NUS Conference, UKAS, Student Network

That sounds like a good idea to me. Love the name too

I shan't be at the NUS conference 'cause I'm too busy trying to pass exams that probably won't be getting marked. But it would be a good idea to have some @s there.

I think I'm going to start rambling soon so I'll stop......

Tthe conference seems to be a load of bollox. when is it this coming sat or the next one, i cant remember.

My NUS have all these great ideas but lack of actions, UKAS sounds cool.

Student Resistence?

Federation of Anarchist Students?

Anarchist Student Network?

Informal Anarchist Student Federation? lol

Rise Up! Student Network?

I dunno they all seems rather sucky to me.

network of anarchist students (nas). then at least we'd have a decent theme tune...

Im in my NUS, but it sucks.

Libertarian Student Fereation is a good name.

I think a page should be put up on enrager maybe? like the AYN.

Could just make a cheap and cheerful one on geocities?

IMO actions against the NUS would be counter productive as they are the popular front in student struggle so by organising away from them and offering an alternative within them will be better than directly attacking the NUS, mayeb a bit of propaganda is a good thing but more than that now would be counter productive as we need the NUS at the moment.

i don't think anarchists should stand in nus elections. it's is still representation, and to me that's as much a betrayal of principles as if we stood for parliament or whatever. organising away from it would seem fairly sensible to me, and agitating amongst students who don't want training to become tomorrow's politicians which is all the nus bureaucracy is there for would make more sense. but i think schools and fe colleges are more important than unis, and anyway i won't be in the a uni in the this country next year, so you might not want to listen to me.

I think the NUS elections are needed to have an anarcho representation otherwise we can not get into meetings which sucks, but soon as whatever student network has found its feet we'll be able to move away from it all.

Network of Libertarian Students (NLS) sound good.

Anyway whatever the name let's not get so bog down with the details and keep the policys simple, so not to scare people away.

As for our Policys I think our four points should only be.

- End to student fees, just another case of profit before people.

- Promote the true meaning of Anarchy they are not just a bunch of mindless twat.

- Promate anti-globalisation locally, globally and explian why.

- Promote enviromental anarchism.

- Also set up Social Centres near Univ's, something like what the Wombles have produce. A great place to hang out.

What do you think?

Sound good?

Great long term goals, but what can the network achieve in the near future?

What about:

- Promote Political Awareness

- Help in the organisation against tuition fees

- Promote Self Organisation

- Promote Anarchism through propaganda and meetings

- Creating a viable network which will last

i think IMO those are targets we would need to reach within the first 3/4 years.

Could there be a meeting to sort this out sometime at Norwich Bookfair or earlier? maybe just online?

Hi, I'm new to this site, here in swansea we have just had a huge protest/occupation where 12 riot vans were called and the police brutalised us. we are well up for networking, and soon will have a website up which we were thinking of calling the Autonomous Students Network, and sounds quite similar to what you guys are on about. we also have a documentary that we should have up on the website, and send to indymedia.

I quite liked your idea about UKAS, (also as an alternative to UCAS), maybe you could substitute Anarchist with Autonomous? maybe it would turn less people off? dunno if this takes you too far from your roots, but anyway, your ideas are interesting.

Anyway, here in swansea there is loads of people up for very similar action to what you have in mind. Especially the social centres, i tell you from living in bologna social centres, they are blatantly the way forward. Also over there generally they refer to themselves as autonomous, even though they are blatantly hotbeds for anarchism...

well i quite like the name UKAS, if only because it will piss off UCAS...

but i think for such a thing to successful, it has to not be a group of wanky muddle* class hippy student lifestylists... which it is all too likely to become...

IMO a crucial issue is for it to not just be uni students, but schools and FE colleges too... especially FE colleges in urban working class areas where the council estate kids who dont think they have a chance of going to uni end up doing shitty courses that dont mean jack shit (like most of the ppl i grew up with)...

also a crucial issue i feel very very strongly about is getting students integrated with local community struggles and breaking that "town vs gown" divide-and-rule shit that makes students and local non-uni youth distrust and hate each other... the majority of students don't give a shit about the places they are living in, they just see their uni town as some sort of "hotel" to stay in during term time and then go back to their parents and if they get involved in campaigns at all they are wanky ones which only affect their little uni bubble and have no linkage to the struggles going on in the local community... for which the NUS is very often to blame IMO because it encourages students to see themselves as a group separate from the rest of the population to whom "non-student" issues don't matter... so its no wonder that local youths dont want to connect with uni students because they are just seen as condescending priviliged wankers (rather like trots in fact)...

so i think a very very crucial thing for an anarchist student network to do is not make a group which just consists of students separating from everyone else but to link students up with local non-student anarchist groups and with (not necessarily overtly anarchist) community groups fighting against whatever shitty things are happening in their area... doing "off campus" activism as well as "on campus"...

i am technically a student again now, but i would usually rather i wasn't seen as one...

but good idea, as long as it doesn't fall into those traps...

