The National Union of Students (NUS) has pulled out of the
Free Education Demonstration on Wednesday 19th December in London, angering Bath students who wished to participate in the demonstration. The demonstration had the official support of the NUS nationally at a meeting in September, however the NUS leadership
allegedly attempted to distance themselves from it and has now
pulled support entirely on health and safety grounds. Meanwhile, both the University of Bath and Bath Spa University Students' Unions have taken the decision not to provide transport to the demonstration. A dissenting University of Bath student commented that the Students' Union President has been "useless". Reiss McGuinness, a recent Bath Spa University graduate said that the universities had behaved "as expected".
Bruce Galliver, the Bath Spa University Students' Union President is
supportive of the demonstration, however, despite a majority voting in favour of the decision in a student council vote, he was ultimately unable to get the university to organise transport. Following the withdrawal of support from the national NUS, Bath Spa University recieved a letter from the NUS recommending against sending students to the demonstration. The decision then had to be referred to the the Board of Trustees. There are 12 trustees, 8 students and 4 externals on the board and of those 8 students, 5 voted against organising a coach. Bruce 's letters to the Trustees can be found
here.
Mr Galliver commented "I'd like to make it clear to students that I followed a democratic
procedure here in line with the Unions constitution, but my position was
and still is that the Union should organise transport and support at
this demonstration for free education. Despite the fact that the Union will no longer do this, I still intend
to offer any assistance and support I can to students who still wish to
attend the event. I feel it's a very justifiable and important cause and
I hope this decision will not affect the morale of those who intend on
going. I apologise for the delay in this statement coming out and I hope
everyone is able to make arrangements in time for the 19th."
The University of Bath has agreed to subsidise coach tickets for the demonstration, however these have now sold out. The University of Bristol is organising coaches for the demonstration, and some students from Bath will be going with their coaches. Other students will need to find their own way there.
A Student's Perspective
Recent Bath Spa Univerisity graduate and local activist Simon Jilley has sent the following words for inclusion in this article:
This is going to be my first student rally since the 2012 demo,
which nobody really quite understood and a lot of people were very upset
at the NUS at for changing the route last-minute. I am now not a
fee-paying, exam-writing, decision-making student, but that doesn't mean
that I've in any way fallen out of the loop. If anything, I feel much
more connected now than I ever did before to the student struggle.
Four years ago, I was on Embankment listening to speakers as protesters
were being forced into a riot in Parliament Square, just a few hundred
metres away. I was extremely confused by the situation I was in. The
speakers spoke nothing of the situation in Parliament Square, nor seemed
to care at all. They just spoke from their cue cards, about how
certain unions are making certain points of progress, and this means
certain things and of course the whole situation will be solved by
blaming the coalition government. It's all because of the coalition
government, after all, that our government is corrupt and are a group of
bastards on a pedestal. I was quite sickened by the whole affair – I
saw mounted police charging at those trapped in Parliament Square, but
from 200m in front of me. I couldn't do anything about it, and it was
like watching a dystopia film.
At the demo two years ago, called
'#demo2012', I was a part of a fringe meditation demonstration in front
of Big Ben which, although it had no noticeable message to offer to the
general public, had a prominent impact on each and every one of us that
were involved. It was the first time that most of the group had ever
interacted with the police on that level – and it wasn't pre-planned in
any way. It was a spontaneous act, that caught everyone (including
myself, in some ways) by surprise. We left the march that we didn't
understand and the movement that we had become very disillusioned by,
and created our own movement in those hours sat in front of Big Ben.
Two years on, and there still exists a lot of that movement that was
created in Autumn 2012. We are still demonstrating spontaneously, and
contributing to things that really mean something to us. I was
similarly at a march that I was fairly disillusioned by a month back –
at the TUC Britain Needs A Payrise demo. We supported the Occupy
Democracy actions, and became much more a part of that than we had been a
part of the TUC march. We had a spontaneous 'Freedom March' a few
months back, in Bath. It's all happening, this movement is strong.
Now we are preparing for the Free Education demonstration. 19th
November is going to be a massive day for students, and all peoples, in
these lands. We are going to demonstrate for Free Education – the first
time in my memory that any such people have demonstrated for such a
thing in Britain. The implications of Free Education are massive – with
free education, we regain freedoms that were taken from us in
generations passed, and move more stably towards a freer, more
creative, and more joyful world. We've lost our footing in the last few
generations – perhaps a lot of people fell asleep, and let the
politicians gain many ones over us. But the Free Education fight is a
huge part of the movement towards this better world.
