 |
 |
Under capitalism, starvation, war, poverty and environmental destruction blight the lives of millions the world over. At the same time the enormous wealth, resources and human talent that exists in the world is squandered.
|
Campaign for a fighting NUS |
||
Stop Fees Now!Despite mass opposition, New Labour are trying to introduce top-up fees. Blair’s own pre-1997 election campaign words of ‘Education, Education, Education!’ have turned into ‘Tuition fees, No grant, Top-up Fees and Privatisation!’ This has meant the creation of a two-tier higher education system. Already the "elite" universities are lining up to charge the full £3,000 fees. This will mean the rich can pay for a well-funded education system at an elite institution while the rest will have to attend the remaining under-funded universities . When tuition fees we re introduced, seeing tens of thousands of students threatened with expulsion because they could not afford to p ay, Socialist Students organised a campaign to defend non-payers of fees and to unite those who can’t pay with those who won’t pay on principle - so that non-payers will not be isolated and victimised, but also a step towards making the anti-fees campaign stronger and to force the government to scrap these now uncollectable and unworkable fees. As a result of this, other campaigns, and the fact that the figure of unpaid fees by unorganised students reach millions of pounds each year, the government is now proposing to scrap upfront fees and introduce ones through the back door - a graduation tax - from 2006 on. Although this in itself is a victory to the student movement, it however means that most students will be graduating to pay an extra 9% in tax, on top of the standard taxation all workers have to pay, and on top of the student loans debts of up to £20,000. The grant of maximum £1,000 given to students whose parents earn annually less than £10,000 is a joke considering that most students have to pay for rising privatised accommodation rents, expensive books and a high living cost in general. Free quality higher education is a right for all. The student movement needs to step up action against all attacks on education. One demonstration a year is not enough. Socialist Students encourages all students to be on the national demonstration against fees, called by NUS, to show to the whole of Britain that students are not apathetic, not spending all their time in bars but are fighting back against attacks on their rights. At the same time, this event will be the first step to building the movement and to putting pressure on the NUS to build a mass movement to scrap all fees, for a restoration of a living grant and for decent public spending in to our institutions. Oppose New LabourNew Labour is responsible for the effective exclusion of thousands of working class people from university education due to their introduction of fees and the abolition of the grant. Under New Labour we are moving further towards a higher and further education system in which all but the rich will be relegated to a second-rate under-funded tier of colleges and universities. leadershipYet the leadership of the National union of Students (NUS) remain wedded to support for the New Labour government. With a General Election approaching they are set to put their support behind a party that has pushed thousands of students into poverty and denied many more their right to a free education. NUS should support candidates that will represent students’ interests if elected. There will be over 100 socialist candidates standing in the general election plus many other community organisations. These are the candidates that NUS should put its weight behind. NUS ExecThe political allegiance of the majority of the NUS Exec including the ‘independent’ Labour Party member Owain James, has had dire consequences for the student movement. Many opportunities have been squandered for building the movement against tuition fees and adopting a strategy capable of defeating them and winning back the grant. New LabourOver recent years the New Labour leadership of the National Union of Students (NUS) has played a scandalous role in failing to lead a struggle against tuition fees and the abolition of the grant. What initiatives the NUS has taken have usually been minimal and under pressure from below. The NUS demonstration through central London last November was a huge success, with over 20,000 students marching on it. 20,000 studentsOne of the main reasons for its success was the upturn in the movement against fees and for a grant. However, the demonstration would have been far smaller had the NUS not called it. The demonstration gave an indication of the potential NUS has to mobilise hundreds of thousands of students behind a campaign against fees and for a grant. This is due to the authority NUS has amongst students. It is a tragedy that this authority and the massive resources of NUS have not been put to effective use in the battle for free education. free educationThe NUS will continue to fail to defend the students it is supposed to represent as long as New Labour and their stooges remain in control of the NUS nationally. We need representatives who are not bound by their political allegiance to the Labour party, but instead believe in free education and are prepared to fight for it. Only then will the resources of the NUS be utilised in defence of free education and in defence of students.
|
||
