Today, at Guildford farmers market, nestling between stalls selling tomatoes, wine, beer, bread, honey, strawberries, carrots, a stall for Surrey University.
Once upon a time, one would receive from a university academic information, now it is a marketing exercise.
Thanks to the unprincipled party LibDems tripling student fees to £9,000 per annum, students are no longer prepared to tolerate bad teaching, complaints are sharply rising. Students, as a last resort, are calling in their lawyers.
Surrey is one of those universities that has been forced to pay compensation. Why have they gagged the students they have compensated?
What has happened to universities as centres of free speech?
Why is the University Ombudsman refusing to name and shame?
An education, is not a commodity to be sold on a market stall, nor is it to earn more money, it is to improve the quality of life.
Universities are public funded institutions. If things are going wrong, we all have the right to know.
We need to return to the medieval model, or even Ancient Greece, the student as the junior partner, not someone to peddle goods and services to
On Thursday the 9th of December I made the journey from my sleepy Oxfordshire village to ULU, London, to join the Day X protest. What woke me, a studious even ‘nerdy’ sixth former, from the slumber of my comfortable middle class existence? Why, when I will not directly be effected by the £9,000 a year tuition fees, did I care enough to take to the streets of London? Because I felt cheated, betrayed even, by the political system our country calls a democracy. I, like the rest of my generation, or even the entire country, has been let down by a system supposed to act in our best interests.
I was too young to vote in the elections so I decided to try and have some small influence on the course of our country’s future. In my overwhelmingly Conservative constituency I had the youthful audacity to think that by campaigning—leafleting and posting posters—
I could influence the outcome of the election. I couldn’t as it turns out, however, it’s not my failure to influence the outcome that irks me—even given that I’m hopeful I brought at least a few people out to vote Liberal Democrat, whose votes in a proportionally representative system would have meant something. It’s the fact that I did it at all—in the pouring rain—that bothers me. I helped, and so did many others who believed in the liberal cause, with the grass roots political activities of a party that has subsequently abandoned my generation in the pursuit of personal power.
I was sold an ideology by the Liberal Democrats. Their principles of fairness, free education and nuclear reduction resonated with me. So much so that I was willing to get out of my metaphorical armchair and do something about it. However, I was lied to. I was led to act on false pretences; we all were. Normally misrepresentation of such a magnitude as that seen in the Liberal Democrats electoral campaign would lead to a trading standards investigation if it were a corporation concerned. Here, however, it leads to a political party entering into a government with no mandate and abandoning its principles.
Last Thursday was a watershed. Not because of what the protestors or even the police did but because of what the government did. They vandalised our education system in a far more costly manner than any army of protestors could hope to do to Parliament Square. They demonstrated that the government, the entire political ruling class, has lost touch with the reality of the lives of those they supposedly represent.
This is where UKUncut comes in. When the public become disenfranchised from the political system, when they feel that there is an injustice occurring, they grumble. However, this inactive response to injustice can be rectified, this maelstrom of disgruntled grumblers can be turned into an army for justice and equality. My generation are willing to fight for what they believe in, they’ve proved that in the last month of student protests, and they are ready to be mobilised. It’s now time to mobilise the rest of society because tax avoidance affects all of us.
The biggest factor that deters many 6th formers and collage students from attending these marches in my experience is the cost of travel to London. What better to combat this than by mobilising people in their own communities? What better that to annul their worries about large periods spent missing vital education than organising short targeted protests on weekends? We have a historic opportunity to make a change to the way power is structured in this country, the world even. The people for too long have been at the behest of a ruling political class who are out of touch with its people. How can 18 millionaire ministers understand what it is to be a working or middle class student, public servant or worker? By mobilising the people of this country, not just the students and sixth-formers, but everyone UKUncut has a chance to change the world for good.
