London FE colleges hit by six strikes
UCU members in Further Education report on strikes that took place across London yesterday Seven London Further Education colleges took coordinated strike action yesterday against course closures and massive job cuts. Members of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) have been campaigning since the election in May against draconian cuts to college budgets, most notably […]
Colossal cuts for further education
With colossal cuts looming, Barbara Jeffery and Mark Winter outline the devastating impact that the Tory plans for further education will have on colleges At the onset of their second term, the Government outlined their plans for adult further education. Excluding funding for apprenticeships, the budget for 2015/16 will be […]
1915 Glasgow Rent Strike: how workers fought and won over housing
One hundred years ago the workers and housewives of Glasgow forced the government to place on the statute book the first-ever Rent Restrictions Act.
Glasgow Homeless Caseworkers strike: defending services against austerity and a Labour council
Homeless Caseworkers in Glasgow have been on strike for ten weeks for decent pay. Austerity is forcing working-class people in the city out of their homes. But, as Christine Bird reports, Glasgow’s Labour council seems more concerned about imposing Tory cuts than providing services to homeless people. Last Friday, after they had been on strike for nine weeks, the council made […]
It IS racist to worry about “foreign” nurses – a reply to Dr Max Pemberton
The problem isn’t nurses from abroad – it’s understaffing, pay reductions and bureaucracy, writes Mark Boothroyd, himself a nurse. Max Pemberton’s Daily Mail comment piece “It’s NOT racist to worry about foreign nurses” is a truly shameful article of writing. Using the deranged actions of a single individual who happens to be Filipino as an […]
Manchester protests against austerity
Mikhil Karnik and Ian Allinson provide pictures, interviews and a report from today’s anti-austerity demonstration in Manchester. During the afternoon around 1000 people took part in a static anti-austerity demonstration in Piccadilly Gardens. It brought together people from a wide variety of campaigns along with a significant number protesting for their first time. Speeches focussed […]
Protest as Ealing Maternity Unit threatened with closure
Protests continue against the end of maternity services in Ealing, reports Steve Eason. Today the Clinical Commissioning Group for Ealing held its public consultation at a private sports club near West Ealing. They discussed the closure of Ealing Maternity Unit and resulting closures including paediatrics and gynaecology. A panel of some 24 leading NHS cutters […]
Occupations for homeless rights and education in Manchester
Ian Allinson reports from a lively, if soggy, day in Manchester for the occupations in the city centre for homeless rights and at Manchester University for free education. The homeless rights camp had been in St Peter’s Square, outside the Town Hall, for some weeks while Manchester’s Labour council paid money to drag homeless people […]
Four thousand march against the Tories in Bristol
A demo against austerity in Bristol yesterday, organised by local students on Facebook, was a big success. Linda Nunns reports. Today something happened in Bristol that nobody predicted. A group of students started a Facebook group a couple of days ago to organise a protest against austerity and to “get the Tories out”. 4,000 people said […]
Angry central London protest attacked by police
The first full day of the Tory government has seen inspiring resistance – but also police attacks on the right to protest. The protest was defiant from the beginning, as Neil Rogall reports. “In the wake of the election demoralisation and depression the last thing I expected when I got off the bus by Westminster Cathedral […]
Why do earthquakes kill?
We can’t predict earthquakes. We’re not going to when and where exactly a fault will break, but we can prepare for them, and try to mitigate the effects when they do occur.
A tree without roots
Zakir Gul argues that the axing of ‘community languages’ at A level reveals the government’s contempt for Britain’s ethnic minorities and their heritages. White just got whiter. Examination boards AQA and OCR have decided to axe several essential languages at A level. The list includes Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Polish, Turkish and Persian. The British government’s […]
“FE means Free Education Further Education For Everyone”
Mark Winter reports 1200 lecturers and students marched on Saturday 25th against the 24% cut in adult education, on a national demonstration called by the UCU (University and Colleges Union). The cuts are massive – UCU estimates that they could lead to a loss of more than 400,000 places for adult students in 2015/16 alone. […]
Students protest against LeSoCo cuts – photo report
Colin Revolting and Ian Crosson report 200 jobs are at risk at Lewisham and Southwark College. Yesterday lunchtime around 50 students from the college took part with others in a protest against these cuts. Shakira Martin, who is SU President in the college has just been elected Vice President for Further Eduction at the NUS […]
“Are you like wearing mascara?”
As part of rs21’s ongoing series on trans liberation, Sølvi, a teaching assistant in a London secondary school, tries to grapple with what it means to be non-binary when working in education.
NUT conference 2015 report: why are teachers always complaining?
