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Here is a short report on John McDonnell's lecture at the ULU Marxists Meeting in London last week
As the current economic
climate worsens the government and county councils are targeting education as a
means of saving money. Privatisation, redundancies and funding cuts are
tarnishing the education system that so many other countries strive for. Now, with tuition fees on
the increase - the yearly cap of £3,200 soon to be lifted - competition to get
into what remains of higher education is becoming progressively biased towards
only the more privileged members of society.
Nowhere is the chasm between leadership and rank and file more seemingly unbridgeable than in
the student movement. In 2009, students in the UK have spontaneously occupied
universities to protest at Israel’s
war on Gaza, to
fight against deportations of university cleaning staff, and against massive
cuts in teaching staff. At the same time, they face the worst attacks on their conditions
in living memory in the form of increasing fees, the end of grants, and the
vanishing jobs market. This is clearly an explosive combination.
As
the consequences of the capitalist crisis continue to unfold before our eyes,
it is becoming clear just how much of an impact this recession is having on
education. The main focus of this article
is on just how much of an impact debt forced on parents is having on their
children’s education and therefore their future.
A year before the next general election is due the Labour Government is
proposing another increase in top up fees for UK students. Currently
universities can charge up to £3,000 per year. It is being proposed
that they can be raised to £7,000. 
The recent wave of student occupations in solidarity with Gaza has highlighted a renewed political consciousness among students, and the success that can be achieved through direct action. The spontaneous and independent basis of the occupations also revealed the potential for mobilisation through grass-roots organising in channels outside of the National Union of Students. In the midst of such developments, a referendum among students on the University of Sussex's affiliation to the National Union of Students was held last month. Those who voted 'yes' to affiliation won by a staggering 87.4%. 
