan Interfauna, the last UK company breeding dogs for research in animal experiments.
Stericycle take the bodies of dogs killed for research purposes from Harlan's laboratories to their incinerators. If Stericycle pulled out of the contract, Harlan would have to build its own incinerators at considerable cost.
My nephew and three other activists chained themselves together and stopped lorries getting into the incinerator. Thepolice arrested them for aggravated trespass, handcuffing them and putting them into a police van.
After two hours in the cells my nephew was arrested again on suspicion of causing intimidation to persons connected to an animal research organisation. Two officers aggressively interviewed him. His solicitor says the police approached this like a terrorism case, with Homicide and Major Enquiries Teams drafted in from Hull.
Six police officers turned my nephew's house upside down, seeking 'evidence' and confiscated an animal rights poster, two computers, three memory sticks and internet router.
Four teenagers face blatant intimidation as the state tries to stifle democratic protests. The labour movement must stand up for them.
Bring Back EMA!
Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) is campaigning for the reinstatement of the EMA. This is a small grant of £30 a week for 16-19 year olds in further education. It allows students to pay for their bus fare to school or college and for books and other equipment.
The government says it cannot afford to pay this small amount of money. Yet the banks that were bailed out with billions of public money are still giving their chief executives millions in bonuses. The number of billionaires is increasing as young people are being denied the right to go to education. There has been an estimated 49% drop in the number of students going to college this year as a result of this cut. But this is not the only attack. Those wanting to go to university are being told they will have to pay £9,000 a year. There are now over 1 million young people unemployed. Instead of creating jobs, the government is just going to force people to work for their dole money. We didn’t cause this crisis and so shouldn’t be made to pay for it! YFJ says: we won't be a lost generation!
Southwark Council in London is going to continue to pay EMA to people living in that area. We demand that our local councils do the same. But we don't think that they should just cut other services to pay for it. They should launch a campaign to demand that the government gives them the money!
We are collecting signatures on a petition to give into the council. If we get enough, they will be forced to debate the issue in a full council meeting. We want to organise lobbies and protests of the council to make our voices heard and make them bring back EMA!
***WHAT CAN YOU DO?***
SIGN OUR PETITIONS:
NOTTINGHAM - need 5,000 signatures for the city council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
LINCOLN - need 3,500 signatures for the county council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
DERBY - need 8,500 signatures for the city council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
LEICESTER - need 1,500 signatures for the city council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
COME TO OUR ORGANISING MEETINGS:
NOTTINGHAM
Saturday 10th December
3pm
ICC (YMCA) 61B Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FN
LINCOLN
Saturday 10th December
3pm
Community Centre, Croft Street, Lincoln, LN2 5AX
DERBY
Saturday 3rd December
3pm
Lonny Wilsoncroft Community Centre, Stepping Lane, Derby, DE1 1GL
LEICESTER
Saturday 3rd December
3pm
Room 216, Attenborough Building, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH
JOIN YOUTH FIGHT FOR JOBS!
- Visit www.youthfightforjobs.com
- Message admins for more info
- Invite your friends to join this group and sign the petitions
- Organise a Youth Fight for Jobs in your local area!
The government says it cannot afford to pay this small amount of money. Yet the banks that were bailed out with billions of public money are still giving their chief executives millions in bonuses. The number of billionaires is increasing as young people are being denied the right to go to education. There has been an estimated 49% drop in the number of students going to college this year as a result of this cut. But this is not the only attack. Those wanting to go to university are being told they will have to pay £9,000 a year. There are now over 1 million young people unemployed. Instead of creating jobs, the government is just going to force people to work for their dole money. We didn’t cause this crisis and so shouldn’t be made to pay for it! YFJ says: we won't be a lost generation!
Southwark Council in London is going to continue to pay EMA to people living in that area. We demand that our local councils do the same. But we don't think that they should just cut other services to pay for it. They should launch a campaign to demand that the government gives them the money!
We are collecting signatures on a petition to give into the council. If we get enough, they will be forced to debate the issue in a full council meeting. We want to organise lobbies and protests of the council to make our voices heard and make them bring back EMA!
***WHAT CAN YOU DO?***
SIGN OUR PETITIONS:
NOTTINGHAM - need 5,000 signatures for the city council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
LINCOLN - need 3,500 signatures for the county council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
DERBY - need 8,500 signatures for the city council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
LEICESTER - need 1,500 signatures for the city council to debate
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/...
COME TO OUR ORGANISING MEETINGS:
NOTTINGHAM
Saturday 10th December
3pm
ICC (YMCA) 61B Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FN
LINCOLN
Saturday 10th December
3pm
Community Centre, Croft Street, Lincoln, LN2 5AX
DERBY
Saturday 3rd December
3pm
Lonny Wilsoncroft Community Centre, Stepping Lane, Derby, DE1 1GL
LEICESTER
Saturday 3rd December
3pm
Room 216, Attenborough Building, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH
JOIN YOUTH FIGHT FOR JOBS!
- Visit www.youthfightforjobs.com
- Message admins for more info
- Invite your friends to join this group and sign the petitions
- Organise a Youth Fight for Jobs in your local area!
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Support today's two national demos - Construction workers and students
There are two important demonstrations in London tomorrow, the first is a national construction worker's protest and the second is a nationally organised student demo against cuts and fees, the police are trying to scare people away by threatening to use rubber bullets. If your going to one, you should be able to make the other, and Socialist Party members will be intervening on both including members from the South West. Hope to see you there.
