There was a definite sense of deja vu in Edinburgh today as the far-right Scottish Defence League attempted to hold their latest ‘demonstration’, with hundreds of anti-fascists gathering to oppose them. But, unlike last time around, the script could’ve been written well in advance for the way in which events would play out today. And indeed, it had been – Lothian and Borders Police saw to that.
Having been turned down on their initial proposal to hold a march through the city centre, the SDL were forced to make do with a police sanctioned “static protest” outside the Apex Hotel on Waterloo Place, at which they gathered from early on. Anti-fascists were meanwhile meeting at the foot of the Mound, where a rally had been organised by Unite Against Fascism. After hearing from several trade union and political party speakers, a short, five minute march along Princes Street took place. However, upon nearing the pre-arranged spot for a ’second rally’, it became clear that the march was, in fact, being directed straight into a ‘designated protest area’ surrounded by metal barriers. When a sizeable section of the march stalled and attempted to resist entering this area, and to encourage others not to as well, UAF stewards rapidly intervened. We had to enter the protest area, we were told – and through a mixture of lies, confusion and just following the crowd, most did. Around 40 remained outside, staying mobile and attempting to reach the SDL – both to ensure that they would not be allowed a demonstration publicly, and to let them know that there was an anti-fascist presence in Edinburgh that day.
This was carried out with limited success, a shouting match (from great distance) with the SDL here and dash past police lines there. But with the vast majority of the anti-fascist demo, which had numbered up to 4-500 people, being herded into a pen, there was no scope for the kind of blockade of the SDL that took place last time they visited Edinburgh. With officers from at least four Scottish forces in attendance, the city centre was in a state of virtual occupation, with riot vans, prison buses and dozens of cops on every street in the proximity of the demonstrations. In this context, it wasn’t a victory for anyone but the forces of the state, who gave a textbook performance of flooding the streets with officers, keeping two opposing sides apart, maintaining order and having the whole thing over and done with by 2.30pm.
the fash get escorted away following their demo
Some sections of the anti-fascist movement – namely Unite Against Fascism – are already declaring a massive victory on the streets of Edinburgh today, much as they did in Tower Hamlets last week (where they also succeeded in banning all marches for a 30 day period). The twitter feed of UAF’s Martin Smith is a sight to behold – an utterly delusional portrayal of the day’s events which counts police kettles, the fact that the SDL were “nowhere to be seen” (certainly not from where the UAF demo was situated) and Labour councillors giving grandstanding speeches “evoking the spirit of Cable Street” (lol) as some kind of stunning victory. But in reality, the SDL still numbered around 100+ supporters, were able to have their demonstration on Waterloo Place, and then leave pretty much of their own accord by Calton Hill. Of these 100 or so, though, a sizeable contingent had travelled from England – banners and hoodies were seen from Luton and Newcastle EDL divisions, alongside the EDL splinter group the “North West Infidels”. The SDL are not in a position of strength; whether they were strengthened by today’s demo, though, is difficult to say.
Anti-fascists can claim a success in that the SDL were not able to venture beyond a tightly controlled cordon. The very fact that there was opposition to them in the streets today was key in ensuring that they were unable to come into contact with the general public (with the exception of the unfortunate couple having a wedding inside the same hotel). But the willingness to accept “designated protest areas”, while allowing the police to “do their job” of penning in the fascists in their protest area, is extremely dangerous territory not just in the fight against the far-right, but for the progressive movement as a whole. These very same forces who have spent weeks now fetishising the riots and anti-police sentiment today walked into, accepted and pulled others into a dystopian nightmare-esque vision of “legitimate” protest in “designated” confines. They shall not pass – the police cordons, that is.
The story is all too familiar. Once again this Saturday, the rump group of semi-organised racists that make up the “Scottish Defence League” will take to the streets of a Scottish city. Having been denied their proposed march route by Edinburgh City Council last month, the group are now claiming to be holding a “static rally” in the capital’s city centre this weekend.
