Don't get fooled into thinking that you've done your bit by protesting on Wednesday and now it's time to accept what's happening.
The education cuts are part of an all-out assault on the the kind of country the British have built. The poor and the vulnerable are being abandoned to the cold wind of free-market capitalism without benefitting from the positive aspects (did you know that FTSE 100 directors' pay went up 45% this year?).
Fight the cuts and fight the ideological attack on education as a public good. Protest when other groups - workers, the unemployed and the sick - are attacked.
Join the next wave of student protest on Wednesday 24th November. Sign the petition. Even - if you must - join the Facebook group. Don't just fade away.
Showing posts with label millbank tower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label millbank tower. Show all posts
Friday, 12 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Poor people's violence is different…
David Cameron was overjoyed by the student violence: it meant he could spend the interview time condemning it, rather than deal with the issues. Violence, he says, is 'unacceptable'.
I agree. There's nothing more despicable than anonymous, disguised students running wild and going on orgies of pointless, selfish violence.
Let's remind ourselves of what Call Me Dave was up to when he was a student, shall we?
Each year, he paid around £10,000 for membership of the Bullingdon Club. He'd dress up in special silly clothes (another few thousand pounds) and go on sprees of drinking and smashing. Because the club had a reputation for destroying restaurants then buying the owners' silence with wads of cash, the club had to go under false names to book rooms.
Clearly upper-class violence is a jolly jape, whereas political violence is despicable. Or am I missing something here?
I agree. There's nothing more despicable than anonymous, disguised students running wild and going on orgies of pointless, selfish violence.
Let's remind ourselves of what Call Me Dave was up to when he was a student, shall we?
Each year, he paid around £10,000 for membership of the Bullingdon Club. He'd dress up in special silly clothes (another few thousand pounds) and go on sprees of drinking and smashing. Because the club had a reputation for destroying restaurants then buying the owners' silence with wads of cash, the club had to go under false names to book rooms.
David Cameron was among drunken posh yobs who vandalised a restaurant, it was claimed last night.
The Tory leader has always denied taking part in the attack by the Bullingdon Club, the elitist Oxford University student society.
Mayor of London and Cameron's fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson, below, admits he was part of the mayhem.But a former club member says the idea Cameron was not there on the night in 1987 is "ludicrous", claiming he "sprinted off" when others ended up in the cells. The idea someone just went to bed early! I mean, come on... " the Financial Times blogs reports him as saying.
He adds: "Details have been kept a closely-guarded secret by the group of old friends. A policy of omerta has descended on the Cameron episode."
Clearly upper-class violence is a jolly jape, whereas political violence is despicable. Or am I missing something here?
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
They think it's all over… it is now.
The BBC live stream is a good way to follow the student protests, for good or ill.
The demonstration has certainly monopolised the coverage, which is great. However - rolling news is desperate for material, so it's not too difficult. Students are good at this stuff: Twitter and iPhones mean there's an avalanche of material flowing in.
However: I suspect that the coverage would have ended hours ago if the demonstration had remained entirely peaceful. Both sides know this. Unfortunately, the media have form in egging on the behaviour of a minority and then running it as representative (as they are now). On the other side, some protestors will be only too aware that polite protest doesn't get the attention of the press, while others are ready for any opportunity to sell sectarian papers, chant slogans and smash a few windows.
I wish I'd been there - the issue is more important than a couple of seminars - but I also have a responsibility to the students who for whatever reason, chose to come to class. Had I been there, I'd not have supported violence in this context (it's not the Miner's Strike) and the hijacking of the protest by splinter groups, but I certainly support the occupation of Tory HQ. Compared with other countries (and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s) this is mild stuff.
If you need a reminder that the vast majority of students on the march were peaceful and determined to make their point clearly, he's a video of their reaction to one of the provocateurs chucking a fire extinguisher off the roof of Tory HQ: a round of boos and the chant 'stop throwing shit'. Good on them.
Let's hope this march is the first in a massive series of resistance actions from all sectors of society in the coming years.
That's certainly true in some students' minds. Sky News has such a bad reputation now (think Kay Burley - and here - and Adam Boulton) that their live broadcasts are fair game, as the Guardian reports:
The demonstration has certainly monopolised the coverage, which is great. However - rolling news is desperate for material, so it's not too difficult. Students are good at this stuff: Twitter and iPhones mean there's an avalanche of material flowing in.
However: I suspect that the coverage would have ended hours ago if the demonstration had remained entirely peaceful. Both sides know this. Unfortunately, the media have form in egging on the behaviour of a minority and then running it as representative (as they are now). On the other side, some protestors will be only too aware that polite protest doesn't get the attention of the press, while others are ready for any opportunity to sell sectarian papers, chant slogans and smash a few windows.
I wish I'd been there - the issue is more important than a couple of seminars - but I also have a responsibility to the students who for whatever reason, chose to come to class. Had I been there, I'd not have supported violence in this context (it's not the Miner's Strike) and the hijacking of the protest by splinter groups, but I certainly support the occupation of Tory HQ. Compared with other countries (and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s) this is mild stuff.
If you need a reminder that the vast majority of students on the march were peaceful and determined to make their point clearly, he's a video of their reaction to one of the provocateurs chucking a fire extinguisher off the roof of Tory HQ: a round of boos and the chant 'stop throwing shit'. Good on them.
Let's hope this march is the first in a massive series of resistance actions from all sectors of society in the coming years.
That's certainly true in some students' minds. Sky News has such a bad reputation now (think Kay Burley - and here - and Adam Boulton) that their live broadcasts are fair game, as the Guardian reports:
Sky News ran into difficulty about 5 minutes ago when they attempted to go live to one of their reporters on the ground. She appeared to lose her temper as students standing around her began to pitch in with comments like 'ladies and gentlemen the insurrection has started.
"They just want to shout people down," said said, turning to them and telling them (as well as the studio) that the vast majority of people at the protest didn't support what has happened.
Sky cut the link, with an anchor saying, not entirely convincingly : "I'm not sure what was happening there."
Millbank Tower protest.
Momentarily satisfying, but playing into the rightwing political and media agenda. They probably weren't students.
Direct Action: taking it to the Tories
Good to see the Tories inconvenienced, but it's a bit of political pantomime really.
Still, at least they're using my slogan.
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