Stop the Cuts - National Demonstration

Is anyone on the forum planning on attending the march on wednesday?

NUS and the University and College Union (UCU) are jointly organising a national demo, ‘Fund Our Future: Stop Education Cuts’ on Wednesday 10 November 2010, in central London.

The demo is part of our strategy to influence the Coalition Government. NUS and UCU firmly believe that education changes the lives of individuals, families and communities. Education and skills will also be key to our economic recovery.

Staff and students in further and higher education are coming together to build an unprecedented coalition to fight against the cuts that have been imposed upon our communities, as well as to resist the prospect of higher fees and increasing privatisation in education.

I would go, but i've got lectures...

I most certainly am...

I'm in UCU and will be there. looks like it'll be big.

let's hope it doesn't end up as a bloodbath like Dublin did.

note to self: if attacked by police do not sit down and hope they will just go away.

I'll be there, with placards! Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah...

I'll be there, with placards! Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah...

i'll see your placard and raise you a flag!

i'll see your placard and raise you a flag!

I see your placard and raise you a banner that needs multiple people to hold it up sends email to make sure he has someone to help him carry banner

I will be busy working to pay my daughters' tuition fees....

I'm too busy working to pay for you to fund your ace bike skillz

Have to say this makes me quite nostalgic for the 1970s when i was a student. We had "fight the cuts" demos then. Next thing we knew, we had Thatcher.

So that was your fault?

Have to say this makes me quite nostalgic for the 1970s when i was a student. We had "fight the cuts" demos then. Next thing we knew, we had Thatcher.

I spent about four years photographing street protests. I went to a lot of them. Of all the causes that organised marches the only one that could be said to have even partially achieved its aims was the anti-hunting-ban one. That the hunting bill was so watered down was probably not even due to the public protests anyway.
I could never make my mind up whether futile protests were worth it or not. What became obvious though was that the only thing that mattered was if the protest got on TV or not. You could have 10,000 people march through London and never see a single news report of it anywhere. Effectively the protest did not happen. Sadly only when a protest turned violent was it sure to be reported.
Also I hope that nobody protesting this week voted Conservative or LibDem in the election.

I'll be there. Lecturers encouraged us to go. And i know Leeds Uni alone has around 30 coaches of students going down.

Also I hope that nobody protesting this week voted Conservative or LibDem in the election.

Why?

I dont remember voting for all our arts funding to be axed and tuition fees being tripled.

national demo...central London.

Are these regional too? I'm likely stuck at work but would try to show at any Manchester event at the same time.

Why?

I dont remember voting for all our arts funding to be axed and tuition fees being tripled.

If you voted Tory, these are Tory policies so you can hardly complain. If you voted LibDem, they refused to rule out going in to a coalition with the Tories so, again, you can hardly complain when they follow through on that.

Lib Dem did promise to try and abolish tuition fees altogether though.

I definitely did not vote Tory, and yes i may have been a bit optimistic when voting Lib Dem, but to say Voting Lib Dem because of the possibility of a hung parliament means i cannot protest at the clusterfuck of cuts going on at the moment is total bullshit.

Politicians are politicians, they promise things and then pretend they never made them, I reserve my right to protest no matter who i voted for.

Lib Dem did promise to try and abolish tuition fees altogether though.

lolz

Fair enough but you are, like it or not, protesting against the consequences of your own actions. No wonder you are so pissed off. Luckily in another five years you will have the chance to make a protest that might actually work - at the ballot box.

Politicians are politicians, they promise things and then pretend they never made them, I reserve my right to protest no matter who i voted for.

In fact maybe the only protests that might work would be ones by disillusioned LibDem voters pointing out that if these Quislings continue to prop up the Tories they will never again get your vote.

Fair enough but you are, like it or not, protesting against the consequences of your own actions. No wonder you are so pissed off. Luckily in another five years you will have the chance to make a protest that might actually work - at the ballot box.

So if you vote for a party that wins you then have to agree with everything they do?

Did you vote for a party that won? Or one that just wanted to win really badly....

Indeed, you can say "make a difference at the ballot box" untill you're blue in the face, but the fact is with our current system that actually means very little.