This represents the first time the SDL have attempted to demonstrate in a major city since February 2010, when they were outnumbered over 25-1 and left unable to march in Edinburgh, as hundreds of anti-fascists evaded police lines (and UAF megaphones) to ensure the SDL were kettled inside Jenny Ha’s pub at the bottom of the Royal Mile. Although no formal application to march had been made, it’s almost certain that the police would have allowed a demonstration to proceed outside of the nearby Scottish Parliament, had there not been such a large anti-fascist presence.
Since their last Edinburgh outing 19 months ago, which followed a not much more successful first demo in Glasgow in November 2009, the SDL have adopted a strategy of holding demonstrations in near secrecy out with the main cities, making anti-fascist mobilisation more difficult. Now, however, the SDL are venturing back to the big city, with all the subsequent publicity that that has entailed, particularly coming just a week after the much-hyped up EDL demonstration in Tower Hamlets.
The level of opposition the SDL will face on Saturday is unclear, although Lothian and Borders Police have issued a statement promising “robust action against any disorder or unlawful actions”. Unite Against Fascism have organised a counter-demo, which will meeting at the foot of the Mound at 11am before marching along the road to the Wellington Statue at the east end of Princes Street, where a rally will hear from various MSPs and local dignitaries. They state that “By holding the area around Wellington statue we will physically prevent the racists from entering our city centre. This area will be within sight of where the SDL intend to assemble, so the size of our protest will demonstrate that that they are a tiny extremist minority.”
Given past experience of SDL demonstrations, the UAF statement amounts to little more than part fantasy, part sheer fallacy. There is no way of knowing where – or indeed when – the SDL will assemble, nor how they will arrive in the city. Given that they will now not be marching, at least officially, it’s highly likely that the police have reached a private arrangement for the SDL to meet elsewhere in the city, under close police supervision. The idea that this will be anywhere near the official UAF demo, let alone that UAF will be able to “physically prevent” the SDL from being able to enter the city centre by being effectively kettled next to a statue, is complete delusion.
Just like last February, anti-fascists need to directly confront the SDL and prevent them from being allowed to have a public assembly in Edinburgh city centre. Then, as now, the police had reached a private arrangement with the fascists for a demonstration spot. Meanwhile, anti-fascists were meant to keep their side of the bargain and not venture outside of a strictly pre-arranged march route, enforced by megaphone-toting UAF officials. Several hundred of us disagreed, and evaded police lines to reach and surround the pub in which the SDL were situated. Throughout, UAF stewards attempted to direct everyone back to Princes Street Gardens, whilst claiming that the SDL were “in Haymarket”, and that the alleged fascists in Jenny Ha’s pub were in fact “Hibs casuals”. It was, of course, a lie – and a dangerous one at that.
The lessons of last February need to be learned from and remembered. We can’t rely on the state to crush the far-right, a failed strategy that has multiple political pitfalls, and ultimately doesn’t work and never has done. And nor can we rely on official marches and rallies, penned in by police miles away from the fascists – we need direct action on a mass basis, to confront and prevent the SDL from spreading their racist bigotry to Edinburgh’s streets.
Hundreds take direct action against the SDL in November 2009, Glasgow
Edinburgh City Council today denied permission to the far-right Scottish Defence League for a proposed march through the city centre next month. This is the first time that the SDL have gone before a local government decision making body, in the past having favoured circumventing official permission and going straight into negotiations with local police.
The march was set to have taken place on Saturday 10 September, reportedly to ‘commemorate’ the ten year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Following huge political pressure, the council today refused to grant permission for the march, which was to take a route from near the US Embassy to the Wellington monument off Princes Street, on fears that disorder could break out.
Such a move should be welcomed – albeit cautiously. Calling for restrictions and bans on the right to protest is dangerous territory for any progressive organisation to step into, having backfired in the face of the left on countless occasions in the past. However, despite the ban on marching, the SDL are standing defiant and are still calling for a mobilisation of their supporters on the 10th September in central Edinburgh.
