Proposals to Reclaim the Campus conference
Posted on May 12, 2008
Filed Under News
The deadline for proposals has now passed.
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Defend Sheffield University democracy activists!
Posted on May 9, 2008
Filed Under News
Five members of Sheffield University SU’s delegation to the 2008 NUS conference face disciplinary action following their refusal to vote in line with a “mandate” imposed on them by their Union’s Council in favour of the NUS Governance Review.
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New venue and updated agenda for Reclaim the Campus conference
Posted on May 7, 2008
Filed Under News
Reclaim the Campus will now be held 11am-7pm, Saturday 17 May, at Birkbeck College (on Malet Street, London WC1, near Goodge Street, Russell Square and Euston tubes) rather than LSE. For a map see here.
See below for the updated agenda, plus the conference statement and list of supporters.
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Draft for a new “where we stand” statement for ENS
Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under News
Proposed by Daniel Randall, Sheffield University. To submit alternative statements or amendments to this one, or comments, email reclaimthecampus@gmail.com and we will put them up. Please try to limit statements to 500 words.
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St Helens school students walk out over academy plans
Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed Under News
On 17 April, hundreds of students at St Aelreds Catholic Technology College walked out in protest over plans to merge their school with Newton High School and create a £33m Academy.
See here for a local press report.
Draft agenda for Reclaim the Campus conference - please circulate and comment!
Posted on April 26, 2008
Filed Under News
For the RTC statement and a list of supporters, see here.
Draft agenda for Reclaim the Campus conference, Birkbeck College (London), Saturday 17 May 2008
This comes out of a planning meeting held at Sussex University on Saturday 25 April. Please circulate and encourage activists who plan to attend to comment. At a time when the NUS leadership are advocating a new emergency conference to destroy NUS democracy, this event could not be more important. Please come, bring a delegation, but also take an active parts in shaping its organisation!
1. Please email any suggestions or comments, including for speakers, to reclaimthecampus@gmail.com
2. We will be meeting again to discuss further at the “Students of the world, ignite” (about 1968) conference at LSE on Saturday 3 May, around lunchtime. For more information, email.
3. The conference will have a session to discuss ongoing organisation - whether that is a strengthened version of Education Not for Sale, or an organisation with a new name. Submissions for a statement of aims/programme and for structure should be submitted by email by 1pm on Friday 16 May. We urge comrades to keep each submission to 500 words. Small amendments will be allowed on the day. We propose electing a committee on the basis of the structure agreed.
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Calling for state bans on fascists: like turkeys voting for Christmas?
Posted on April 24, 2008
Filed Under News
At this year’s NUS conference, a delegate who supports the Workers Power-influenced youth group Revolution moved a motion from his university, UCL, calling for the government to ban far-right websites such as Redwatch. (We should make it clear that we do not know whether the comrade was acting on behalf of Revolution or not.) Here we print two pieces relevant to this debate. We encourage ENS supporters and others to make further contributions.
In the first article, Vicky Thompson, a libertarian communist and anti-fascist activist who was a Manchester University delegate at the conference, explains why she opposed the UCL motion. In the second, Sacha Ismail from SOAS responds to a letter in the 23 April Guardian from the three SWP/Respect councillors in Tower Hamlets which calls for a state ban on the fascistic Islamist group al-Muhajiroun.
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Occupation at Manchester: students confront uni bosses and police
Posted on April 23, 2008
Filed Under Actions, News
Students at Manchester University have occupied a key campus building following a demonstration organised by the left-led SU. See below for more information and updates.
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Victimised UCL Union general secretary reinstated
Posted on April 23, 2008
Filed Under News
Sam Godwin, General Secretary of UCL student union, was victimised by the union bureaucracy after a general meeting vote to campaign to kick military recruiters off campus. For ENS’s statement of support at the time, see here. She has now been reinstated. Below is a message from UCL antiwar society with the latest information and an appeal for solidarity.
