Back-to-bed boycott?

No walkout or demonstration here at The Hegemon, as far as I can see, but London and Manchester seem to be pretty active, with Leeds and Bristol doing good work. There's a mass walkout at nearby Birmingham University too, and a lot of schools have seen very effective walkouts - great to see the younger generation radicalised.

Despite some difficulty from security guards preventing many of our students getting in more than 30 birmingham students are currently in occupation of the aston webb building the site of the prime ministerial debates. this is a copy of our written statement.

Students at the University of Birmingham have embarked on this occupation because we believe the Government's cuts to be economically unnecessary, unfair and ideologically motivated. We stand in solidarity with unions and seek to be active members in a broader anti-cuts coalition. The government must understand that if they continue to destroy the livelihoods of the majority to benefit the rich and powerful minority, they will face increasingly widespread and radical action.

The government is however not the only catalyst for our action. This university currently adheres to a strategy which prioritises corporate profit above the value of education. To this end we have set out an alternative budget proposal that fairly shares the burden of government cuts. If the Government and University continue with their marketisation of people's lives this will only be the beginning.

Plymouth Uni's occupation is so sophisticated that there's a live web feed. Royal Holloway students got started yesterday!


I like this Aberystwyth nerd-banner: 

 '404 Error Funding Not Found.'

I think the tensions between institutions and students will start to grow soon. My institution is so humble and vulnerable that even our management - for whom I rarely have a good word - are on the side of The Kids. It's not the case in the Russell Group élite institutions: their managements think the fees are absolutely brilliant, whereas the students know better.


(As an example, 20% of Oxford University's outreach programme to recruit 'non-traditional' students went to private schools, including Eton, from which 46% of Oxford's intake is drawn - 7% of the school population is privately educated).


UPDATE: the London protest is getting heated, helped by the cops' decision to 'kettle' them - kettles tend to boil. Live pictures here.