Small leaderless highly targeted actions are the way forward. We still need vast numbers of people to come out on the streets of our capital, to strike and to take part in civil disobedience but this won’t be enough. We can see in the media portrayal and in public perceptions of Thursday’s protest that these protests can be marginalised and categorised as despicable violent and thuggish events. These perceptions are of course unfair and unfounded because these people were not there. They were not crushed bodily against walls by advancing lines of riot police who were indiscriminately striking out into a crowd of protesters whose hands were raised above their heads in surrender and who were shouting “peaceful protest” until their throats could no longer stand the strain. They didn’t feel the fear and anger as advancing lines of mounted police threatened to crush their friends. What the public and the media can identify with, however, is peaceful direct action on every high street in this country. They can immediately see the injustice of the super rich evading taxes that their grandparents pay on their pensions, that the lowest paid workers in our country pay without option. They can get behind our cause.
So here’s my rallying cry. Go home from the streets of London with hope in your hearts because you can change the future. Take the anger you feel at the injustices you’ve seen, the pain of the bruises you may have received at the hands of your own police force, and turn it into action in your community. It takes fewer than 10 people sat in front of a shop doorway with a placard and leaflets to get our message across. We may have lost the battle on Thursday but we are winning the war. A poet read one of his pieces before we set off from ULU on Thursday. He said: “for a long time now, over the skies of this silver land, the Gods of conscience have been sleeping”. It is our job now to wake this country, to turn the wrath of its people towards inequity and to stop the tax-dodging rich and their ideologue counterparts in government from bringing down our country.
A guest blog on UK Uncut by Andrew Pryde, a sixth form student from Oxfordshire.
Much has been made by the mainstream media of the police casualties but little if anything of the casualties sustained by the protesters.
Yes, there were casualties sustained by the police and these should not be downplayed, but these were not the only casualties reported that day.
Yes, the car in which Prince Charles was travelling was attacked, but that seems to be more a case of the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Sky News was showing live footage of large numbers of police vehicles and riot police assembling in Oxford Street. Tweets from those there showed Topshop was being trashed. Thus it begs the question: Why was the car sent through? Either the police did not know, in which case incompetence. Or if they did know, it was deliberate to provoke an already inflamed situation.
According to the ambulance service, there were 44 injured protesters, but that count is only of those who were taken to hospital, 58 were treated or reported their injuries.
Jody McIntyre was dragged out of his wheelchair and beaten.
@pennyred (New Statesman journalist Laurie Penny) was tweeting an eye witness account as it happened!
They’re beating up a guy they just dragged out of a wheelchair! [http://bit.ly/eBN4BQ]
Wheelchair user Jody Macintyre dragged behind police lines, his brother screaming [http://bit.ly/ikeZj5]
She also tweeted many other examples of police violence, kettling, being bruised and battered herself. She reported finding blood streaming down her face. Whose blood she does not know, only that it was not her blood. On arrival back at UCL she reported still being badly shaken up.
Speaking a week later on BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight news programme (13 December 2010) Jody McIntyre said that he was struck on his shoulder with a baton, then four police officers dragged him out of his wheelchair and dragged him a distance of about 100 metres. He said 45 minutes later, he spotted one of these four officers and was again dragged out of his wheelchair. He said that what happened to him was not an isolated case and referred to worse incidents for example Alfie Meadows. As Jody McIntyre pointed out, sitting in a wheelchair he could hardly be seen as a physical threat. Through his lawyer he will be filing a formal complaint.
The interview by Ben Brown on News Night of disabled protester Jody McIntyre plumbed new depths by the BBC. The whole tenor of the interview seemed to somehow suggest that the victim of the vicious assault by the police was in some way to blame for the assault. I have filed a complaint with the BBC and I would urge others to do the same.
A female had her collar bone broken when the police horse charged the crowd.
The worse case was that of Alfie Meadows. He was bashed on the head. His professor found him not long after wandering around dazed and confused. He negotiated his exit from the police kettle, but the police would not allow his professor to accompany him, even though he was seriously injured. The professor later regretted his decision not to have stood his ground. Fortunately Alfie was able to call his mother who found him on the street. They managed to get an ambulance, but when they got to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, they were refused admission, told only police casualties were being admitted. The ambulance man insisted that Alfie be admitted. Alfie was vomiting, an indication of how serious his condition was. He underwent a three hour operation on his brain. Were it not for the action of his mother and the persistence of the ambulance man, he probably would have died on the street or en route to hospital.