And so we’re back to square one: the same situation as November 2009, when the SDL held their first ever demo, in Glasgow, and February 2010, when they attempted to march in Edinburgh. Since then, the rump group of around 50 hardcore supporters have held a number of lower profile demonstrations, generally in smaller towns across Scotland, and most recently in Irvine, to varying levels of success.
But the SDL have struggled to gain anything near the same momentum as their English counterparts, for a number of reasons. High among these is the sheer level of opposition the SDL have faced on the streets in Scotland, which has meant they’ve struggled to ever get off the ground, with thousands of anti-fascists facing them down (and winning) in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and in the latter case, maintaining a physical presence which prevented the SDL from being allowed, or able, to march.
With the SDL now gearing up for a static demonstration on the 10th, it’s imperative that anti-fascists once again organise and mobilise to oppose them en masse on the streets. What attitude the police will take to the SDL presence is entirely unpredictable, as previous demonstrations have showed, with the balance of forces on the day likely to be key.
Thursday saw mass student protests in London and militant action in Glasgow as the Con Dem government passed a law allowing universities to charge £9,000 in tuition fees, part of the continuing impetus of capitalism and its political advocates toward destroying the free provision of education and the universal, collectivist ideas that underpin it. This law and the mass, militant protests against it have been well covered on this blog and other outlets.
In Edinburgh today it was a different story. The National Union of Students (NUS) and the Edinburgh University Student’s Association (EUSA) held a “candlelit vigil” with carol singing outside the Scottish parliament. For a great account of why such a strategy is completely usless for fighting cuts, see the final paragraphs here. So short and passive a protest against what is one of the most significant hammerings to universal education provision since the creation of the welfare state, it was over before I even arrived, 45 minutes after the start time! I asked a student who was walking away afterwards what she thought of the rally and vigil: ”crap, unessesary, and stupid”. The same adjectives could be used to describe the contribution of the NUS toward the student campaign against cuts more generally.
However, there is another story of anti-cuts activity in Edinburgh today. A group of students had attempted to hang a massive banner saying “fight the cuts!” from Edinburgh castle: almost managing but ultimately thrown out by security guards as the one o’clock gun went off. They then tried to hang the same banner from North Bridge, but the weather and an ill-placed ledge prevented this. Finally, they decided to storm the Lib-Dem offices in Edinburgh: walking in and chanting, before staff members set off the alarm. After this they were followed by police (as they had been all day), jumped by officers (including plain clothes officers) and ordered to give their identities. Three of the protesters who refused to give their names were taken to police cells for questioning.
Thus, my evening was spent outside an Edinburgh police station with a group of students who were waiting for the release of their comrades: in fact we even had a “vigil” of our own. This allowed me the chance to learn about the events above, giving me some hope for the student anti-cuts movement in Edinburgh, which seems to be increasingly co-opted by their student’s association and the NUS, in contrast to the student movement in many other parts of Scotland, and indeed Britain. Eventually the three protesters were released, having been charged with “Failing to Give Name”. They are on bail and must appear in court at a date in January. Interestingly, someone informed me that in England refusing to give your name to the police is within your rights, but in Scotland it is not.
Today and tonight’s events in Edinburgh highlight two things for me. First, the NUS and various self-proclaimed “student’s representatives” are (as many of you will not be surprised) counter-productive to the creation of a militant, autonomous and united student and wider anti-cuts movement that will be necessary to defeat the cuts programme of the Con Dem government. Second, with the rise of a genuine social movement of students against the cuts, including mass protests occuring and links being made with wider anti-cuts movements, the police are stepping up their response in a number of ways. This includes increased repression of protestors at demonstrations, increased monitoring of anyone seen as a potential militant, organiser or regular participant, and scare tactics to stop people getting involved or cow those already involved. Even tonight, while walking to the police station, we were followed by police who asked us where we were going and what our purpose was, and while outside the police station, our group of about 15 was monitored by numerous officers and three badly-hidden police vans nearby.