Construction workers' national demonstration
Wednesday 9th November 2011
7am
The Pinnacle building site, Bishopsgate, London
National student demonstration
Wednesday 9th November 2011
Assemble 12 noon
University of London Union, Malet Street, London
University of London Union, Malet Street, London
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Youth Fight for Jobs: Jarrow marchers call for one combined demonstration on 5th November
http://jarrowmarch11.com/
Youth Fight for Jobs are recreating the Jarrow March on the 75th anniversary, and are bringing together students, unemployed workers, trade union members and activists in a demonstration on Saturday 5 November, assembling at Embankment at 11am.
The campaign was confused by yesterdays call by the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) to organise a separate demonstration on 9 November.
Leeds University Against the Cuts (LUAC) press spokesperson Ian Pattison said "I am confused as to why this call has been made. The march on 5 November has been publicly announced for 5 months and has received coverage in the Guardian and Independent.
"I announced this at the NUS conference and proposed that all student anti-cuts groups work together to build a united resistance to all the cuts, and campaign for a future for all young people, against the governments brutal measures.
"The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts backed this march at its recent conference.
"I am confused as to why yesterdays announcement to split the resistance was made without any consultation with student anti-cuts activists such as myself."
Ben Robinson, Chair of Youth Fight for Jobs, said "The recreation of the Jarrow march has the backing of six national trade unions, Unite, PCS, RMT, Bectu, TSSA, FBU and UCU.
"It also has the support of many student anti-cuts groups and individuals up and down the country who are marching, offering us accommodation, helping to organise the protest and so forth. Many of our members played leading roles in the student anti-fees protests. We hope that the NCAFC and EAN do not try to divide the resistance. We hope that we can get together and discuss with representatives from those groups so that we have one demonstration on 5 November that all activists can build for at the start of the new term."
Youth Fight for Jobs are recreating the Jarrow March on the 75th anniversary, and are bringing together students, unemployed workers, trade union members and activists in a demonstration on Saturday 5 November, assembling at Embankment at 11am.
The campaign was confused by yesterdays call by the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) to organise a separate demonstration on 9 November.
Leeds University Against the Cuts (LUAC) press spokesperson Ian Pattison said "I am confused as to why this call has been made. The march on 5 November has been publicly announced for 5 months and has received coverage in the Guardian and Independent.
"I announced this at the NUS conference and proposed that all student anti-cuts groups work together to build a united resistance to all the cuts, and campaign for a future for all young people, against the governments brutal measures.
"The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts backed this march at its recent conference.
"I am confused as to why yesterdays announcement to split the resistance was made without any consultation with student anti-cuts activists such as myself."
Ben Robinson, Chair of Youth Fight for Jobs, said "The recreation of the Jarrow march has the backing of six national trade unions, Unite, PCS, RMT, Bectu, TSSA, FBU and UCU.
"It also has the support of many student anti-cuts groups and individuals up and down the country who are marching, offering us accommodation, helping to organise the protest and so forth. Many of our members played leading roles in the student anti-fees protests. We hope that the NCAFC and EAN do not try to divide the resistance. We hope that we can get together and discuss with representatives from those groups so that we have one demonstration on 5 November that all activists can build for at the start of the new term."
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Solidarity with Spain; we won't be a lost generation!
Taken from: http://www.youthfightforjobs.com/article/7159
A movement of millions has built up over the last few months in response to devastating cuts and the conditions facing Spanish people. Now young people have come to the fore, fighting against conditions that threaten to make them the 'ni ni' generation, no job, no house. For Spanish youth, almost half are unemployed. Devastating cuts are planned and are already being implemented. Politicians are more concerned with bailing out their big business mates than the lives of the majority of the population.
Many young people in Britain will recognise this as similar to those we face. If the politicians are allowed to get away with their brutal attacks, we will find ourselves in similar conditions. But the one thing that can stop them is by young people and workers taking the road of Spain and others, to fight back in our masses and say no to all cuts, no to mass unemployment, and for the right to determine our own future.
If there are Spanish people involved in the struggle in Britain or Spain who would like to discuss with us, or have suggestions for how we can support your movement, contact us on youthfightforjobs@gmail.com
The crisis that you face is the crisis that we face, an international crisis of capitalism. It is vital that we stand together across borders and fight for a future for all. We say "we won't be a lost generation! Fight for jobs and education!"
Youth Fight for Jobs sends its solidarity and support to the struggles of workers and young people in Spain. Internationally young people are forced to fight for a future, and from Iran to Spain are taking to the streets by the million.
A movement of millions has built up over the last few months in response to devastating cuts and the conditions facing Spanish people. Now young people have come to the fore, fighting against conditions that threaten to make them the 'ni ni' generation, no job, no house. For Spanish youth, almost half are unemployed. Devastating cuts are planned and are already being implemented. Politicians are more concerned with bailing out their big business mates than the lives of the majority of the population.
Many young people in Britain will recognise this as similar to those we face. If the politicians are allowed to get away with their brutal attacks, we will find ourselves in similar conditions. But the one thing that can stop them is by young people and workers taking the road of Spain and others, to fight back in our masses and say no to all cuts, no to mass unemployment, and for the right to determine our own future.
If there are Spanish people involved in the struggle in Britain or Spain who would like to discuss with us, or have suggestions for how we can support your movement, contact us on youthfightforjobs@gmail.com
The crisis that you face is the crisis that we face, an international crisis of capitalism. It is vital that we stand together across borders and fight for a future for all. We say "we won't be a lost generation! Fight for jobs and education!"
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
TUC: Education cuts, 9k tuition fees, and now loans go up...
