After another successful day of action yesterday, we look at what lies next for the growing movement against the UK government's austerity measures of cuts to services and rising fees.
Yesterday showed continued energy for the fight against austerity as protesters successfully evaded deployments of riot police and horses in towns and cities across the UK, and were joined by similar protests on a large scale in Italy.
In a trend that started during the 24th November, university students were in some cases outnumbered by students from schools and colleges, who are getting hit directly by both the cuts to EMA and tuition fee increases. The character of the protests changed quite significantly from previous days of action, with many areas largely abandoning any attempt to hold an A-B march and rally (often impossible to hold due to aggressive policing anyway), opting instead for highly mobile, smaller groups; evading police lines, blocking traffic, occupying university, local government and shop building. There were also no set piece confrontations with the police - at least none that suited the needs of lazy rolling news TV, with reporters often pictured 'embedded' amongst hundreds of riot police standing around in empty streets, while the protests were occurring across town.
At time of writing there are at least 15 occupations of universities across the UK. - We'll just link to the list maintained by the Edinburgh occupation rather than duplicate it here. Slade School of Art, the University of Nottingham, University College Falmouth and Kings College London were all newly occupied yesterday. Queens in Belfast was occupied briefly (but we understand the space was unheated). There have also been occupations of Birmingham Council House by a large group made up mainly of school students (not sure if this is still ongoing?), Oxfordshire County Hall, and several banks and vodaphone stores. Lewisham town hall was invaded by dozens of protesters (supported by several hundred outside) on Monday during a meeting agreeing millions of pounds of cuts to council services, with similar actions expected today in Camden.
As the weather gets colder the appetite for boring marches and the prospect of spending hours standing around kettled will dim even further (although perhaps not for playing tag and snowball fights), so what's coming up next?
- Some universities are entering their second week of occupation, and being joined by fresh ones every couple of days. These occupations have in some cases successfully opened their doors to school students and the wider community, and nearly all are maintaining active contact with the outside world via frequently updated blogs and twitter accounts. Will we see occupations of schools, sixth form colleges, more local council buildings and high profile landmarks follow this?
- The 'Workers and Students Movement' on Facebook put out a callout for events on 4th and 5th December. Events are being advertised in Atherton, Birmingham, Dewsbury, Lancaster, Leicester, Manchester, Norwich, Sunderland and Wigan. While there is no official march planned in London, there is already a March on Parliament for a Zero Carbon Britain which had been booked previously, and a protest planned against the London Lib Dem conference.
- This all coincides with theUK Uncut a 'National Day of Action Against Tax Avoiders', organised for the 4th December. Previous targets of these protests have included Vodaphone (with an estimated £7bn in avoided tax) and Top Shop, whose owner Philip Green is both an adviser to the government on waste cutting, and has been personally highlighted for hundreds of millions of pounds in tax avoidance.
- On Sunday 5th there are actions planned in Bristol, Colchester, Newcastle and Nottingham.
- In many cases these protests are being called by local anti-cuts groups as opposed to student groups, this should give the lie to the media's (not to mention the NUS) constant portrayal of these protests as only about tuition fees.
- New National Days of Action have been called by the National Campaign Against Feeds and Cuts for the 9th and 11th December (that page is currently a bit confused about dates, we understand the NCAFC is working on it).
- the NUS and UCU, conscious that they've been entirely ignored over the past few weeks, have tried to get back in on the action by announcing a march on the day fee increases are debated in parliament, alongside 'mass lobbying' of MPs (surely they're not suggesting mass occupations of constiuency offices are they?), and a candlelight vigil.
The occupations, rolling and weekend actions are extremely important if what has so far largely been a movement led by students can maintain momentum and expand to incorporate workers, benefits claimaints and pensioners - all of whom are going to be deeply affected by the cuts but have not yet converted this anger into concrete activity on a wide scale. After all "We're all in this together".
Comments
Absolutely! If the student
Absolutely! If the student movement and the burgeoning local anti-cuts groups can maintain the momentum into the new year, then there is every chance a truly mass movement can develop...It is beginning to look like the poll tax all over again...Once the cuts begin to bite hard next year, the filthy bastard cannibal capitalists won't know what hit them...
I'm hearing that the 9th is
I'm hearing that the 9th is the scheduled date for the fees vote in Parliament...
The 9th it is, facebook pages
The 9th it is, facebook pages set up already :)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173878782641548
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173878782641548#!/event.php?eid=136567579732280
Oh good, another Whitehall
Oh good, another Whitehall march... :roll:
One of the pages is
One of the pages is encouraging a national day of action rather then just another whitehall march..........
It looks like a lot of people
It looks like a lot of people are looking to get down to London... Could be a big 'event'...
Things like this. Quote: Be
Things like this.
Bloody facebook again! Is
Bloody facebook again!
Is there no way to view pages without signing up?
The spirit of refusing to be
The spirit of refusing to be kettled is growing though, so with any luck the student movement will look to diversify their tactics, like the students in Italy using roving piquetero techniques, blockading stations and roads (There was a hint of this last week at Charing Cross)...It is nice to know though, that there are only approximately 800 TSG in London, the rest being made up of 'level 2' public order-trained coppers in PSU's, that and the fact that flying wedges were being used to at least attempt to break the kettle on Whitehall...It's a shame people haven't yet cottoned on to directly targetting FIT teams to express their displeasure...It's also a shame no-one realised that Her Madge was in Leicester Square attending a royal film premiere, as she could have been petitioned by her young subjects in a direct and forceful manner....
Nope, you'll just have to be
Nope, you'll just have to be one of the digitally excluded...just like I will be once I'm made redundant...or ask a mate...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11892634
BBC
So the demo on the day itself is NCAFC? lol...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/edu
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/02/fourth-student-protest-fees
The Guardian
The NCAFC announced the 9th
The NCAFC announced the 9th at the same time they announced the 11th (bear in mind that both those dates came from the SWP controlled convention in London, and one of the facebook groups is made by the EAN which is also SWP iirc.).
The NUS/UCU announcement came after this - and just said "we'll hold action on the day before the vote happens". Looks like the 9th was chosen as being a likely date for the vote and happened to be right. So now it's 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th.
Very hard to tell whether this is going to completely fuck things up and fatigue people, or instead end up with rolling actions across the place.
I don't think it's going to
I don't think it's going to fatigue people... if I'm honest it seems as though the focus of a large number of protestors has swung around to the 9th. The other dates will still get an attendance, but the 9th is going to be the 'big one'.
Also I reckon the NUS 'demo' is going to be tiny. They've completely mis-read the student mood and are by now pretty much largely ignored (by grass-roots student groups at least, the Guardian still likes to give them undue prominence).
Mike Harman wrote: ... So now
Mike Harman
Breaking this down, 4th/5th are alternatives, because I don't think there's anywhere that has demos on both days - some were already called for the 4th, which is why the WSM called the 'United Day of Action' in the first place for that date, then NCAFC called the 5th and some actions were planned then. So though they're on different days I'd lump the 4th/5th together (as WSM is now doing with the 'Weekend of Action Against Austerity').