However, today’s events in Glasgow show how the police can be left lagging behind and unable to cope with a determined, organised and militant group of protesters. In building a mass movement against cuts, we’ll need more of that in Edinburgh too.
Today I participated in a demonstration in Edinburgh with hundreds of students against the cuts to higher education funding currently being proposed by the Con-Dem government in Westminster. This was part of a wave of student action today across Scotland, from Aberdeen to Glasgow, against attacks to higher education. This article reports the march, before giving my own analysis of the wider strategies and issues at stake and why I think defending and extending free higher education provision is so important for all of us.
“No If’s, No But’s, No Education Cuts!”
The march saw the involvement of the Edinburgh Uni Anti-Cuts Coalition, Edinburgh University Students Association, Napier University Students Association, and the National Union of Students (NUS) . The marchers assembled in Bristo Square (where coffee and tea was being provided, for which I have great respect for the organisers), before heading down Forrest Road, the Royal Mile, and finishing outside the Scottish parliament. The chanting mainly focused on the betrayal of the Lib Dem’s promise to block the rise in tuition fees (they will now likely assist the bill for higher tuition fees through parliament tomorrow), and the need to fight against cuts to education: “Nick Clegg, we know you, you’re a fucking Tory too” and “ they say cut back, we say fight back”. Less prominent was the chanting of “workers and students, unite and fight” and “Con Dems, get out, we know what you’re all about: job cuts, job losses, more money for the bosses”. The police also carefully controlled the march, likely hoping to avoid the sit-downs which brought traffic to a halt on previous student protests in Edinburgh.
Outside the parliament, we heard from Liz Rawlings, EUSA (Edinburgh University Students Association), Robin Harper MSP, (Green Party & former rector of Edinburgh University), Sarah Boyak MSP (Labour), Mike Pringle MSP (Liberal Democrat opposed to tuition fees rise) and Liam Burns (NUS), and a UCU representative (University and College Union). The general tone was as follows: hold Lib Dem MP’s to account over their broken promises, lobby them with thousands of letters and force them to listen, and also focus pressure on prospective Scottish MSP’s to stop them introducing fees in Scotland after the next parliamentary election. Robin Harper also drew the link between bankers causing the economic crisis through excessive financial speculation and students being made to pay the price through higher fees and government funding cuts. Rather, he argued we should more rationaly organise the economy and save money through cutting Trident.
After the speeches, the march was announced over. However, there is another rally meeting outside the Scottish parliament tomorrow at 4.30pm to continue to raise demands over fighting cuts to education.
Analysis: A Strategy To Win?
The march was positive in that hundreds of students in Edinburgh have been drawn into the struggle against cuts to higher education, and they were given a voice on the march and continue to build momentum. Also, I found many of the placards and banners inventive, amusing, and to the point. However, I do question the strategy outlined by the speakers at the end of the march as a means of defending higher education. The rational seems to be that mass letters, numbers on the streets, and lobbying of MP’s and MSP’s will be enough to prevent cuts to education and the increase/introduction of tuition fees. However, the conduct of many Labour MP’s over Iraq, and both the Lib Dem’s presently and Labour previously over the issue of fees, demonstrate how once the limited democratic input of an election has passed, “representatives” can ignore lobbying and represent other interests (party whips, business, or other) without too much trouble: after all, it is years before they will have to risk losing their post in another election, and in politics four or five years is a long time.
Rather, I believe the incessant focus on lobbying MP’s with letters and peaceful, ‘responsible’ demonstrations is an ultimately unrealistic and potentially de-mobilising strategy for defeating cuts. Where do we go once our “representatives” ignore such protests and pass laws detrimental to our interests and views of education? The answer, I feel, has been shown by far more militant student anti-cuts organisations in London.* They are not only protesting against cuts to education, but against all cuts. They are linking with campus based unions such as UCU and Unison, and joining in fights with other unions and community campaigns against local councils who have already started passing brutal cuts budgets. They are holding demonstrations designed to cause maximum disruption and force the political classes to listen to their demands. I believe they are engaging in the wider task of building a united social movement of students, young people, pensioners, trade unions and community campaigns, the like of which has not been seen in this country since the poll tax rebellion twenty years ago.