Using RPI to set student loans will cost graduates up to £5,000 more, says TUC
The government's refusal to change the interest rate on student loans from the retail prices index (RPI) to the consumer prices index (CPI) - despite already doing so for key benefits, tax thresholds and public sector pensions - will leave graduates thousands of pounds deeper in debt, the TUC warns today (Tuesday).
The RPI inflation figure for March, published later today, is crucial for many graduates as it is used to set the interest rate on student loans from the following September.
While some graduates are currently paying back their student loans at 1.5 per cent due to historically low Bank of England interest rates, RPI is the most common method for calculating the interest rate on student loans - and the only method for those taking out loans before 1998.
A TUC analysis has found that a graduate with a student loan of £25,000 and on the average graduate salary will pay an extra £4,800 and take two years longer to pay off their student loan if it is uprated by RPI rather than CPI.
Graduates with higher levels of debt, lower earnings growth or broken career patterns, for example if they stop working full-time to look after children, will pay an even greater amount, says the TUC...
Friday, 4 February 2011
UWE staff to strike next Thursday 10/02/11
Members of University & College Union have balloted for strike action next week - this is highly significant considering the scale of the attacks on higher education, with UWE being seen as a test case for what can be forced through, and given the student militancy around this issue - especially at UWE and in the city of Bristol generally. It should be given full support and solidarity. Here is the press release:
Staff to strike at University of West England
• University to face local strike action for the first time in its history over restructure plans
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of West England (UWE) today (Thursday) announced that they will be taking strike action on Thursday 10 February in a row over controversial restructure plans.
The union has accused UWE of trying to rush through proposals which it believes could lead to inferior jobs descriptions and a dubious selection process. Under the plans all university readers, professors and principal lecturers are being made to reapply for their jobs as the university looks to cut back on senior posts by 25%. The measures will also affect lecturers and hourly-paid staff who will be subject to a review over the next few weeks.
UCU said that although it wasn’t against a restructure in principle, management had refused to allow enough time for the union to see if the process was fair and had prevented a deal from being reached.
The news follows the result of a month long ballot. Two-thirds of staff (66%) who voted supported strike action and over four-fifths (89%) agreed to action short of a strike. The union said that although its members at UWE had given a clear mandate for local strike action for the first time in the institution’s history, it still hoped the dispute could be resolved without any disruption.
UCU regional official, Nova Gresham, said: “Management is looking to rush proposals that will affect the jobs of hundreds of staff here at UWE. Had they been prepared to pause their plans and allow time for both sides to sit down together and make sure the process was fair and transparent a deal may well have been reached by now.
“There is still time for a negotiated settlement to be reached, but management should be warned that staff trust is at an all-time low and they are very angry at the way things have been handled. Unless the university gets its act together the branch will take local strike action for the first time in its history.”
http://paperbrolly.tumblr.com/post/3087919183/uwe-staff-to-strike-press-release
Staff to strike at University of West England
• University to face local strike action for the first time in its history over restructure plans
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of West England (UWE) today (Thursday) announced that they will be taking strike action on Thursday 10 February in a row over controversial restructure plans.
The union has accused UWE of trying to rush through proposals which it believes could lead to inferior jobs descriptions and a dubious selection process. Under the plans all university readers, professors and principal lecturers are being made to reapply for their jobs as the university looks to cut back on senior posts by 25%. The measures will also affect lecturers and hourly-paid staff who will be subject to a review over the next few weeks.
UCU said that although it wasn’t against a restructure in principle, management had refused to allow enough time for the union to see if the process was fair and had prevented a deal from being reached.
The news follows the result of a month long ballot. Two-thirds of staff (66%) who voted supported strike action and over four-fifths (89%) agreed to action short of a strike. The union said that although its members at UWE had given a clear mandate for local strike action for the first time in the institution’s history, it still hoped the dispute could be resolved without any disruption.
UCU regional official, Nova Gresham, said: “Management is looking to rush proposals that will affect the jobs of hundreds of staff here at UWE. Had they been prepared to pause their plans and allow time for both sides to sit down together and make sure the process was fair and transparent a deal may well have been reached by now.
“There is still time for a negotiated settlement to be reached, but management should be warned that staff trust is at an all-time low and they are very angry at the way things have been handled. Unless the university gets its act together the branch will take local strike action for the first time in its history.”
http://paperbrolly.tumblr.com/post/3087919183/uwe-staff-to-strike-press-release
Friday, 28 January 2011
Demonstrations on Saturday 29th Jan 2011 - Manchester, London, Stroud, Devon...
There is a whole host of demonstrations against the ConDem cuts coming up this Saturday the 29th - not just against cuts to education budgets and EMA, but to all job cuts, to the health service, to public services, and against the rising cost of living. Workers and students unite to defeat all cuts!
Manchester - There is a students and workers demonstration involving the Trades Union Congress, the National Union of Students, the lecturer's union UCU, the civil servants union PCS and others. The demonstration will march from Manchester Museum to join the TUC & NUS rally in Platts Field, starting at 2pm.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170799172958208
http://www.youthfightforjobs.com/article/7113
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19053-f0.cfm
London - Another demo to defend education and defend public services. Leaving from University of London Union at 12pm.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184694258211136
Stroud, Glos. - Protest Against cuts & privatisation, called by Gloucestershire anti-cuts groups. Assemble 10am in Stratford Park car park, march to Stroud Sub Rooms for Rally at 11.30am.
http://www.anticutsglos.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gloucestershire-Anti-Cuts/169145176431708
Barnstaple, Devon - North Devon Rally Against the Cuts – Assemble at Guildhall, Barnstaple, 2pm to 4pm.