I am
shocked that the NUS pulled out of the march. I knew that some part of
the NUS lacked a lot of backbone after experiencing things two years
ago, at #demo2012. But I didn't expect that they would do something so
foolish, aggressive, and cowardly as this. By pulling out of the
demonstration in the way that they have, they are effectively
marginalising the 'hard-line' protesters that go on the march anyway.
We are all going to be marginalised, and will be noted for having been
on the Free Education demo. The NUS pulling out has led to many
Students' Unions (most of the Unions in Britain are affiliated with the
NUS) shamefully dropping their pledge to Student Democracy.
In
Bath, both Unions have dropped out of the march for pretty much the
same reasons. At Bath Uni SU, an online poll was conducted that decided
that Bath Uni SU should provide transport for, and support, the march.
Despite 86% of respondents supporting the march, on 6th November, the
same day that the NUS released their statement of pulling out of the
march (less than two weeks before the march – an unrealistic time for a
student group to gather and plan a coach...), the SU pulled out, citing
the NUS reasons of problems with risk assessments. At Bath Spa SU, a
motion was brought forward to the Student Council on 28th October for
the SU to support and provide education for the demonstration. The
Student Council voted widely in favour of the motion. There was
confusion after November 6th, and little was known about what was going
to be happening. Fliers had already been distributed around campus, and
in the Students' Union, and continued to be so after the NUS
announcement. But on 12th November, Union President Bruce Galliver
released a statement that, despite his personal strong support of the
march and of the SU providing transport, the Board of Trustees had voted
8-to-3 against the SU supporting the march and providing transport.
This is despite Bruce offering that the SU provide a 'Demo survival
pack', 'two delegated SU stewards', and 'our own risk assessment'.
Despite his clear encouragement, in a letter sent out to all of the
Trustees on 11th November, for reasonable measures to be taken in order
to still provide support and transport (see
here), it was not stated
that the Trustees had engaged in any kind of dialogue about the matter.
What we are seeing across the country is a clear disregard of Student
Union democracy, as Unions across the country are pulling out of a march
that their members voted in support of. We are not receiving adequate
reasons for why Unions are pulling out ('on health & safety grounds'
does not count as 'adequate', for there is always the opportunity to
take extra measures to ensure that all things are covered for), and
instead are understanding that Student Democracy is becoming weaker, and
listened to less.
And this is why we really need this
demonstration. This demonstration is for Free Education. The meaning
of 'freedom' is strong, extremely strong, for me in relation to this
demonstration. It is iconic, what is happening across Britain with the
'freedom' to act democratically being revoked in the weeks leading up to
the demonstration. We will be marching for freedom: not only for an
education system that is 100% inclusive of all peoples irrespective of
economic background and that doesn't purge students into financial
instability afterwards, but also for an education system that allows for
a freedom of democracy to exist.
Notably, you will notice that
November 19th is not a one-day event. Students are being encouraged to
Walkout/Occupy/Resist on December 3rd, on the National Day of Action for
Free Education. Students should 'use the time between the 19th
November and 3rd December to build on your campus. Run rallies,
meetings, stalls, protests, and link up between universities, colleges
and schools in your local area'. There is longevity to it all. There
is something big happening out of it – it is now time for us to take
back what they stole, to bring our future, and the future of generations
that will follow us, into our actions. We need to plot out what should
be happening on the map, to make it all a reality.
Maybe it is
more beneficial to the movement that the Student Unions have backed out.
As financially-vested bodies, they have people that they must always
respond to, and they are often made liable for their actions. But we
can ask, still, that members of the Student Unions join us in our
independent movement, making a Free Education a reality before our very
eyes. For, in our independent rise, we will make a reality of what we
collectively see must happen, without having to be suppressed in our
ideals by any individual or governing body.
After November 6th
and November 12th respectively (when the Unions pulled out), groups of
us have organised to provide forms of transport for people wanting to
join the march. Bath Spa students will mostly either be making their
own way there from Bath, or will be joining the Bristol Uni coach. Bath
Uni students have been invited onto a National Express coach, as lots
of tickets were bought at one time. There is no funding available
currently in the activist movements in Bath – and it is a suggestion of
mine that we may sort out some kind of a collective fund to support when
occasions like this happen (in 2010, the UCU provided transport from
Bath to London for the November demonstration – they are not doing so
this year, and none of us appear to have a spare £500 to pay for a
coach). Let's get ourselves stronger, and support each other in all of
the struggles that go on. And, no matter who you are or where you
stand, come to London if you can for the Free Education demonstration,
or give support to us working for a Free Education Future!