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ENS bulletin for 24 April: “Support our teachers and lecturers!”
Posted on April 23, 2008
Filed Under News
On Thursday 24 April, many tens of thousands of teachers (organised in the NUT union) and college lecturers (UCU) will be on strike over pay. They will be joined by civil servants in the Department of Work and Pensions and the Department of Transport (PCS), and by workers in Birmingham City Council (Unison) and the homelessness charity Shelter (TGWU). In all, hundreds of thousands of workers will be on strike.
ENS supports these strikes - because, as anti-capitalists, we support all workers in struggle against bosses. And we think it is particularly important for students to link our struggles to those of our teachers and other education workers - including by supporting the NUT and UCU as much as we can. That’s why we’ve produced a special bulletin about why students should support the strikes, which we’d urge activists to download, copy and distribute around their colleges. Please also give copies to your lecturers etc, to stress that students around the country are organising to support them.
Download the strike bulletin as an two-sided A5 leaflet here.
Download as a one-sided A4 leaflet here.
For a list of strike rallies around the country, see here.
Where now for the student movement? Reclaim the Campus conference, LSE, 17 May
Posted on April 13, 2008
Filed Under News
After the defeat of the NUS Governance Review, how do we transform our national union?
How do we win the fight for free education?
A conference for student activists and student union officers
Saturday 17 May, London School of Economics
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NUS conference elects jailed Iranian student socialist as honorary vice-president
Posted on April 8, 2008
Filed Under Inside NUS, International struggles, News
This story is also reported on the blog run by Iran’s Freedom and Equality-Seeking Students: freeirstudent.blogspot.com
On 2 April, NUS national conference voted overwhelmingly to elect Iranian student activist Anoosheh Azaadbar as an Honorary Vice-President.
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Kick the military out of education!
Posted on April 6, 2008
Filed Under News
According to the Observer, the government is considering plans to militarise British schools by extending the system of “cadet forces”, which currently exists mainly in private schools, throughout the state system.
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NUS Governance Review defeated: now the real fight begins!
Posted on April 4, 2008
Filed Under Inside NUS, News
On 1 April, the National Union of Students conference in Blackpool narrowly voted to reject the NUS leadership’s “Governance Review”, which would have abolished what little democracy remains in our union and institutionalised its conversion into a pro-government lobbying organisation.
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Education Not for Sale NUS conference fringe meeting
Posted on March 30, 2008
Filed Under News, Uncategorized
NUS conference fringe meeting
Reclaim the campus! Fighting the rule of profit in education and society
6pm, Wednesday 2 April
From academies and business-dominated FE colleges to top-up fees and corporate-controlled research, the marketisation of Britain’s education system is in full swing. There is widespread opposition to this process, and many campuses have seen direct action against cuts and privatisation.
So far, however, we are yet to see the kind of explosive student struggles that have shaken countries including France and Greece, where radical students have linked up with the workers’ movement and taken mass action to win their demands. In part, this is because the NUS leadership has done everything it can to block and undermine such struggles. Their Governance Review is intended precisely to end the possibility of NUS becoming an effective weapon in this fight.
We believe that, to be truly effective, the fight against marketisation needs to be part of a fight against capitalism - for an education system and society that put human need before the demands of profit. Come and discuss how we can can make that happen, reclaiming our campuses and transforming our education system as part of the struggle to change the world.
Speakers: Aled Dilwyn Fisher (Young Greens and LSESU General Secretary-elect); Heather Shaw (Education Not for Sale); a representative of Sussex Not for Sale - mass campaign against the marketisation of Sussex University
Chair: Sofie Buckland (NUS NEC)
Debate on University of Manchester SU elections
Posted on March 26, 2008
Filed Under News
The recent elections at University of Manchester Students’ Union saw a major shift, with the Respect/SWP-led coalition losing most of its positions. Some of these were won by the right, others by non-Respect left-wingers. As part of encouraging a debate on the way forward for the student left, ENS is publishing a number of different views of what happened at Manchester Uni.