http://northdevonanticuts.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191785420835626
Manchester - There is a students and workers demonstration involving the Trades Union Congress, the National Union of Students, the lecturer's union UCU, the civil servants union PCS and others. The demonstration will march from Manchester Museum to join the TUC & NUS rally in Platts Field, starting at 2pm.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170799172958208
http://www.youthfightforjobs.com/article/7113
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19053-f0.cfm
London - Another demo to defend education and defend public services. Leaving from University of London Union at 12pm.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184694258211136
Stroud, Glos. - Protest Against cuts & privatisation, called by Gloucestershire anti-cuts groups. Assemble 10am in Stratford Park car park, march to Stroud Sub Rooms for Rally at 11.30am.
http://www.anticutsglos.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gloucestershire-Anti-Cuts/169145176431708
Barnstaple, Devon - North Devon Rally Against the Cuts – Assemble at Guildhall, Barnstaple, 2pm to 4pm.
http://northdevonanticuts.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191785420835626
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Youth Fight For Jobs on Channel 4 news
See this interview with Youth Fight For Jobs comrade who 'kettled' Scotland Yard in protest against police intimidation and victimisation - for youth democratic rights!
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/111210/clipid/111210_protests
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/111210/clipid/111210_protests
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Kettle Scotland Yard on 11th December 15:30pm
Youth Fight For Jobs is calling for a Youth Democratic Rights campaign to protest against the use of intimidation and violence in London, Bristol, Brighton, Leeds and elsewhere against legally-planned marches and demonstrations. Today we can turn the tables by kettling Scotland Yard and showing them what it feels like - but we need the help of workers everywhere, including inside Scotland Yard itself. Unaccountable and anonymous actions will not help, but with organisation and democracy we can defeat both the police and the ConDem cuts. Together we can win!
Youth Democratic Rights Campaign -
http://www.youthfightforjobs.com/article/7109
Youth Fight For Jobs -
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116186575108894
Youth Democratic Rights Campaign -
http://www.youthfightforjobs.com/article/7109
Youth Fight For Jobs -
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116186575108894
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Youth Fight For Education statement on 9th December demonstration
'We can win!'
But we’re also demanding that they don’t cut our EMA, that they save our teachers’ and lecturers’ jobs and the other resources we rely on. We’re demanding the right to a decent education. We’re fighting for our future.
And we’re winning! In Wales and Scotland, because of our campaign, they will save EMA and not introduce higher fees. We’ve shown that it’s possible to fight back, and started the ball rolling that can smash this government and its program of cuts. There is a movement developing against all the cuts in jobs, against the cuts in the NHS and all the other services that we rely on. There are demonstrations and protests going on already. But this movement can and will go further than protests; workers and their power to take strike action can deal huge blows to the government and their big business paymasters. Students and young people need to link with these anti-cuts protests to form an almighty movement. On 22 January a conference is being called by the Shop Stewards Network to do just this – see www.shopstewards.net for more details.
But we must keep fighting for access to education as well! Every time a teacher or lecturer is fired, or a service closed we know we can fight back and win. In January when they try and stop new people getting EMA we should organise walkouts and protests. We should unite and bring together the protests in schools, colleges and universities and organise a real education shutdown, with everyone taking part in protests. In March, the teachers and lecturers unions (NUT and UCU) may be taking strike action – we should join in their protests and support their action.
To do all this we need to be organised, coming together to discuss what they’re trying to cut, where and how we should fight back. Youth Fight for Education is organising in schools, colleges and universities groups to do just that, and bringing them together across the cities and beyond to coordinate action. Get involved, get organised and build the struggle – join Youth Fight for Education today!
After today’s use of violence by the police against peaceful demonstrators in London and use of intimidatory tactics, the Youth Fight for Jobs is launching the Youth Democratic Rights campaign. We are Kettling Scotland Yard on Saturday at 15:30 to protest against the use of the tactic in London, Bristol, Brighton, Leeds and elsewhere. The worst case was in London on November 24th, when the police held demonstrators, many school students on their first ever protest, for over 9 hours without food, water or any toilet facilities. The police also attacked the Day X protest which was a legally planned march. The police had negotiated with the protest organisers and agreed that they would allow them to march through Parliament Square on the day. Instead around half the march was Kettled and then charged at by police horses.
www.youthfightforeducation.com
020 8558 7947
PO BOX 858,
London,
E11 1YG
After today’s use of violence by the police against peaceful demonstrators in London and use of intimidatory tactics, the Youth Fight for Jobs is launching the Youth Democratic Rights campaign. We are Kettling Scotland Yard on Saturday at 15:30 to protest against the use of the tactic in London, Bristol, Brighton, Leeds and elsewhere. The worst case was in London on November 24th, when the police held demonstrators, many school students on their first ever protest, for over 9 hours without food, water or any toilet facilities. The police also attacked the Day X protest which was a legally planned march. The police had negotiated with the protest organisers and agreed that they would allow them to march through Parliament Square on the day. Instead around half the march was Kettled and then charged at by police horses.
www.youthfightforeducation.com
020 8558 7947
PO BOX 858,
London,
E11 1YG
They vote to raise fees - but the fight must go on!
Read The Socialist Editorial - The Fight Goes on Against Cuts and Fees
AN UPRISING has occurred of school, college and university students, fighting for their futures. The trigger has been the trebling of tuition fees, but the anger is wider - against the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), the massive cuts proposed in education, and the robbing of a decent future from an entire generation. The culmination of this phase of the student campaign will be when parliament votes on fees on Thursday 9 December, as thousands upon thousands of students walk out all over the country and demonstrate outside parliament.
