Convention Against Fees and Cuts forms national campaign

The massive struggles and opportunities facing students were brought together last Saturday at the first meeting of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. Hosted at University College London, the strength of student-led resistance to cuts was demonstrated by the presence of over 150 activists representing dozens of universities and campaigns.

The much-anticipated successor to last year’s Student Co-ordination, the convention was called in response to the wave of attacks tearing through universities and colleges across the country. The cost of bailing out the bankers means the government will claw back the £billions by slashing welfare, education, and public services.

The severity of cuts threatens to create a two-tier education system, risking thousands of jobs and the future of a generation of young people. The savage nature of the cuts has provoked a wave of resistance which has already won significant victories at Tower Hamlets and London Met.

Recognising the need to build on our initial successes before the government level attacks to come, the convention was marked by a determination to commit to the structures necessary to generalise existing campaigns into a mass student resistance to attacks on education, jobs and our futures.

After opening reports and discussion on the national picture, the convention split into regional workshops to discuss current and future work in the North, the South, and London and East Anglia. Convenors were elected from each region to co-ordinate actions and meetings.

Workshops were held to discuss uniting with school and college students, who will suffer disproportionately from the effects on the crisis, and how to develop solidarity between students and staff on campus. Discussions on how to structure a campaign and tactics for occupations seem to have paid off with a protest at Sussex uni today ending in an occupation. Among the many highlights was hearing from Austrian students who have been involved in some of the biggest and most militant education protests in recent years.

The international character of education attacks was addressed by the convention with a commitment to sending representatives to future European mobilisations and meetings. The demonstrations and Bologna counter-summit in Vienna in March will be an important step towards integrating Britain with the European-wide resistance movements.

The final session of the conference succeeded where the Student Co-ordination failed, by formally launching the Campaign, and passing a series of resolutions which address the challenges confronting us. The resolutions contained support for student and industrial action against cuts, support for migrant and non-academic staff on campus and to support anti-cuts work internationally.

Regional committees of the convention will be meeting regularly to co-ordinate support for ongoing struggles in the run up to the first meeting of the campaign’s open national steering committee on February 21st.

The convention represents a huge step forward in our efforts to unite the disparate anti-cuts campaigns. With student unions at Leeds and Gloucester attacking their staff for threatening industrial action, the student movement must be increasingly vigilant and prepared to take the necessary measures to defend education.

Students and staff who are fighting for jobs and education should contact the Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and join their regional group to develop a genuinely national movement that can beat the capitalists’ attempts to make workers and youth pay the cost of their crisis.

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