Of course, many of these trends are present within the Edinburgh movement against cuts to higher education. My point here is that these trends need to be encouraged and begin to set the agenda on how the student anti-cuts movement in this city is organised and sets its goals and demands. At the march today, the most prominent chants and speeches did not represent the militant, united and autonomous strategy which will be necessary to build a mass movement capable of defeating the government’s cuts agenda. For this current to emerge, it is important to have a clear understanding of both what government plans will mean for higher education in terms of jobs, courses, and places, and along with defending these, articulating why winning the battle against cuts is so important for all of us.
The issue: “Education for the masses, not just for the ruling classes!”
Those arguing against these moves have argued that forcing students to pay more for education will discourage those from lower income backgrounds from going to university, creating a more elitist system based on ability to pay, not ability to study. Also, as the ‘elite’ universities begin to charge higher fees than the rest, a two-tier higher education system is likely to be created whereby only the rich can afford to attend the top institutions. Meanwhile, cutting research and teaching funding will hammer higher education in general, with mass job losses (as the University and College Union, UCU, has shown here), courses cut, and available university places falling: again with the likelihood that it is the poor who will be squeezed out of the university system.
“You can shove your private uni’s up your arse!”
The wider issue at stake here is what role education should play in our society. Behind the Con-Dem’s proposals is a capitalist view of education as a private commodity: based on ability to purchase, and obtained for the self-benefit of the consumer as measured by how high a salary they can obtain based on what education they can afford to buy. Therefore education and research are meant to provide the means for individuals to gain a high income, and companies to make a profit: through the production of graduates with the required skills and training, and new technologies to increase efficiency and create new products. This is also why sciences and engineering funding is being protected while arts and humanities funding is being hammered.
For those who defend ‘free’ education available to all, a generally socialist or welfarist position is normally taken: education as a social right, not a private privilege. Education, rather than being primarily a means to a job, is central to our development as people and our ability to realise our full potential: as musicians, poets, scientists, teachers, thinkers, doctors, lawyers, economists, skilled tradespersons, or any other future we may wish to pursue. Along with education being key to our development, this right should be available to all: your right to learn a particular skill or study an area of knowledge should not be at the expense of my ability to develop myself. This is where I stand in the debate over the place of education in society and why education should be provided to all with no barriers based on ability to pay: we are all different, but all of equal worth, and I’d much rather live in a humanly rich and diverse society where everyone has the equality of opportunity to develop themselves as people, rather than one where the full development of the few comes at the expense of the hopes, dreams and potential of the many.
Indeed, it is because of such views that I identify myself as a socialist and reject capitalism as a model of human development, or as a desirable way of organising society. This also leads me to conclude that if we are to win this fight against cuts, we need to develop a socialist alternative and begin to realise that it is a crisis in capitalism that is at the root of our current economic crisis and which provides the impetus for the cuts to public spending, an issue not addressed by any of the main parties. Thus, twinned with building a movement to fight against cuts, we need to continue to build a socialist movement; one that is democratic, participatory, and puts an emphasis on full human development and maximal educational opportunity for all.
*Over the next few days I will be publishing my article on the student anti-cuts orgnisation of Goldsmiths University London, including interviews with some of those involved, which I feel help point the way to what kind of strategy and demands are needed in order to build a social movement that will be capable of defeating the austerity agenda of this Con-Dem government. All articles I write will also be available on my blog.
This week, the Coalition government will face its first major test as it attempts to rush its proposals for the future of Higher Education funding in England – the tripling tuition fees from their current level – through the House of Commons. Huge pressure is coming to bear on Liberal Democrat MPs – nearly all of whom pledged before the election to vote against any increase in fees, and to work to implement a ‘fairer’ alternative. Internal divisions within the party are rife, with a number of high profile figures saying that they intend to vote against their own party.