The movement has shocked the government and mainstream parties. Already there have been victories in Wales and Scotland (see page five). However, defeating the Con-Dem government, ideologically wedded to a rolling back of the welfare state, is a taller order.
Immense anger has been expressed against the Lib Dems who pledged not to increase fees and are now advocating the opposite. Their party is in chaos and their leadership vilified just months after taking their places in the coalition government. Even Tories are wobbling, with David Davis, former shadow home secretary, saying he will vote against the government.
Nevertheless, the likelihood is that the increase in fees will be voted through on Thursday. If so, many young people will be bitterly disappointed and may think that there is now nothing that can be done. Many will be furious and that rage could explode onto the streets.
The first thing young people need to know is that this is not the end. The fees increase will not be implemented until autumn 2012. There is time. The poll tax, for example, was not beaten in one rush; in fact it became law in 1988 and was defeated in 1991. The withdrawal of EMA will start, for new applications, in January. Devastating cuts facing universities will come in over a period of time, with the 80% cut in teaching budgets being declared in April. Massive cuts are planned in further education (FE) funding.
The key thing now is to get organised. Up to now there has been no real overall leadership or organisation, although in many local areas Youth Fight for Jobs/Education has organised the protests. The National Union of Students (NUS) has displayed a complete dereliction of duty. From the high of the 10 November demonstration, the size of which surprised leaders of NUS more than anyone, they immediately plunged to the depths of attacking protesters at Millbank, and have since failed to act. Their call for a "glow stick vigil" on Day X - not even at parliament! - underlines the irrelevance NUS has quickly become to many students.
Strategy
This is a long game, and we need a strategy. The protests have been exhilarating, but it will not be sufficient to just keep calling days of action on Facebook, as has largely been the case so far. If students do not have a say in what action is called, there is a risk that they will get worn down. It is a step forward that there are now regular London Student Assemblies being called. However, these mainly involve university students, not school and FE students, who have been the most audacious so far.
To defeat fees and save EMA, action on an even greater scale will be necessary. The Socialist Party calls for a huge national shutdown of education in the New Year. This will take organisation in every school, college and university. Students will need their own meetings, to discuss what they are doing and why, to learn lessons from previous struggles, to elect their own committees, and plan serious action.
Where there are no existing anti-cuts campaigns or Socialist Students groups, which is particularly the case in schools and colleges, Youth Fight for Education groups should be set up. Student groups can then be linked up on a city-wide, regional and national level.
Students in colleges and universities need to develop demands of their own college managements. Most occupations currently demand that university vice-chancellors issue statements opposing cuts and the rise in tuition fees. We should go further and demand that vice-chancellors do not implement cuts or fee increases, and instead set deficit budgets and join with students in campaigning for more funding.
Students should also make demands of local councils. It is councils who handle EMA payments and they should be pressured - like the Welsh Assembly - to keep EMA and fund it themselves. It would only cost councils a small proportion of their overall budget, while they mount a major campaign alongside students and parents for government to restore funding. Local anti-cuts unions are demanding that councils do not implement cuts.
Rightly, students are starting to link up with these campaigns, joining protests at councils. Students could go further, and support Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and anti-cuts candidates at the council elections in May 2011, demanding that councils maintain EMA.
The Role of Workers
Students have made a tremendous start but to defeat the enormity of the government's attacks they now need the might of the working class to come alongside them. There is a view amongst some in the student assemblies, and which was on display at the recent Coalition of Resistance conference, that writes off the working class and trade unions, and that simply advocates "new methods" and "direct action".
No one would argue against the freshness and audacity of the student actions. And of course students can achieve victories. In 1985, for example, a national school student strike involving 250,000 defeated the Tories' plans for slave labour YTS 'youth training schemes'. But the scale of the planned attacks is so great, with the capitalist class attempting to force the working class and youth to pay for their historic crisis, that student power alone is limited. The working class, on the other hand, when it moves, can threaten the very heart of capitalism. Strike action can bring society to a halt.
The student movement has been an inspiration to workers. On Day X, the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) has called for trade unionists to march behind their banner. How tremendous it would have been if there had been a national Trade Union Congress (TUC) demonstration on 11 December, as the Socialist Party had campaigned for. However, the conservative leadership of the TUC and some of the trade unions cannot hold back the working class forever - the public sector cuts are so devastating that workers will be forced to act. A movement is possible that brings together the energy of youth with the power of the working class. We must now demand that opposition to the increase in fees and the abolition of EMA should be one of the demands of the TUC 26 March demo.
The NSSN anti-cuts conference on 22 January will be an important step in bringing together students and trade unionists. Rooted in the trade unions, the NSSN has worked in alliance with some of the most militant workers at this stage, and in January will be debating launching a national anti-cuts campaign with the organised working class at its heart, alongside young people and community campaigns (see page 11).
The TUC has been forced, by pressure from Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) and the PCS civil service union Young Members Network, to organise a youth rally on 29 January. YFJ has decided to call a demonstration to this rally, to gather together young workers, unemployed and students. In March, the teaching union NUT and university and college union UCU are likely to be taking coordinated strike action. It is important that students support these actions. In fact students should visit the picket lines of other workers on strike to make links - as some students did, visiting the RMT tube worker pickets in London in November.
In these early stages of the movement, political understanding is raw, but young people are learning fast and, in tasting their collective strength for the first time, are also questioning everything. For many, an understanding will develop that at the root of this crisis in education is a crisis of capitalism, and that a socialist alternative is necessary.
