Support students right to a free education for all

Tommorrow students from up and down the land will be protesting against teh attacks on their opportunities of a decent life for themselves and others who will follow them. This is also a fight for free education to international students too who have also been put off in coming heer to study we cannot forget them too. Free education should be a right in this day and age why should young people today have to pay when many of their parents and the smug politicians never had to pay a penny. Many students and young people are joining a London demonstration calling on the government to scrap tuition fees and cuts. Paired with the introduction of £9,000 university tuition fees for 2012’s student intake, the slashing of benefits and key services for students and young people is having a devastating impact, the organisers say. Scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) The EMA was a weekly means-tested payment of up to £30 for students aged 16-19, at schools or in further education colleges, in return for their attending lessons. It provided a lifeline to students . Around 45% of students qualified for the EMA, costing over £560m. But in late 2010, the government scrapped it in England. It still exists in Scotland and Wales. The budget was slashed to just £180m and reallocated to a 16-19 “bursary fund”. Unlike the EMA, which was distributed according to parental income, the new fund can be distributed by schools and colleges as they see fit. Pupils can apply even if they weren’t eligible for the EMA, so it’s unclear how many students qualify. Some of today’s sixth formers don’t know the EMA ever existed, but those with older siblings have found the injustice hard to swallow. “It seems as if the government is trying to make higher education less accessible to those from lower income families. University now feels like something more related to social class rather than to education.” Youth services have been slashed, with councils closing youth clubs up and down the country. Connexions – which provided information, support and advice to 13- to 25-year-olds – has been almost completely cut and replaced by the National Careers Service with disastrous results, particularly for the most vulnerable. Aimhigher – a programme that aimed to widen higher education participation – was also scrapped in 2011, just before the fees increase. “Where you come from remains such a key factor in whether or not you go on to university,” says Megan Dunn, NUS vice-president for higher education. “Young people from the most advantaged neighbourhoods in England are three times more likely to enter higher education than those from the most disadvantaged.” The government planned to “modernise” the DSA, which students in England can receive to meet the extra study costs arising from their disabilities, long-term mental and physical health conditions, and learning difficulties. Some changes have been postponed for at least two years after protests from students. But from 2015, many of the provisions the DSA currently pays for, such as standard computers for disabled students, will no longer be covered. Since 2010, the Department for Education has protected funding for educational provision for five-16s, but has slashed funding for 16-18 education. Some sixth form colleges will have lost a third of their funding by the end of this parliament, according to the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA), because of a combination of cuts to entitlement funding, which provides tutorials and enrichment activities, a new 16-19 funding formula, and a reduction in funding for 18 year olds. This has meant increased class sizes and a reduction in the number of A-level and vocational courses available at many schools and FE colleges. A survey of sixth form colleges by the SFCA found that 68% had dropped courses, with 38% cutting modern foreign language A-levels and 22% Stem subjects. with quotes and extracts from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/nov/17/robbed-of-their-futures-how-austerity-cuts-hit-young-people-hardest?CMP=twt_gu In a National campaign against fees and cuts press release students wrote "This Wednesday, on November 19th, thousands of students will march through London in what is likely to be the biggest education protest in several years. The demo – which is organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts in coalition with a number of other student groups – will march on parliament under the banner of ‘FREE EDUCATION: no fees, no cuts, no debt’. The demonstration aims to be the spark for a new and proactive generation of student protests. There will be a press conference on the day of the demonstration. The press conference will include school students, activists from across the country and representatives of the different organisations behind the march. The press conference will take place at UCL (University College London) at 10am. Callum Cant, from Warwick for Free Education and the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts said: “At Warwick we have been campaigning on the ground for almost a month, and we’ve seen our hard work pay off. On campus, the mood is changing, people are excited, and we have seen a huge number of people getting involved in student activism for the first time.” Hattie Craig, from Defend Education Birmingham and the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts said: “The students attending this demonstration are a new generation: one that was not involved in 2010, one for whom £9,000 fees are the norm. Despite this, they’re daring to call for demands which envisage a radical reshaping of education. This demonstration, expected to be the biggest since 2010, is the start of big things for the student movement.” Kirsty Haigh, from NUS Scotland and the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts said: “NUS scotland firmly believes in free education and we are supporting the demo on November 19th. We believe education is a right that should be accessible to everyone and barriers such as fees are unjust. That is why I, and many other Scottish students, will be marching this Wednesday.” Deborah Hermanns, from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, said: “We will not win this with one march, but by creating a movement too big to ignore or to betray. So we have called for two further days of action on 3 and 6 December in campuses and communities across the country, and will keep fighting for as long as it takes to win.” Notes: 1. NCAFC is a democratic coalition of students and workers fighting for free education and against fees, cuts and privatisation in education. It has existed since 2010 and has around 500 members. " http://anticuts.com/2014/11/18/demonstration-to-be-start-of-big-things-as-students-prepare-for-an-autumn-of-protest/

support the 3 cosas's campaign on strike this week lend solidarity with ULU cleaners

Plans and information on the 3 COSAS STRIKE – come to support the strike at Senate House! We, the outsourced workers responsible for cleaning, security and maintenance at the University of London, are striking next week on the 27th, 28th and 29th January. We are striking for our union, the IWGB, to be recognised by our employers, Cofely GDZ Suez, to be entitled to the same sick pay, holidays and pensions as directly employed University staff, and also for assurances from the University that we won’t lose our jobs as a result of the student halls of residence – the Garden Halls – being closed this summer. We feel picketing is very important, and if you can spare some time to come down to support our strike, it will help immensely. Bring your solidarity, love and warmth. Here are our plans for the three day strike: DAY 1: MASS PICKETING FROM 6 AM! We want as many supporters, students and others to come down to support us! We will begin pickets at 6 am at the main Russell Square entrance to Senate House. To find you way, click here. The first day is crucial to having an impact on the University and explaining why the strike is happening to colleagues, but also for boosting confidence! Please come down! DAY 2: TOUR OF LONDON! On the second strike day, from 9.30 am, the entire picket line will board an open top bus and do a whistle-stop tour of high profile sites throughout London, including national media outlets and places of particular interest to the University of London and Cofely. This will be followed by a contingent of supporters on bikes. Bring your bike along to follow the moving bus picket! Importantly, we will still be maintaining pickets at the University! DAY 3: MASS PICKETING! SOLIDARITY WITH THE NATIONAL STUDENT MEETING! We will be continuing the strike picket lines at Senate House from 6 am. Workers from the campaign will also be going to Birmingham to link up with students and staff from across the country to protest and develop national demands for ours and similar campaigns. * On each of the strike days workers at the University of London will be producing a daily strike bulletin through 'Open Book' - this will be to share news, counter management myths and give updates on the strike. See the current bulletin in the lead up to the strike: As well as coming down to the picket lines, how can you support the strike? 1. Contribute to our strike fund: http://donate.3cosascampaign.com/ 2. Pass a motion in your trade or students’ union or community group, info here: http://3cosascampaign.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/model-motion-support-for-the-outsourced-university-of-london-workers-3-cosas-campaign/ 3. Invite us to speak at a meeting to spread word of our campaign: http://3cosascampaign.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/a-national-speaker-tour-3-cosas-the-university-of-london-struggle-and-beyond/ 3cosascampaign

