Youth

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.

In November of 2011 record-breaking
statistics for youth unemployment were splashed across headlines in the
UK, with 21% of all 16 to 24-year-olds being unemployed, out of
education or training. In December the records were broken all over
again with youth unemployment reaching 1.027 million– equating to 22% of
all 16 to 24-year-olds.

Over the last year Greece has rarely
been out of the news across Europe. With headlines such as “Greek
tragedy”, “Corruption in every corner” and “Greece’s lazy workers”, the
capitalist media have painted the Greek people as first amongst the
so-called P.I.G.I.’S. (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Spain) of
Europe. It’s one-time international image as a sunny, friendly place has
been replaced by one of greed, corruption and chaos. This is part of
the ruling class campaign to blame the crisis of capitalism on the Greek
people, and tells us nothing of the hardships they have to endure

This is the year universities in
England are allowed to charge their UK based students £9000 for studying
for just one year. With most undergraduate courses lasting 3 years this
will mean that students may have to pay £27000 for tuition fees. This
doesn’t include the cost of living away from home. We probably will see a
major increase in students either living from home and going to more
local universities, or people will sadly sacrifice university education
altogether.

The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) landslide victory in the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election was exceptional under an electoral system designed to prevent majority governments.  It was one of the most important events in Scottish politics in recent years. This win was on the back of the Nationalist’s rule as a minority government since 2007. In the most recent elections the SNP gained seats in Glasgow, Fife and Renfrewshire, all long-considered Labour strongholds. The question of why this happened is important in understanding the impact on classroom sizes discussed in this article.

A solid number of
students including the QM Marxists joined staff from the UCU
and Unison in solidarity with their struggle against pension
reforms. From as early as 7am, students gathered at the main
gate to help set up picket lines. All entrances to campus
were covered. Students played a significant role in boosting
the strength of the pickets, and helped effectively close
off several of the main entrances.

News last week of 27 higher
education institutions lowering their 2012/2013 tuition fees to £7500
appears to have failed to have had a great impact on students/university
applicants. This could partly be put down to the lower fee still being
of a similar level to those being charged by other universities; many
potential students feel that they are going to be in so much debt when
they leave university that £4500 will not make much difference.

The one-day public sector strike on Nov 30th is not only getting support from the workers themselves but also from other sections of society. Here we publish a letter from a school student showing how they too are behind the strikers and their fight against the Tory attacks.

Glasgow University hasn’t been short
of dramatic events over 2011. This includes a march of over 3,000
students against course cuts, a major police operation attempting to
evict a student occupation which was successfully opposed by hundreds of
student protestors, and a tight election for the Student Representative
Council (SRC) presidency which saw the Left come within a couple of
hundred votes of winning. The situation has now developed to the point
where the victor of that election, Stuart Ritchie, has been forced to
resign only months into the first semester.

As the crisis of capitalism continues
to pile attack after attack on living standards, the student and labour
movements in Britain are preparing for their largest mobilisations in
decades and crucially are coalescing this Autumn into a momentous month
of activity in November. No one can deny that the national student
demonstration (9th November) and the coordinated strike action (30th
November) are really part of the same struggle.

Marxist ideas have never been more relevant and more needed than in this
present epoch. Students, especially those entering university for the
first time, have become radicalised and are asking profound questions
about our society. Above all they want to change society in a
revolutionary way – from Wall Street to Cairo radicalised students are
demanding a different kind of society and are experimenting with
different methods of mobilisation to effect that. Underneath this
process lies a thirst for revolutionary ideas. This enthusiasm was
certainly experienced by Militant Student supporters up and down the
country as they took part in freshers fairs.