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/10755/08-12-2010/the-fight-goes-on-against-fees-and-cuts
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Death of Education - Bristol 8th December 2010
From here, please come along if you can:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178872118805256&index=1
MP's from around the country will soon vote on whether to approve the £9,000 "fee ceiling" for students wishing to study in Higher Education.
As the government prepares to withdraw from contributing to Higher Education, and place the burden largely on students, they are drawing a line in the sand.
We believe that Higher Education is a huge public good as much as it benefits an individual themself. Higher Education is at the core of developing social mobility and our society as a whole.
If the government approves the proposal we believe it will be the death of education in the UK.
Come along to the Students Union at 3.30 PM on Wednesday 8th December to hear speakers from Unions and student groups call for sense.
Then the mourning procession will head to college green as we lay education to rest and hold a candlelit vigil and read its last rites.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178872118805256&index=1
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178872118805256&index=1
MP's from around the country will soon vote on whether to approve the £9,000 "fee ceiling" for students wishing to study in Higher Education.
As the government prepares to withdraw from contributing to Higher Education, and place the burden largely on students, they are drawing a line in the sand.
We believe that Higher Education is a huge public good as much as it benefits an individual themself. Higher Education is at the core of developing social mobility and our society as a whole.
If the government approves the proposal we believe it will be the death of education in the UK.
Come along to the Students Union at 3.30 PM on Wednesday 8th December to hear speakers from Unions and student groups call for sense.
Then the mourning procession will head to college green as we lay education to rest and hold a candlelit vigil and read its last rites.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178872118805256&index=1
Monday, 6 December 2010
Bristol Students occupy Senate House
Here is the statement from the occupiers:
Statement of Bristol University Occupation
We have occupied the University of Bristol Senate House today. We have
done this to protest against, and to open a space of dialogue and
critical thinking around, the government-proposed education cuts and
changes to the University fee structure. We have occupied this space in
a spirit of solidarity with other student occupations and in recognition
of the burning need for a new form of participatory democracy within our
University and universities in general.
As has been widely reported, these proposals include:
• A 40% cut in the higher education budget overall, which includes an
80% cut to the teaching budget.
• An effective 100% funding cut to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
• The scrapping of the Educational Maintenance Allowance for students
who might otherwise struggle to support themselves through school.
• A near-tripling of university tuition fees of up to £9,000 and the
creation of a crippling debt that will deter a generation of students
based on financial, rather than educational, considerations.
This is not the beginning, rather the culmination, of a vibrant and
broad student movement. Today’s occupation follows a month of protest,
teach-ins and other activities carried out by Bristol students, often
with support of both academic and support staff. Last week, at an
Emergency General Meeting, following large-scale student pressure, the
University of Bristol Students’ Union finally recognised what its
students had long been advocating. Two motions, against fees and cuts,
were passed with an overwhelming majority. Our Students’ Union is now
mandated to take an active and public stance against the cuts and fees
and it will also be present at the national demonstration against these
cuts and fees happening in London on Thursday, 9th December 2010.
The motions express the sentiments of the student body overall that the
advent of the cuts and fee increases will function so as to transform
education from a public good into a private commodity; that this will
detrimentally impact on the capacity of the University as a space of
critical thought and that it will become a space that is increasingly
inaccessible to prospective students from lower income backgrounds.
Moreover, the motions passed support all forms of student action,
including all current and future occupations. It is thus with the
overwhelming majority of Bristol Students, that we oppose these cuts and
fee increases and feel that it is time to take action.
Despite the enormity of the government’s proposals, their significance
for the University and higher education more broadly and the evident
concern of students around these issues we feel that, we, as students,
have been left out of processes of consultation and decision-making on
the University’s stance on these policies and their impacts. We feel,
that there has been little resistance to, or indeed questioning of,
Government’s proposals from the University administration and we aim
through this occupation to foster such critique.
It is thus, in the name of a more democratic, participatory and
critically engaged university that we make the following demands:
Read more by clicking links.
Please send messages of support and solidarity to
bristoluniresistance.org.uk. If you would like to participate in or
contribute to a series of planned teach-ins and workshops, please come
along or email: aec.bris@gmail.com
Follow the occupation:
Blog: bristoluniresistance.org.uk,
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Bristol-against-education-cuts/166916926663073
Email: aec.bris@gmail.com
Or come and visit: University of Bristol Senate House, Tyndall Avenue,
Bristol BS8 1TH
Press contacts:
07587208084
07792098230
Statement of Bristol University Occupation
We have occupied the University of Bristol Senate House today. We have
done this to protest against, and to open a space of dialogue and
critical thinking around, the government-proposed education cuts and
changes to the University fee structure. We have occupied this space in
a spirit of solidarity with other student occupations and in recognition
of the burning need for a new form of participatory democracy within our
University and universities in general.
As has been widely reported, these proposals include:
• A 40% cut in the higher education budget overall, which includes an
80% cut to the teaching budget.
• An effective 100% funding cut to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
• The scrapping of the Educational Maintenance Allowance for students
who might otherwise struggle to support themselves through school.
• A near-tripling of university tuition fees of up to £9,000 and the
creation of a crippling debt that will deter a generation of students
based on financial, rather than educational, considerations.
This is not the beginning, rather the culmination, of a vibrant and
broad student movement. Today’s occupation follows a month of protest,
teach-ins and other activities carried out by Bristol students, often
with support of both academic and support staff. Last week, at an
Emergency General Meeting, following large-scale student pressure, the
University of Bristol Students’ Union finally recognised what its
students had long been advocating. Two motions, against fees and cuts,
were passed with an overwhelming majority. Our Students’ Union is now
mandated to take an active and public stance against the cuts and fees
and it will also be present at the national demonstration against these
cuts and fees happening in London on Thursday, 9th December 2010.