The 8th I agree could be a total damp squib. The NUS-organised event in Leicester yesterday attracted 30 people according the report I've seen. Difficult to get info, as no-one was there to report on it!
I haven't seen any great swing towards the 11th yet either - that leaves 'this weekend' (4th/5th) and the 9th as the main foci of action, in my reading of the situation. Maybe after this weekend it'll be possible to asses how well the weekend protests work and if it's worth backing the call for the 11th, but at the moment it's too early to tell I'd say.
UEA has gone into
UEA has gone into occupation:
"The action comes on the same day as the ‘Big Debate’ organised by the Union of Students at UEA which will see Aaron Porter, NUS president, Simon Wright, Libdem MP for Norwich South and former Labour MP for Norwich North Ian Gibson. Following the revelation that Simon Wright has come out against the rise of tuition fees students would like to congratulate the MP and encourage him to do all his power to continue the fight for free education. One student currently occupying the building said ‘this is a peaceful occupation, we will do no damage to the building but we feel this is a necessary action to show that we feel we have been betrayed by our university and by the government.’
UEA’s Vice Chancellor, who has refused to comment on his position on tuition fees, is being asked to support students and take an anti-fees stance.
Aaron Porter, who last week pledged solidarity for students occupying at UCL, is expected to show support when he comes on campus later today.
The occupying students are asking for a show of solidarity from UEA students and lecturers in the fight for free education!"
The UCL authorities, who have
The UCL authorities, who have apparently been very soft thus far, are now going to court in an attempt to evict the occupation:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/02/students-tuition-fees-protest-ucl-eviction
NUS has shifted over to the
NUS has shifted over to the 9th, presumably because they realised it would be a massive washout on the 8th - could be some big clashes over who's "in charge" at this rate.
LSE has just gone into
LSE has just gone into occupation. Old Building, Vera Ashley Suite, 1st floor.
Quote: Over 1,000 students
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6B12WS20101202
There's an awful lot of
There's an awful lot of Tory/rightwing trolls on the main facebook group at the moment. But if anything I think they add fuel to the fire. They portray such over the top caricatures of wealthy, heartless, individualists that it's essentially Agit-Prop at this stage...
Well NCAFC are lining up to
Well NCAFC are lining up to take control, they've taken it upon themselves to start electing stewards for the march.
It's only a facebook call-out and most people attending won't know who NCAFC are let alone participate in their structure, but for them that's enough to make it exclusively 'theirs' to control I guess.
What happened during the tube
What happened during the tube strike in London? I guess it was on Monday. I heard some students from UCL were planning to go to pickets and show support for the strike. I am sure the movement needs these links to avoid isolation. But I am afraid it's just my daydreaming...
There was some solidarity
There was some solidarity between the occupations and the Tube Strikers, I recall. I distinctly remember reading that UEL had sent a delegation to one of the Picket Lines in East London.
One thing that will hopefully be learned from the occupations is the importance not only of holding the space but of holding control of access. In places like Oxford, the occupation itself was strong but it was essentially surrounded by police and isolated, limiting their contact with the outside world beyond the 'blogosphere'. The strongest occupations all seem to be those which have free access in and out.
Although I must say I've no good ideas on how you could hold access to a building - in many cases it seems down to the goodwill or otherwise of university authorities.
Jenre wrote: Quote: Over
Jenre
[youtube]BEz5J5ks_Zg[/youtube]
I can't say much about the
I can't say much about the tube strike, but I did manage to speak to a few pickets outside a station in East London.
As often happens in such situations it was the union rep who spoke to me rather than anyone else. I asked about students and he told me of the plan for students to join a picket in central London - I assume the UEL delegation Auto mentions must be in addition to that.
Even if its a minority, even if some of this is a symbolic action organised by unions etc, I think it does show a feeling that there is a need to link to other struggles is starting to develop.
Naturally the union rep sees linking with other workers entirely in terms of using the Trades Council and unions - which won't help the real links that need to be made by workers and students directly.
For the rest we talked about kettling, about how it had been planned in advance by the police, and I learned that the police at Wapping in the 80s went round leaving bricks in the road after making charges with police horses so they had an excuse for this - which I didn't know despite going there at the time.
Auto - you're spot on about
Auto - you're spot on about the occupations. Some of them seem to be spending almost all their time sending each other "solidarity" messages. Solidarity must be assumed between occupations for fuck sake. Bit of a love in.
Lets be honest the government couldn't give a flying fuck if 100 students lock themselves in a lecture theatre. It hurts them not one bit, especially when the press aren't even interested (and why would they frankly). They probably don't even know about most of them.
Occupations are only useful if they are used as a base for activitiy, organising, planning and as you say, are open to other students. But most seem to be more happy playing at being part of a revolution (a revolution in one room, maybe) and talking to eachother about lefty erogenous zones like Palestine.
7 days to go and some students are now focussing on defending these mostly pointless occupations. They want a fucking rocket in their ear!
Harsh but true.
flaneur that's the house of
flaneur that's the house of parliament not the british embassy
It was Jenre who was quoting
It was Jenre who was quoting that from the article, not me. I just put up the video.
Alibi, what a load of rubbish.
As far as I remember the
As far as I remember the British Embassy is in Kolonaki a bit further up that road. The video is on this report about the demo.
Looks like a brief appearance by Loukanikos near the start.
I basically agree with Alibi.
I basically agree with Alibi. I guess this forum was open to look critically at the student movement, not for cheerleading. I am sure we are all happy that things kicked off, but isn't questioning and discussing the weaknesses more useful for the success of the movement than celebrations and empty revolutionary talks?
I think that occupations should be seen as means, rather they are seen as goals among the university student radical minority. They are necessary for providing infrastructure, bases, warm (?) shelter, etc., but we should also critically ask, are they really offensive tactics? How do we 'measure' offensiveness? The high school and college youth had very good instincts when they came up with the walk-outs... Is students' strike in today's conditions possible?
Paul Mason's report from the
Paul Mason's report from the SOAS occupation for yesterday's Newsnight
Paul Mason's blog entry on the occupations
Article from Uniriot (which goes on a bit tbh)
I said what Alibi said is
I said what Alibi said is rubbish. I don't represent the forum obviously, it's just my view. Nor does that mean I "cheerlead" unequivocally.
Student occupations might not hurt the government but they certainly hurt university management. How can escalation which is growing and militant be anything but offensive?. As to what's offensive, I would go by Solidarity's As We See It.
Would you say that occupations don't do the above?
And we've already had student strikes. We saw one just this week gone. When kids and uni students didn't turn up for classes and instead went marching around their towns and cities, they were striking.
flaneur wrote: I said what
flaneur
Offensive is no good with 7 days to go. What matters now is effectiveness.
The occupations in themselves do not put heat on the MPs (nor university management particularly in brutal honesty). To believe otherwise is delusional.
What works with seven days to go is a massive street presence. Up close and fucking personal. Targeted escalation.
And the only thing that matters is what works.
alibi wrote: Offensive is no
alibi
you could start shooting Tory MPs and they'd still vote it through. it's ongoing unrest that will derail austerity, the vote's pretty much a foregone conclusion.
