Saturday 18 May, Assemble 12 noon, Jubilee Gardens, Waterloo (Belvedere Road SE1) – March to Department of Health and Parliament.

Will you march to Save our NHS? If you are in London or the South East on Saturday 18 May, this is your chance to do it.

Join us as now more than ever we need to keep the fight to save our NHS alive. Why? Because in London alone there are nine A & E and a number of maternity units facing the axe, and thousands of hospital bed will go.

Billions of our health pounds are being handed to private companies to run NHS services, putting profits before patients – a step too far.

Join and share the facebook event.

NUS Black Students’ Officer Aaron Kiely has said:

“In the week UKIP make a breakthrough in the local elections and the government announces a new ‘Immigration Bill’ – aimed at ramping up racist scapegoating – the National Union of Students National Executive makes a landmark decision to vote against challenging racism and fascism.

The rejected motion and how the NUS NEC members voted

Below is the text of the motion followed by a breakdown of how the members of NUS NEC present at the meeting voted. The vote was 11 against, 8 for and 4 abstentions.

‘Challenging racism and fascism on our campuses and in our communities’

Conference believes:
1. The far right mobilisations, such as the fascist English Defence League’s (EDL) violent protests and the fascist British National Party (BNP) are a threat to society.
2. It is a national priority for the student movement to stop fascists winning MEP seats by mobilising the progressive majority to vote.
3. The student movement must never give a platform to fascists because fascism seeks to eliminate free speech and democracy, and annihilate its opponents and minorities.
4. Giving fascists a platform in the student movement destroys the safe spaces our campuses must be for Black, Jewish, Muslim, women, LGBT and disabled people
5. Racism is a scourge in society, including on campuses, that needs to be opposed.
6. The far right mobilisations, such as the fascist English Defence League’s (EDL) violent protests and the fascist British National Party (BNP) are a threat to society.
7. Discrimination and harassment of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities – among the most marginalised minorities in the UK – is considered an “acceptable” form of racism.
8. The violence eviction of 83 families from Dale Farm, which was home to almost 1,000 people for more than 30 years. This cost Basildon council 7 million!
9. More than 90% of Travellers planning applications are initially rejected by local government authorities, compared to 20% overall.
10. Basildon council recently voted to take ‘direct action’ against families living at the roadside near Dale Farm.

Conference further believes:
1. NUS must actively campaign against racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and the far right as these are dangers which threaten the welfare of millions of our members.
2. The BNP is a fascist organisation which stands for an “all white Britain”, a goal which can only be achieved by violence and the annihilation of entire groups of people and the ending of democracy.
4. BNP leader Nick Griffin and fascist Andrew Brons are standing for re-election to the European Parliament in 2014. It’s a national priority for the student movement to stop fascists from winning MEP seats by mobilising the progressive majority to vote.
5. The lesson of the 1930s was that the Nazis used violence to gain power and carry out a Holocaust. They slaughtered millions – in the gas chambers and the concentration camps – of Jewish people, Easter Europeans, communists, trade unionists, Romani, LGBT and disabled people.
6. Giving fascists a platform in the student movement destroys the safe spaces our campuses must be for Black, Jewish, Muslim, women, LGBT and disabled people.
7. The racism and disadvantage experienced by Roma and Traveller is a disgrace.
8. The eviction of Traveller sites is a firm of discrimination which results in people being forced onto the road against their will and children being pulled out of education.

Conference resolves:
1. To actively challenge racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and fascism on our campuses and in our communities.
2. To campaign for no platform for fascists within NUS or in our Students’ Unions.
3. Launch a massive student voter registration drive as part of campaign to get Griffin and Brons out of the European Parliament in 2014.
4. Reaffirm our support for NUS organising an annual Anti-Racism/Anti-Fascism Conference and providing adequate resources for this work.
5. Continue working with Unite Against Fascism, Searchlight, One Society Many Cultures and Love Music Hate Racism.
6. To work with self-organised Gypsy, Roma, Traveller groups, as well as the Traveller Solidarity Network.