Cops off campus

Last week, London’s village-like Bloomsbury area became a battleground between students and police. In two days, 43 arrests were made, and several videos appearing to show police brutality are now circling the internet. It was the latest, most violent episode in a crackdown on student protest in the city which began in the summer. Amid the chaos of last week, the University of London – the capital's biggest, which includes Goldsmiths, SOAS and UCL – got itself a High Court injunction forbidding protest on its site until next June. Those who disobey it, the order warns, might find themselves in contempt of court. “The university started filming demonstrations from the balconies of Senate House, with few missing the irony that the building inspired the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four" It goes back to Wednesday evening when University of London security forcefully evicted 30 demonstrators staging an occupation of its premises at Senate House. Some 50 police were on hand, but only, the university said, “to prevent a breach of the peace”. However, footage appears to show them doing a lot more than that. One officer can be seen punching a man in the face. In another clip, two police slam a woman, screaming, to the pavement and then walk off. There were seven arrests that night but, the police were keen to point out, no formal complaints were made against them. Still, both people at the demonstration and those who had seen it reported online were furious, appalled by what they considered police violence and intimidation. That anger could be felt at a Cops Off Campus protest, promoted anonymously on Tumblr, which took place the next day. Some protesters brought homemade shields (not a bad idea, since the police definitely made use of their batons), while others let off red smoke bombs amid clashes between officers and students. This time, 36 people were arrested, including a man with a crutch. An eyewitness said he “was walking near the police when they pushed him, and as he fell backwards the police kicked away his crutch before jumping on him”. After officers moved away from where his arrest took place, a red blood stain could be seen on the pavement. Oscar Webb, the editor at the London Student newspaper, was one of those arrested. He was there covering the protest and can be seen in a video holding up his press card just before being handcuffed. He spent the night in isolation in a cell in south London, and although he wasn’t charged with any offence, he now has bail conditions that prohibit him from going in Senate House. If police were already clamping down on student protests, they now appear to be getting heavy-handed with those who report them too. As far as the students were concerned, these were two especially brutal days. But the crackdown goes back months, when in July a 24-year-old philosophy student was arrested for writing in chalk on a University of London foundation stone. It’s alleged she caused £600 of criminal damage, even though, as one person was quick to point out: “Chalk can be washed off. That’s the whole point of chalk.” Student occupiers barricade the doors in Senate House in an attempt to keep out police Oscar Webb The list of ten demands issued by the those who occupied Senate House gives a pretty good idea of why the students are feeling the need to do so much protesting. They want to see outsourced staff and lecturers, who they consider the backbone of universities, given fair working terms and pay. They don’t want their halls of residence run by private companies who will charge extortionate rents. And they’re fed up of having the police, who unsurprisingly they don’t trust, allowed onto their campuses. They’re also angry at the planned closure of ULU next year, which the university wants to take over. It’s a flawed body, but also considered an outlet for some of the grievances of London’s students. The National Union of Students, according to most of the activists, is useless. They see its leadership as careerists using their roles as a step on the way to a safe Labour seat, not an institution that can help them effect the change they want. On Friday, a day after the mass arrests, a second Cops Off Campus demonstration took place. Again, there were hundreds of students and police. But it mostly just consisted of running around in the streets, getting in the way of motorists, with a police helicopter hovering above. A small group of anarchists, waving red and black flags, climbed a fire escape and were keen to find a way into University of London’s campus, which had been sealed off. But the demonstrators decided to call it a day and hold a sort of debrief meeting in the students’ union. That wasn’t, I think, because their anger at the police had subsided. All around, you could hear protesters urging each other to “save it for next week” (this Wednesday, a national Cops Off Campus protest is planned). In other words, in Bloomsbury’s battle between students and police, things look likely to intensify further. With thanks to James Burley for the article above Follow James Burley on Twitter here @JWJBurley http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18110/1/cops-off-campus-university-of-london-protest-ban