I did think your general jist
I did think your general jist was incredibly activisty. Turns out I was right.
7 days to go? What do you think, that the policy will be passed and that's it, nevermind and off to bed? The Poll Tax was introduced in 1989 and was running into 1990 before it was withdrawn. If anything, I think if it passes, things will heat up dramatically.
No, I thought we sorted this out. I said university occupations aren't aimed at government or MPs, it's at university management. Who do happen to care funnily enough, that's why they're currently trying to boot the UCL lot out.
I didn't realise it was either or. Regardless, as I'm sure you know, there is going to be a street presence in only a few days, and then again next week. As an aside, what do you like out of apples or oranges?
Mark - you are right in that
Mark - you are right in that to get to the british embassy from the parliament you have to go down that road that the cops are blocking, although it is several blocks down.
Correct, and when it goes
Correct, and when it goes through the protests and occupations will almost inevitably wind down (yes the CPE etc etc but its a totally different context, long buildup affair). They'll come to a complete stop within a week of the 9th due to xmas anyway. Things may pick up again, and at that point occupations will be effective. But in this context, in themselves they are irrelevant.
The manner of the bill being passed is not a foregone conclusion though.
The Liberals are all over the place right now and the protests to date have forced a split amongst them (those voting for, abstaining and voting no). That's a split that could have taken two years to emerge without these protests. And its a split that is there to be cracked wide open by everyone else who is starting to organise against these cuts, a split vwhich may bring down the government eventually.
What also matters is the mood music next week: and its numbers on the street not dozens dotted around the UK locked in lecture theatres discussing veganism whilst doing that daft hand waving shite that counts.
7 days...
flaneur wrote: 7 days to go?
flaneur
Flaneur if I remember correctly the government changed the date of the vote to make it sooner, on December 9th, is that right? If so, why? Isn't it likely that the government anticipates that once the legislation passes the mobilisations will die down?
To take a couple of events that were being discussed here recently, the struggle against the retirement age change in France and the lorry drivers mobilisation in Greece, both of them effectively faded out once the respective law was passed.
What a bizarre angry man you
What a bizarre angry man you are. Must dash, I'm off to brick a copper. HAVE IT.
flaneur wrote: I did think
flaneur
I have never been a political activist.
flaneur
No, it will fizzle out by xmas. It may and hopefully will wind up again afterwards, but it will be a slow buildup affair when it does (as were the Poll tax and CPE). Occupations from 2 months previously won't be very relevant at that stage.
To reiterate, what's happened to date has been fantastic, students have been an inspiration. But from this moment on occupations cannot be a distraction from what matters in the immediate future: the street. If occupations are not helping enable a large angry street presence next week then they are proving a distraction.
dinosavros wrote: flaneur
dinosavros
Oh no doubt they're trying to rush it through in the hope things fade away. I'm not saying that won't or can't happen. But after the past couple of weeks I find it difficult to not be hopeful. It could go either way but there's precendent with the Poll Tax that it can come back to bite you in the arse too.
flaneur wrote: What a bizarre
flaneur
Strange reply.
alibi wrote: To reiterate,
alibi
There have been two demos in the last week, and there are more to come on the 4th, 5th, 9th and 11th?
alibi wrote: No, it will
alibi
I've already quoted this once but it's worth quoting again:
The Greeks 20 years ago - how it should be done
top stuff, and if the uni
top stuff, and if the uni occupations are showing the high school students what they're doing and proposing the kids do the same then that clearly is effective.
if they're just debating lefty obsessions (mumia, cuba, minute ideological distinctions whatever) then that's not.
I think it differs between
I think it differs between the individual universities. There's no uniform nature between the occupations - some seem quite Libertarian (relatively speaking) and others seem more typically 'Left-wing'. I think what people are arguing here is that it's the generality of what the rise of the occupations represent that is important.
And I don't think it's going to dent the presence on the streets next week - which let's not forget seems to have a big working-class student presence. So even if some of the occupations are 'the usual crowd' I don't think it detracts from what appears to be a quite wide-ranging movement.
Quote: if they're just
I get the impression there's none of this whatsoever. There certainly wasn't in Oxford.
I think it is worth discussing the limits of occupations though.
Joseph Kay says:
which is clearly right. But it's too vague and abstract to be massively helpful. Actually I think probably - in a little while when occupations get no media attention and are more the norm - occupations of some lecture theatre or something, even if there were dozens at any one time, really don't disrupt capital at all. I know that's taking one thing in isolation - of course it alone can't stop austerity. But it is much much less effective than a strike for example, where capitalism is more deeply and directly affected.
Students' potential to create really disruptive unrest seems to me pretty limited unfortunately. Because our role in sustaining capitalism is much more indirect; we are being made into future workers. Besides, missing lessons or lectures, or having some cancelled altogether, does not even really interfere much with our education. Capital can accommodate a lot more student strikes, walkout and occupations than it can workers' industrial action.
I guess students' struggles can act as something to inspire others, but the innate power of our students' struggles doesn't seem great.
I'm just thinking this through, and hopefully can be persuaded otherwise though.
well students can do things
well students can do things like economic blockades (morning commuter hubs, shopping centres, fuel depots...), and often have less to lose than waged workers
Mark the comparison is
Mark the comparison is important and relevent, a lot can be learned from it, and it is true that in Greece the student occupations movement against education reforms was one of the main factors in radicalizing a big part of society again in Greece.
To point out some differences:
-universities are public and not private economic entities like in the UK
-universities are protected by asylum laws which in practice means it is very difficult for the police to go inside without causing a large public outcry including the government opposition
-a lot of high schools were occupied and not just universities, as the article points out (something that hasn't happened in the UK right? at least not yet)
(No subject)
Question Time's in London
Question Time's in London that night too...
They do know 12pm is
They do know 12pm is midnight, yeah?
No it isn't!
No it isn't!
Yeah, it is. If they mean
Yeah, it is. If they mean 'noon' then it's 'noon' or even '12 noon' if you want to be tautological (because all noons must be 12). 12pm is midnight. Check up if you don't want to accept my word for it.
slothjabber wrote: Yeah, it
slothjabber
Not according to the all knowing wikipedia.
Writing 12 noon on the poster would have been unambiguous.
From the other side of the world it seems to me that the parliament house demonstration is bound to turn into a massive riot which would be fine if the cops get smashed but I'd be surprised if that happens. Although I guess everyone was surprised by the Poll Tax riot too.
edit: to slow
edit: to slow
dinosavros wrote: Flaneur if
dinosavros
This is true but there are several factors for and against this happening:
I think they picked tuition fees in the first place as an early target because there has been pretty much zero student unrest in the UK for many years. They expected current university students to ignore the rise because it won't affect them, and probably wrote off large scale protests from younger kids due to their age (and the fact it won't affect them yet, and that it's not an upfront cost etc. etc.). Effectively all the reasons that people like Clegg are giving why people shouldn't protest, are the reasons they thought they could get away with this relatively quietly. It's very likely that without the storming of Millbank this might have happened too.