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Will NUS conference oppose war and support Iranian students?
Posted on March 17, 2008
Filed Under News
On Sunday 16 March, delegates from universities and colleges across the country met for NUS conference “compositing”, the process by which the various motions and amendments submitted to the conference are quite literally chopped up and reconstructed in more manageable units. Among these was a motion from the National Executive Committee, proposed by ENS supporter Sofie Buckland, and a similar one from Sheffield College, proposed by ENS supporter Heather Shaw, which commit NUS to sharply oppose war and sanctions against Iran and organise practical solidarity with students, workers and others fighting to overthrow Iran’s theocratic government from below.
Unfortunately, the composited motion, which will be discussed as an amendment under the heading “Global solidarity” in the “Society & Citizenship” debate, will be opposed by some on the left, with a formal speech being requested by Plymouth University.
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Near-win for left at NUS Women’s Conference
Posted on March 16, 2008
Filed Under ENS Women, News
By Laura Schwartz, NUS Women’s Committee
The success of Education Not for Sale ENS Women at this year’s NUS Women’s Conference (13-15 March) in passing radical left-wing policy and mobilising a significant number of conference delegates around socialist feminist politics, is testimony to the hard work of our activists both within NUS and outside it with Feminist Fightback over the last two and a half years.
So is the result of the election held at the conference for NUS National Women’s Officer.
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Save NUS democracy - for a democratic, campaigning NUS! Vote Heather Shaw for National Secretary
Posted on March 14, 2008
Filed Under News
Dear student activist,
I’m writing to ask for your support in the upcoming election for NUS National Secretary.
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Action to defend Mehdi Kazemi, March 22
Posted on March 12, 2008
Filed Under ENS Women, News
On Saturday March 22 at 2pm, Middle East Workers’ Solidarity will be staging a protest opposite Downing Street in defence of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian asylum seeker who the British government plans to send back to Iran on the grounds that if gay Iranians are “discreet about their sexuality”, they will not get in trouble.
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UCL students ban military recruiters; right wing tries to ban SU general secretary… Defend Sam Godwin!
Posted on March 12, 2008
Filed Under News
On 5 March, a 300-plus strong general meeting of UCL Union passed a motion proposed by socialist activist Sham Rajyaguru, president of UCL’s Stop the War Society, to ban the Officer Training Corps, University Royal Navy Units, University of London Air Squadron and all other military organisations from freshers’ events and other union-sponsored events, union premises, and student-run media. Now the right of the union has responded by suspending left-wing General Secretary Sam Godwin.
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Sussex Uni mutinies over “reforms”
Posted on March 7, 2008
Filed Under News
From Sussex Not for Sale, released Thursday 6 March 2007.
Sussex University could see the biggest protest in its history tomorrow [Friday 7 March 2007] as students and academics rally against the influence of market forces in the university.
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City University activists fight to “take back union”
Posted on February 29, 2008
Filed Under News
Left activists at City University are running in their student union elections as part of a campaign to reclaim their union and make it an active, political campaigning organisation. For more information see their website, www.takebackyourunion.com
Sussex “Education Not for Sale” campaign launched
Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under Actions, News
Students at the University of Sussex have launched an “Education Not for Sale” campaign
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Essex University students reclaim their union
Posted on February 20, 2008
Filed Under News
Students at Essex University have elected a radical left sabbatical team to run their student union. In the elections last week, four out of five sabbatical positions were won by members of the “Viva Essex” slate - Yousuf Joondan for Vice President Education, Zak Suffee for VP Welfare and Community, Arnold Ma for VP Services and Communications and Abu Sayeed for VP Sports and Societies. Viva Essex’s presidential candidate, Respect and SWP member Dominic Kavakeb, was defeated by only 30 votes, 825 to 855.
