Just a few days before the Scottish
Government are to announce details of a series of major spending cuts
to public services, students from around Scotland have occupied the
George Square at Edinburgh University in protest against rising tuition
fees for English, Welsh and Northern Irish students wanting to attend
Edinburgh University.
Just a few days before the Scottish
Government are to announce details of a series of major spending cuts
to public services, students from around Scotland have occupied the
George Square at Edinburgh University in protest against rising tuition
fees for English, Welsh and Northern Irish students wanting to attend
Edinburgh University.
Therefore, Edinburgh University will become one of the most expensive
institutions in the UK, charging up to £36,000 for a degree to students
from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The occupation can be seen as part of a general mood developing
across the country against the Government’s decision to make spending
cuts to basic public services, such as education and community services.
It follows a series of strikes and protests all around the country,
such as the strike at the end of June and the occupation of the
Hetherington building at Glasgow University. This general mood showed
its ugly face in the English riots in August and it is likely to
increase over the rest of the year, after the biggest trade unions
across the UK announced they will be balloting for co-ordinated strike
action for the 30th November which is expected to involve millions of workers all over the country.
However, this is only part of a bigger picture. Spending cuts to
public services have already been announced in many countries across
Europe, such as Greece, Italy and Spain, as well as United States and
South American countries, such as Chile, where massive student protests
took place over the summer.
In an effort to save the collapsing capitalist system and those
responsible for the current major economic crisis, governments from all
over the world are not hesitating in attacking and reducing to ashes the
rights for which the working class has been struggling for generations.
Public services, which should cover the fundamental needs of the
population who, in the end, are financially supporting these services
with taxes, are now subject to privatization and speculation from the
financial markets.
We believe that measures such as these only respond to the greed of
an exploitative system that is trying to save itself from its collapse
by making profit out of basic human needs. The Edinburgh Uni Marxist
Society wholeheartedly supports this occupation, and any plans for
further action, as part of a wider movement looking to challenge and
overthrow the decaying capitalist system and achieve socialism, where
free education would be guaranteed.