The motions express the sentiments of the student body overall that the
advent of the cuts and fee increases will function so as to transform
education from a public good into a private commodity; that this will
detrimentally impact on the capacity of the University as a space of
critical thought and that it will become a space that is increasingly
inaccessible to prospective students from lower income backgrounds.
Moreover, the motions passed support all forms of student action,
including all current and future occupations. It is thus with the
overwhelming majority of Bristol Students, that we oppose these cuts and
fee increases and feel that it is time to take action.
Despite the enormity of the government’s proposals, their significance
for the University and higher education more broadly and the evident
concern of students around these issues we feel that, we, as students,
have been left out of processes of consultation and decision-making on
the University’s stance on these policies and their impacts. We feel,
that there has been little resistance to, or indeed questioning of,
Government’s proposals from the University administration and we aim
through this occupation to foster such critique.
It is thus, in the name of a more democratic, participatory and
critically engaged university that we make the following demands:
Read more by clicking links.
Please send messages of support and solidarity to
bristoluniresistance.org.uk. If you would like to participate in or
contribute to a series of planned teach-ins and workshops, please come
along or email: aec.bris@gmail.com
Follow the occupation:
Blog: bristoluniresistance.org.uk,
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Bristol-against-education-cuts/166916926663073
Email: aec.bris@gmail.com
Or come and visit: University of Bristol Senate House, Tyndall Avenue,
Bristol BS8 1TH
Press contacts:
07587208084
07792098230
Video of Students Demo - 30th November 2010
Here is a video from our Socialist News South West site of the demo on 30th November. As you will see it shows a peaceful, but nonetheless lively and very angry, march through a shopping centre in Bristol with nothing being broken or smashed at all - except the confidence of local LibDem councillors! Perhaps the police will look at themselves and realise who the real vandals are, a lesson they obviously did not learn in time yesterday's 5th December student protest which was kettled, and which we reported on here.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Peaceful demo kettled by the police yet again!
Here is an article covering the events of today written by Socialist Students participants. It gives an excellent overview of the student movement in Bristol so far. I spoke to several ordinary men and women who had their Christmas shopping interrupted, and they all agreed on how peaceful and disciplined the students were in the face of physical attacks on their democratic rights. We have to step it up now - for a mass campaign of students, workers and community groups to defeat the ConDem cuts!
From Bristol Socialist Students Jack and Jess (Univesity of Bristol) Paul and Alex (UWE) 5/12/10
’20 shoplifting and burglary days left till Christmas’ this appeared to be the message coming from Avon and Somerset constabulary on 5th December. For the fourth time in a month, hundreds of officers were withdrawn from high streets and estates as far apart as Yate in Gloucestershire and Yeovil, Bath, and Bridgewater in Somerset to subject mass peaceful demonstrations against cuts to repressive, and sometimes violent ‘policing’.
On 23rd October police horses were deliberately ridden into a peaceful rally of 2,000 on College Green and Trade Union stewards had to link arms at considerable risk to themselves to protect a crowd including many families. A month later, a 4,000 strong demonstration of mostly school students was ‘kettled’ for several hours in Berkley Square, and students as young as 13 were attacked with police dogs and drawn batons. On 30th November a larger demonstration went off entirely peacefully, despite repeated attempts by the police to kettle it.
The December 5th Demonstration was almost 1,000 strong and again, entirely peaceful. After kettling 500 members of the demonstration in Queens Road for the best part of an hour Avon and Somerset police agreed to allow us to march down Park Street in a cordon, on condition that we dispersed from College Green. As soon as we arrived on College Green the police broke their word and kept us in a further kettle for another hour .
After each demonstration the police issue press notices which are happily retailed as ‘fact’ by the Evening Post (owned by the rabidly Tory Northcliffe Press) and the BBC. These massively underestimate the number of demonstators and report ‘arrests for public order offences’. In truth, these ‘offences’ appear mostly to be for such 'crimes' as swearing through a megaphone, carrying a paint bomb, and stealing a policeman’s hat. The acts, whilst not particularly helpful to the anti-cuts campaign, would not even register on the ‘vandalometer’ of the upper class yobbos of the Bullingdon Club (prominent alumni - D. Cameron and B.Johnson) and pale into insignificance compared to the destruction of the future of whole generation of working class youth.
The total number of arrests claimed by the police from over 10,000 marchers is less than 25 and the Socialist Party are unaware of anyone who has actually been charged with any offence! The energy elan and discipline of the marchers is shown by the fact that the Novmber 30th demonsration of 3-4,000 youth twice went through the Cabot Circus shopping centre and the crowded Christmas Market in Broadmed without single shop or stall suffering theft or damage.
The movement has been so far sustained by the energy, enthusiasm and good humour of a new generation, previously written off as ‘apathetic’ by politicians and the media, finding their political voice. We have repeatedly eluded and evaded police attempts to kettle and contain our demonstrations. The streets of Bristol ring with the slogan ‘whose streets? Our streets’.
The demonstrations on the streets were matched by a vibrant lobby of Lib Dem MP Steven Williams’s surgery on 3rd December. Williams showed his contempt for students when he refused to answer our questions on EMA and claimed he was going to ‘speak to his constituents’. As the representative of a seat with tens of thousands student voters from both University of West of England (UWE )and Bristol University who probably owes his seat to his pledge not to vote for a rise in fees Wiliams seems too stupid (or more likely arrogant) to realise that the students are also his constituents.