Power and hierarchy

In my view power creates hierarchy and hierarchy creates power the two are very inter changeable and are negative ideas in my opinion on the workers movement. I don’t think creating power or hierarchy even if with the best intentions should be our aim. We don’t want to create a movement in the image of the e existing one we should be looking to replace it with non hierarchical structures if possible. Take the NUS the National Union of Students in the UK for example. The National Union of Students (NUS) is designed to filter, control, pacify and compromise the student movement. It is a way of disempowering students trying to fight together for radical social change and for defending and extending the right to knowledge and education for all. Within the union, energy has been directed at struggling against right-wing bureaucrats for control of the union, instead of organising as students to fight the battles we need to win. The union’s hierarchical structures divide and alienate us, thereby stopping us from being an effective force for change. What happens when you run for an election? Either you win, and are set apart from your comrades, have your time wasted in pointless meetings, and through your position of authority inevitably become an obstacle for students to overcome, or you lose and continue to have no voice. The union’s democratic centralist structure means that we spend more time trying to make something ‘policy’ than actually organising around our real experiences and needs. The recent governance review proposals, and their unwavering support from the NUS elite, are an unsurprising attack on the ‘democracy’ of NUS [see http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/media/resource/NUS_New_Governance.pdf for details]. These illustrate the extent to which the union is controlled by those who do not see its role as being to facilitate a militant collective student movement. However, the problem is deeper than just the control of the union by careerist right-wingers. These latest changes are not particularly significant in themselves, but they simply offer us an opportunity to draw attention to the inherent problems with the structures of the union. Indeed, if the union was controlled by the radical left it would still be a structure to organise the student struggle from outside of the actual experiences and struggles of us as students and, as in increasingly the case, simultaneously as workers. The very existence of the union is fundamentally in opposition to a real collective mass movement based on our real needs. Within NUS, left-wingers have attempted to push the union to fight for some of our needs as students/workers. For example, Education Not for Sale, a left-wing faction, has argued for NUS to resume its commitment to free education and grants for all funded by taxation of the rich. They have not been very successful due to the current stronghold of the right in NUS. However, even if they had been/will be successful on this issue, as long as the power and organisation continues to takes place in the hierarchies, conference halls and offices of the union it will not actually be based on our real needs and we will not have power in deciding our own course of action. Hierarchy is a systematic, organised division of people in a ranked way, so that they are divided into superiors and subordinates. These are INSTITUTIONAL ROLES, where it is the job of some to give orders, and of others to take they (whilst perhaps giving them to others further down the chain). There is a hierarchy between bosses and workers, because bosses give the orders, and workers take them. It’s just the same as the state, there is a hierarchy between the state and its subjects, because the government makes the laws, and the subjects obey them. If you want to stay within the area of the workplace, you have to take orders from above. If you want to stay within the area of the state, you have to do the same. Now, compare this to a democratic workplace assembly. Sure, sometimes a minority get outvoted on an issue, and have to decide between quitting, striking or going along with the majority. Other times it will be a different minority. But they all have an equal say. There is no institutional division between order givers and takers, managers and executants etc. Now, you are right in one sense of the word to say that there is always hierarchy, in that there is always some people who don't get there way, and may have to do something they don't like, or else face some sanction, even if just non-cooperation (which can be just as coercive in its effects). But when classical anarchists talk about hierarchy, they talk about an institutional structures which I think is spot on in my experience you see it in all political parties and trade unions today and reflected in society as a result. Now, it doesn't take a genius to tell the difference between hierarchical and horizontal social structures. HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE: Organised in a pyramid. It is the institutional role and exclusive right of those at the top to give orders to those lower down Boss | V Upper Management | V Lower management | V Manual Workers (The | and V is supposed to look like an arrow) Those further down the chain take orders from those higher up, and have no institutional influence on the decisions of those further up. Now compare this to a workplace ran by a democratic assembly of all who work there (lets not get into side issues of feasibility or efficiency right now). Everyone has a say, everyone has a vote, no one has any more power, and there is no systematic division into those whose job it is to command and those whose job it is to obey. For me hierarchy and power are tied up within the capitalist system and its order of things to remove capitalism we must look to bring about the end of power and all forms f hierarchy in my opinion. They are both corrupting influences and not beneficial to anti capitalists who wish to change society. We do not lead to be lead all the time we can and should act and think for ourselves in conclusion.

Solidarity with university lecturers and students

31 October will be a day of coordinated strike action by UCU, Unison and Unite members working in universities. This is the first UK-wide joint action between these Higher Education unions, demonstrating the anger that their members feel about the employers' insulting 1% pay increase. The real wages of academics have fallen by 13% since 2008, one of the largest sustained wage cuts any profession has suffered since the Second World War." This is despite the scandalously high fees charged to students, which have subsidised lavish pay at the upper echelons of university management while ordinary teaching, research, and support staff struggle. We want a publicly funded system of Higher Education, free at the point of use and paying a fair wage to its workers. In addition to real-terms pay cuts, casualisation of all jobs is rife in the sector, including use of fixed-term, hourly-paid and even the now-infamous zero-hour contracts. This job insecurity together with management bullying and excessive workloads will also motivate UCU members to undertake a 'work to contract' following the strike day. Many student organisations, including official student unions, have offered support. It will be vital to build on these links and make clear to students that this industrial action strengthens their fight for free education, particularly if exam marking ends up being affected. Already propaganda about the USS pension scheme has tried to pit students against staff - in fact this scheme is healthy by any reasonable measure, and a bizarre accounting practice is being used to claim students will end up 'bailing out' their lecturers' pensions. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this and similar falsehoods will be peddled by the Con-Dem government and their media chums if the dispute continues. A serious fighting strategy could see a victory in the form of a significantly improved pay offer. But ultimately the dispute has arisen from the politics and experience of austerity. We need to make links with other unions - HE workers already look to the dispute involving the teachers' unions NUT and NASUWT Who have unfortunately called off their action for this year which is a huge crime in my opinion A last mention has to go to Sussex University and Sheffield University who have gone into occupation tonight in solidarity with the staff in the universities tomorrow and beyond. This could be a restart of the student movement and crucially without the support of the NUS and the NCAFC who are not present in either of these occupations at all. A statement below is carried by occupy Sussex. Once again students at Sussex University have come out in solidarity with staff struggles on their campus. Over the past year they have been waging a struggle with a united front of teaching staff, support/catering staff and students to object to on-campus privatisation. In this time they have innovated the pop-up union as a way to forge cross-union cross-trade solidarity, and have held some of the largest student demonstrations outside of London in recent years. You can follow them on twitter @occupy Sussex A great short You tube video from novara fm weekly show co host James butler can be watched here about the strike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37n5zeyd83Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player Remember don’t cross a picket line. If unsure contact your local union or student union.

What has happened to the student movement?

