NUS #Demo2012 – Weds 21 November: March on Parliament to ‘Defend Education – No to Fees, Cuts & Student Debt’
Yesterday the NUS announced that the national student demonstration will take place in central London on Wednesday 21 November. Below we share an article from NUS Black Students’ Officer-Elect, Aaron Kiely, setting out the next steps for #Demo2012.
On announcing the date of the national demo, NUS President Liam Burns said: “You’ve had your EMA [educational maintenance allowance] stopped, tuition fees tripled and your education systematically attacked across the board by the coalition.
“In a year in which there are no votes in parliament and no legislation coming before politicians, it’s about time we started setting the agenda.”
Sally Hunt, the UCU general secretary, added: “At a time when other countries are investing in education, our government is cutting college and university places and making it more expensive to study. Ministers need to harness further and higher education to provide young people with opportunities and a future.”
The Next Steps for NUS #Demo2012 – Weds 21 November: March on Parliament to ‘Defend Education – No to Fees, Cuts & Student Debt’
By Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Students’ Officer-Elect
Yesterday the NUS President announced that NUS #Demo2012 will take place on Wednesday 21st November.
Two years after NUS first ignited the resistance to the Tories’ attack on students and ordinary people with a 50,000 strong march against fees and cuts, I am proud and excited that our national union will once again be leading the fight-back against austerity this autumn with a national demonstration on the streets of London this November.
Let’s make the issue of defending education and opposing austerity, fees and student debt centre stage of the political debate and take the fight to the Tories!
Next steps – March on Parliament under the banner ‘Defend Education – No to Fees, Cuts and Student Debt’
Now that the date of the national demo has been announced, we must decide the route and political message of our march.
One thing is clear: our national demo needs to take the fight to the Tories. By marching on Parliament we can send a clear message to the Tory-led coalition that we want their attacks on students and education to stop.
With the support of over 100 local and national student leaders I will be proposing to the next NUS NEC that the national demo should march on Parliament.
From trebling tuition fees, enormous education cuts, to the scrapping of EMA and ever spiraling debt, students are suffering at the hands of this morally bankrupt government.
In April delegates at NUS National Conference overwhelmingly voted for “a national demonstration against cuts, fees, high interest on student debts and privatisation”.
It is vital that the banner and slogans of the national demo both responds to the real threats and attacks students are facing as well as reflects the democratic will of National Conference.
I will therefore be proposing to the next NUS NEC in July that the banner of the national demo should be ‘Defend Education – No to Fees, Cuts & Student Debt’.
I will further be proposing that the following slogans should be key themes of the demo, both on the day and in the publicity leading up to it:
– Stop education cuts – fund our future
- Scrap fees and drop student debt
- Bring Back EMA – no to FE fees and loans
- Tax the Rich and cancel Trident to fund free education
- End racist scapegoating and stop deporting our classmates
- Invest in jobs – reverse record youth unemployment
The priority for the student movement over the coming months is clear: let’s make NUS #Demo2012 a massive demonstration of students’ opposition to austerity, fees and student debt! See you outside Parliament on Wednesday 21st November!
Please contact me on aaron.kiely@nus.org.uk if you have any ideas on how we can make this national demo a huge success or if you need any help building the demo on your campus.
Motion and Amendment For NUS NEC on July 23rd
Here is the full text of the motion and amendment I am putting forward to the next NUS NEC which takes place on 23 July 2012.
Motion: NUS Demo 2012 – Yes We Will – March to Defend Education!
NUS NEC Believes:
1. That the proposal for NUS “to organise a national demonstration in the first term on 2012-13 against cuts, fees, high interest on student debts and privatisation” passed at NUS National Conference 2012 by a massive, enthusiastic majority.
2. That the clear democratic mandate National Conference gave for NUS to organise a national demonstration must be respected.
NUS NEC Resolves:
1. To call a national demonstration on Wednesday 21st November in central London, passing Parliament, under the banner of ‘Defend Education’ – against cuts, fees, high interest on student debts and privatisation.
2. To make it an organisational priority of the NUS to build this national demonstration over the summer and autumn of 2012.
Amendment: ‘Defend Education – No to Fees, Cuts & Student Debt!’
NUS NEC Believes:
1. The Tory-led coalition is leading an unprecedented attack on students, workers and ordinary people
2. Students in Further Education are particularly affected; with the slashing of the Education Maintenance Allowance and plans to introduce a system of fees and loans for over 24s
3. The government’s funding of war and nuclear weaponry over education and public services is morally and economically bankrupt
4. As the cuts bite, racist scapegoating is used to divide communities and weaken resistance to austerity
5. Deportation of international students is unacceptable and increasing
6. That NUS should lead the fight against austerity at the National Demonstration later this year
NUS NEC Resolves:
1. To hold the NUS National Demonstration under the banner of “Defend Education – No to Fees, Cuts and Student Debt!”
2. To make the following slogans key themes of the demo, both on the day and in the publicity leading up to it:
- Stop education cuts – fund our future
- Scrap fees and drop student debt
- Bring Back EMA – no to FE fees and loans
- Tax the Rich and cancel Trident to fund free education
- End racist scapegoating and stop deporting our classmate
- Invest in jobs – reverse record youth unemployment
