News: 2007-2008

Reclaim the Campus

On Saturday 17th May, activists across the country will be gathering at the London School of Economics to share our ideas and experiences, to map out the next steps in the fight against fees, as well as to work on how Education Not For Sale itself should be shaped. A full introduction to the context and aims can be found here, and the draft agenda here. If you're interested in coming, email the discuss list, camensdiscuss@lists.riseup.net, and we'll try to co-ordinate transport.

ENS Nightschool

Monday, 9pm - meet at King's Porters' Lodge.

Open to all, and bring books and material you might want to share.

Agenda:

  1. Political division and unity: Free education, socialism and broad-church movements.
  2. The student movement: Occupations, direct actions and the NUS.
  3. The current climate in the UK: NUT, Northern Rock, 10p tax.
  4. The current climate internationally: Neo-liberalism; free education and capital-poor countries.
  5. On our campus: CUSU, it's structures and its possibilities.
  6. Cultural politics: Copyright and marketisation.

Obviously there's a great deal of ideas here, and we won't be able to discuss everything. But with hope this is just the start of a program of self-education this term.

"The occupation in Manchester last Tuesday, the NUT strike last Thursday: there is a vibe, and a reason to educate each other now. With this in mind, come along, ring people up, email them, tell them to come - and at the end of it we'll start forming a concrete mission, concrete ways forward. Including an action later this term."

FE Lecturers Strike

Protest at the Guildhall, Market Square, Thursday 28th April, 12 noon - 1pm.

FE College Lecturers across the England in the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) have voted to strike on Thursday 24 April in support of a demand to bring their pay up to that of schoolteachers. Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), who teach in schools, are also striking on Thursday 24 April over a separate pay claim. They are holding a joint demonstration outside the Guildhall in the city centre. Details of pickets will be circulated around mailing lists as they arrive.

Let's make it clear that it's in students' interests that teachers and lecturers are better paid, and let's demonstrate that we're behind them when it comes to strike action!

Updates

Campaign to Defeat Fees Rally

The Campaign to Defeat Fees (CDF) is a national campaign which has been organised by Socialist Students and last year was very successful in organising large-scale campaigns in campuses across the country. This year the CDF is back in full force and there will be a demo in Cambridge on the 21st of February.

We hope this will be a rally which brings together students from different institutions in and around Cambridge including Anglia Ruskin Students' Union [ARSU], CUSU, the Trade Council and local Sixth form colleges.

So come and join us - demonstrate on 21st February at 12 noon outside Anglia Ruskin University (just off Parker's Piece). In the meantime, why not get your JCR/MCR, FE Council, Student Union, or other representative body to support the demo and send a representative? Here's a model motion to get you started.

CUSU Fees Week

In week seven, CUSU is organising a series of talks and discussion about fees and funding. ENS is going to be heavily involved in making the case for free education and ensuring that CUSU maintains its anti-fee policy. For more information on Fees Week, email Richard, the CUSU HE Funding Officer, at rb440.

New student newspaper

ENS are supporting the creation of a new print forum for left wing debate. It aims to have an open and democratic editorial body. The next meeting is on Sunday 16th, 7pm, King's Bar. Come along and get involved! (If you can't make the meeting, contact Kath at krm31 for more information). If you want to send articles in, the first deadline is Friday 22nd February, for an issue to be published on 13th March.

'Supersize My Pay' Speaker in Cambridge

Since 2005, workers and activists in New Zealand have been organising together in a campaign called Supersize My Pay. Fastfood workers from Starbucks, KFC and Pizza Hut alike united together and walked out of work to form a picket line - and they won!

For One Night Only: Michael Treen from the innovative Supersize My Pay Campaign will be in Cambridge to speak about how they did it!

The speech is part of a nationwide tour that will be the highlight No Sweat's Week of Action (11th-18th February 2008). Come and join us in this unique opportunity to learn from their experiences!

NUS Reform

This term's CUSU Open Meeting is on Wednesday, 21st November at 7.15pm in the Jesus Forum. There is a motion there regarding the constitutional changes to the NUS that are currently being rushed through an Extraodinary Conference. The motion doesn't stop the changes, but it goes some way towards fixing the most dangerous problems, including the issues regarding:

If these problems are written into the constitution, they may become impossible in practice to remove. (That's true of the rest of the changes to the constitution as well).

There's also a meeting in debate the NUS reform more generally, called by King's College Student Union, That'll be on Thursday 2nd November at 6pm in King's Bar.

You can read more about the background to the problems of the NUS conference here: Word Document. The NUS Website has the details of the changes.

Update

Unfortunately, the proposal passed through the Extraordinary Conference. The Chair refused to count the final vote, but it was close, and and it may well be fully overturned come Annual Conference in April.

Freshers' Fair

Come and meet us on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd of October on stall E19 of the CUSU Societies' Fair in the Kelsey Kerrige Sports Hall.

Feminist Fightback 07

Saturday 20 October 2007

Back for a second year, the Feminist Fightback activist conference is organised by a group of socialist feminists, including the Education Not for Sale student network. It aims to bring together feminists from a wide range of perspectives to debate ideas and develop practical strategies for fighting women’s oppression and exploitation.

Fightback 07 will build on the success of last year’s conference, attended by over 220 people, which gave rise to several activist initiatives, including the March 3 2007 Torch-Lit March for Abortion Rights.

Plus film showings

Feminist Fightback’s supporters include the National Union of Students Women’s Campaign, the RMT Women’s Committee and the International Union of Sex Workers.

The conference will be held at the University of East London Docklands campus (see here for details and directions). For more information, or to register, ring 07890 209 479, or email feminist.fightback@gmail.com.

Older news can be viewed in the archive.