VOTES FOR
Kelley Temple, NUS Women’s Officer
Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Students’ Officer
Matt Stanley, NUS NEC
Jamie Woodcock, NUS NEC
Michael Chessum, NUS NEC
Roshni Joshi, NUS NEC
Vicki Baars, NUS Vice President Union Development
Sky Yarlett, NUS LGBT Officer (Open Place)

VOTES AGAINST
Pete Mercer, NUS Vice President Welfare
Dannie Grufferty, NUS Vice President Society and Citizenship
Rachel Wenstone, NUS Vice President Higher Education
Liam Burns, NUS President
Maggie Hayes, NUS NEC
Hannah Paterson, NUS Disabled Students’ Officer
Joe Vinson, NUS NEC and Vice President Further Education-Elect
Steph Lloyd, NUS Wales President
Jeni Marie Pittuck, NUS NEC
Adrianne Peltz, NUS-USI President
Colum McGuire, NUS NEC and Vice President Welfare-Elect

ABSTENTIONS
Daniel Stevens, NUS International Students’ Officer
Rachael Thornton, NUS NEC
Fiona Wood, NUS NEC
Jo Johnson, NUS NEC (Women’s Campaign)

NO VOTES
Incoming NUS President Toni Pearce was chairing the meeting and so did not cast a vote.

The next steps in the student fight-back against cuts, fees, racism and war – for free education, equality, peace and twenty first century socialism.

Come along to the next Student Broad Left nationally planning meeting on Saturday 1 June at the University of London Union from 1pm – 5pm.

The meeting is open to all student activists who want to get involved in building a fighting student movement that takes on the Tories.

This meeting will be a key chance to shape Student Broad Left’s priorities and campaigns over the coming year ahead.

The agenda will include discussions on:
· Building the student fight back against Tory-led austerity – a discussion on the fight for free education and the next steps in campaigning to bring back EMA
· Challenging racism, Islamophobia and the far right – a discussion on tackling racism on campuses and wider society with an introduction from the NUS Black Students’ Officer
· Solidarity with Latin America and twenty first century socialism – a discussion on the legacy of Hugo Chavez and the increasing threat of US intervention to overturn the social progress and democracy in Venezuela
· Peace not war – a discussion on building campaigns for peace and against war as the West continues to ramp up its disastrous interventions in the Middle East and Africa
· Building the left on campuses – a discussion and update on building progressive campaigns on campuses
· Building the Student Broad Left – a discussion on our achievements this year and key opportunity to start planning next terms campaigns and events

If you have any questions please contact Student Broad Left co-convenor Matt Stanley by emailing Matt.Stanley@nus.org.uk.

The meeting will also be a chance to find out more about the Student Broad Left and how you can get involved. In the meantime check out our website for more information on what we stand for and what we do – www.studentbroadleft.org.uk.

Many thanks,

Student Broad Left

SOAS Tuesday 23 April: Film screening and discussion on Hugo Chavez’s legacy and the New Latin America

6.30pm – SOAS, Room B102

Join Student Friends of Venezuela for a film screening and discussion on the legacy of Hugo Chavez.

A screening of the documentary ‘Chavez, Venezuela And The New Latin America’, made by Aleida Guevera (daughter of Che Guevara) will be followed by a short discussion and Q and A with contributions from:

* Jeremy Corybn MP *
* Stephanie Pearce, ‘Queen Mary College, University of London *
Chaired by Tom King, Student Friends of Venezuela, SOAS LGBTQ Officer elect

Venezuela National Conference @ ULU: Hugo Chavez’s Legacy – Showing There is An Alternative in the 21st Century

Saturday 27 April 27, 10.00am – 5.00pm at the University of London Union, Malet Street (Tube: Russell Square)

Organised around the key themes of Yes to Democracy & Social Progress! No to Right-Wing Destabilisation! with discussion on topics including:

