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Day of Action Against Fees! national |
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news report
 Monday November 11, 2002 20:29 by Campaign for free education - CFE-UCD irishcfe at yahoo dot co dot uk
 Day of Action Against Fees Boycott Lectures and Reclaim your College This government has increased capitation fees by 69% and now plans to introduce fees of E4,000 or more. We cannot lie down and just accept this attack on education. Fees of E4,000 and more will mean thousands of student dropping out of college, poverty conditions for those who remain, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary young people being denied access to college. As the government is now firmly set on the re-introduction of fees, we have to be firmly set on opposing them - we have to be willing and able to take serious mass action against fees.
CFE has already successfully organised a blockade of Brian Lenihan, occupied the dual-carriageway for half an hour, and blockaded the Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey, within the Vet. Building for around two hours. All of this already proves to the government how serious we are in opposing their attacks. What's Next? Now, we have to move beyond these protests of hundreds, into action of thousands in UCD and try to co-ordinate our actions with mass action of students right across the country. We have to show the government and the public that we do not accept this vicious attack on education, and that we're all willing to take action to defend our right to education. This means that our next action is one that will really register our protest - a mass boycott of lectures and the reclaiming of our college for a day. This will show the government our resolve and prove to them that students are not a soft touch and are willing to fight on this issue to the end. It can also serve as a focal point for students across the country, showing what is possible, and also what is necessary to defeat the government. On Wednesday 20th November at 11am we are calling on all students to boycott lectures, and not to go back to them for the rest of the day. If you are opposed to the attack on your right to education, your action is necessary. The unity and action of all students is the only thing that can defeat this government. Talk to your class mates, and tell everyone you know to boycott lectures from 11am. We will then take action to reclaim our right to college - our right to education. Effectively, this will mean taking back the campus which our government wants to deny us access to. We want to have a very strong show of strength by student power in UCD which will be seen by other students across the country. This is a warning shot to the government, and if enough students act, it will put serious pressure on the government before the budget in early December. If enough of us are prepared to take action, we can prevent the government from further attacking our right to education, and begin the fight for truly free third level education.
Boycott lectures from 11a.m. |
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Comments (22 of 22)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22although the cfe is a ucd based campaign (mainly due to an inadequate at best su) ,were really interested to hear from anyone in other colleges involved in direct actions , or any actions of which chief wiggum would approve of in the 32 counties.power in numbers and all that.
also , make posters if you have the time , bring mega phones , and phones to hassle the government scared rte , and the student loving? dublin media - well have the numbers for you to punch in . costumes (these can be as simple as a jazzed up lab coat)are always nice .
start the forum on "reclaim the campus/stillorgan dual carrageway/rte buildings" (hello services!) with djs face paints (we need ca$h) fire jugglers.theres no shortage of talent in ucd (union corridor excluded)
and a final vital vital point
NO FORTHNIGHTLY "WORKER" "WIZZUM MAG" "VOICE" ANY LEFT WING MAGS/RAGS.this includes the millies who we love , and the swimmers who we dont.please please DONT send the wollies up students (most ARE right wing - like it or not) just out for the day interested in this issue! see the smaller picture ! (he he that one flips round and round) . only 12% of students dont support the cfe (according to a college paper survey) .im sure the other 88% dont live for eamonn mc cann every 2 weeks.short term - beat fees - long term , build the country in the image of leon trotsky ...etc
www.freeeducation.cjb.net
What is wrong with Political parties, or anyother group, distributing their material at a demonstraion.
Conor who are you to impose your ideas on other people? Why shouldn't the SWP, SP, WSM, or even FF, FG etc distribute their ideas among people?
I would agree that at certain demos party banners may be counter productive for the party and for the demo. We've seen this in student dmos in the past.
What's wrong with someone selling papers, if you're not interested just dont buy it!
I don't see the problem with selling and distributing literature/papers from any group at CFE demos. Surely CFE is a democratic organisation, members and supporters of CFE have a fundamental right to freely express their ideas to others on the demo.
All groups have the right do sell papers, whether they be SY, SWP, SA, WSM, AFI even SF FF PDs or FG. Particularly if a group has been active in the organisation and building for the demo I can't see the problem.
76% of students do support CFE and you are right to say that 76% of students are not revolutionary socialists (yet). But Socialist Youth are not crudely going to be shouting about revolution on CFE demos like some sects on the left regularly do. We will put forward transitional demands that will be based where the current consciousness is and pointing towards revolutionary conclusions.
Finghin, believe it or not, the average student at the day of action where the motorway was occupied, believed that the march was a "socialist" march. I heard many students, who were pissed off and had turned up in their hundreds that day, saying they'd not come back on cfe demos because they believed it was simply hijacked.
The worst thing we can do is to alienate our own students who are embittered at the capitation fee increase and potential re-introduction of fees, and we all know its blindingly obvious (its bad that we need to quote tribune surveys to free us from aonghus brain washing) that everyone is fucking annoyed as hell.