However… after some superficial dithering last week, it seems that Vince Cable – who is, after all, the architect of the tuition fees proposals – will now vote for it. As will, we can assume, the rest of the Lib Dems in the Cabinet, with Nick Clegg revealing at the weekend that he think it’s actually “quite socially progressive” (oh, and all these protests are scaring poor kids away from uni). Far too much is at stake for the party for them not to ensure it’s pushed through Parliament – the prospect of eternal electoral oblivion is surely enough for even the most “principled” of Lib Dem MPs to convince themselves that tuition fees are somehow “fair” (just ask Clegg), and if that doesn’t, then the next three days of backroom deals and intrigue surely will. And let’s face it: even if the vote is narrowly defeated, we know that a watered-down, revised – but equally shit – bill will be passed within months.
But this does not take away anything from the significance of what the bill being defeated would mean. It would be the first crack in the coalition, but more importantly, would be a huge confidence boost to both students and workers across the country. It would vindicate the hundreds of thousands who’ve taken to the streets to protest the fees rise, and set us up for the new year in prime position for taking on the coalition. Above all, though, it has the potential to shape the future of the anti-austerity movement, as the opposition to the first major measure of the government to be put to parliament. Which is why this week’s demonstrations are of vital importance.
Across the country, students this week will occupy, protest and take mass direct action against fees and education cuts. It will be the culmination of just one month of protest that has witnessed the beginnings of a new mass movement. The momentum can’t be allowed to fizzle out no matter which way Thursday’s vote goes, but must continue to strive for free education, and to make links with the broader movement against the cuts. Ultimately, it will be sustained industrial action – economic power that students simply don’t have – that has the potential to bring down the government. At the moment it can seem like the unions are playing catch-up with the student movement – with hurried motions here and there offering support and praise for the lead its taken – but over the past couple of days mechanisms have begun to put in place for a one day public sector general strike in Scotland in the new year.
In Scotland we are facing a much longer battle to save free education. This month’s green paper on the of Higher Education funding – the date of its publication has still to be announced – will present options expected to include a “Graduate Tax” of some description. A review on EMA is also due this month, with fears it may be scrapped entirely in line with England. What happens in Westminster this week though will have a severe impact on Scotland. This is why on Thursday, thousands of us will take to the streets, to offer solidarity to students in England, and to send a message to both Holyrood and Westminster that we won’t stand for the introduction of fees here.
This time last year, discontent, anger and frustration at ‘the system’ could only formulate itself in a confused, social-network driven campaign to get anything-but-X-factor to the top of the charts. This year, disaffection among students and young people has a bigger target – the government, and rather than buying a single as a protest, young people are taking to the streets in their thousands. It’s a sign of how much things have shifted, and long may it continue.
DETAILS OF SCOTTISH DEMONSTRATIONS ON 8TH & 9TH DECEMBER:
Wednesday 8 Dec: Glasgow Uni demo – assemble 12 noon, Main Gate facebook
Strathclyde Uni – 12 noon, McCance Building facebook
Edinburgh demo – assemble 11.30am, Bristo Sq, Edinburgh Uni for march on Parliament facebook
Thursday 9 Dec: Glasgow: school, college & uni strikes – gathering at Buchanan St. 12 noon for a student-led rally & direct action against tax dodgers. See facebook & Glasgow Against Education Cuts blog
Edinburgh: national rally at the Scottish Parliament (called by NUS) – 4.30pm facebook
SSY.org.uk will be aiming to bring you comprehensive coverage of all this week’s protests as they happen – stay tuned!
The inspiring Edinburgh University Occupation has confirmed that his highness Nicholas Cleggerton will be attempting a press conference this afternoon at 3:10 at Our Dynamic Earth, Hollyrood. This should be the climax of what is to be a day of student activism, starting at 1130 at bristo square, involving marches, direct action and hopefully snowballs.