* Showing Free Education for All is Possible
* Putting People First – Free Healthcare across Venezuela & Beyond
* Culture and Change in Venezuela – the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra
* Women Leading Progressive Change
* Grassroots Democracy and Popular Particpation in the New Venezuela
* Engaging in the Debate – Busting Media Myths about Venezuela
* Building a New Latin America & The Advance of the Left
* Overcoming imperialism’s legacy & neo-colonialism in the Caribbean: ALBA & Petrocaribe
* Latin America’s Green Revolution: tackling climate change
* The Forward March of Labour: Workers’ rights & Proper Pay for All
* Students & the Building of a New Venezuela
* From slavery to equality – how Venezuela’s is tackling long-standing racism
* How Chavez reversed the economic catastrophe caused by Venezuela’s Right Wing
* Making poverty history – how Venezuela became South America’s most equal country* Building a society of equals: advancing disabled people’s rights & tackling homophobia

Registration: £10 waged or organisation delegate, £7 concessions
Online registration will open shortly at www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk

Goldsmiths Tuesday 30 April: Venezuela and the Fight Against US Intervention – Film Screening and Discussion

6pm – Goldsmiths College, Room 143 Richard Hoggart Building

Goldsmiths Stop the War Society is proud to host a screening of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, which documents the US-backed coup d’etat of April 2002 which attempted to violently overthrow the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The film will be introduced by Stop the War Coalition National Officer, Chris Nineham. It will be followed by a discussion with Francisco Dominguez, head of the Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies at Middlesex University, who will address the attempts at destabilisation by the United States throughout Latin America.

Under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela underwent a progressive transformation, improving the lives of millions of Venezuelans, particularly the poorest, while promoting progressive forces throughout Latin America.

Join us on Tuesday, the 30th of April, following the upcoming Venezuelan elections to discuss the legacy of Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution.

Organised by Goldsmiths Stop the War Society, Student Friends of Venezuela, and South London VSC.

There is no other candidate better qualified to lead the NUS International Students’ Campaign than the current London Met SU VP Education, Syed Rumman.

Syed is standing to take on the Tory government’s vicious policies against international students, their racist scapegoating and their savage cuts which are destroying Britain’s education system and public services.

Syed led London Met Uni students to resist the government’s attempt to deport more than 2,600 international students last year and won.

From organising a hundreds-strong protest outside the Home Office alongside Unions and the NUS Black Students’ Campaign to building the winning alliances on campus with the Unions and the University itself to put maximum pressure on the government, Syed has a proven track record of uniting and fighting for international students.

Syed has an uncompromising record of standing up against racism and will make sure NUS prioritises the struggle to defend students against discrimination.

Here are a few words from Syed Rumman himself on why he is standing and what he stands for.

After saving thousands of international students of LondonMet running for NUS International Students’ Officer

International students are a significant number in the UK and this number has profound impact on the British economy, society and international relations. Still being an international student, too often you face difficulties during your student life in the UK. It is the responsibility of the National Union of Students as a representative body to ensure that your voice is heard at the right level with utmost attention and your concerns are being resolved with rapid solution.

Effective representation is seriously a challenging task and requires coordinate effort. And to lead the co-ordinated efforts under the umbrella of NUS in order to resolve your problems, you need a leader who is brave and passionate about you and your student life in the UK. Having this in mind, I can proudly say that I am such a leader who has the courage to stand for your right and unique quality to win battles against any attack on you as an international student.

I am a law graduate from London Metropolitan University and served as the Vice President (Education) at the Students Union for two subsequent years. You may be aware that last year I fought the biggest battle for London met against the UKBA. My record of achievement does not end here; I also have worked in close partnership with London’s other Unions to prevent cuts in education at the national level. I have joined other Unions across the country to support their campaigns and still continuing the coordinated effort to protect student’s rights across the UK. I am a visionary and innovative leader with
clear vision for students. I have introduced many new schemes such as; SU scholarship scheme, and you will be happy to know that our students have wholeheartedly supported my schemes and it is being implemented.

International and home students across the UK are backing my campaign as they have seen that I have proved in all my work and other experience that I can and will represent international students
effectively. Please click here to see my full manifesto and my supporters.

I really hope you consider me as your 1st preference. I would be delighted to hear from you so please do get in touch with me. Simply email on syedalirumman@gmail.com or call me on 07827320527.