Occupations at both Bristol University and University of West of England have re-ignited political debate in these universities and resulted in our students' unions adopting militant anti-cuts strategies at general meetings with record turn outs. This was a particular victory at Bristol (which has one of the highest concentrations of students from public schools) where the policy was opposed by the Tory sabbatical officers of the students union. Both unions are now committed to linking up with the wider anti-cuts campaign.
Unfortunately the UWE general meeting rejected a resolution to support industrial action by lecturers, who are resisting draconian cuts which will see the sacking of 1 in 4 senior academics, and 'trickle down' cuts in lower grades which will severely affect students teaching and contact hours, after the Union President repeated baseless suggestions from the university’s management that their union, UCU represented a minority of staff (it actually has 70% of teaching staff in membership) and that lecturers’ action could prevent students graduating. The willingness of students to struggle is shown by the fact that the UWE occupation is still going strong after two weeks.
However, elan and spontaneous initiatives can only carry the campaign forward so far, a democratic and accountable campaign is now needed to carry the struggle forward. A clear sign of this is that the turn out on 5th December was almost certainly smaller than it should have been because the facebook group calling it (which attracted over 2,000 members) was closed down and the event ‘cancelled’ by the individual who set it up – -- someone who had not been involved in any organised campaigning and appears to have got ‘cold feet’ after coming under pressure from the police – 36 hours before the demonstration . In particular, people ‘clicking through’ from an email from the Bristol Anti-Cuts Alliance calling on trade unionists to support the demonstration would have seen this ‘cancellation’ and unfortunately the ACA did not seem to receive emails from the UWE occupation confirming that the demonstration was going ahead in time to correct this wrong impression.
Two welcome initiatives can, however, help to overcome this and build a strong co-ordinated campaign of students, school students, lecturers, teachers and wider public sector workers, service users and community group against the cuts. Representatives of both the Bristol University and UWE occupations have been invited to address an ACA meeting on Monday 6th December, and the UWE occupation have called an ‘Assembly Against Cuts and Fees’ on Tuesday 7th December students are urged to attend these meetings which are being held at the Youth Hostel Association on Narrow Quay (BS1 4QA) at 7.30 on Monday and 6.00 on Tuesday.
The way in which students grasp the need to link up with other public sector workers was shown by their willingness to engage with rank and file police on the demonstrations – pointing out both that their jobs are under attack from the cuts and that their kids will have little or no chance of getting to university in future and by the enthusiastic reception given on the December 5th Demo to Mike Wheeler from the PCS youth when he explained the link between education cuts and those his members were facing. Mike was greeted with a standing ovation when he declared ‘Osborne says we are all in the same boat, but like on the Titanic, only the first class passengers have life boats’.
From Bristol Socialist Students Jack and Jess (Univesity of Bristol) Paul and Alex (UWE)
Friday, 3 December 2010
Youth Fight For Jobs National Conference
We won't become a lost generation!
4th December · 09:00 - 12:00 London
UCL Christopher Ingold Building (Chemistry Dept)
On the back of the present recession the ConDem government is sticking the knife into the rights and living standards of working class young people. The recent Browne review has proposed that the government lifts the cap on university tuition fees, lumbering students with three decades worth of debt. A huge assault on the jobs and services of working class people is currently underway.
The Youth Fight for Jobs campaign has been organising young people to fight back against the onslaught. Launched in Jan 2009, we organised a successful demonstration in London on the day that the G20 convened. We also held a demo against youth unemployment, tuition fees and cuts to higher education in November of last year. The campaign has attracted significant media attention and the support of six national Trade Unions.
We will be holding our national conference on 4th December. This event will be an important part of bringing together young trade unionists, the unemployed, anti-cuts activists and students to discuss how best to build the fight back. This will be a great opportunity to have your say in shaping the future of the campaign. It will also be a chance also for people who want to fight the bosses onslaught to hear from those who are already leading the struggle for our right to a decent future.
The conference won’t be just about talk, we will be making sure that we have a fighting strategy to take on the government and its big business backers.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119180754813170
There will also be the Socialist Students conference and the launching of Youth Fight For Education on Sunday 5th December at the same venue - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179399815408562
Please email myself, or Tom Baldwin, if you want to come along.
4th December · 09:00 - 12:00 London
UCL Christopher Ingold Building (Chemistry Dept)
Gordon Street, WC1H 0AJ
London, United Kingdom
On the back of the present recession the ConDem government is sticking the knife into the rights and living standards of working class young people. The recent Browne review has proposed that the government lifts the cap on university tuition fees, lumbering students with three decades worth of debt. A huge assault on the jobs and services of working class people is currently underway.
The Youth Fight for Jobs campaign has been organising young people to fight back against the onslaught. Launched in Jan 2009, we organised a successful demonstration in London on the day that the G20 convened. We also held a demo against youth unemployment, tuition fees and cuts to higher education in November of last year. The campaign has attracted significant media attention and the support of six national Trade Unions.
We will be holding our national conference on 4th December. This event will be an important part of bringing together young trade unionists, the unemployed, anti-cuts activists and students to discuss how best to build the fight back. This will be a great opportunity to have your say in shaping the future of the campaign. It will also be a chance also for people who want to fight the bosses onslaught to hear from those who are already leading the struggle for our right to a decent future.
The conference won’t be just about talk, we will be making sure that we have a fighting strategy to take on the government and its big business backers.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119180754813170
Please email myself, or Tom Baldwin, if you want to come along.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)