There are many many first-hand accounts of people being beaten by the police. Those who were not allowed to leave Parliament Square reported the police who would not let them out as at best abusive and unhelpful and at worst violent.
Sup Julia Pendry blatantly lied when she gave press conferences outside New Scotland Yard.
David Cameron has inflamed the situation by talking arrant nonsense.
We now have the Met trying to obtain two water cannon from Northern Ireland to use on future protests.
We need a Public Inquiry. Something clearly went wrong on the day. It started out as a peaceful day. People were partying on the street, it was a carnival atmosphere. Why then did a carnival and good spirits end in a riot? End with people being illegally detained in a kettle on Westminster Bridge?
We have to stop the lies being spread by mainstream media and our disgraceful political elite. The situation is being deliberately inflamed to justify an ever more draconian and violent clampdown.
We have the right to protest without fear of being attacked by the police.
When you hold a mirror up to Government, it lashes out. The truth hurts; government and corporations are parasites upon the beautiful and natural human spirit.
9th December 2010, London – Thousands of students send a message to the British establishment by occupying Parliament Square despite Police attempts to prevent this and also attacking the Royal Family by targetting Prince Charles and his wife.
Opening and closing track: La Roux ‘In For The Kill’ – Skrillex remix.
So we all have the right to be represented. In fact equal rights to representation is the ideology on which our society has (eventually) been built. My rights as a citizen in this country depend upon my recognition of your rights. If I have access to the vote then so should you. If I have access to education then so too you. Especially since we have a first class education system – accessible to all, excellence for all.
Or we did. Until Thursday 9th December at around 4.30pm when a slim majority of 21 MPs compromised their election promises and sided with the coalition government, rather than the students who voted them in. 21 MPs. 21 individuals have made a decision that will dismantle our national treasure – a world famous and public Higher Education. Along with the hike in tuition fees those 21 MPs have forced hundred of thousands of children, the poorest children in our society, to finish school at 16. The fates of 660,000 of our most vulnerable children have been decided by 21 people who promised to represent them.
This is the back-story to the youth protests that have shook our cities and dominated the nation’s press.
Kids have never had it so hard – their future mortgaged to shore up a deficit created by the banks; an ecological debt created because our leaders lack the will and imagination to invest in a sustainable future. For the first time in a long time young people with the smallest voice and the most to lose have got together and coordinated a response.
Cameron responded to their frustration and anger with appaled outrage. How dare these children use any means possible to achieve representation? How dare they smash national treasures he asks whilst he holds the axe to Higher Education, the Independent Living Fund, the nation’s forests, the NHS.
Quite right David Cameron. The violence we saw on the streets during the student fees protest last week was totally unacceptable. The violence by the police was not restricted to a tiny minority.
We saw police charge demonstrators with horses (leaving one girl with a broken collar bone). We saw police beat protesters with batons and riot shields (leaving one man with serious head injuries). We saw people held for many hours on the streets in freezing cold conditions without water or food or toilet facilities.
People have the right to demonstrate in front of Parliament not find their access blocked.
People have the right to expect the police to safeguard their democratic right to protest, not to herd and coral and beat around the head.
Will you be launching a full Public Inquiry into the appalling policing that took place last Thursday?
People expect the police to be there to protect them not live in fear of them.
We want policing by consent, not policing by baton wielding thugs in uniform and riot gear.
This is not a Third World State or a country in the old Soviet Bloc and yet I saw no difference in behaviour by the state security apparatus. What we are seeing is history repeating itself, our Prague Spring, our Orange Revolution, and the knee-jerk reaction of the state is the same.
Will you be launching a full Public Inquiry into the beating of student Alfie Meadows? Who would have died but for his mother finding him.
We demand, not politely request, all FIT film footage to be placed in the public domain and to be handed over to Alfie’s family.
We demand a prompt and speedy and competent investigation. We do not want to see the delays we saw into the death of Ian Tomlinson, that by the time the case reaches the Courts it is too late for a prosecution of those police officers involved.