The current coalition government has seen major public sector strikes including all three teaching unions. As we edge ever closer to the general election Andy Stone, president of Wandsworth NUT, reports in a personal capacity from this years recent NUT conference in Harrogate Education is a battleground for two intersecting conflicts over austerity and neoliberal ideology. While the effects […]
Report from the Free University of Lahore
The Free University of Lahore reports on the continued censorship about the thousands of Baloch who have gone missing or been brutally murdered in southwest Pakistan. Recently, the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan came under immense state pressure to suppress free speech. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) at LUMS organized a […]
Report from the LSE occupation
Matt Myers reports from the ongoing occupation at the London School of Economics, and considers what it tells us about the modern university. It was a very odd way to start an occupation, being presented with edible offerings and an ironic solidarity fist salute by LSE’s Vice Chancellor (VC), Craig Calhoun, the highest paid individual […]
Laboratories of struggle: Occupations, alternatives and strategy
Recent weeks have seen a new wave of campus struggles, with occupations in London and Amsterdam, and strikes in North America. Tabitha Spence analyses the significance of these struggles and where they might go next. Time and again history has witnessed student activists rising to the challenge of playing instrumental roles in building and strengthening social […]
Dundee porters on strike against low pay
Mike A reports from the hospital porters’ strike in Dundee. On the wall of the Medical Library at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, there is a poem by Michael Rosen. It’s a fine tribute to all those who contribute to caring for us in hospital when we need it, whether medical staff or not, and I […]
Cat’s credit crunching: why are house prices so high?
Serious Sherrl asks: Interest rates have been at a record low for many years. But nobody in London can afford to buy even a tiny flat. Why are house prices and rents rocketing in London? What are banks and building societies doing with all that money? Who is benefitting from all this? Dear Sherrl Keeping interest rates low […]
Bollocks to the Poll Tax
Colin Revolting remembers the day 25 years ago when one of the biggest marches ever turned into a mass riot which sunk the Tory flagship Poll Tax policy and took Prime Minister Thatcher down with it.
Lively LeSoCo lobby against FE cuts
Ian Crosson reports: Last Tuesday (24 March) there was a lively lobby of the governing body of Lewisham and Southwark College outside the Lewisham Way site. The lobby was called to protest against a £7m cut to the staff budget, which is largely the result of the massive national funding cuts to adult education. […]
Dear Maagdenhuis, can we please get our shit together?
Donya Alinejad, a member of the Dutch group Internationale Socialisten, reflects on the occupation at the University of Amsterdam. She argues that if the movement is to win, it must not just formulate answers, but also struggle for the power to implement them. This article was originally published on roarmag.org I confess, from the first time I […]
Action against the 24% cut in Adult funding
Mark Winter, a lecturer at Tower Hamlets college, reports 200 lecturers and students marched on Downing Street on Wednesday (25 March) as part of a protest organised by UCU against a 24% cut to funding for adult education. As a result of the cuts 400,000 places will be lost, and these cuts could be a deathblow to […]
On decolonizing education and the perils of speaking good english
Racism is both material and ideological, reaching even into the heart of language, thought and memory. Annie Teriba asks how education and minds can be decolonized. This piece was originally published on blackgirlspeak.wordpress.com When asked about the legacy of colonialism, I point out that we must still speak a colonial language in order to be […]
Occupy LSE demands free education and zero tolerance of oppression on campus
Rob B, a graduate teaching assistant at LSE, reports on the latest campus protests. Around 50 students at the London School of Economics (LSE) have occupied the Vera Ansty rooms in the university’s Old Building. They are protesting against the commercialisation of LSE, for free education and over a range of other issues. Occupiers led a demonstration of 400 students around […]
Residents and supporters march against plans to demolish the Aylesbury estate
Around 200 people joined the March for Aylesbury in Southwark, south London, yesterday to protest against longstanding plans to demolish the Aylesbury council estate. Residents are demanding that Labour-run Southwark council refurbishes their 2,400 homes instead. The march started with a rally at Burgess Park before marching down Albany Road, through the estate, past its […]
Tory cuts hitting FE hard
Mark Keating, a lecturer in a London college, discusses the cuts that are hitting the further education sector hard The Tories delivered another body blow to the further education (FE) sector when they announced swingeing 24% cuts to the Adult Education budget at the end of February. This kind of cut would have been greeted […]
An alternative to austerity is growing in Merseyside
Clara Saraiva shares the experiences of an anti-austerity conference bringing together grassroots activists across Merseyside. 100 people took part in the “No Austerity Conference” February 14 in Liverpool, with participation from representatives from trade unions, community organisations, leftist parties. The conference was conceived in November 2014, following the victory against the attempt at closure of 11 libraries by […]