Is a very good question since two big demonstrations one a lot smaller and angrier than the last 2013 has been a somewhat quieter year for the students movement. Not being a student myself I look on from outside but the anger on tuition fees, lack of EMA, rental prices for students, cost of studying all haven’t gone away surely and the anger can’t have either. No doubt much of this lack of fight can be laid at the door of the NUS who have failed to mobilise students to defend education and mount a challenge to this rotten government. Socialist students which are affiliated to the socialist party have been doing excellent work on campuses up and down the country having our best year yet in terms of numbers. But our influence is still small. We will be putting pressure and calling on the NUS to organise a national demonstration this autumn very shortly. There have been small victories and incidents Sussex university had a fantastic demonstration with an occupation which was disgracefully evicted a while back now in protest over privatisation of the education system. Again NUS did not show up most students now are starting to fight without their own union of students this is a worry but not unsurprising given the role the NUS places with its pro labour party leadership and timid outlook. Recently a victory at Birmingham university has shown an example how students and workers when they unite can win victories even on a small scale and not totally resolved is a good start and shows we can win. Maintenance & support staff at University of Birmingham are celebrating near-total victory as university management have abandoned restructuring plans. 361 Hospitalist and Accomodation Services (HAS) staff faced compulsory redundancy, pay cuts and being forced to work anti-social hours under plans announced in March; the £407,000-a-year pay packet of the Vice-Chancellor would have been unaffected. The University also planned to force staff to work weekends and holidays for no extra pay. These plans have all been dropped and staff has won extra flexibility in setting their own schedules. Edmund Schluessel - NUS NEC-elect, UCU and Socialist Students Birmingham University Unison worked closely in partnership with the students’ union, Birmingham Guild of Students, to fight back against the cuts and job losses. Staff and students demonstrated together against university management on May Day, and, in a major show of solidarity, the Students’ Union put out a call for a national student mobilisation in support of the Birmingham HAS staff. In a statement, student campaigning group, Birmingham Defend Education, said, “This outcome demonstrates that protest and direct action work. Unions were negotiating on these issues behind the scenes for two months, whilst the University kept announcing further attacks. As soon as they started to sign up large numbers of new members and talk about strike action, and we sent our statement to David Eastwood, the University abandoned the majority of their attacks within two weeks. This also illustrates the power of students and staff when working together. We should remember that staff and students, not management, are what make the University work. If we recognise this, and the power that we have when we stop doing what we’re told, we can claim the conditions of work and study that we want to see.” The problem of low pay remains unresolved. Many maintenance staff at Birmingham and dozens of other universities is paid only the national minimum wage, while the university makes annual profits of nearly £30 million. Lecturers and other uni staff on the national pay spine have received real-terms pay cuts every year since 2009. The five-way consortium of university trade unions, consisting of UCU (lecturers), Unison, Unite, GMB (all support staff) and EIS (teaching trade union), are meeting with employers on the 21st to discuss the latest 0.8% pay offer. The five unions should unanimously reject the offer and prepare for national coordinated action to stop the pay cuts and job losses, and push the TUC (Trade Union Congress) to name the day for a 24-hour general strike against all the cuts. As an incoming Socialist Students member of the National Union of Students’ (NUS) executive I will push for NUS to learn from Birmingham students’ example and to give the fullest possible support to any action in defence of education and against the cuts. Once students come back after the summer there will be new angry students paying higher fees getting charged even more to live and get by. It’s a disgrace that the NUS would rather spend their time doing pointless survey’s and focus on the smaller issues not that they are not important but when our whole education system is at threat surely their priorities could be better placed. With socialist students getting its first member elected on to the NEC of the NUS in Edmund Schluessel we can now begin to gain influence beyond our own ranks. A statement put out by Edmund on socialist students website said that students need a voice and for too long the NUS has not represented the real views of students on the ground. Our aim is to turn the NUS into a fighting union to give students hope and an avenue to fight back in. Socialist student’s basic aims and demands are: What We Stand For Education  Abolish tuition fees. Write off student debt.  Restore EMA. Campaign for full living grants to cover the living costs of all students in post-16 education – including those at university.  No to higher and further education funding cuts. Defend every course, job and service.  No to academies and Free Schools.  For exam boards and all other privatised services to be taken back into public ownership – no repeat of this year’s exam mistakes fiasco!  Stop the marketisation and privatisation of universities in Britain. No to the government’s white paper and a two-tier Higher Education system. No university should be allowed to go to the wall!  Lift the cap on places and publicly fund the expansion of high quality higher education.  Build local anti-cuts campaigns and ‘Youth Fight for Education’ groups in every school, college and university, linked on both a regional and a national level.  Support action taken by education workers to defend their conditions and our education –their fight is our fight.  For the transformation of Students’ Unions into fighting organisations, with bottom-up democratic structures.  For a fighting NUS.  For education that is fully funded, publicly owned, democratically run and universally free at all levels – a socialist education system. Work and Welfare  Support the Youth Fight for Jobs campaign.  No to mass youth unemployment- for a decent job for all.  No to the government’s slave labour ‘workfare’ schemes. For decent training opportunities and apprenticeships for young people which pay at least the minimum wage, with a guaranteed job at the end.  No job losses in the public or private sector. When private bosses claim they can’t afford to maintain jobs, we say open the books. Let us see where the money has gone.  For nationalisation of companies threatening closure, under democratic control with compensation given on the basis of proven need.  Fight for a minimum wage of at least £8 an hour as a step towards a living wage.  No cuts to housing or other benefits.  End lower benefit rates for young people – for the right to Job Seekers Allowance at 16.  No to ‘workfare’ and slave labour internships. For decent jobs paid at least a minimum wage of £8 an hour.  Support the National Shop Stewards’ Network anti-cuts campaign which fights all cuts to jobs and services  The immediate re-opening of all youth services that have been closed, including reinstating sacked staff. Rights  Defend the right to protest. No to the victimisation of student protesters. For the right to organise in every school, college and campus.  No to ‘kettling’ and police violence on demonstrations.  No to racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of discrimination.  Fight the far-right racist BNP and EDL. Jobs, homes and services- not racism. Build mass campaigns to defend communities.  No platform for fascists in education.  Rape is never the victim’s fault. For a mass campaign against sexism.  No to reactionary attacks on women’s rights.  Defend and extend abortion rights.  No to the three main bosses’ parties. For a new mass workers’ party that fights in the interests of ordinary people. For International Solidarity and Socialism  For solidarity between working class and young people across the world.  Solidarity with the Arab Spring – No to western intervention – it is on behalf of big business and capitalism.  No to war and imperialist intervention. For the Immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.  End the siege of Gaza.  No to Trident nuclear missile replacement  Support the Sri Lanka Tamil Solidarity campaign – for the right of all people to self-determination.  No to environmental destruction. For a sustainable democratic socialist plan of production that won’t destroy the planet.  No to capitalism. For a socialist world, where the big monopolies are taken into public ownership, the economy is democratically planned and resources are used to meet the needs of all humanity. A campaign for students must start here. As terms are drawing to a close exams are being taken work must start now for action in the autumn to defend education and to fight for free education for the many not just the few.