ENS offers Viva Essex campaigners our congratulations: this is a fantastic example of how rank-and-file activists can build mass support and begin to turn a student union around. More information and reports from Essex shortly.
Motions and amendments to NUS NEC, 21 February
Posted on February 19, 2008
Filed Under Inside NUS, News
Motions and amendments to the NUS National Executive Committee meeting on 21 February 2008.
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Long Road College anti-Stagecoach campaign
Posted on February 11, 2008
Filed Under News
From Sam Wade, NUS rep, Long Road Sixth-Form College Students’ Union
The Students’ Union at Long Road Sixth-Form College has recently launched a campaign calling for a rate on buses for students of whatever age or type of education, and that the buses in Cambridge be run in a fashion that serves the best interests of the students who rely on them so heavily.
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Anoosheh Azaadbar for NUS Honorary VP!
Posted on February 11, 2008
Filed Under News
For a PDF of Anoosheh’s manifesto, click here. For the text, see below. For her list of nominators and supporters, see here.
Model amendments for NUS Conference 2008
Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under News
Please find below ENS’s model amendments for NUS Conference 2008.
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Let Flores study! Let the Sukulas stay in Bolton! Against deportations and racism!
Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under ENS Women, News
Flores Sukula has lived in Bolton for the past seven years, successfully passed courses at Bolton Sixth Form College and secured a place on the Health and Social Care degree course at Manchester Metropolitan University. After completing her degree she wants to go on to train as a midwife.
The future looks bright? Unfortunately, it’s not so easy as Flores like thousands of others of young people has been blocked from taking up her place at university because as an asylum seeker (from the Democratic Republic of Congo), with the attendant racist immigration controls, she is being denied access to the course. The university are insisting on treating her as an overseas student and saying that to register for the course she would have to pay fees of around £6000- all without recourse to even so much as a student loan.
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Yes, left unity was possible: but it was not ENS that scuppered it; Student Broad Left cheapens anti-racism with libel against ENS
Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under News, Uncategorized
February 6th 2008
By Sofie Buckland, NUS NEC
George Woods of the Student Broad Left group has issued a statement accusing Education Not for Sale of responsibility for scuppering negotiations for a united left slate at the 2008 NUS conference. It can be read here. (We urge SBL to reciprocate by publishing a link to this reply, but are under no illusions that they will do so.)
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Vote Education Not for Sale, for a democratic, campaigning NUS - and continue the Fight for left unity, at NUS Conference and beyond
Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under News, Uncategorized
February 5th 2008
The Education Not for Sale network has nominated four candidates for the full-time positions on NUS National Executive:
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Facebook bans union organiser!
Posted on January 26, 2008
Filed Under Actions, News
From Eric Lee of LabourStart, the online trade union news-service.
In a moment I’m going to ask you to support the most unusual campaign we have ever launched - but first, some background.
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Fight for free speech at the University of Nottingham
Posted on January 23, 2008
Filed Under Actions, News
Students at Nottingham University are calling a demonstration for 23 February against attempts to quash their rights to protest and organise. One student has been arrested and others banned from the library for failing to ask permission to demonstrate and circulate petitions.
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Iranian regime murders student activist: protest to free our comrades!
Posted on January 23, 2008
Filed Under International struggles, News
By Sofie Buckland, NUS National Executive
In December last year, several dozen left-wing Iranian students were arrested for organising or taking part in action on 16 Azar (7 December), Iran’s traditional “Student Day” of protest. Since then, many more activists have been arrested in a continuing crackdown, and one of the detained has now been murdered by the police of the Islamist regime.
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Free the detained Iranian student activists!