Has nothing been learnt from the death of Ian Tomlinson? Has nothing been learnt from the illegal kettling?
Sup Julia Pendry blatantly lied when she gave her press conference from New Scotland Yard. As did the Met Commissioner.
Yes, there was violence committed that day, violence that will have long reaching impact, that will scar a generation for life. That was the violence committed on our education system and the youth of our country.
We are seeing the privatisation, marketisation of our education system. We are seeing people who live in slums denied a helping hand. We are seeing massive welfare cuts. We are seeing housing cuts. Next will come NHS, our libraries, our public transport, our museums, sell off of our woods and forests.
An alleged Budget Deficit is being used as the excuse for slash and burn of the public sector. There would not even be a budget deficit if tax dodgers were forced to pay their taxes.
No we are not in it all together. The rich retain their privileges whilst the poor, the disadvantaged, the environment, pay the price of greedy bankers and decades of economic mismanagement.
What you saw on Thursday was the Big Society in action. It may take a long time and a lot of provocation to awaken from its slumber, but provocation has finally roused its ire. Big Society is on the case and does not like what it finds. Big Society does not like the democratic deficit at the heart of the Gothic chamber of horrors.
The anger that erupted on the streets, was as a direct result of the vote in Parliament and the violence and intimidation by the police beforehand.
Had you been with the students and lecturers and school kids as they walked to Parliament, you would have been able to have joined in the party atmosphere, what many described as a carnival. But you would have also have seen the attempted kettles, the blocked roads, to try and stop people reaching Parliament.
You owe an apology for falsely claiming there were ‘scenes of police officers being dragged off police horses and beaten’.
Maybe you should spend some time talking to Caroline Lucas MP as she seems to have a better grasp of reality than either yourself or lying hypocrites Nick Clegg and Vince Cable.
A pity Bruce Kent took part in the Sky News discussion as he clearly did not have a clue what he was talking about. In contrast Tamsin Omond put the case across very eloquently. A pity about the appalling sound quality.
Note: There is a mistake in the Climate Rush report. The vote came through after 5-30pm, not 4-30pm.
One could not sum up better why people are fighting the public spending cuts.
Were the government to force the tax avoiders to pay their tax there would be no need for any public spending cuts as there would be no Budget Deficit.
There is a Big Society. It is those who are taking to the streets to defeat the reactionary polices emerging almost every day from this ConDem government. It is those who are taking to the streets to demand accountability and fairness and transparency.
I am pleased to say I have known Caroline for ten years or more and it is an honour to be able to count her as a good friend.
Alfie Meadows, a participant in the student fee protest on Thursday, was part of a large group that had been “kettled” — rounded up indiscriminately and confined by police. When he attempted to leave the kettle with a group of friends — including two sympathetic lecturers — he suffered a blow to the head from a police baton.
He fell unconscious on the way to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where he underwent a three-hour operation to save his life.
On arriving at he hospital he and his mother were told that he was not going to be admitted, they were only admitting injured police officers and they would have to go to another hospital. The ambulance driver kicked up a fuss, which resulted in Alfie Meadows being admitted.
A vigil for Alfie has been mounted outside Charing Cross Hospital.
Alfie Meadows was one of the 44 protestors who were taken to hospital by the ambulance service on Thursday.
A much larger number were injured during the day which saw mass kettling by the police and violent attacks early on by police trying to stop students and protestors assembling in Parliament Square, and then from leaving the Square. A student had her collar bone broken when mounted police charged.There were various reports of unconscious people and other hospitalisations due to head injuries. Press were also reportedly targeted by some police officers for beatings and some officers went after cameras trying to smash them.
‘Scenes of police officers being dragged off police horses and beaten’ — David Cameron
According to British Prime Minister David Cameron, during the student protests on Thursday, there were ‘Scenes of police officers being dragged off police horses and beaten’.
Now I do not know what is his source of information, he gives the impression this was something her personally saw, but it could be his source was the police themselves.