Students back on the streets this Wednesday, join the demo against fees and cuts

This Wednesday the 21st of November will see the return to struggle on a mass scale by thousands of students on the streets of London for the first time since 2010. The monstrous demonstration of 2010 still lives in the memories of many students and the government too. The NUS who have called this demonstration against their will are being forced to organise this due to mass pressure from below. Shamefully we suspect many NUS officers will be doing very little and have been doing really little in organising for this demonstration this week. So it will be left to groups such as socialist students who have had a big upsurge in recruitment and taking up of our ideas on campuses up and down the land this term already. Just like in 2010 much of the organising for the demonstration will be on the ground carried out by rank-and-file students many of which may be looking at socialist students and discussing with us our ideas. Unlike the NUS we are fully opposed to all cuts and all fees. We stand for a free fully funded education for students. An end to cuts in higher education and further education. In the winter of 2010, by the skin of their teeth, Cameron, Clegg and their rich mates managed to weather the storm of student protest, college walkouts and university occupations and forced through the most draconian raft of education 'reforms' ever enacted in Britain. These 'improvements' included the tripling of tuition fees from an already unaffordable £3,000 to a sky-high £9,000, the removal of vital EMA for college students, and the slashing of education budgets by up to 80% in some departments. The face of our education has visibly changed - university applications have already fallen by 15% in my native Sheffield. Entire groups of friends who were at Sheffield's colleges now languish on the dole, unable to afford to go to university and unable to get jobs. The neoliberal slash-and-burn of our education has had chilling effects. But though the student movement was set back by the passing of these vicious assaults on working class people's right to education, we're still here and we certainly haven't forgotten. The 50,000-strong demonstration in November 2010, the storming of Millbank Tower and the subsequent mass student uprising against the Tories still loom large in the minds of students. This year, the 'Class of 2010' comes of age - some of the students who walked out of their colleges, who took part in the biggest demonstration of college students ever, are now at university, forced to pay £9,000 a year. The need to kick out this shambolic government is becoming clear. The National Union of Students demonstration 'Educate, Employ, Empower', on 21 November, could open the floodgates to this simmering anger. This tide can be a storm surge, made unstoppable and irresistible by Socialist Students' ever-present slogan: 'students and workers - unite and fight!' Only the union between the dynamism and energy of the students with the industrial muscle of the organised working class can lead to success. The task is clear - taking forward the demands of Socialist Students beyond this demonstration and into the new year: free education, no budget cuts, fair pay for teaching and support staff, and to lend all support possible to workers in the coming struggles. We'll kick out this shower of posh boys and we'll fight for a socialist future.

The potential for Socialist Students

The socialist party has had various student organisations and even back to our militant days we were always heavily involved in the Labour Party young Socialists. With the success of youth Fight for jobs which is still only a few years old itself Socialist Students is our party’s latest attempt to gain a voice for students on university and college campuses up and down the country. I’m excited about this prospect with Hertfordshire University set to have its new society set up for the new academic year. There are already successful socialist students societies set up and functioning across the country you may wish to check some of them and our website out at http://socialiststudents.org.uk/wp/ the potential for recruits and the spread of socialist ideas is vast in today’s world young people especially are out there newly radicalised looking for answers to why they are having to pay huge fees while the most wealthy in society walk away with golden goodbyes whilst being able to bring the world economy to its knees. We aim to answer your questions and allow you to have a voice on campus and beyond. To join the fight to change society for the 99%. Student’s politics I’ve been told is a messy affair with lots of bitching and infighting within the scene but as Socialist students we are not interested in the sectarian nature of what is thought of as student politics. We’re here to provide a voice, an arena for discussion and to get students organised in what is one of the most difficult times for students ever. With the tripling of tuition fees and the cutting of EMA there is plenty of reasons for students to be angry and want to hit back. We advocate a constructive fight back putting forward an alternative of free education and support for all students whatever background you are from. What We Stand For Education  Abolish tuition fees. Write off student debt.  Restore EMA. Campaign for full living grants to cover the living costs of all students in post-16 education – including those at university.  No to higher and further education funding cuts. Defend every course, job and service.  No to academies and Free Schools.  For exam boards and all other privatised services to be taken back into public ownership – no repeat of this year’s exam mistakes fiasco!  Stop the marketisation and privatisation of universities in Britain. No to the government’s white paper and a two-tier Higher Education system. No university should be allowed to go to the wall!  Lift the cap on places and publicly fund the expansion of high quality higher education.  Build local anti-cuts campaigns and ‘Youth Fight for Education’ groups in every school, college and university, linked on both a regional and a national level.  Support action taken by education workers to defend their conditions and our education –their fight is our fight.  For the transformation of Students’ Unions into fighting organisations, with bottom-up democratic structures.  For a fighting NUS.  For education that is fully funded, publicly owned, democratically run and universally free at all levels – a socialist education system. Work and Welfare  Support the Youth Fight for Jobs campaign.  No to mass youth unemployment- for a decent job for all.  No to the government’s slave labour ‘workfare’ schemes. For decent training opportunities and apprenticeships for young people which pay at least the minimum wage, with a guaranteed job at the end.  No job losses in the public or private sector. When private bosses claim they can’t afford to maintain jobs, we say open the books. Let us see where the money has gone.  For nationalisation of companies threatening closure, under democratic control with compensation given on the basis of proven need.  Fight for a minimum wage of at least £8 an hour as a step towards a living wage.  No cuts to housing or other benefits.  End lower benefit rates for young people – for the right to Job Seekers Allowance at 16.  No to ‘workfare’ and slave labour internships. For decent jobs paid at least a minimum wage of £8 an hour.  Support the National Shop Stewards’ Network anti-cuts campaign which fights all cuts to jobs and services  The immediate re-opening of all youth services that have been closed, including reinstating sacked staff. Rights  Defend the right to protest. No to the victimisation of student protesters. For the right to organise in every school, college and campus.  No to ‘kettling’ and police violence on demonstrations.  No to racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of discrimination.  Fight the far-right racist BNP and EDL. Jobs, homes and services- not racism. Build mass campaigns to defend communities.  No platform for fascists in education.  Rape is never the victim’s fault. For a mass campaign against sexism.  No to reactionary attacks on women’s rights.  Defend and extend abortion rights.  No to the three main bosses’ parties. For a new mass workers’ party that fights in the interests of ordinary people. For International Solidarity and Socialism  For solidarity between working class and young people across the world.  Solidarity with the Arab Spring – No to western intervention – it is on behalf of big business and capitalism.  No to war and imperialist intervention. For the Immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.  End the siege of Gaza.  No to Trident nuclear missile replacement  Support the Sri Lanka Tamil Solidarity campaign – for the right of all people to self-determination.  No to environmental destruction. For a sustainable democratic socialist plan of production that won’t destroy the planet.  No to capitalism. For a socialist world, where the big monopolies are taken into public ownership, the economy is democratically planned and resources are used to meet the needs of all humanity.

