North East Uni Alliance Meeting

Tomorrow will see the meeting of representatives from anti-cuts groups across the North East in Middlesbrough, in an attempt to better co-ordinate our campaign and to build a stronger relationship between our North Eastern Institutions. Ideally we want reps from as many groups as possible to attend, this includes schools and colleges.

At the meeting we will be discussing the different plans of action we may have and working out how best to support each other and make maximum impact (preferably non-violent!) Several people have also mentioned that we will be discussing the creation of a Union of North East Institutions of which reps of each group will be members. This would be especially useful as our true Union the NUS seems fairly unsupportive and our SU's have so far not shown any signs of taking the lead.

This is truly a historic movement we are living through: students are taking action to save their education, and taking action independantly of their SUs. School and College students have joined us in a fight which is rightfully theirs and never (in my lifetime at least) have I know my generation so united.

We have high hopes for the future of this campaign and we hope the meeting tomorrow will be the sucessful first of many!

December 9th - Ben Scicluna

Shocking scenes of student violence outside Parliament yesterday. Filmed by our London correspondant.


Our London Correspondent, Ben Scicluna, speaks out about yesterday's protests in London, at which he was present and suffered injury and concussion at the hands of the riot police...

9^th December 2010.

'Man is born free – and he is everywhere in chains.' The words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau still resonate. Government exists solely for the protection of the people yet this has rarely been the case. The political elite is self-serving, self-preservering and the insatiable thirst for power is their only concern.

Salus populi est suprema lex? Think again.

With an electoral system rendering the average voter without any influence over the political system, direct action becomes the only way to ensure your voice is heard. Society is unlikely to change. Those with power and wealth shall keep it, those down-trodden shall remain so, the status quo shall remain.

However, it is right that you are counted. Complacency is guilt by association. Edmund Burke's comment on the flourishing of evil is ever true. If you do not take action over the issues you believe in you are giving a carte-blanche to those who would oppress you, you give them the right to do, with little consequence, that which satisfies them. Politicians will protect their interests, political parties will loyally serve their donors, they shall cling to power.

Stand up and be counted.

Stability is what those in power require. A population unwilling to act is a population willing to accept diktats from above. A population showing its anger through political action, peaceful or violent, shows that there will always be good people willing to defend their beliefs, and such a philosophy is venerable.

Yesterday thousands of people, not only students, took to the streets of London to show that they will not lay down and accept that which is reprehensible to them. This government is making the poorest of society pay for the mistakes of the very richest. Students and future-students ARE the future yet they are burdened with the past like never before.

The actions of protesters were valid. A political system which ignores the voice of the people justifies actions against it. The state and servants of the state become valid targets.

Yesterday I witnessed scenes unimaginable in a so-called 'free nation' so willing to preach the ideas of demos kratos around the world. The right of peaceful protest and lobby enshrined in law was denied, illegal containment implemented and protesters rightly vented their frustrations. A person trapped in a cage becomes violent. Unable to leave, attacked and oppressed by a police force unwilling to serve the people, otherwise peaceful people became desperate.

I witnessed children, on the verge of tears, begging to leave. The response? A man twice their size in armour, raising a baton and screaming at them to fuck off. I witnessed rational people attempting to reason with unreasonable people, hell-bent on exercising their authority. I witnessed men laughing at the discomfort of the youth, and happily attacking any who challenged them. I saw a girl falling to the ground attacked with a heavy downward blow from a full body shield, her only crime being losing her balance in front of a police line. People attacking with nothing but words were in turn attacked with truncheons. I witnessed a police column rampaging through a crowd, running at full speed, smashing or trampling any in their way. Were these the 'trouble makers'? No, they were the peaceful protesters of the centre. The violent protesters were primarily concerned with the damage of government property, the police response was the damage of the people. Surely this more than anything shows the true nature of our government and political system.

I praise those who defended themselves against police brutality. Self-Defence is not a crime. A blow to the face of a person beating you to the ground is justified. I am glad police were injured yesterday, for many certainly deserved it. Yet I also praise those police officers who were concerned, who were unhappy at the general strategy, or merely those who were willing to be polite and treat their fellow citizens like human beings. I am glad the vehicle carrying the Prince of Wales was attacked, the people's anger shown, just as I am glad no harm came to them for they themselves were innocent. I am glad the Treasury was attacked. Property is never paramount to human life.

This is the beginning. A generation is showing its anger, flexing its muscles and standing up for what they believe in. Yesterday I was happy to face lines of riot police. I shall do so again, and again, and again. When the people no longer stand up for their rights, what is left is nothing but a nation of sheep led to the slaughterhouse.

Ben Scicluna.

Review of December 9th 2010- DEMO DAY

So we marched, and in london we screamed, and in york we shouted, and we occupied and we marched again, with our placards and slogans, with our drums and our mates. And in some towns we got violent, and the police gave us a kicking, in london we were charged at by men on horse-back and beaten with batons (which are designed to break bone).  And still they voted for cuts.

But guess what.

We forced 3/4 of the Lib dems to vote against their own party.
They say this is the end? That's the biggest lib dem rebellion in years! This is not the end by far!
We can force this coalition to its knees and it is already crumbling.
The fact that they reacted so extremely to the protestors outside parliament yesterday proves just how scared they are of us. The fact that they deployed mount police to CHARGE the protestors, shows how terrified they are. 'the jackal is most ferocious when cornered' because it knows its in its death throes. The coalition is up against the wall, and they will try to hit us and beat us back with their riot police and their policies, but we are not going to give into that, OH NO. We will keep on at them, we will get organised and we will fight this battle on the internet, in the council chamber, on the streets AND IN PARLIAMENT. We do have people speaking for us, we do have people who support us, the fact that the york march once again got cheered on by passers by, is proof of that, the fact that the policeman in charge came up and shook our hands, is proof of that. We have never been alone in this, and we will keep organising ourselves. Our generation has finally woken up, we finally have something to bring us together, and by hell the coalition have no idea what they've done.
We will make sure they know soon enough.