Most of the impetus for the protests after November 10th on the walkouts has been from secondary school and college students, not university students. Nearly every single report, whether the telegraph, the Guardian, or sites like this, points out that it was a much younger crowd the second two times. They are not only facing potential tuition fee increases, which will actually affect them, but also cuts to Educational Maintenance Allowance if they're 16-18. Not everyone gets EMA but it's probably several thousand in London and a couple of thousand in most major cities (at a wild guess, I used to work somewhere where 70% of students were on EMA). There is no vote happening for EMA as far as I know, that's just being cut, and it's got no direct relationship to the tuition fees.
There is a lot of anger against the Lib Dems for breaking the tuition fees pledge, and against the government and police generally following policing at the protests, which unlike France and Greece, 99.9% of those involved will never have experienced, possibly not even on TV let alone in person. So there is a chance that people will be even more riled up after the vote passes (which seems inevitable, although it might be close) than before.
All this has to be balanced against the fact that both schools and universities are going to be on break shortly after that vote happens, I think the government is hoping that the break, and no looming vote to build for after the break, is what will dampen this. If there was no break, then I don't think the vote would make so much difference, but the combination could mean that it's hard to get things started again in January, but it's impossible to tell.
There's also a high chance that if for some reason the tuition fees vote isn't passed, or there's some kind of amendment in the new year, that the NUS (and probably the SWP, Labour Party, although they're all still on the very outer fringes of this at the moment), will declare this a 'victory', as might the occupations, and they'll leave the school students who have to deal with the actual change when it comes through + EMA out on their own. A semi-victory seems to be the most dangerous thing here, but at least at the moment the Tories don't appear to have the appetite for this and reckon they can push it through all the way. Although they appear to be doing some fudging on a 160m cut to school sports budgets, which had a very headteachers very angry, and I would put money on this at least partly being to try to avoid a split with senior school teachers which could lead to more tacit support for walkouts.
dinosavros wrote: -a lot of
dinosavros
To my knowledge this has not happened yet, but there are reports of up to 800 students walking out of particular schools (which depending on the school could be 90% of the students, or 40%..). School students around Oxford(?) are holding joint meetings, and it was school students who occupied the Birmingham Council House and some other places.
The risks to school students in maintaining an occupation are significantly higher than they would be to university students - schools don't have anywhere near as much space, nor conference rooms, so they'd immediately cause a huge backlash from the management (whereas the universities can tolerate a small occupation for a bit to appear liberal, then evict it when thy're ready). There are also big truancy penalties for students/parents in English schools. So if this happened it would be more or less unprecedented, there have been some isolated occupations against academies or school closures in a handful of places, but these are much smaller and usually involve parents.
In between though, there are the Sixth form and FE colleges, I have no idea if this is a possibility or not, but seems more likely than an 11-16 school at the moment.
12am is midnight, in the same
12am is midnight, in the same way that 12.01am is one minute after midnight.
National Day of Protest
National Day of Protest Against Welfare & Housing Benefit Cuts
15 December
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181074851903167
Photo from the Greek demo
Photo from the Greek demo
UCL Occupation
Apparently the London Lib Dem
Apparently the London Lib Dem conference at Haverstock School (4th Dec)has been cancelled by the venue. I've yet to see a reliable source for it, but if true it looks like student pressure is definitely having an effect...
Also, spotted on the official
Also, spotted on the official Conservative web page:
http://soasoccupation2010.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/no-cuts-conservatives1.jpg
Auto wrote: Apparently the
Auto
It says so here...
http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2010/11/protest-at-london-lib-dem-conference-in-camden-4-december/
Whether it's a reliable source I couldn't say, and I can't find anything else to confirm it.
indymedia
indymedia london...
http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/6290
The Guardian wrote: Students
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2010/dec/03/occupiers-call-for-student-strike-and-complete-education-shutdown-in-leeds?CMP=twt_gu
.
Occupied Leeds
The original claim on the
The original claim on the libdem cancellation seems to be from the Free Education Campaign's blog, doesn't mention whether the conference is off.
Rob Ray wrote: The original
Rob Ray
BBC report it's moved to another location.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11911705
Which the Lib Dems have
Which the Lib Dems have kindly told us.
'How to find us'
'How to find us'
nice. 'working together to
nice. 'working together to win'
Lol they'd refused to tell
Lol they'd refused to tell reporters where it was as well, obviously someone didn't get the memo :D
Fall Back wrote: I'm really
I agree with you, demos should be localised, and the decentralisation of the movement offers more avenues for self-expression and autonomy from the leftist recuperators (as we are seeing up and down the country).
To be honest though, I think there may well be enough people in London itself to make massive disorder ouside Parliament a real possibility. People are right to point to the huge numbers of school kids/6th formers on demos, but they need to add to them the large figures of lumpen rude boy estate kids who always come out to have a pop at the rozz, as well as the assorted anarchists/leftists. That said, the unifying tactical imperative of these demos is now to avoid the kettle, so maybe Parliament will be abandoned for less predictable targets. I honestly don't know what will happen.
Well the Leeds occupiers have
Well the Leeds occupiers have made a massive callout (see above), so I reckon there'll be some big demos. And I agree with Caiman that there'll be big numbers in London (8,000 already signed up on FB alone).
I also agree that unpredictability is now the big hallmark of these events. Despite attempts from some quarters, the student protests remain resolutely leaderless - and I don't think the NCAFC's electing of stewards is going to make much difference. It's going to be a case of seeing what happens on the day. I think that the unpredictability of it all will be weighing more on politicians minds than any rediculous NUS-led 'candlelit vigil'.
Auto wrote: I think that the
Auto
But...but...they're lighting 9,000 candles! :lol:
Haven't seen this anywhere,
Haven't seen this anywhere, so putting up - just got back from London Met which went into occupation last night around 9pm.
There was a short rally outside (only 10-15 people) with support from UNISON and UNITE reps, but basically lefty-free. This part of the university is in an interesting location compared to some (like the Bloomsbury unis and ones with campuses) as it's on the Holloway Road, so is right within a residential/shopping area. It's also (literally) around the corner from the Arsenal stadium - so tomorrow there will be an additional 60,000 people in the area! I plan to leaflet the crowd tomorrow (I'm a season ticket holder and around there all the time, so hopefully not considered a lefty weirdo!), but they definitely need support wherever possible. I'm not sure the numbers are that huge and they seem slightly directionless - other than building for next week and trying to keep public informed.
Will keep you posted but I'm sure other stories/photos will be up on Indymedia etc soon.
Caiman del Barrio
Caiman del Barrio
Yeah i think you're
Yeah i think you're misreading me...maybe lumpen sounds pejorative but that certainly wasn't my intention. I was making a somewhat dispassionate assessment of the demographics on demos.
Second venue has pulled out,
Second venue has pulled out, conference is suspended until February.
Well, you know what those
Well, you know what those LibDems are like, they just attract trouble.
You can judge a man by the company he keeps, is what I've heard.
BTW Rob Ray, have you a source or link I can spread?
No Platform for Liberalism!
No Platform for Liberalism! :lol:
How'd you know that Rob?
How'd you know that Rob?
It's not online yet, one of
It's not online yet, one of our reporters mentioned it.
