Photo taken by David Morris (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)
Yesterday, Hull University Union organised an event outside it’s building on the Hull campus of the University of Hull. This was one of many similar events happening at other universities nationwide. The NUS and it’s member unions felt these needed to happen as it’s close to the vote about HE funding (that’s happening today) and people needed to carry on campaigning to get the message to the MPs. There were also copies of the student newspaper (Hullfire) being handed out and it contained several articles about recent action and the upcoming vote.
Will any of this be effective though?
The demo
Photo taken by David Morris (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)
It was cold – very cold. You could see people in warm coats and several layers, all standing nearby each other outside the revolving doors to the student union building. I would say that there were less than 50 (compared to the several hundred that were invited on Facebook) people there, which might be something to do with the weather. The event wasn’t scheduled to last long (less than an hour), but some people do not want to stand outside for that long.
There were signs, such as those in image above and banners such as this, which got straight to the point. Left-wing political groups also capitalised on this opportunity – Education Not For Sale held up their banner, which simply advertised themselves and didn’t show a specific message about the issue (however, it’s worth noting that their name still has some relevance).
The general message from those holding up the signs and banners was that the rich should be taxed to fund education. This could be confusing, as the NUS favour a graduate tax, but the protesters seem to want education to be free. ‘Total Free Education’ isn’t necessarily what the NUS want, but it’s a message which often seems to appear in events related to them. Certain factions prefer to get their own agenda across instead.
This video is of Thomas Peel, who is this year’s Vice-President Community at HUU. He was very vocal about MPs who signed a pledge to vote against increasing tuition fees, but are considering breaking that promise. He used the metaphor of ‘a wall’ to describe the possible decision of those MPs as a block to a better life for many people. Similar speeches came from Matthew Barrow (VP Education) and Jon Chambers (Chair Campaigns & Democracy).
There was also speeches from the two trade unions represented on the campus – the UCU and Unison. Those reps sided with anyone opposed to funding cuts as they feel it will harm the jobs of their members. I’m not sure if this particular message got across though, as the fee increases are more relevant to students and the speakers weren’t well known as the exec members. It’s also worth noting that the Unison rep was last to speak and by that point people were more cold than before.
Hullfire coverage
As I mentioned earlier, there were several articles in Hullfire about recent student action relating to funding cuts and fee increases.
Josh Hollands wrote an article that appeared on Hullfire.com on November 15th, which later appeared in the December 1st edition of the newspaper. His basic point is that:
“Not only was the direct action at the Millbank Tower right, it was also an important and strong demonstration of anger amongst students.”
He wanted the student union to join other unions who didn’t condemn the violence at Millbank. He went on to say that Aaron Porter (NUS President) has alienated the thousands of student activists because of his condemnation. This view is shared by ex-HUU executive officer Chris Marks, who I will talk about later.
A very different perspective was offered by Simon Schofield (on page 9 of the newspaper) who openly admits to being a Conservative who is against fee increases (remember, he is a student). He pointed out that the violence was caused by a small minority (he quoted the figure 0.36%) and that even some leading figures in the more extremeists movements didn’t think it would make a difference. It would have been nice if he mentioned names, but multiple people (Chris Marks and Josh Hollands included) have said it was a spontaneous act (which means not all extremeist leaders felt it was worth organising something like that).
A more objective viewpoint was provided in an article done by Josh Atkins and Tori Bishop-Rowe (page 9). They criticized those who caused the violence, calling them “anarchists”. However, in general, they felt there was a “carnival atmosphere to the march”. They reported that Linda Holden (a member of Unison) commented that “the violence was justifiable providing that the protest achieved it’s aims and highlighted the plight of staff and students”. After doing a search, I found that Ms Holden is that trade union’s representative at Manchester Metropolitan University and not one of the National Executive. I have no evidence that the NEC of Unison share that opinion about the violence.
Chris’s Remarks
Chris Marks is a confirmed socialist who was Hull University Union’s Vice-President Education for 09/10. He is considered (by some) to have extremeist viewpoints about this situation. You can listen to an interview with him that I recorded by going here. He also did an article for Hullfire, which can be found on page 9 of the December 1st edition and is expected to appear on Hullfire.com soon.
In his newspaper article, he criticizes Aaron Porter for ‘alienating’ students and one of the more notable sections is the following:
“People’s right to education and a decent life is more important than than the property of corporations and their political wing, the Conservative Party (which exists to defend the interests of a tiny minority). Infinitely more important! So yes, we were right to do what we did!”
A number of things can be said about this. He associates himself with the violent minority. Earlier in the article, he claimed that the violence was “tame”, but it was still violence that could be classified as an arrestable offence. Criminal activity is not going to convince MPs to vote against fee increases and any potential cuts to funding.
He also classes the Conservative Party as a political wing of big business. Ok, so the party gets large donations from businesses and some of their wealthy owners, bt it’s worth noting the influence of trade unions in the Labour Party and that Unite give them a lot of money. All parties need donations to survive and to campaign.
Also, the Conservatives don’t defend a tiny minority. They are in government – a UK government, which covers the total population. They got more votes than Labour in the 2010 general election too – how is that a tiny minority?
Further action
Members of the student union executive and students are in London today as part of a final push to make sure that MPs vote against fee increases. Many student unions across the country are doing the same and there will also be an NUS presence.
Summary & Conclusion
Unfortunately, there haven’t been that many people at the on-campus events related to proposed fee increases. This is despite the advertising on social networking sites and within the student union. Although apathy is typically a problem within the student movement, there must be more people who have more than a passing interest. Perhaps they disagree with the stance that HUU and the NUS are taking. Maybe the weather was a factor.
It’s good that some people are being vocal though. It’s also pleasing that people are willing to disagree. However, the approval of violence by some is worrying. We need to make sure that students know that violence will not solve anything in this political situation.
I don’t think these last-minute protests and marches will change the mind of MPs, it’s good that some voices are being heard.
So, what do you think?