Thank you very much for taking time to read this note.

With all best wishes,

Syed Rumman
Vice-President (Education)
London Metropolitan University Students Union

The vicious murder took place in Eltham, south east London, near to the Welling headquarters of the fascist British National Party.

Let’s remember Stephen for who he was as a much loved son, friend to many and aspiring architect.

It took 19 years of struggle against an institutionally racist police-force for Stephen’s parents, Doreen and Neville, to finally achieve some justice for their son. We commend their tireless struggle.

The struggle against racism continues today. A shocking 1 in 5 Black students are a victim of racist hate crime during their studies. Rooting out the evil of racism within our communities and on our campuses is a vital priority for the student movement.

If you can, please consider donating to the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust text the word ‘SLCT18′ followed by either £1, £2, £3, £4, £5
or £10 to 70070.

Also check out The Guardian’s latest features and articles, including a new interview with Doreen Lawrence here.

The NUS leadership, led by Labour Students, built a right wing coalition at Conference which succeeded in rejecting all proposals that NUS lead a fight-back against austerity. Candidates that support NUS doing nothing to defend students won all of the full time elections at the conference – including the NUS Presidency and all of the Vice President positions.

Whilst the student left did not leave this year’s conference victorious, we did succeed in polarising NUS National Conference around the key issues facing the student movement. The key dividing lines were:

· Should NUS accept or fight cuts to education?
· Should NUS stand for free education or a lifetime of student debt?
· Should NUS remain silent or challenge the rise of racist scapegoating?

The current NUS leadership stood and fought on the wrong side of all these dividing lines and won on most issues.

Only on the question of whether or not NUS should challenge rising racism did the progressive wing of the student movement defeat the reactionary NUS leadership in getting anti-racism discussed, against the NUS leadership’s desperate manoeuvring to get this issue off the agenda.

The left did win a significant minority of the conference over to the view that we need a fighting NUS that defends students. We achieved some of the highest votes in the full time elections that we have for many years, particularly in the Vice President Further Education election. 4 left wing activists got elected to the NUS National Executive Council, including Student Broad Left’s candidate Matt Stanley.

NUS leadership accepts Tory cuts to education & a lifetime of debt

In light of the biggest attack on students and wider society in generations it is obvious what NUS needs to do: fight these attacks with all its strength.

Outrageously, the current NUS leadership rejected all proposals that the student movement fight austerity, giving a green light to the Tories to intensify their attacks. This approach of standing on the sidelines as our education and futures are vandalised is a recipe for betrayal.

The specific anti-austerity proposals voted DOWN by NUS National Conference included:

· Leading a fight-back to bring back EMA, a demand which has attracted growing political support with more than 60 MPs signing an Early Day Motion in Parliament in response to a grassroots campaign on college campuses involving hundreds of FE students, without the backing of NUS
· Organising protests and direct action over the next year against cuts, fees and privatisation
· Support for free education at all levels. Instead the conference renewed a policy that students should pay tens of thousands of pounds to go to university through a graduate tax

Right wing Labour Students collusion with Tory students went as far as the outgoing NUS President, Liam Burns, signing the nomination form for a Tory to get elected to the NUS NEC! Huge cheers from leading Labour Students on conference floor greeted the Tory candidate for the NUS NEC’s speech on the final day of conference. This resulted in the Tory topping the block of 15 with 120 votes – an unprecedented result for a Tory in the NUS.

The NUS leadership pushed the terms of debate so far to the right this Conference that even progressive policies that they supported, like gender balancing of delegations to conference, were voted down by delegates that had been mobilised to oppose progressive campaigns against fees, cuts and inequality.

Thatcher is dead but Thatcherism lives on within NUS.

NUS leadership pushed anti-racism to the bottom of the agenda

Disgracefully, the NUS leadership led by right wing Labour Students, sought to push anti-racism off of the agenda of this year’s NUS National Conference altogether.