Surprise surprise numbers of students applying to go to uni are down

The rise in university tuition fees in England is having an impact on applications, an expert panel has said. The Independent Commission on Fees says there has been "a clear drop" in English students applying, compared with those from the rest of the UK. The panel, headed by writer and academic Will Hutton, adds there has been no relative fall in applications from poorer areas. Ministers say there is still "very strong demand" for university. The Independent Commission on Fees is supported by the Sutton Trust, a charity which aims to improve educational opportunities for young people from disadvantaged homes. It is examining the impact of the increase in fees, especially on those from poorer backgrounds. 'Clear drop' Panel chairman Will Hutton, who is an Oxford college principal, said: "Although it is too early to draw any firm conclusions, this study provides initial evidence that increased fees have an impact on application behaviour. "There is a clear drop in application numbers from English students when compared to their counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This was all predicted by socialists who said that trebling tuition fees and cutting of EMA will have a toxic affect on our young people in this country. So at last concrete evidence to show that the government are actively putting off people to go. Making university education a right for only the very rich and those who can afford to go. In its first report, the panel draws on statistics from the university admissions service Ucas, as well as a survey of the attitudes of some secondary school pupils. The latest figures from Ucas, for June, showed applications from people in England were down 10% on the same time last year. In Wales, the drop was 2.9%, Northern Ireland 4.5% and Scotland 2.1%. The University and College Union (UCU) said the figures were worrying. The union's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "Young people not applying for university have few other opportunities with levels of high unemployment and the difficulty securing other forms of education or training. "We need to be investing in our young people, not directing them towards a lengthy dole queue." City and Guilds, the body behind many vocational qualifications and apprenticeships, says it has seen a dramatic rise in applications to higher level courses. It says more than 700 people have registered to do level four courses (equivalent to post-A-level qualifications) this year - up from just under 300 last year. Fees rise to a maximum of £9,000 a year at English universities from this autumn. They had been just over £3,000 a year. Students from England will face higher fees wherever they study in the UK. Fees will also rise in Wales and Northern Ireland but not for home students and students from Wales will be subsidised wherever they study in the UK In Scotland, Scottish students will continue to pay no fees, although those coming from other parts of the UK will be eligible for fees of up to £9,000. The socialist party stands for full complete free education for all. Education should be a right not just a judgement of how many pounds you have in your bank balance. The lies that the government used that this is a fairer system that students wouldn’t be paying anymore are clearly untrue and have been shown to be now. Its time all students united this autumn and got on the demonstrations planned by the NUS turn them into big militant demonstrations and force the government to retreat with its fees and cuts agenda. At the moment education is something which is out of many working class students hands I and many others want to change this for an all round fairer system a truly fair system which benefits everyone.

Youth fight for jobs national meeting 10th June: organising the lost generation

Yesterday Sunday 10th of June at University London youth fight for jobs held its annual national meeting. What was originally titled as a steering committee meeting turned into a national meeting due to the size and demand of the tasks ahead of us. Also the turnout was fantastic.

A good number of young people students, trade unionists, young activists and all those who are not able to find work or afford education were present.
The meeting was kicked off with an excellent outline of the last year by Sarah Wrack of youth fight for jobs and the socialist party. Detailing the struggles young people face across the world not just in the UK with solidarity paid to those students battling bravely against fees and cuts in Quebec in Canada.

The first speaker was an international speaker Brandon Madson from occupies Minneapolis in the US. Brandon is young students who is finding education in the states very expensive and has in the last year got involved in occupy Minneapolis and the movement there has developed to defending people from being evicted from their homes. Brandon recounted some fantastic stories of protests to ensure the poor were not forced out of their homes. The potential for a mass campaign there could be huge as the banks are looking to make ordinary people who did not cause this economic crisis pay for the mistakes of the greedy bankers. How familiar does this sound ?

The occupy movement in the US has perhaps been a little different to others in other countries linking up a bit more with the labour movement and the local communities a bit better than perhaps other occupy’s around the world managed to do.

A really inspirational speech from Brandon was followed up by Ian Paterson a young youth fight for jobs organiser recently getting involved in the organisation side gave a brilliant outline of the current political situation facing us and how austerity is being rejected across the world wherever you look now from France to Greece and more recently in Britain. Although this has not manifested itself in to mass movements of workers and students just yet days like the 30th of November and the fantastic student demonstrations of 2010 cannot be forgotten.

Following Ian’s brilliant speech the floor was opened up for young people to come in and discuss whatever they had to say on big issues like workfare and their horrid experiences of this rotten scheme, students struggling to get by with rental accommodation going through the roof, with graduates struggling to even find voluntary work let alone paid work.

Time after time the meeting highlighted the real victims of this crisis young people who did not cause austerity and pain is being made to pay still. It was very moving to hear such real stories up close and real. It is one thing reading about these things online but another to speak to people involved and going through things like workfare which is effectively slave wage labour where young people especially are forced into unpaid work for the collection of their benefits if they do not they may have their benefits stopped.

The success of Youth fight for jobs was also highlighted with the fantastic Jarrow march in late 2011 talked of and how it opened up a new phase in YFFJ’s progression as the only young people’s organisation dedicated to working and building links with the labour movement and linking with workers in struggle. The brilliant backing the march got opened up new avenues for our organisation and can pave the way for bigger mass movements which are sure to follow.

Youth fight for jobs also played a leading role in the anti workfare protests while victories and u-turns have been forced out of this con-dem government we are keen to stress the schemes still exist and we have not won all out yet. The fight against workfare must continue and be stepped up with national days of action planned very soon.