Any idea if we'll get
Any idea if we'll get confirmation? I have a contact with the LibDem conference protest group and obviously they need info. If nothing else so they can plan to protest something else maybe?
AP -It's
AP -It's official-
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5htxsoM9mE-Sr35AYW7sY80l-2MyA?docId=B26801641291388252A00
btw, Is there still confusion
btw, Is there still confusion over the demo on the 11th ?
Ah, gorgeous, I could kiss
Ah, gorgeous, I could kiss the both of you.
In a fraternal, solidaritous non-predatory proletarian way of course.
Topshop is going to be
Topshop is going to be awfully packed this weekend.
I love proletarian snogging!
I love proletarian snogging!
Enjoy!- Lib Dems are losing
Enjoy!-
Lib Dems are losing cash, voters and supporters
A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “The loss of Short money following the formation of the coalition Government has affected the party’s finances, but following a successful autumn conference, we are confident that our fundraising will go from strength to strength.”
http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2010/12/lib-dems-are-losing-cash-voters-and-supporters/
Hardy-ha-ha!
caimen wrote: To be honest
caimen
Actually talking to a few of these kids, I get the impression they are quite shocked at the naked police aggression, they've seen and experienced. Whilst they have previous bad experiences of the police; harassment. S&S, etc and a general contempt for the police, seeing the police acting as a large force of oppression, unprovoked smacking people in the face has added a new depth to their disgust.
Incubus wrote: I love
Incubus
Best sort of snogging IMO.
Reports from day of action in
Reports from day of action in Cambridge in the Guardian and the Cambridge Defend Education site.
Well yeah quite, I really
Well yeah quite, I really don't quite know what's so wrong with this demographic coming out? Obviously many of them have had much more experience of police brutality than your average student (myself included), and many of them have quite an acute understanding of their (lack of) opportunities. I don't think we should deny their existence, but neither should we be hostile to them.
EDIT re Jason
From the New Statesman: The
From the New Statesman:
The student movement evolves
The day the teenagers turned on Topshop
Student occupiers call on NUS president to stand down
.
Edit: Topshop protest at Oxford Circus on Channel 4 news
I am certainly not suggesting
I am certainly not suggesting that these 'yoof' don't come out, the more the merrier. Your comment seemed to me to a bit 'Class War' valourising the supposedly most disadvantaged and prone to violence as the real deal. Maybe I missed your drift, my point was two fold, it is problematic defining folks in this way as it homogenises people with widely differing experiences, reducing them to cypher. And that their 'common' experience and antagonism to the police actually seems to have left them little more prepared to deal with the state's violence (especially emotionally) than your average punter, beyond a have a go attitude.
local yoof on demos can be
local yoof on demos can be amazing. a mate of mine described to me the experience of being in a ninjarchist black block of a hundred odd facing off against the police when a young lad walked out in front with a stick in each hand and started screaming abuse at them. when it became clear it wasn't gonna kick off, he chucked both the sticks at the police line, turned his back and left.
Jason Cortez wrote: Your
Jason Cortez
So I'm Class War and SWP? :confused: Can everyone stop hoisting positions on me please?
And Womens Institute. Seems
And Womens Institute.
Seems like it's been a good day against Topshop stores today.
Read a Twitter that people had superglued themselves to a window in Brighton and in London, BHS, Dorothy Perkins, Boots, Vodafone, Miss Selfridge and Topshop itself have been closed. Short BBC video.
To be fair, Class War and the
To be fair, Class War and the SWP have pretty much the same view of this particular demographic, just with different conclusions.
...as far as I can see
...as far as I can see though, I've identified their presence on demos, and attempted to draw some very meek generalisations (qualifiying them as thus). I don't really see any conflict between mine and Jason's posts.
Just back from the Oxford
Just back from the Oxford Topshop demo. A bit of a weak one to be honest. A handful of people sat outside the shop (but not stopping people going in and out). Leaflets were handed out but most locals seemed bemused as to what 'students' had against Topshop. The one positive moment of the day was when some protestors decided to block the one remaining open door but this soon dissapated and the store was left to conduct its business largely unhindered.
I was observing from across the road at one point when I suddenly found myself surrounded by Evidence gatherers who were watching/filming the protest and seemed completely oblivious to my presence (I'm like a fucking ninja, me).
Eavesdropping in on their conversation, I discovered that they had expected a lot more protesters but that 'these seem to be the only ones in town at this time'. They also radioed control to say that they'd spotted an individual they believed to be an organiser. They gave instructions on where he was headed, presumably so he could be tracked on CCTV.
It looks like they were expecting a big day as the Clarendon centre had extra security on all doors, as did Boots and Vodafone. Two riot vans were parked round the side of boots at one point, so they obviously thought there was potential for a big event.
I just wonder what happened.
I suspect most people are
I suspect most people are waiting for the 9th now.
Why aren't we supporting the
Why aren't we supporting the students? Maybe we've been psychically kettled
Another Guardian article, another journalist visits the UCL occupation. To me the most interesting bit is this, though it's only mentioned in passing:
The Guardian
So it sounds like sixth formers are now talking about occupations over EMA...
I have talked to sixth
I have talked to sixth formers who want to occupy, or have been involved in occupations, but don't feel comfortable or confident enough to occupy their own sixth forms. Which is fair enough, much more likely to get done for it. Also, although self-organisation is a good thing, it's a lot easier to just support an occupation being done by uni students or whatever, than go alone with just other sixth formers. I think getting sympathetic teachers on board, even if they can't do much practically, would be helpful just for confidence.
But tentatively I think there is movement in that direction.
mons wrote: I think getting
mons
This is probably one of the differences between here and Greece, where there's a tradition of school occupations going back to 1990-91 and where I suspect there's always been support and encouragement from many of the teachers.
It's probably also true that in Greece school occupations are tolerated to some extent, something like the way university occupations are accepted here as something that students do, as a rite of passage and so on, whereas here school occupations might get a very different reaction.
Maybe someone from Greece could comment on this.
Letter to their teachers from
Letter to their teachers from sixth formers at Camden School for Girls:
Walking out of school is not easy, but we have no other option
.
Edit: also on youtube at the UCL occupation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11920628
Here come the scraps...
Clever, since they've just
Clever, since they've just cut the free school meals budget too:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7146447.ece
Students' power is limited.
Students' power is limited. But their anger and revolt can prove contagious
On the comments thread for that article someone's posted a link to this short
documentary about Paris in May 1968
It's the second anniversary
It's the second anniversary of Alexis Grigoropoulos's murder by Greek police - http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2010/12/06/434-alexis-is-gone-for-two-years-hes-gone-to-a-university-occupation-in-london-standing-behind-a-barricade-in-rome-protesting-in-the-streets-of-dublin/ and http://libcom.org/forums/news/some-news-greece-05122010
In light of this, and the attempt by Greek students to demonstrate outside the British embassy in Athens in solidarity with our struggles, maybe anyone who doesn't fancy marching on Parliament on Thursday can consider demonstrating at the Greek embassy in Holland Park instead?
slothjabber A post on athens
slothjabber
A post on athens indymedia from 'Slade Occupation' says that there is a march to the Greek embassy in West London tomorrow Monday 6th December at 13:00 in solidarity with the greek students who demonstrated outside the British Embassy.
