Student Broad Left

Today the leadership body of the National Union of Students (NUS) failed to unite against racism and fascism in a new low for the student movement. The vote was close and a heated debate took place. This article includes the full text of the motion and how all of the NUS NEC members present voted.

Today (Monday 22 April 2013) marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a Black student, brutally cut down in his prime and murdered by racists in 1993.  Read more

Last week the British government announced that it will be sending hundreds of British troops to support the French army’s attack on Mali in Africa.

There is a serious threat that this could be the start of a major, long and bloody imperialist war in Africa. The West’s intervention in Mali will bring nothing but death, destruction and chaos.

Leading student activists from across the country have come together to sign the following Stop the War statement opposing British and foreign intervention in Mali.

To add you name to the ‘Students against British & foreign intervention in Mali’ statement please email me at aaron.kiely@nus.org.uk.

Last weekend’s National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts (NCAFC) Conference failed to agree a serious way forward in the student fight-back against austerity.

In the wake of the Tories’ Autumn Statement which launched fresh attacks on ordinary people last week, the emphasis of the NCAFC conference was not how to build the biggest and most united campaigns possible against fees and cuts, but rather on how to exclude people.

NUS Black Students’ Officer, Aaron Kiely, has led a successful campaign to stop life long fascist and former British National Party organizer Kevin Scott from speaking at a debate at Cambridge University on Thursday 29 November 2012.

By Matt Stanley, NUS NEC & President of Midkent College SU

Following the appalling decision of the ‘Leeds Student’ newspaper to publish an interview with fascist Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist British National Party (BNP) on Friday 26 October, the NUS Black Students’ Officer has launched an open letter demanding that this platform be withdrawn.

Student Broad Left believes that there is no place for fascism at any level of the student movement and support NUS’ long-standing policy to campaign against fascism and racism on campuses.

Please support the campaign by adding your name to the open letter, which we have republished below (by emailing aaron.kiely@nus.org.uk). The letter has already received enormous support from Leeds students and the wider student movement. Once you have signed up please encourage other students to sign the open letter too.

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.

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.

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?

In response to the enormous cuts offensive against students and the huge assaults on the living standards of the majority of society, a concerted opposition needs to be mounted.

Those waging the attacks want us all to be divided so that the opposition to austerity is weak. The left must try to ensure they are unsuccessful and that the movement against austerity is united.

The current NUS leadership is not in favour of opposing the massive attacks on students. Only the left is offering a way forward – for a fighting NUS that actively defends students against cuts, fees and attacks on our living standards.

The National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts National Conference is taking place this weekend in Birmingham (8 & 9 December 2012).

The Student Broad Left looks forward to this opportunity to unite the student left to take on the Tories, austerity and fight for the alternative – free education.

The motions we are putting forward to the discussion are: 1) We need left unity to demand a fighting NUS: take on the Tories & austerity 2) Bring Back EMA! 3) Venezuela shows there is an alternative: free education as a right 4) Fund Education Not War – Scrap Trident, Scrap Fees!

Yesterday over 10,000 students marched against the Tory-led government’s attacks on education in a noisy and angry national demonstration organised by NUS.

Over 100 people packed out Bolivar Hall in London for a meeting marking Black History Month on how social progress in Venezuela under the government of Hugo Chávez has benefited the Black communities in Venezuela and the wider Caribbean.

Leading anti-racist campaigner Doreen Lawrence and Dianne Abbott MP both reported on their recent visit to Venezuela as official elections observers where they witnessed the landslide victory of Hugo Chavez.

Opening the meeting, organised by the NUS Black Students campaign and Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Student’s Officer, said

“Historically Latin America has been dominated by slavery, colonialism and, in many cases, the extermination of its original inhabitants. But today it is a place that is inspiring people across the world as an alternatives to cuts, inequality and scape-goating we are seeing in Europe.

With freshers week underway or just around the corner at colleges and universities across Britain now is the perfect time to start promoting the national demo amongst students.

The NUS Black Students’ Campaign has these produced a fantastic, customisable for local details, #Demo2012 posters to be distributed throughout the student movement.

Order free posters for your campus now by contacting NUS Black Students’ Officer at aaron.kiely@nus.org.uk with your name, position, college/university, postal address and phone number.