As the cuts bite the Tories are using the classic weapon of mass distraction: racist scapegoating of immigrants, asylum seekers, Muslims and Black people – blaming these groups for a crisis caused by bankers and cuts. NUS must robustly challenge this climate of rising racism, particularly given this issue severely impacts on the welfare of 1 million Black students in Britain.

However, rather than giving this discussion the priority it needs, the NUS leadership moved the NUS Black Students’ Committee motion on challenging racism and fascism from 17th on the agenda to 99th. This meant that the issue of challenging racism was almost certainly not going to be discussed at NUS National Conference for the first time in over a decade.

Twice the NUS Black Students’ Officer Aaron Kiely challenged this so anti-racism could be discussed and on both occasions he was defeated with the overwhelming majority of the NUS leadership opposing him. NUS President, Liam Burns, led the charge with a speech at the beginning of NUS National Conference defending the decision for anti-racism to be at the bottom of the Conference agenda.

But Black students and the anti-racist majority finally defeated the reactionary NUS leadership and anti-racism was discussed at the conference.

In the last few minutes of the conference motions debate a Birmingham University delegate, Zarah Sultana, successful got a motion on challenging racism and fascism discussed and passed unanimously. In passing this motion, delegates renewed NUS’ commitment to fight racism and campaign for no platform for fascists on campuses.

The student left continues to advance

The right wing tone of conference and the fact that the right wing won most of the major policy debates and elections will leave many left wing student activists disappointed, demoralised and disillusioned.

However, the progressive wing of the student movement should not give up on the critical task of transforming NUS into a national union that defends and fights for students – especially since the left actually advanced in some ways at this year’s conference.

The left increased its vote in some of the elections. Most impressively, in the Vice President Further Education election the left’s first round vote increased from 35% last year to 43% this year. This is the highest vote for the left in the first round of a NUS full time election in at least 6 years.

The reason the left did so well in this election is simple: the election was polarised around the issue of whether or not NUS should fight Tory austerity or do nothing. Specifically, the campaign to bring back EMA has galvanised FE students with hundreds of activists organising actions on college campuses in recent months, resulting in over 60 MPs supporting the demand to reinstate EMA.

The fact that the left got its highest share of the vote – 43% – in the VP FE election is a particularly impressive result given that the VP FE election was the only election in which the left was divided. The left was divided because the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) refused to back Matt Stanley who is the co-founder of the Bring Back EMA Campaign and was by far the strongest left candidate for the position (Matt got two and a half times the vote of NCAFC’s candidate Roshni Joshi).

The decision of NCAFC to stand against Matt, and the negative campaigning which took place behind the scenes, no doubt reduced the left’s vote in this election by a few percent. Additionally, the fact that anti-EMA NUS NEC members from HE unions who have not been to college in many years were allowed to vote in this election distorted the election result, again by a few percent. So, if the left had united behind the strongest left wing candidate and if the right wing within NUS had not cheated, the left could have run this election very close indeed.

In the Vice President Union Development election the left also advanced. With a candidate put forward by NCAFC, the left increased its vote in the first round from 30% to 37%, in another clear sign that the left is a growing force on conference floor.

On the surface it would seem that the left did better at last year’s NUS National Conference than this year’s. Last year we succeeded in passing a motion for NUS to organise a national demo against cuts, fees, student debt and privatisation and as a result got NUS Liberation Officer and left-winger Vicki Baars elected to a Vice President position.

It is important to note however, that the difference between last year and this year was the issue of right wing division VS right wing unity. This year the right wing were united in trying to prevent NUS taking any policy positions against austerity. Last year the right wing were divided, with multiple right wingers standing against each other for full time positions. The left last year succeeded in exploiting these divisions and won anti-austerity policy and even a Vice President election as a result.

This year, in the face of right wing unity, the best approach the left could have taken was to unite and to polarise the conference around the key issue facing students: austerity, cuts, fees and student debt.

We need left unity for a fighting NUS

The battle for a fighting NUS that leads the struggle to defend students against the greatest assault in generations continues.

A united left could put the right wing in NUS under some serious pressure in the coming years to become a national union that fights austerity and the racist scapegoating that accompanies it.