Link in Greek
UCL occupation has called a
UCL occupation has called a demo against the Greek Embassy 1pm Monday 6th - http://ucloccupation.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/solidarity-with-greek-anti-cuts-protesters/
Ah, OK. I hadn't heard about
Ah, OK. I hadn't heard about these, and unfortunately there's no way I can get to London this afternoon. Good luck to all those demonstrating this afternoon.
Apparently the Lib Dem MP
Apparently the Lib Dem MP John Hemming has just had his office occupied...
*resists obvious joke*
*resists obvious joke*
Also I've heard word about
Also I've heard word about Bristol and St Andrews going into occupation today - can anyone confirm?
From Twitter: "NUS NEC votes
From Twitter:
"NUS NEC votes AGAINST backing the demonstration on Thursday, day of fees vote. What an utter #DISGRACE. #demo2010 via @twp1977 #Solidarity"
Auto can you confirm any of
Auto can you confirm any of these?
Well I've yet to see a source
Well I've yet to see a source on the NUS story (though given their track record it wouldn's surprise me).
Bristol Uni is definitely in occupation:
(Statement)
Still haven't seen confirmation on St Andrews though.
Lib Dem office in Birmingham
Lib Dem office in Birmingham has been occupied (via @ucloccupation, don't have another source yet).
Yeah, that was the Lib Dem MP
Yeah, that was the Lib Dem MP I mentioned earlier... can't find it at the moment but there was a picture of it up on Twitter, so that's definitely been confirmed.
http://www.goldsmithssu.org/b
http://www.goldsmithssu.org/blog/entry/27
Goldsmiths threatens to take £15,000 out of the Student Union budget to cover the costs of an action at Deptford Town Hall in November.
http://www.artbathspa.com/gal
http://www.artbathspa.com/gallerycam/
Apparently Bath Spa's school of Art and Design is also occupied. I'd previously not heard anything about this.
There's a lot of it about...
BBC article about the
BBC article about the occupation of the lid dem MP in Birmingham:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-1192886
Twitter info for St Andrews occupation:
http://twitter.com/#!/OccupyStAndrews
"St Andrews #students have occupied Lower Parliament hall in #solidarity with anticuts occupations everywhere!"
"The #student occuption carries on at Parliament hall. We remain cut off from the outside world by Estates. Management are not negotiating"
Interesting article in
Interesting article in today's Grondian here I don't agree with several points, but the key points made are sound:
And on a broader framework he makes a very valid point:
(My emphasis)
Perhaps even more interesting is the comment which has received the highest 'reccomend' stats (it's sometimes surprising how rabidly right wing the comments on this 'liberal' website are so often applauded):
hong 7 wrote
Tate protestors just spotted
Tate protestors just spotted on Channel 4 news. Large white 'dunce' hats, some being used as impromptu megaphones.
Also someone listing today's new occupations on twitter included Camberwell College. Anyone know anything about that?
Blaargh, double post.
Blaargh, double post.
Video from the Tate
Video from the Tate occupation:
http://yfrog.com/2to1bz
"And that includes the police" !?!?
Art students...
Quite funny watching the
Quite funny watching the announcement of the Turner Prize with the ambient sounds of protest in the background. The art world glitterati all looking slightly nervous.
-stupid internet connection-
-stupid internet connection-
Photo from today's protest at
Photo from today's protest at the Greek embassy...
...and another ('αλληλεγγυη' means 'solidarity')
.
UCL occupation video
[youtube]MQg_nzvAdL4[/youtube]
.
Article on the UCL occupation from the London Review of Books
.
Statement from the Bristol University occupation
.
St Andrews occupation
.
Student protests: NUS leaders vote not to join forces with march
The Guardian
Word coming through that both
Word coming through that both Bradford and Goldsmiths have been occupied...
Photos from Tate
Photos from Tate occupation
Statement from Camberwell College of Arts occupation
Unfortunately I've heard from
Unfortunately I've heard from someone at Camberwell (not at the occupation), and apparently there's only about 10 people there.. but still great to hear the wave of occupations is continuing.
http://goldsmithsinoccupation
http://goldsmithsinoccupation.wordpress.com/
Somewhere else they put up the letter from the provost to the student union - threatening to take £15k out of the SU budget for the Deptford town hall occupation, but if there was not any other occupation-esque activity, they'd waive it. Straight up blackmail by the university management, clearly hasn't worked.
Video from the Greek embassy
Video from the Greek embassy protest
[youtube]gVSGkPvsvEY[/youtube]
nico: Quote: Video from the
nico:
As the old song goes:
"police and art, police and art
go together like a horse and cart -
this I tell you brother
you can't have one without the other".
And that crap about philistinism in the video... the real philistines are today's culture vultures: how many of them know a thing about the revolutionary search in art up until the mid-1960s?
Art students....
Jim Clarke wrote: Apparently
Tommy Ascaso
Is there any reason that the occupiers forced the staff out? Their statement seems to be very concerned with the wellbeing of the library staff - seems odd that they'd force them out if they didn't want to go.
Although on the other hand would this be the first of the occupations to 'take over' an academic facility and self-operate it?
Bath
Bath https://twitter.com/#!/BATH_OCCUPATION
Camden school students -
Camden school students - http://twitter.com/#!/camdensitin
https://camdenschoolsitin.wordpress.com/
Apparently it's not actually started yet.
https://twitter.com/#!/GSoccu
https://twitter.com/#!/GSoccupation
The decision was taken to exclude staff on the grounds of maximising disruption. The library was still gnona be open to students and there are machines where you can check your own books out. Staff are being encouraged to extend essay deadlines where applicable and one of the demands is that the Warden guaruntees no redundancies.
Caiman del Barrio
Caiman del Barrio
Sounds good, and is a lot more clear now. Sounds like what the Oxford students wanted to do with the Radcliffe (leave the library open, but under occupation), had the police not surrounded the place.
Out of interest, how are you keeping access clear? Seeing as how a lot of the occupations (like Oxford and now St Andrews) end up getting shut in by police or security...
Good luck with the action!
Newcastle Civic Centre / Main
Newcastle Civic Centre / Main council chamber was occupied not long ago. Can't keep up.
Security were negotiated with
Security were negotiated with and agreed to take up an inactive position by the turnstiles, one of which has been opened. There is talk of opening up the library for public consumption (although books can't be borrowed without a Goldsmiths card and the book alarm by the turnstile is still operational).
Well that's good to hear...
Well that's good to hear... from what I understand, Oxford Uni basically locked the place down (there was an absolute army of police outside).
It would probably be good to figure out some tactics that could be used by occupiers to keep access open in situations where university authorities are more antagonistic.
