Defend victimised students! Defend education!

On Friday 16^th March, several hundred students
marched through Cambridge to demonstrate against the victimisation of a single
student who has been handed the punishment of two-and-a-half years suspension
for his role in a peaceful protest earlier in the academic year. This
outrageous punishment was a clear signal from the University authorities that
students should not step out of line and that protests against education cuts
will not be tolerated. Meanwhile, the 500-strong demonstration sent an equally
clear message that the mass of students will stand by their victimised peers in
solidarity.

The punishment of the victimised student was in response to
a protest in Cambridge in November 2011, when the Coalition’s universities
minister, David Willetts, came to give a speech on “The Idea of the
University”. Willetts was due to give a talk about the government’s Higher
Education White Paper, in which the Coalition outlined their plans to open up
universities to privatisation, threatening the closure of courses, departments,
and possibly entire universities.

The Cambridge University Student Union responded to the
visit of Willetts by calling a demonstration before the talk. A group of 20-25
students, however, decided that this was not enough and decided to disrupt the
Willetts talk. Before even opening his mouth to speak, Willetts was stopped in
his tracks by a “human mic”, in which one student recited lines from a poem
that were then repeated by the rest of the protestors. The poem, specially
written for the event, gave a stinging and eloquent criticism of the Higher
Education White Paper, of the coalition government and their austerity
programme, and of Willetts himself.

“Freedom of speech”

The University responded by accusing the students of
“preventing freedom of speech”. This is a joke in very bad taste. To suggest
that David Willett’s “freedom of speech” was prevented by this protest is pure
nonsense. Willetts is a government minister who has the whole state apparatus
and all of the major media channels at his disposal in order for people to hear
his thoughts regarding the dismantling of higher education, which he has made
clear on many previous occasions. Allowing “freedom of speech” does not mean providing
a platform to government ministers who are hell-bent on privatisation and
austerity.

Some academics and students who attended the talk by
Willetts complained that they had been prevented from challenging the minister
with difficult questions and engaging him in debate. Presumably these
individuals felt that they could persuade Willetts, with their intelligence and
intellect, not to privatise and cut higher education. Unfortunately, however,
the Coalition’s programme of privatisation and austerity is not an ideological
one that can be turned around through academic arguments. The Tories are well
aware of the various arguments against their policies, and the minds of
Willetts and all other coalition ministers will not be changed simply through a
nice, calm, rational debate. The Coalition’s policies are motivated, not simply
by ideology, but by the crisis of capitalism, which is forcing all governments
across the world to carry out austerity and attacks on working people and
youth.

The only way to stop the government’s attacks on higher
education, and all public services, is to get rid of this rotten government
itself. Whilst we are sympathetic to the aims of those who disrupted David
Willetts’ talk in Cambridge, we must point out that such small-scale actions
are not enough in terms of achieving this goal. What is needed is for mass
action involving the mass of students and workers, led by a fighting leadership
that is armed with a socialist programme.

In this respect, it is the role and responsibility of the
student unions to organise and lead a mass campaign against the privatisation
of universities and the cuts to higher education. The student union leadership
should be using every available platform at their disposal to argue the case
against cuts and for a socialist alternative, and to build a mass movement of
students. This should be linked to the labour movement and the need to fight
against all the attacks on pensions, jobs, wages, and public services.

This was the position put forward by Ben Gliniecki in his
recent campaign for President of Cambridge University Student Union (CUSU). In
all his election material (see www.gliniecki.com),
Ben argued that CUSU must link up with the trade unions, university staff, and
school students, along with other student unions, in order to fight all the
cuts.

The right to protest

Importantly, it is the organisation of mass demonstrations
by student unions that will prevent student protestors from being victimised
and punished. Paradoxically, it is only through mass protests that we can
defend our right to protest.

This victimisation of the student in Cambridge caused anger
and outrage amongst the wider student body. At the time of writing, 2800
Cambridge University students have signed a petition condemning the
University’s decision to suspend the individual concerned. In addition, the
news of this outrageous punishment made national news, and a further 4800
people have signed the petition from across the country, including John
McDonnell MP and Liam Burns, the President of the NUS.

In response to the pressure from below, the CUSU leadership
organised the protest on Friday 16th March at only 24 hours notice,
with approximately 500 students in attendance. The scale of this demonstration,
achieved at such short notice, shows the huge reserves of support that can be
gathered for action when organised through the mass organisations. The
important thing now is for CUSU to carry on the campaign against student
victimisation in a serious manner.

The next step that will be taken is unclear. The CUSU
leadership have made it clear that they would prefer not to organise a mass
campaign, but that they would prefer to challenge the suspension using
legalistic measures, by appealing through the University’s archaic internal
judicial system. Such methods, however, can only work if they are backed up by
the physical presence of mass demonstrations and meetings.

The Cambridge Marxists are calling on the CUSU leadership to
organise an Extraordinary General Meeting – i.e. a mass meeting of students –
in which a vote of no confidence in the University and its disciplinary
procedures can be made. This was the tactic employed at the University of
Sussex in March 2010, when six students were suspended for taking part in a
protest. Following a mass meeting of the student union, at which 800 students
unanimously voted for no confidence in the Vice Chancellor. Following this, the
decision to suspend was overturned, and the “Sussex Six” were reinstated.

Victimisation and the state

The victimisation of this student in Cambridge is part of a
wider move in society towards the restriction of the democratic right for
students and workers to organise and protest. The ruling class is determined to
defend the capitalist system at all costs. They have no reforms to offer the
working class and the youth in Britain or elsewhere. The cupboard is bare and
austerity is the only item on the menu.

Without any concessions to offer to the masses, the ruling
class in Britain and internationally have attempted instead to lean on the
leaders of the labour movement and ask them to hold back their members.
However, in times of deep crisis, the pressures within society must be
reflected in some way, and even the most conservative of trade union leaders
can be forced into calling for strikes and mass action. This was the case with
the public sector strikes on the 30thin spite of the trade union
leadership, not because of them. Similarly with the 1926 General Strike in
Britain, which was reluctantly called by the TUC leadership due to pressure
from below. November 2011, which were
called

As a result of these pressures within society, which cannot
necessarily find a safe outlet through the leaders of the labour movement, the
ruling class is forced to rely ever more on tools of the state – the courts and
the police, in order to stop workers and youth from organising and taking
action. Hence the victimisation of student protestors, the blacklisting of
militant trade unionists, the heavy presence of police on demonstrations, and
the legal challenges to strike action by employers through the courts.

In the final analysis, however, the law is only words on
paper, backed up by the state – which in turn is composed of armed bodies of
men. The example of the recent Egyptian revolution – and many other revolutions
throughout history – show that even the most authoritarian and monstrous state
apparatus can collapse like a house of cards once the masses move. The wildcat
strikes – i.e. illegal strike action – at the Lindsey oil refinery and across
the UK in February 2009 shows that when workers move en masse, there is nothing
the state can do to stop them (see https://communist.red/lindsey-strikers-latest.htm).
Similarly, the recent victory of the Sparks shows that militant mass action
pays (see https://communist.red/victory-sparks-dispute.htm).

In order to stop the victimisation of protestors and
activists, students and workers must unite and fight to defend our basic
democratic rights to organise and take action. This battle of workers vs. the
bosses, of students vs. university officials, requires a leadership that is
willing and able to build a mass movement, armed with a socialist programme,
that will kick this government out and put an end to the misery and oppression
of the capitalist system.