One of the key announcements of the day and certainly the afternoon session on organisation and where we go from here introduced what we’re dubbing the “manifesto for the 99% an 18 page document detailing Youth fight for jobs’ demands and lists of examples how we can win. Things like an immediate reinstatement of EMA pointing to the two councils in the c country still paying young people EMA to encourage young people to stay in further education with a demand for decent public works with a living wage keeping in line with inflation and for an end to fees and all cuts. The document is far bigger and more detailed but is only in draft form at the moment. We will be launching the manifesto on the 28th of July with a proposed “austerity games” being organised for the day where the media will be about at the Olympic park in London. The austerity games will look to create a public stunt so the media can see that the Olympics is not for all of us and austerity is still here while the rich enjoy their games. More announcements on this too and how you can get involved will be announced shortly no doubt.

All in all today is not a good time to be a young person with little to no opportunities out there for us but with organisations like Youth fight for jobs going from strength to strength growing in numbers and influence all the time the future can be brighter for young people if we get organised and fight back with a desire to eventually change society to benefit the 99% with a socialist planned economy meeting the needs of the many.

If you enjoyed this blog and wish to find out more about Youth fight for jobs and the campaigns we’re involved in and have been involved in do please check out
www.youthfightforjobs.com

Unite the union opens up to the unemployed and marginalised

Less than one week after the biggest strike in generations, the country’s biggest union is launching a new membership scheme to ensure those pushed to the margins of society can benefit from collective power.

Unite’s new community membership will offer the unemployed, students and all those not in employment the opportunity to become part of one of the most powerful forces for equality in the country. For just 50p per week, community members will have access to financial and legal expertise, as well as the support of up to one and a half million fellow members when standing up for their local services.

Community members will be developed as community activists, bringing together people across their locality who have felt left down or excluded by politics to ensure that they too have a voice at a time of economic turmoil and social change for the nation.

Launching the scheme, Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey said:

“This scheme could transform trade unionism in the UK. It comes at a time when horrific cuts and ideological social changes are pushing more and more people to the margins.

“Last week we had the mass action by public servants fighting for pensions justice. Only 24 hours before that, the Chancellor told the country that under his government the attacks on the incomes and services of the ordinary people of this country will continue until 2017. This is a government of the few.

“These are terrible times for ordinary people, but we want to send them a message of hope. So we say now to the millions unemployed, including the young people wasted on the dole and worried for their future, in Unite you have a home. Our mission is your mission – fairness, dignity, respect and strong communities.

“It is time now for those on the margins to organise, to come together to challenge the decisions made by the elite in the interests of the few. This is the real Big Society - ordinary people organising for themselves - in action.”

The Unite community membership is available to students, the unemployed and all others not in work for whatever reason costing just 50p a week. The scheme offers members a range of financial benefits and services, including a legal advice helpline, a welfare benefits check-up, debt counselling, assistance with CVs, application forms, and interviews and hardship grants.

For information on the scheme email: community@unitetheunion.org or call the Community Membership information line 0333 240 9798 (calls chargeable at normal landline rates) or visit http://www.unitetheunion.org/community



I think this is excellent newsws and opens the way for students, unemployed and those on low incomes to join a union and get involved in trade unions and the labour movement.

Its about time this kind of scheme is rolled out. In the 80's i understand there were similar ideas during the struggles over the poll tax for people to organise in anti poll tax unions. This is a similar idea but gives ordinary working class people a voice if not in work.

I have heard many critisisms of trade unions from people being hurt by the cuts saying the unions will only defend those in work and dont care about the disabled, students or any of us who dont work. This move by Unite is a step forward and aims to reach those people who claim trade unions are not for everyone.

Trade unions can be for all and united and organised we can win. As N30 showed the collective power of the organised working class can win and together we are stronger for it.

As a comrade informed me at a recent jarrow march meeting if this does take off it would only require trade unionists standing for elections and we have a new workers party by default. This idea is one step from forming that new workers party.

This is why i'm really encouraged by this move by unite gets ordinary peoples voices heard and hopefully can shift this union into action in opposing all cuts not just some cuts which is the current labour line.

The mass of people joining i would also hope in dragging Unite away from labour and their "too far too fast" line on cuts. The more we organise and get involved the greater our voice.

Telling others that we must oppose all cuts and not a single cut is needed and popularising that idea will be a great step forward.

So i welcoem this idea and hope many people take up unites very reasonable offer.

Britain slowly slipping back towards recession

So as we hear today inflation rose from December, Retail Price Index which shows most accurately reflects cost of living, up 4.8% with public sector pay freeze and low private sector pay rises is resulting in a negative growth for the first quarter of 2011 for sure.

With the rise of VAT not being taken into account yet having only just been introduced in early January and with most of the big cuts to hit in the next few months. Things really do look bleak now. The picture is slowly starting to unflod of what a mess we are going to be left with. With hundreds of thousands of jobs set to go in the public sector which will consequently have a knock on in the private sector i can only see us heading back into recession crippling the poor even further as the government will set a bout more harsher cuts to try and pull the ship around.
But the damage is already set in i feel the ship is sinking and teh attemptst o keep it afloat are failing badly. With the tories at the helm what else should we expect really. This is worrying times indeed for the country and i cant see this working all these cuts.

With interest rates still being forced down at 0.5% to help government borrowing figures this wont change i doubt and with food and fuel prices rocketing as i have posted in previous blog posts things are looking grim.

When will the terms recession and double drip recession be rolled out as we are slowly slipping backwards i think. It is inevitable that this will happen now with all these cuts hacking apart all what is good about our welfare state. I also think the abolishment of the EMA grant to students to stay on in further education will have a bigger effect than many think. It is estimated that as much as 7 out of 10 students will be forced to leave school as they wont be able to afford to carry on. With a whole generation out of education what will they turn to ? there are very few job opputunities out there for the youth of today so that will have a big impact. Alot of kids will grow up again just like under Margret Tatcher not having any job prospects and waht affect that will have on the country will be devastating.

Stevenage against the cuts

So tonight i attended a stevenage meeting held by the trades union council and the local branch in conjunction with teh socialist party. With me being a labour party member i was fully expecting labour bashing and it didnt disapoint. There were great speechs tonight from Martin- Powell Davies from the NUT and Billy hayes from the CWu and a guy who stepped in for the guy who could not get here from teh PCSU who are the public sector union.

Now as many of you may or may not know i'm hugely in favour of the union movement so tonight encouraged me greatly that the unions are starting to move once again. The government consisting of the tories and the lib dems keep on poking the sleeping giant taht is the trade union movement putting out policy after policy against the working class's and the middle class's i might add as i dont think this is purely a attack on the working class anymore its escalated.