The library staff issue is a
The library staff issue is a very contentious one, there was a long and quite painful debate last night and eventually a decision was made to dein staff access. This is still a live and divisive issue, to be reviewed tonight. Frankly there is a steep learning curve going on and it is pretty messy. The meeting ended at four last night, madness. Then they failed to prevent staff entering this morning who have since been working in the offices at the back. They is a lot of naivety on both sides, the pro library staff being there side, seemed to think that staff will be functioning as usual, this is extremely unlikely and leave Goldsmiths management to liability arises from health and safety issues. so even if staff are allowed in they will just work in the back offices. A lot students are pissed off at the occupiers for 'disrupting' their education. The occupiers are attempting to keep the library running, keep the toilets running etc, but seem surpisingly unprepared. Still things are starting to get sorted and it is an amazing site, if a little too big for the numbers imo. Entertainments are being organised and there is a big emphasis on outreach (although not sure how much that is translating into people taking on tasks nessacary)
This seems ludicrous tome, is
This seems ludicrous tome, is there no common ground between the students and library staff, given that staff jobs are at deep risk of being cut? Why not occupy the library spaces and let the staff do their job behind the counter? (Academic library workbeing, of necessity, a specialisation)..Where are the staffs sodding trade union, or is that a stupid question? Btw it's easy to disable a security gate...just find the 'off' switch!
Don't know if this is the
Don't know if this is the correct place for this but Newcastle Civic Centre is currently being occupied. The local council is Lib Dem controlled.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11941141
Actually Incubus despite
Actually Incubus despite library support staff having lost their jobs recently, there isn't really any appetite for struggle at present. As I have mention already in my post it is highly unlikely that Goldsmiths senior management would risk having library staff carry on doing frontline jobs in a space clearly not in their control as would leave them liable under health and safety. Any way we will see as the occupation voted to allow staff access to the building tomorrow. An occupation is essentially about power and control, who imposes their will on a certain terrain. Goldsmiths senior management via its workforce in this case or the democratic will of the occupiers. Disruption is an inevitable part of this and in this particular situation should be one of the aims as it is about stopping business as usual, rupturing the production of knowledge as a commodity. The occupation is in danger of becoming a symbolic stunt, the gesture politics of the 'militant minority as substitute for meaningful action. This political posturing seem to be the limit at which the university occupations are contained at present. The library as the site of the occupation was subject to long discussions prior to occupation and is a source of tension as well as the issue of staff access. It seems its excellent location on the main road, with a big front glass windows over three floors, ample room and resources and a steady supply of students (a captive audience of library users) won the day. But seems that they really hadn't given too much thought to what an occupation is and what it entails, the main concerns simply being alienating other students and then library staff.
Eleanor Davies
Royal College of Art has just
Royal College of Art has just occupied.
From an earlier thread; Mike
From an earlier thread;[quote=Mike H]Samotnaf
The critique of education – what role you’re being educated for and why, in what kind of crap society - seems largely absent so far or at least not openly expressed with much significance, especially compared to the 60s/70s movement. There is often an appeal to restoration of a largely mythical social democratic educational ideal. This contains the principle that education should be a freely available resource rather than only accessible as a commodity, but does not contest its content or function as an integral part of an exploitative hierarchical society.
It seems the radical practice of this movement is ahead of its theory – insofar as refusing to play by the rules of democratic politics in the streets but still often framing the ‘legitimacy’ of its demands in social democratic terms.
Mike H
I wonder if this will develop as a movement which sees the diversity of its demands as rooted in the same capitalist offensive or will eventually fragment it into various single issue causes seeking different settlements? The hinted special pleading for the supposed unique contribution of art/culture to the ‘national economy’(!) (typical of the often self-obsessed ‘collective individualism’ of the arts sector) perhaps suggest it for some parts already.
Jason Cortez wrote: The
Jason Cortez
Maybe this reflects the fact that existing university students aren't the ones who are going to be affected by the rise in tuition fees or the withdrawal of EMA. In the circumstances it's hard to see that university occupations are going to be anything other than the action of a militant minority, even if the majority of students are supportive (and I don't know whether this is always the case).
There's a difference here with something like the student strike in Puerto Rico where existing students are faced with an additional levy on their fees and have voted in a mass meeting to strike and occupy the campus. Compared to this the occupations here look more like a kind of political theatre. Which doesn't necessarily mean they aren't worthwhile, though there may be questions about what they are trying to achieve.
Sit-ins or occupations by school and college students might be different as they are the ones directly affected. One point here is that from what I can remember of school occupations in Greece they were always the actions of a majority rather than a small minority that might be open to victimisation later. Whether anything similar is possible here, or even whether it's a good idea, I'm not sure.
Red M wrote: The critique of
Red M
Interestingly the critique of education was a subject refered to and discussed at the unkettling education teach in at goldsmiths uni on monday. Though whether this reflects a development that is beginning to be present more broadly or simply the result of the teach in being organised by the anthropology department, I could not say
Mark wrote: Maybe this
Mark
I think it does reflect this and the relative priveledge that being uni students won't lose their jobs and uni management are fairly lenient to this sort of thing, i.e. a rite of passage etc. Indeed Goldsmiths uses this tradition of radicalism to market itself. To be clear I support the occupation university movement and still think it is possible for it to go beyond its self imposed limit if the occupations continue and external events hot up. The Goldsmiths occupation has been a bit of a mess in many ways, but at the moment lots of ideas are being tested and lessons hopefully learned. Many people have certainly realised the importance of infrastructure, of the practise of occupation is where the politics are truly revealed. I am just a bit frustrated, but we need to be supportive of the occupations so this unfolding of ideas in lived experience can occur. but we also need to be critical of the failures of not learning so the limits can be seen and discussed
ps my militant minority remark was aimed at the fact that people were refering/seeing themselves in this way in unreflective manner.I was not suggesting that being a militant minority was the problem although of course that particular raises issues of its own which can't be ignored either.
I am not sure if people have
I am not sure if people have already seen these, but Reel News have 3 or 4 short occupation films here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ReelNews
Just to confirm, library
Just to confirm, library staff at Goldsmiths are at their desks working normally as of 8am.
Camden School for Girls (I
Camden School for Girls (I think I have the right school name) has just occupied.
Jim Clarke wrote: How is that
Tommy Ascaso
To be honest, so long has been wasted on this issue. I'm sick of discussing it. There is - belatedly - an ongoing dialogue between the library staff and occupiers, and they're still keeping security at a distance. Possibly the worst thing about the decision being overturned is that it now opens the door for the pious as fuck SWP sab (who denounced stopping staff working as "scabbing") to return.
I think people are gonna have to accept that this isn't really an occupation, but a meeting space.
Fair point Jason, thanks.
Fair point Jason, thanks. Regarding a critique of education, I wonder if anyone has seen this- Declaration of the national coordination meeting of the student assemblies and occupied universities - Greece 03/12/2010 -
http://ourmediaindymedia.blogspot.com/2010/12/gio-greek-students-declaration.html
I've posted it to OL, as they seemed to have missed it. Was wondering how much, if any, discussion was happening in the UK around the Bologna Accord?