*typo but i left it in cos it seemed appropriate

my mum works for ucas

It was nice to hear from byron about the Swansea Unvi' protest, it's the kind of thing that I'm too pushing for. And everyone here is shouting about, a lack of action. I've been following these guy and they took action at their own accord. Brill!

The best way I think to proceed is to let each Unvi' Protest/Action Group to decided on what agenda they chose to take. Let keep it flexible as some groups are might orientated towards anti-globalisation, whilst others wish to promote enviromental concerns. So let not knock them.

I agree too with rebel_lion comments "local youths don't want to connect with uni students because they are just seen as condescending priviliged [Bleeep] ...and the..."off campus" activism as well as "on campus"... That where I think a social centre would work but as somebody pointed out that's going cost money, a lot of hard work and there's need to keep it afloat. I can't see why students, local youths shouldn't run the place.

As for the time being we are going to have to make do with working in the campus, the truth is we could be working on these agenda below right now.

- End to student fees, my Headmaster is driving a Ferrari.

- Promote the true meaning of Anarchy and others, they are not just a bunch of mindless twat.

- Promate anti-globalisation locally, globally and explian why.

- Promote enviromental concerns.

Our job is to outreach to those students, make connection and feed them with useful (non-bias) info.

Done! I've said my bit

I agree, I'm not saying no full stop but they are young and fresh and let keep them that way anyway time will tell and warm hence the "feed them with useful (non-bias) info," bit.

Maybe someone should suggest organising something for Norwich bookfair? Although Id check to see if theres any workshops going first

Sorry to cut and paste this but I've just received this in my e-mail, I hope it can highlight some of the work that could be easily done at grass-root level.

In February this year staff at the University of Leeds were told that they should use Nestle Watercoolers unless they had a specific reason not to. Enquiries were made to see if ethical concerns about Nestle would be considered a vaild reason not to use Nestle, but staff were told that this would not be considered a valid reason.

Today, the university has made a welcome U-turn on this decision, and staff have been informed that with immediate effect the Purchasing Office will no longer promote a specific contracted water cooler supplier. Staff are now free to choose an alternative supplier.

If you would like to spread the word to some other UK universities, here are some key facts to note;

- Nestlé is still violating the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.

- An article in the British Medical Journal (2003) noted that Nestlé violate;

Article 6.7 by using national healthcare systems in Togo and Burkina Faso to promote their products

Article 7.4 by distributing free formula milk samples to health providers in developing countries

Article 7.3 by idealising the use of formula milk without clear information on the superiority of breastfeeding or the difficulty of reversing the decision not to breastfeed.

Articles 9.2 and 9.4 by inappropriate labelling that does not warn of the health hazards of inappropriate use.

- Reversing the decline in breastfeeding could save the lives of 1.5 million infants every year according to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

For further information see;

http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html

Aguayo, V. M., Ross, J. S., Kanon, S., & Ouedraogo, A. N. (2003). Monitoring compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in West Africa. British Medical Journal, 326: 127

Do you think we shoudl all setup small local groups in our schools/colleges/unis and then try to leaflet other colleges/school/uni's etc.

I dont think Tuition fees can not be stopped now, but if we organise and build up the network maybe in a few years time we could have a viable network of resistance against any attacks on students and all teh other affects of capitalism.

IMO a crucial issue is for it to not just be uni students, but schools and FE colleges too... especially FE colleges in urban working class areas where the council estate kids who dont think they have a chance of going to uni end up doing shitty courses that dont mean jack shit (like most of the ppl i grew up with)...

agree v much...BUT...most people in FE are there for only a year. Sometimes less. Makes organising for anything other than the short term a major problem.

you'll be pleased to hear that an organised campaign of DA at my inner city FE college (a few years ago now) stopped its closure...and we sent a pissed off delegation to NUS conference. We had the distinction of being the only college to vote AGAINST the NUS' campaign against student poverty (on the grounds that not having a policy is better than a counter productive lefty one).

3 months later we'd all left.

The only thing productive the NUS do....hold on....nope..they dont do anything productive.