The media will be out in force daring Clegg to show up for his appointment so at all costs anyone who can make it to hollyrood this afternoon should do so, to show our fustration at the appauling regressive and unfair actions undertaken so far by this government.
Good luck to anyone who can make it today, and my apologies for the short notice!
Hundreds join the march at Glasgow Uni (photo: glasgow uni src)
Today’s massive student protests represented the first nationally co-ordinated days of action against Tory cuts and austerity.
Across the country, students walked out of class, went into occupation and took to the streets to show their opposition to the government’s plans to wreck the education system as we know it, through huge cuts to schools and unis, and an effective tripling of tuition fees.
Building from the momentum of November 10th, when 50,000 marched in London, today’s actions were incessantly hyped up in the media, with near daily reminders in the press that violent gangs of “anarchists” were about to descend on YOUR TOWN CENTRE, GREAT BRITAIN!! Sure enough, the media got their exciting riots (and they could even put the GIRLS AND CHILDREN angle on it this time too!), when the main London demo was brutally attacked by riot cops, who all too conveniently abandoned a police van amid the student hordes, providing neat justification for their savage “counter-attack”. Leftie Labour MP John McDonnell has laid bare what happened: “There was no violence whatsoever but the police surged and pushed them into a tight corner, putting people in danger of being hurt. It was a peaceful and good-humoured march and the police should have respected that but no they have provoked anger.”
Although this stole the headlines, elsewhere tens of thousands marched across the country. In Scotland, the main demos were held in Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dumfries, but news of spontaneous walk-outs at schools and colleges across the country is continuing to filter in.
In Glasgow, the walk-outs began at 12 noon. At Glasgow Uni, around 400 students were, completely unexpectedly, joined by 40 fourth year students from nearby Hyndland Secondary. The students held a lively march around the campus, culminating in a brief sit-in outside management offices. As news came in of mass occupations at the Glasgow School of Art and Strathclyde University – of 100 and 250 students respectively – we moved to march into town. Out of nowhere, dozens of cops emerged, penning us in. Fortunately, we were eventually allowed to march, going through Kelvingrove Park and Argyle Street to Charing Cross. The demo then joined up with the Art School students and they marched on to Strathclyde Uni, where the students remained in occupation of the Royal College building, with many more gathered on the street outside.
Students marching in Edinburgh (photo: eddie truman)
Unfortunately, this meant the Glasgow/Hyndland/Art School bloc didn’t stick around until 3pm at Buchanan Street, for when a call-out had gone out for school, college and uni students from across the city to assemble together. And due to some, ahem, complications involving the police over at Charing Cross, many of the organisers of the 3pm event were pre-occupied and unable to ensure a presence there. Understandably, though, most of the people on the march were keen to get to Strathclyde Uni, where we’d heard news of arrests and growing numbers of police and security.
As the police kettle around the protest grew, a small group including SSY members, broke off and occupied the City Chambers. Around 20 students and anti-cuts activists made it inside, but given their low numbers and the heavy police presence, it was decided to leave after a brief time.
At 5pm, the day of action culminated in a 700-strong rally in George Square, with a number of speakers from political parties and trade unions.
Elsewhere, around 300 students, joining with another 50 workers and claimants, marched on the Lib Dem offices in Edinburgh, holding a sit-down protest on the street outside. Later on, 200 of them went on to occupy a lecture theatre at Edinburgh Uni. They’re still in there now, and they’ve called a rally for 12 noon on Thursday outside the Appleton Tower – get down if you can!
In Dumfries, students from the Crichton Campus held a 200-strong protest, attracting loads of attention from the local media – pretty good for a town that has a uni student population of 650.