Auto wrote: Camden School for
Auto
BBC report from last week
Quote: Camden School for
Do you have a link. Their website hasn't updated, just says they are having a sit-in and teach-in.
mons wrote: Quote: Camden
mons
To be honest, I think that's what it is (a sit-in/teach in), but they're referring to it as an occupation.
dp
dp
camden sit-in on twitter -
camden sit-in on twitter - 'Didn't realise the school would react like this!'
photo
A slightly bizzarre tweet
A slightly bizzarre tweet from the Twitter rumour mill:
"does anyone know about a barricade going up at Camden School for Girls/ Info needed urgently. PLS RT. @UCLoccupation #solidarity"
The Camden School protest has
The Camden School protest has called for immediate support from the NUT, NUS and UCU.
Also hearing word that the RMT has called for full support for the student protests.
Oh and the 'barricade' is
Oh and the 'barricade' is apparently referring to the fact that all press and guest speakers are being barred from entering the school.
CWU officially supports the
CWU officially supports the student protests:
http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/cwu-supports-student-protest.html
RMT Statement:
RMT Statement: http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=140996
Birbeck has apparently gone
Birbeck has apparently gone into occupation, as has Exeter, my old university!
The latter surprises me, given the political make-up on campus. Conservative Future were the biggest political society. Says it all really...
Some live coverage about
Some live coverage about things today.
Sarah Teather's office is occupied apparently. She was looking pretty miserable already when Sky News was following her about from her doorstep today.
And anarchists will be behind trouble tomorrow, shock horror, says the Evening Standard.
flaneur wrote: And anarchists
flaneur
Of course we are, Flaneur. Did you not get the memo?
Student Christians praise
Student Christians praise nonviolent tuition fees and cuts protests
http://www.aclandburghley.cam
http://www.aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk/
Looks like another school is going to be occupied. The school is closing down in response.
EDIT: And in doing so it looks like they've put paid to the occupation. Boo.
According to one twitter
According to one twitter post, RMT members are actually going to be present at the student march:
"RMT members will assemble outside Unity House tomorrow @ 11 and will march to the student demo in #solidarity"
I'll see if some more confirmation appears.
"RT @camdensitin: Just heard
"RT @camdensitin: Just heard that both Stoke Newington School and acland burghley school are both in occupation #demo2010 #solidarity"
This message is appearing on Twitter, apparently coming from the Camden occupation.
Yeah that evening standard
Yeah that evening standard article is funny. According to them the Wombles are behind these protests.
Just saw this on facebook -
Just saw this on facebook - it is apparently Euston station. Anyone know about it?
no1 wrote: Just saw this on
no1
https://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/6393
no1 wrote: Just saw this on
no1
It was the culmination of the UCL's organised 'Teach-Out': a series of public lectures around London (including some on tube trains). It culminated in a massive lecture given in Euston Station (in the pic).
Also, been looking into the Exeter occupation. I was kind of expecting it to be organised by the Socialist Students (as they were the only vaguely left student group around, the Labour Students having collapsed through lack of members) - but it seems like a really diverse, yet solid bunch. Democratic, consensus decision making, everything. Seems to be getting support from some of my friends who aren't renowned for being political too.
Fifty of them are staying overnight, and the initial occupiers apparently contained members of the public, too.
thanks for the info - I was
thanks for the info - I was hoping it was the first of a series of blockades
Interview with students from
Interview with students from Camden School for Girls on Channel 4 News report
BBC report on school occupations - though I caught a bit of the news on BBC earlier on and it seemed to be in full propaganda mode with none of this mentioned and an interview with a Conservative student explaining why rises in tuition fees were a good idea.
Local press report from Camden
And from the Guardian live coverage...
Photo
no1 wrote: thanks for the
no1
Well it was announced in the Twitterverse with the words: 'Shut down London has begun'... so even if it wasn't a blockade, it seems as though the idea is doing the rounds, at least.
I like the fact that the
I like the fact that the evening standard has accused Anarchists of agitating for london to be "Shut Down" even tho this phrase is being used by just about everybody on the web including the NCAFC facebook event page.
Live blog of the days events
Live blog of the days events
Glasgow Uni occupied- "In
Glasgow Uni occupied-
"In occupation in the Gilmorehill Theatre, bottom of Uni Avenue since 1pm.
About 100 of us are occupaying 230 capacity room, with numbers increased since freedom of access was granted at 3pm. There are students and staff from Glasgow Uni, Strathclyde, and the Art School.
It's nice and warm so COME ALONG IF YOU CAN!"
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136567579732280&index=1#!/pages/Glasgow-Uni-Occupied/133691460021139
Kent University has been
Kent University has been occupied, around thirty students are planning to stay the night. The university's senate building was occupied after a student union assembly, I've been told by a student at the occupation that the uni security are attempting to lock the occupiers in (even though that would leave them with no exit in the event of a fire), the students are going to try and stop this from happening.
More info soon.
On the Exeter Occupation
On the Exeter Occupation facebook page, the Deputy Secretary of the Devon NUT messaged the occupiers looking to see if they would be willing to send representatives to speak at their general committee meeting. They say it will be on tomorrow morning's agenda.
Nice to see some of the unions looking to make links, even if only small ones.
Also, a nicely modernised
Also, a nicely modernised reference to '68 on Twitter:
'Please leave the NUS as clean on leaving it as you would like to find it on entering'.
Camden School for Girls
Camden School for Girls occupier vs. Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb on Channel 4 News (scroll to bottom of page for video)
lincoln uni has been occupied
lincoln uni has been occupied
London Metropolitan which was
London Metropolitan which was occupied last Friday (I think)
-Students have taken over the Finance Office, the admin workers having to relocate, and today the popular beat combo 'Albama3' andothers played in front of it (For NME streetcred ratings?)
Video - student protesters
Video - student protesters plead with police to send medic to injured woman
Edit: video is from last week, story here
It seems that the occupiers
It seems that the occupiers at Bath Spa were feeling a little down earlier (I think being one of the smaller occupations without much coverage and thus less support). They made a call out and the other occupations (as well as other random people online) swung into action. A lot of the occupations (such as Exeter) spoke to them on skype - for no other reason than they needed cheering up and a little support. The Bath Spa occupiers are now happy and preparing for London tomorrow.
'Solidarity' is a word being bandied around a lot at the moment, but it's one of the most genuinely moving things I've seen from this new student movement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8190379/National-Union-of-Students-secretly-urged-Government-to-make-deep-cuts-in-student-grants.html
Telegraph is clearly not paying attention if they think the NUS is doing anything 'vocal'.
No real surprises there, but that's pretty ugly.
Mike Harman wrote: No real
Mike Harman
fucking minging
Quote: The latter surprises
.
There's an anarchist reading group at Exeter, who are involved as is the SP, but as far as I could see when I popped in there's no one group in charge.
The SWP / NUT turned up and were leaving just as I arrived.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much going while I was there (they were showing the debate in parliament), but one of us (ICC) was there earlier and said there was a reasonable atmosphere and discussion.
At the meeting earlier this week, I proposed that the students send delegations to local workplaces to dry and draw them into the struggle. This was clapped, but I've seen little evidence of it being taken up seriously. Little acorns ...
Call on facebook for 'March
Call on facebook for 'March of Resistance to Education Cuts, London 20 December 2010'
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179218858770566
No idea who, if anyone, is backing this