The bottom line is that yes, you have the right to sell your papers, but you should have the cop on that for the good of cfe, we need to retain students getting involved and not push them away. Surely thats more important than selling a few copies of the voice?
The selling of papers is a manifestation of the necessity of prioritising "the party" over anything else. It's also very silly.
However, there's generally only a minority who will spend the whole of a protest selling papers. A far more obvious hijack is the tendency to hand out placards to anyone who will take them (in order to create the impression of a greater level of support than there really is), thus giving people a choice: they agree with the sentiment expressed on the placard but not with the aims of the organisation which produced it.
This has resulted in the phenomenon of the "topped" placard: the top two inches or so, where the party has their logo, get ripped off, whereas the rest remain unmolested. (No party member can see this, they view everything in party-vision (tm) and so are unable to admit that this happens.)
The solution, to the extent that there is one, is to make other placards and banners; to use our imaginations and overcome the hijack by weight of numbers. Just a suggestion.
Garry I agree with you that all groups and parties should want to build the movement, in this case the movement against fees. It's unfortunate that some students thought that the CFE demo was a 'socialist' march, because it wasn't!
It should alos be acknowledged that there is a right of parties to distribute litrature and sell papers. Where is the problem? It's not hijacking protests, it's simply offering people there your opinions, there is no brainwashing, you can always discuss the issues raised in leaflets with party members. What's the harm?
I think many people have had a bad experience with the SWP, particularly in UCD. Just because the SWP were crude in their interventions into demos, doesn't mean that we can get rid of the rights of other groups and parties to freely express their opinions.
This is an example of anarchists undemocraticly imposing THEIR thoughts about parties on the movement.
Who gave the anarchists the right to determine how others work? You are all just opposed to parties, therefore you will do all you can to prevent the rights of parties.
Personally I've no problem with any party, SWP, SP, WSM, FF, FG, PD going to protests and putting their opinions across... it's called fredom of speech!!
I know that this Anarcho split from the SWSS in UCD have problems with parties, but why should others have their rights restricted because of it?
Could someone from the Socialist Alt Soc. in UCD please tell me why shouldn't parties try to build their support and their membership? why dont you!!
"an example of anarchists undemocraticly imposing THEIR thoughts about parties on the movement."
This is ridiculous. There was a request (not a demand or imposition) made that socialist recruiting groups shouldn't sell papers. This is not "undemocratic". How you can be so sure that it was made by an anarchist is somewhat presumptuous, but we'll let that one go for the moment.
"Personally I've no problem with any party, SWP, SP, WSM, FF, FG, PD going to protests and putting their opinions across... it's called fredom of speech!!"
Nobody is denying freedom of speech here, in fact implying that they do is really just an insult to those who really are denied freedom of speech. It is a request, similar to the requests that were made to the SWP before both the recent reclaim the streets events. On both occasions they were ignored by some members of the party, resulting in the farcical situation where members of the SWP stood in the middle of Baggot Street surrounded by dancers and people in pink tights, selling badges. No doubt, of course, this aided the coming revolution far more than any other possible action at the time.
It's perfectly possible (indeed, likely) that the requests will be ignored again. However, the fact that they have been made is important. The socialist recruiting groups cannot claim ignorance of the annoyance their antics provoke, at least on this occasion.
For the sake of context and transparency: just wanted to make clear that I'm not a member of any political group, socialist, anarchist or otherwise.
i dont think anyone in the sa or cfe have a problem with papers-it will only be the worker and the voice by the way-.freedom of speech and all that.the paper can be sold on campus whenever wherever!-just not under the cfe banner-for the sakes it not becoming another gr in appearance - because its structure (or lack thereof) is very very different.
this is an issue for STUDENTS
this is something students wont unite under if a couple of hacks get the number10 out from town and hang around the back with a moronic slogan looking as old as their policies.
i love the worker - i get it every fortnight and am constantly amazed at the high standards of comment , journalism and editorial layout.the voice too.im not attacking them , just 90% of students dont want them there - so please come along , enjoy the spirit , just dont kill it with a big ugly placard
thanks
First of all you have a right to speech and expression. Talking about a "Fundamental right to sell papers and distribute leaflets" is very individualistic and cheapens the struggles of those who have no kind of free speech as a general rule, not to mention the fact that calling something a right doesn't make it a right (think "right to hold property", "right to keep your money")
Accepting you have a right to sell and distribute what you like, though, I don't see where this right is being trampled on. There are places in the world where you would get thrown into jail for selling the Voice. Last time I checked that wasn't Ireland. So tone down the hysteria a bit. No-one said you wouldn't be allowed sell papers; surely your right to express your opinions in the paper is the same as their right to say that selling papers at these demos are bad?
Rights are great, we all love rights blah blah. But when you establish you have the right to do something you don't have to do it. You don't lose the right to sell your paper by leaving them at home for a day.