But waht the tory lead coalition as that is what i firmly believe it is, the role of the lib dems is to just take the flack of the tory policies almost like a human shield for the tories. A very clever tactic i must admit. But tonight i felt a start of something new. From small acons grow big trees was the line that struck me as meaning the most. A movement from the left organised and strong can take down this government of ours. They are weak, weak i tell you many many cracks are appearing in this tory lead coalition. We must aim to exploit their lies and their broken promises. Boy the lib dems could fill a whole parliament with broken promises already and we are not even a year into this sham.

There was call for a day of general strike which was debated like a hot potato, some for it heavily some not so sure. Me myself are for it and think that a day of co-ordinated strike action in the public sector hopefully followed up in the private sector too is what we are heading towards. I think labour will have nothing to do with this. Just as Ed miliband has kept out of all demo's and student protests so far i can only see that continueing.

People like John Mcdonald in the labour party have the right idea but get hammered any time they talk up a mass movement against the cuts which is unfair as he is entitled to his opinion. Even if it doesnt follow labours plan of a 4 year deficit reduction. John recognises that cuts are not nessesary and there is another way.

Ed balls also recognised this but was shouted down by other labour members and MP's sadly.
The meeting tonight was very inspirational with many gettting up and talking passionatly about their situations.
A post office worker spoke passionatly of his struggle to keep his job and the proposed threat to stevenage post office and how it is set to close. There was anger directed to the union rep of the CWu present Billy hayes. But it is difficult when your facing a situation of 69 post office sorting centres across the country and a lot needing to go. That is the situation facing the post office and its workers across teh united Kingdom right now. Billy Hayes- a labour party member and having his union still affiliated to the labour party is in a difficult situation. He wants to keep his members on side but also protect his affiliation with the labour party.

There were calls for a break away from the labour party by the unions who recognise that labour no longer represent the mass workers party it once was and going back to a post i made earlier in the week that some labour MP's have become career polititians and no longer represent the working class.

I myself am a labour party member for the time being so have to be careful what i say but i myself am becoming increasingly frustrated by labour lack of a alternative plan. Their plan still seems to be the old Alastair Darling 4 year half the deficit plan. This for me stil goes too far with cuts, even if cuts are not carried out as quickly or as deep i still am not sure the cuts are nessesary. It woudl appear labour has swalloed the idea that cuts are nessesary from George Osbourne and wont shift from that idea.

Well hwo about more growth for a start, investing in our future, investing in students and their education ? Wales has shown the way from a labour perspective and Ed miliband should be championing the idea of wales to not put up its tuitian fees.

It can be done. The capitalist system all over the world has failed and to use the anology of someone who spoke from teh audience tonight you cant carry on pouring water down the drain eventually you will run out. I really feel it is time to stop throwing our money away to these rich bankers in the elite class who seem to thinkw e have a unlimited amount of money and more money is the only answer.

One of the over riding messages to come out of tonights meeting is that we must start to ramp up the pressure on our local councillors to not impliment cuts even if they are a labour councillor. We must create a movement similar to the anti poll tax movement back in the 80's. It can be done and this government we have now is weak in so many ways. The tories wont know what has hit them once they start stirring the union movement.

Already the students have shown from their brave occupations and mass protests that the government wont get everything its own way and we must stand shoulder to shoulder with the student movement who some are so young we must protect them too.

After all it is their and our future we are fighting for we must stand up and be counted or we never will see the country the same way ever again.

my take on the students protests in london today

As we all have been watching and hearing on our tv's and radio's there have been big protests today organised by national union of students. Police estimate there was 50,000 people out on the streets today.

The protest which was there to campaign against the unfair trebling of tuitian fees to as much as 9 thousand pounds.

the protest turned ugly later in the day with several hundred storming tory party HQ on Millbank. As you all may gatehr i'm far from a fan of the conservative party and really dont like what they stand for. But on this ocasion i cannot condone violence. By all means protest and make your point heard but i think this will have marred the true reason as to why the students were protesting today. People have said there were socialists out there causing trouble. I dont believe there were i heard no rallying call for people to go up there and join teh protest. I can only assume these people who got into the tory hq and on to the roof were students with a radical agenda. Not that i condone violence but i really can understand their frustration and someway anger at these rises in fees.

I'm left leaning myself, a little bit more than some in the labour party maybe but i dont believe socailists to be aggresive or violent. This lot of people today were there to cause trouble and i dont think it was right. Reports of a few injuries today during the protests but i do hope the media focus's on the positive message being sent out today that students will not just lay down for these rise's and that the working and lower class will fight back if it needs to.

This was as much a message to the lib dems who broke their promises from before the general election of voting against tuitian fee rises. That is where the anger stems from. Nick Clegg and his awful party of liars who have joined the conservatives to give them the chance to put through these awful cuts which i still dont feel are entirely nessesary.

So to sum up i dont agree violence is always the answer but as someone pointed out on twitter peaceful protests never make teh news while these sorts of ones do, maybe not for the right reasons but it does send a message to this government that we will fight back if need be.

Which way will the lib dems go ?

After reading the labour lists article on the lib dems and the rise in tuitian fees which can be read here
http://www.labourlist.org/a-final-warning-to-the-liberal-democrats

i thought i should blog my feelings. As the article sets out this could be a turning point for the lib dems and their legacey really. Alot of their seats they hold are in key university city's including Sheffield where Nick clegg sits. Cambridge, bath and Norwich if only by a slim majority of 300 votes.

I think the lib dems should personally stand with labour on this issue and stand against the rise in tuitian fees to as much as 9,000 pounds. The lib dems have always done well out of the student vote but as they look to turn their backs on these pledges they made to campaign agaisnt a rise in fees they will be duely punished i hope.

The only option they have is to obstain from the vote, how many will or how many will cave in and sell out once again.

No wonder the youngest parliamentary candidate in the last election who came second to my own Mp Mark prisk has joined labour this week from the lib dems. Andrew Lewin wil be made very welcome indeed.

I would also just like to mention the big demo 2010
which yuo can read more about here
http://www.demo2010.org/


is a huge student rally in london tommorrow campainging about these cuts to higher education and rises in tuitain fees. I urge any young students or political activists to get up there if yuo can i believe it starts at half past 10 on horse guards parade.

best of luck comrades