There were scenes of police horses charging demonstrators (sparks flying from their hooves) the charge resulting in one girl with a broken collar bone, of police beating demonstrators, one man so badly beaten on the head that it is touch and go whether or not he will die, one man dragged from a wheelchair, people kettled on the streets when all they wanted to do was go home.
There was one incident of a police officer falling from his horse, then being dragged along the ground by fellow police officers.
Dragging this injured officer along the ground was the worst thing that could have been done to him and could well have made his injuries worse. If you look in the middle background at the beginning you can see police beating two people huddled together trying to protect their heads.
The film footage is believed to have been taken by the police and then handed to the media.
In their press statements the police blatantly lied.
Sup Julia Pendry speaking outside Scotland Yard claimed kettling had not been used until the violence kicked off after the vote in the House of Commons. Not true. Kettling had been used or attempted earlier in the day.
She complained of protesters not following official routes. They had not done so because police kept blocking the route with protesters playing a cat and mouse game with the police down side streets to avoid the police barricades.
She said protesters were allowed to protest peacefully outside Parliament. There were barriers preventing protesters from approaching parliament. These were tore down and protesters occupied Parliament Square.
She complained of the violence by protesters. No mention of violence by her officers earlier in the day, including a charge by mounted police.
She said her officers were tired and wanted to go home, that they had been on duty for 12 hours. She urged the protesters to calm down and go home, if anyone was in contact with those who were on the streets, to contact them and urge them to go home. At least her officers had been fed and watered and probably had breaks. Those held in Parliament Square were cold and tired and hungry and wanted to go home. They were not able to. The police would not let them out. Those who approached police barricades reported being at best laughed at, at worse beaten. They were then herded onto Westminster Bridge and held there. Medical treatment was withheld from those who needed it.
Please David Cameron reflect on what happened that day and please check your facts. Had there not been a malfunction of democracy, had there been dialogue not confrontation, had common sense prevailed and the vote to raise student fees been lost, there would have been partying and jubilation on the streets, instead there was violence. Violence brought about by the tactics of the police during the day and anger and frustration at the lack of democratic accountability.
I am really pleased to see a new poll says the LibDms are unelectable.
Shameful massive vandalism in Westminster today: the Tories and Lib Dems voted to smash up our universities and chance of poor kids getting on. – Johann Hari
When Parliament is surrounded by barricades to keep the people out. When Parliament is guarded by riot police to keep the people out. When this happens we know that those inside no longer represent the people.
And so it proved to be on Wednesday 9 December 2010 when Parliament voted to triple student fees.
We knew there was going to be trouble when the police tried to stop people reaching Parliament, when they tried to kettle people.
But people were posting locations of police on twitter and google, the protesters slipped around the police blockades by slipping down side streets and playing cat and mouse with the police.
Parliament Square was reached, but not before police had charged protesters with horses, beaten and attacked protesters. One report from @pennyred had a man in a wheelchair attacked by the police
Early afternoon Mark Thomas commented on twitter:
There are a small minority causing trouble in Parliament Square but they are dressed with blue helmets and visors so easy to spot.
What was it all about?
There was a vote to triple students fees. The Universities were not gaining anything from this as their teaching grants were to be slashed by a massive 80%. The hike in student fees was merely to make up the shortfall. Humanities, social sciences, the arts, were to receive no teaching grant at all. What we were seeing was the privatisation of the universities and students to be saddled with massive debts to pay for it.
At the moment, middle class students get through university because their obliging parents help them to pay their bills. Many for example get their accommodation paid for by parents. This is unlikely to happen for the next generation of student as their middle class parents will still be paying off their student debts.
The increase in student fees to £9,000 a year is neither fair nor affordable. It is not even likely the taxpayer will get their money back as the underlying assumption is that these future graduates will be earning in real terms the equivalent of £100,000 a year today.
The media and the political elite all went to the same universities. In England, the politicians all went to the same elite universities, all studied the same subjects – politics, philosophy and economics. Subjects which future students will have to be rich to study as there will be no teaching grants to the universities for these subjects and the politicians today voted to triple student fees.
When the final House of Commons vote was taken to hike student fees it was Yes 323, No 302, with a majority of 21.