Posted on December 18, 2007
Filed Under International struggles, News
Please add your or your organisation’s name to this statement; it will be translated and sent to activists in Iran. Email your name to Daniel at skillz_999@hotmail.com
As education workers and student activists, we condemn the detention of over forty student activists by the Iranian regime since 7 December (16 Azar in the Iranian calendar). This date has been a day of student protest in Iran for many years; it is now a symbol of Iranian students’ struggle against the theocratic-capitalist regime of the Islamic Republic just as it was against the dictatorship of the Shah. Activists were arrested in the run up to the day of action, and following the demonstrations and actions which took place in a number of cities. Many are now reportedly being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and have been subjected to torture.
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A call for left unity in NUS
Posted on December 3, 2007
Filed Under News
To left groups including Student Respect/Socialist Worker Student Society, Socialist Students, and to unaffiliated activists on the student left in Britain,
We are writing to propose the creation of a united left electoral slate to challenge for the leadership of the National Union of Students at the 2008 NUS conference.
The domination of NUS and many student unions by Labour Students, “Organised Independents” and other right-wing groups has meant defeat after defeat for the student movement. Now, with its “Governance Review” rewriting the NUS constitution, the NUS leadership is seeking to move the national union even further away from a militant, campaigning policy by breaking up the few remaining democratic channels through which grassroots student activists can become involved in influencing the policy and direction of NUS.
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Class(room) struggles: meeting at Sussex Uni
Posted on November 20, 2007
Filed Under Actions, News
ENS supporters at the University of Sussex have organised a meeting on “class(room) struggles: education workers within, against and beyond capital”. Read on for more info.
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NUS Honorary Vice-President blinded and jailed for five years
Posted on November 8, 2007
Filed Under International struggles, News
At last year’s NUS conference in April, Mansour Ossanlou, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company, was elected by an overwhelming majority as NUS Honorary Vice-President. Now he has been partially blinded and jailed for five years by the Iranian government. The charge? “Propaganda against the system and acting against national security.
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Campaign for NUS Democracy launched - get involved!
Posted on November 8, 2007
Filed Under Inside NUS, News
On Sunday 4 November, a meeting was held at Birkbeck College in London to launch a united campaign against the attacks on democracy that are part of NUS’s “Governance Review”.
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From an ENS supporter in Paris: French students occupy as workers clash with Sarkozy government
Posted on November 7, 2007
Filed Under International struggles, News
By Ed Maltby
**Stop press! See below for how occupations and other student actions are spreading in Paris**
French students are uniting with workers to organise a mass opposition to President Sarkozy's offensive on health, pensions, asylum seekers, the right to strike and education.
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The fightback continues
Posted on October 22, 2007
Filed Under Actions, Events, News
Around 300 activists attended the second annual Feminist Fightback conference at the University of East London on 20th October (which was initiated by ENS’s autonomous women’s caucus), and around 40 activists attended ENS’s ‘Education For Freedom’ conference which took place the day after.
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Postal workers’ dispute: University of Sussex SU passes anti-scab, pro-strike policy
Posted on October 22, 2007
Filed Under Actions, News
Further cementing its reputation as one of the leading activist-led, radical SUs in the country, USSU has passed policy condemning the use of students as scab labour in the recent postal dispute.
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Sofie Buckland for NUS Women's Officer!
Posted on October 19, 2007
Filed Under ENS Women, News
No one needs to tell feminist activists that the fight for women's liberation has not been won. In Britain women make up 70% of recipients of the pathetically low minimum wage, we face cuts and privatization in the public services so many of us rely on, domestic violence and rape aren't taken seriously by a judicial system full of ancient male chauvinist judges and disinterested police, we still have to cast doubt on our own mental health to get an abortion (if our local NHS services can even provide one in time), and we struggle to find high-quality affordable care for our children if we choose to study or to work.
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The struggle for the future of NUS
Posted on September 11, 2007
Filed Under Inside NUS, News
In June 2007, the NUS leadership produced a “Green Paper” on “Governance Review”, taking its mandate from an interpretation of policy passed at annual conferences. A summary of the paper is available here. Read on for ENS’s response, including appendices on NUS finances and its culture of waste.
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