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Last Wednesday around 480 students and
staff filled the largest meeting room of the Bristol Students Union.
This was an Extraordinary General Meeting, called as a result of a 24
hour occupation of the union last week.
At the Emergency General Meeting in
SOAS November 18th the students voted for the occupation of space that
the university usually rents out for money. SOAS is a unique institution
because it focuses on a variety of topics and languages such as those
from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The school has already announced
cuts to 95 specialist courses
I found myself stuck in Newcastle
on Monday night due to the cancellation of the busses and took the opportunity
to walk over to the fine arts building at the University to see how the Students
were getting on in their occupation and asked if there was any other support
that they might need.
100,000 marched from Wood Quay to the
GPO today (Monday) in protest against the austerity measures outlined in the
four year plan despite the cold wintery weather. A few even
demonstrated in a curagh on the Liffey – the workers navy has arrived.
Meanwhile the government are behind closed doors discussing the
bailout package with the officials.
On Saturday 27th November 2010, Worcester Trades
Union Council chair Steve Martin welcomed over 40 trade union and political
activists to the conference called by the Trades Council to seek a co-ordinate
campaign of resistance to the Coalition plans to cut public expenditure.
After weeks of dancing the seven veils,
trying to hide what they were up to, the government, the EU and the IMF
announced on prime time television today (Sunday)that they have signed up to an €85 billion bailout. The money which has 5.8% interest rate attached to it will go to recapitalise the banks( €10bn); fund the budget (€50bn) and deal with “banking contingencies” (€25bn). So in other words the whole lot is going to bail out the banks and keep the government finances going.
John Swinney’s launch of the Scottish budget went down like a damp squib
as the Nationalist government attempts to balance its way between the
cuts from Westminster and the increasingly unpopular administration’s
electoral prospects in May. The Finance Minister announced a raft of
cuts, “efficiency savings” and real wage cuts.
The buzz word is “contagion”, the fear that
the financial crisis will spread. With the Irish economy on the brink of
collapse, the government has been forced to introduce even more
draconian cuts
to the tune of £20bn to pave the way for an EU/IMF bail-out package. All
eyes
are now turning to Portugal and even Spain as the speculators move from
one
country to another.
IRELAND: The four year plan has been announced, the
cuts have been declared and the working class, particularly the poorest
sections,
are in the firing line once again.
The student movement accross Britain continued on Wednesday
24th November, with thousands of students and school students
demonstrating in cities
and towns across the country. Following on from the 50,000 strong
national
demonstration in London on the 10th November, an equivalent
number
came out to protest against the cuts, but this time in dozens of
separate
events throughout Britain.
At least 2,000 university,
FE and school students, together
with college trade unions, marched through Liverpool as part of
the national day of action against Tuition Fees.