14TH & 22ND MARCH ANTI-CUTS DEMONSTRATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX AND LAMBETH COLLEGE
In which they say cutback, and we say fightback.
It's going on all over the country. Across FE and HE, “unpopular ” - meaning “unprofitable ” - courses are being cut, campuses closed and facilities restricted without a thought to student needs or welfare. University and college bosses have enthusiastically assisted the Blair government in its project to essentially dismantle and sell-off Further and Higher Education piece by piece. It's because of that project that we have to pay fees, that our lecturers go on strike, that we can't get into our libraries when we need to, that our halls of residence are owned by private companies and that services like catering, cleaning and security are outsourced to anti-union agencies.
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18TH MARCH ANTI-CPE DEMONSTRATION, PARIS
In which the militancy of French workers and students brings a tear to my eye.
I hate mawkish political sentimentality. You won't find phrases like “echoes of ‘68 ” liberally sprinkled through this blog and you certainly won't find any talk of “fiery continental temperaments. ” You won't find painterly descriptions of clouds of tear-gas hanging over our heads or lurid retellings of how I screamed profanities at French police while the tears streamed down my face and the gas choked me to the point of vomiting. I'm not a machismo-romantic and, aside from anything else, the current mobilisations in France don't need that kind of talking up; the facts speak for themselves.
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MEANWHILE, DOWN ON THE PICKET LINES…
Over the next few days, ENS will be publishing reports from NATFHE/AUT picket lines from the 7th March strike. If there was a picket line or a rally at your campus, email a report to daniel.randall@nus.org.uk and we’ll put it online.
Report from Canterbury Christ Church College
At 7:30am Lecturers and Students met in the car park of Canterbury Christ Church for the AUT/NATFHE Day of Action. Around 50 lecturers were present alongside 20 odd students who braved the early morning to show their support.
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FRENCH STUDENTS: EN GRÈVE!
In January, the French government unveiled a plan for a new employment law, supposedly aimed at tackling unemployment amongst young people. In reality, the law will allow firms to offer contracts to young workers that will make it much easier for them to be sacked. Coming as part of the increasing “precarité ” (precariousness) of many young French workers, the proposals incensed the French labour and student movements.
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12TH MARCH NUS ANNUAL CONFERENCE COMPOSITING
In which the NUS leadership is let off the hook and people show their true colours again.
Hands up who's been to NUS compositing. Oh come on - someone must have been. Anyone? No. Okay then, hands up who knows what NUS compositing is? No-one. Looks like I'm gonna have to provide some background.
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28TH FEBRUARY WEST MIDLANDS AREA NUS DEMONSTRATION & 1ST MARCH NUS NATIONAL LOBBY OF PARLIAMENT
In which some of the best and some of the worst are on display.
Here's the start of a joke for you: a posh Tory idiot, a Blairite minister and a supine Lib Dem moron go into a bar together. Well, okay - it wasn't a bar, it was a committee room in the Houses of Parliament, but indulge me. The Tory does his usual “affable idiot ” act, the Lib Dem says nothing of substance and the Blairite minister behaves exactly as Blairite ministers are meant to.
So what's the punchline?
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International Women’s Day - Solidarity with Iranian Women
Wednesday 8 March 2006
Protest and celebrate
12 noon to 2pm, Parliament Square, London SW1.
No to sexual apartheid in Iran - Women’s freedom now
Condemn the Islamic regime of Iran for 27 years of crimes against women
Women’s rights - not Sharia law
End the death penalty for lesbianism and adultery
Don’t invade Iran - Halt all western military threats
Support the Iranian people’s struggle for democracy, social justice and human rights
Expel the Islamic regime from the international community
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MOBILISE TO SUPPORT THE STRIKE!
Back NATFHE/AUT on March 7th
Students must be at the forefront of building solidarity with the lecturers' strike on March 7th. Vice-Chancellors and university management will be aggressive in trying to co-opt our unions into opposing the dispute, threatening us with dire financial consequences if the lecturers' pay claims are met, and claiming that lecturers' strike action and marking sanctions threaten students' interests and welfare.
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Back NATFHE/AUT on March 7th - leaflet text
Academic staff have seen their pay fall by 30% in the past two decades compared with the pay of other similar professions. At the same time their productivity has hugely increased. Employers promised to use new government funding and the extra billions from top-up fees to fund a pay-increase for lecturers. But they haven't kept their promise. They won't talk unconditionally to the unions, and they won't even make a pay-offer for 2006-07. Meantime Vice-Chancellors are happy to award themselves a massive pay-increase of 25% over the next three years.
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