Shame on those LibDem MPs who failed to vote against. For those LibDems in government it was all about clinging on to power.
Nick Clegg even called the students ‘dreamers’ Well if young people cannot have dreams, who can. Maybe he should read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
It was then that the trouble started. First the Treasury was attacked, and contrary to the false report by chief political reporter Nick Robinson (a Tory) protesters did not get into the Treasury. The Treasury was attacked to chants of ‘we want our money back’.
Next it was the turn of the Supreme Court.
A fringe broke away and trashed Topshop in Oxford Street. Why Topshop? Because billionaire owner of Topshop Sir Philip Green is a tax dodger. If the government forced all tax dodgers to pay their unpaid taxes, there would be no budget deficit. Tweets from the streets said shoppers and public joining in. All pushing forward to take pictures.
£7 billion was cut from welfare. Vodafone owe £6 billion in tax. And yet, we can find £7 billion to bail out Ireland. Why because Ireland owes money to our banks. Were the British people asked? No! Why are we bailing out ailing economies?
The money is there for these bailouts. It is held by the rich. The same people who avoid their taxes.
Sup Julia Pendry speaking outside Scotland Yard in the evening criticised violence, but only violence against police officers. No mention of police violence. No mention of police charge with horses.
Sup Julia Pendry speaking outside Scotland Yard said police expected peaceful protest outside Parliament. Police blocked from getting near Parliament.
Sup Julia Pendry speaking outside Scotland Yard said police are tired and want to go home, will protesters please calm down and go home. Protesters tried to go home home, the police would not let them.
Sup Julia Pendry speaking outside Scotland Yard said containment did not happen until violence broke out. And that was why they used containment. Kettling was taking place early afternoon to stop student approaching Parliament.
This was in the evening. Speaking earlier she complained protesters did not follow agreed route. Protesters went down side streets to avoid police blockades.
A former police public order intelligence officer speaking live on Sky News at 2020 GMT said he had never seen this level of violence
Students on Sky news did not say what was expected. This is what happens in Europe, it was bound to happen here. What did they expect, us to just lie down? What do you expect? The police are badly organised and do not know what is going on. If the students could have got into Parliament they would have as politicians not listening
A bit unfair to attack Prince Charles on his way to a Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium (that in itself punishment enough). After all he did not vote for student fees hikes.
In Oxford Street a member of the public talking on Sky News said people were joining in on their way home from work. It was all ages. People joined in to support the students.
Will Met Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson admit charge with horses? He did not at the last protest.
Paul Stephenson said he wanted peaceful demo not violence. Why then the police tactics at the beginning of the day? Police tactics that served to raise tension.
Strong basis for university funding – Vince Cable Nick Clegg and David Cameron then walked out. They may have won the vote, they did not win the debate
By late night, been very cold since sun went down, people without food or water, still being held in Westminster Bridge kettle, people collapsing and falling ill. Police refusing to send in medics.
Winston Churchill tonight overlooked a scene of desolation. It was a very sad day for democracy.
Michael Portillo on BBC One This Week said for the Coalition what happened on the streets was a bad day. He knows from when he was in government in the 1980s and the Poll Tax.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 News The World Tonight the LibDem chief whip showed the utter contempt the LibDems have for the electoral when he said by the next election all will be forgotten. The discussion that followed also showed the same contempt, the focus being on were the LibDems in disarray, had they been harmed? Not a word on the harm to students who will be forced to pay the higher fees.
A college lecturer speaking on BBC One Question Time said students were returning speaking of being roughed up by the police. And whilst the focus has been on student fees, we should not forget college students from poorer backgrounds who get an Education Maintenance Grant to encourage them to stay on is education. This will be scrapped.
I do not blame the police or the protesters for the violence. I blame Nick Clegg and Vince Cable, they have blood on their hands. They may have won the vote but they have totally lost public support. The LibDems are finished. The last Tory government won the Poll Tax vote. Look what then happened.
Think if the vote went the other way. Instead of anger and violence on the streets there would have been partying and rejoicing.
Best student banner on the day: Why did Nick Clegg cross the road? Because he promised not to.
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