It is a total waste of time for the left to stand against each other in full time elections in NUS, a case that the Student Broad Left has consistently put forward. A divided left wing only lets the right wing off the hook and makes it much less likely that the left can win. We need a united front to turn NUS into the fighting national union that students deserve.

In the meantime, it is crucial that we put left unity into practice now and fight the government’s attacks on students together. In particular that means Student Broad Left and the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts – the two most prominent organisations on the student left – working together. It is down to us, and the millions of students outraged by the Tories’ attacks on education, to take forward the fight. The NUS leadership certainly isn’t going to lift a finger over the next year.

Thatcher’s economic policies have brought social and economic disaster to Britain, yet her doctrine of privatization, deregulation and handouts to the rich lives on in the policies of today’s Tory-led government. It is thanks to Thatcherism that students now have to pay tens of thousands of pounds to go to university as a result of the trebling of tuition fees just over two years ago. Burying Thatcher’s poisonous legacy from our university lecture halls to our hospitals and beyond is a burning priority for left in Britain.

Below we share some excellent ‘tributes’ to her legacy.

Glena Jackson MP’s tirade against Thatcher in tribute debate in Parliament (Weds 10 April)

Ken Livingstone – ‘Throw out the myths about Margaret Thatcher’ (Guardian, Thurs 11 April)

Seumas Milne – ‘It’s time to bury not just Thatcher – but Thatcherism’ (Tues 16 April)

Come down for 1pm and join the largest demonstration so far against privatisation at Sussex University and to show that universities nationwide are not for sale.

Join the facebook event here. The meeting point is Library Square.

The privatisation of universities and their services are part of the wider agenda of the marketisation of higher education. The fight against privatisation is a fight for education and public services. The University of Sussex is currently at the forefront of what is set to be a national trend of services being privatisation to the detriment of staff, students and society at large. An injury to one is an injury to all!

You can find the initial statement of the Bramber House occupiers, as well as other background info here.

Check out the National Union of Students statement in support of the campaign here.

Next week hundreds of students will be participating in the Bring Back EMA National Day of Action on Tuesday 19 March – the day before Tory Chancellor George Osborne delivers his budget to Parliament.

This national day of action will see more than 10 campuses – from Gateshead to Birmingham – doing stunts, banner drops, petitioning MPs and more in a bid to raise the profile of the campaign to bring back EMA and put pressure on George Osborne and MPs ahead of the budget.

This latest action will build on the incredibly successful Bring Back EMA Week of Action which took place earlier this month and succeeded in getting over 50 MPs signed up to the Early Day Motion calling on the government to do a u-turn and give us back our EMA.

In a welcome development the National Union of Students is now also taking up the issue by organising ‘Another EMA is Possible – Nationwide teach Outs’ on Friday 22 March. This will provide a further opportunity for students to discuss the importance of investing in further education and building support for bringing back EMA on our campuses and in our communities. At my own college, I’ll be organising activities for both of these important days of action.

The NUS’ important ‘Pound In Your Pocket’ research shows the impact that the scrapping of EMA has had on FE students, with many students regularly worrying about not having enough money to meet their basic living expenses. The majority of students also said they would prefer to receive weekly cash payments to help them cover their expenses.

All calls for EMA to be extended beyond 16-19 year olds and for the level of weekly EMA payments to be increased above 2011 levels should be warmly welcomed. However, the immediate dividing line amongst our political representatives in parliament is whether or not we should bring back EMA at all – and so we must continue to unite in pressuring MPs to fall on the right side of the dividing line.

NUS should support the hundreds of students campaigning on their campuses for increased student support as part of the Bring Back EMA campaign alongside making the case for massive state investment in Further and Higher Education. NUS should also abandon its support for students paying thousands of pounds in the form of a graduate tax to go to university, and instead make the moral, economic and social arguments for free education at all levels.

Next week when the Tories announce even more cuts to education in their budget, FE students will be leading the fight back by demanding that the cuts stop and the government fund the country’s future. The first step of which must be to immediately bring back EMA.