Just think about it a little...leaving apart the fact that every paper sold is another step on the way to the revolution, what is going to defeat fees (which I think no-one is disagreeing with) - five copies sold, or five hundred people who are more comfortable and more likely to come back?
Listen, if I was there I'd buy it; I always buy the voice off SY people and have no problem with it. But I also know plenty of people who will struggle if fees are hiked any further, and I think they deserve to fight against this and to win. The fact that they don't have similar opinions to the people on this page doesn't take away this, you guessed it, right.
Good luck all :-) you're leading the country on this issue...and much better co-operation than I've seen in a long time.
Conor and Daithi you are both right to an extent. I think that parties should have a correct strategy when selling their paper, giving out leaflets etc.
We all have experience of the SWP having a very crude approach. The SP dont, we will sell our paper to those that are interested, if your not you dont have to buy it.
SP is a political party that are confident about our ideas. We want others to read our ideas, discuss with us etc. And we do want likeminded people to join. We're not ramming it down your throats.
In UCD we played (and are playing) a key role in the CFE, as are SA. We do not want CFE to appear as a covergroup, because it isn't and it would damage the campaing if it was perceived as such.
Selling a paper or distributing leaflets will not necessarily get us closer to the revolution. What it will do is get people reading our ideas and discussing them.
Conor asks Socialist Youth not to sell the Voice on a demonstration which both SY and Conor have been involved in building for. Fine.
Socialist Youth, judging by Finghin's response, turn down that request. Also fine.
End of issue.
Fuck off Brian. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Other people do.
You can always depend on the SP sugar daddy to step in. They're doing a good job of defending it on their own, they don't need you to cut off debate.
Scared or something, Brian?
'Party Line' you seem to think that Brian is some kind of SP internet pope that tells us all what to do. I'm sure he'll have a good laugh at that!
'I would like to ask you not to sell papers'
Well I'd ask you to stop being a stupid bastard. And just cos I asked doesn't mean you'll stop being one.
Seems we have a few anarcho-liberals and this arse Conor who seem to think the selling of a socialist paper is connected to how many people turn up on a demo. Complete SHITE.
I suppose the Roman Empire destroyed the uprising led by Spartacus because somebody gave out a tablet linking up political issues.
Idiots.
I suppose you assume people sit at home upset about fees, the war etc and think I know I'll go on that there protest. Wait a minute - will somebody ask me to buy a left wing paper. Sod it, I'll not bother. GET REAL.
The greater the number of organised socialists - the bigger protests, demos etc. So ask away, but remember whats being told to fcuk off compared to what will be done during Kronstadt 2?
to understand the reason id prefair no papers to be there ,you have to unserstand the nature of an on campus march
they generally start small , but after some shouting etc , students (usually up to nonsense and mischief between lectures) join in - usually doubling the crowd.
if they (i.e. the STUDENTS) see it as being another socialist cover group (and is sure as fcuk isnt) - they wont join in.
end result - a hunderd or so hacks and macks shouting aimlessy at a concrete bunker,government laugh,or better still , we all march up to the su office and "demand the resignation" of an (although i hate to admit it) democratically elected su pres.
CERTAIN people get off on this bullshit - even people in the cfe , and those outside of ucd who come alonf for the ride .
its a petty sorry small minded affair.
Conor, I dont know where you are getting these ideas against parties. Afterall you are a member of a party! Why dont Socialist Alternative have litrature at demos, there's nothing stopping ye!
Why should you or anyone else impose your views of parties on others? most people dont have a problem with groups handing out leaflets or selling papers.
sa isnt quite what youd call a party is it?
we dont even have a formal structure (yet).we are a ucd society-this isnt a anti party thingy anyhow.we dont distribute "literature" at cfe demos,because we have the sense to recgonise that very very few of the potentially active students want it , and very very many would seem it to be symbolic of a "one solution revolution" type line of the cfe.one that thankfully dosent exist.
From your postings I can see that you have got alot of your ideas about parties from the SWP. The SWP are undemocratic, they are far more Centralist than Democratic.
SWP have a very crude approach to slogans and demands. We in the SP believe that the only solution is revolution, but to say that at a demo puts you out of touch with most people. We are Transitional when putting forward our slogans and demands (ie we phrase our demands to where most people are at politically)
I'm not going to tell you what to do in your own organisation, but I have to say having proper elected and accountable structures is very important. It makes groups far more effective and you get more done. I'd recommend any serious political group to get its structures sorted out.
Again I notice a scepticism towards most ordinary students. To be honest I have a greater faith in ordinary students than SU hacks. I think that the anger on fees is under-estimated by many.
thats fine!
im not sceptical toward students though.why do you say that?
also,if anyones in belfield tonight , michael mc dowells coming out to lawsoc in the arts bldg.ill post it along the newswire now.
thats fine!
im not sceptical toward students though.why do you say that?
also,if anyones in belfield tonight , michael mc dowells coming out to lawsoc in the arts bldg.ill post it along the newswire now.