But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the day was the high school strikes, which had sprung up from nowhere over the past few days. SSY led the call at Glasgow student planning meetings last week for united action in the city centre – and to put out a call for school students to join us. Although this perhaps didn’t come to everything we’d envisaged today, the fact that the facebook event page for the 3pm mobilisation sparked student walk-outs across Scotland is surely enough to vindicate it.
school students rush to join the demo, edinburgh (photo: et)
What today’s events showed is that where, often individuals, did put out the call for a strike in their school, it worked. In many cases this was done with little more than facebook and word of mouth, and at just a few days notice. Yet dozens of pupils from Whitehill Secondary in Dennistoun, Lenzie Academy in East Dunbartonshire and the previously mentioned Hyndland Secondary – and they’re just the ones we know about – defied their school management to walk-out and join the city centre demos. Reports abound of school students being threatened with expulsions, letters being sent home, or banned from school activities.
The future is in safe hands, and there’s a whole winter of discontent to keep us going. Onwards!
Glasgow Uni Left Soc. are meeting on Thursday evening to discuss this and the way forward for the struggle… more here
'Zombie marcher' Andy Bowden is capable of showing his opposition to cuts EVEN WHILE ASLEEP!
. . .at least on Saturday we did for a bit. While opposition to the cuts hasn’t got as cool in Scotland as it is in France yet, this weekend saw an important beginning for a mass movement to defeat the Tories and Lib Dems with an all-Scotland march organised by the Scottish Trade Unions Congress.
Over 20,000 people through the centre of Edinburgh the weekend after Gideon ‘George’ Osborne announced the government’s comprehensive plan for ruining your life. We were proud to take our place alongside all Scotland’s trade unions, as well as angry people facing cuts to services on which their whole lives depend.
Our materials for the day went down well, with socialist meerkats calling on marchers to Compare the Council Tax. With council tax set to become a big issue in the election campaign (the SNP want to continue their useless policy of freezing the level of it, Labour want it to go up, using the cuts as an excuse), the SSP’s policy of taxing the rich according to their income, so that most people pay less for local services but at the same time we raise an extra £1.6 billion to pay for them, is the only one that can deal with both cuts and poverty. Simples!
Welcome fool, you have come of your own free will to the appoined place. . .
Edinburgh also got completely plastered with our ‘Hey Tories, Gonnae no dae that’ stickers as well, which you can expect to see everywhere soon. Apart from these and some pretty homemade placards, perhaps one of our main political contributions was to popularise the chant, “Maggie Maggie Maggie, Die Die Die!” This brought a smile to the faces of everyone who was old enough to remember why it is all the forces of good in the Universe hate Thatcher.
Ending up in Princes Street gardens, the huge size of the crowd at the bandstand showed just how angry people are already, and the real grounds for a fightback there is. But when we all dispersed from the march, that wasn’t the end of the day of politics for SSY, not by a long shot, because we still had AN EFFIGY OF DAVID CAMERON TO DEAL WITH.
After some detailed tactical discussion in our political nerve centre Wetherspooons, it was ascertained that there were in fact some nearby Tory offices which would make the best place for the sacrificial victim to prove that we really are all in this together by burning for our amusement.
This being the posh heart of the centre of Edinburgh, we made our way past all the caviar and top hat shops to the bunker of the Tory occupation forces in Scotland, where Dave was to meet his ignominious end. Or so we thought -- but that was before a wormhole to the 1920s opened up across the street, and a very posh and disgruntled woman (with an amazing hat that made her look like a cockerel) popped out to put an end to the socialist ruffians daring to stand up against the fine gentlemen of Her Majesty’s Government.
YE SHALL BURN ME ONCE AGAIN?!?!
As the flames began to lick at Dave’s bin bag suit, she angrily demanded to know what we were doing, which surely was fairly obvious. She then intervened to bring the sacrifice to an end, but chose the method of blowing on the flame to put it out (we hate to break it to you, but that’s how you make flames get BIGGER). Realising this had failed, she then chose to KICK DAVE THROUGH THE RAILINGS into the front court of whoever is unlucky enough to occupy the premises below the Tory office. Assuming these are not just more Tories, then we can only apologise for the bizarre sight that must have greeted you of a half burned David Cameron on a stick, and assure you that we didn’t put it there!
More photos from the day:
Working class dogs hungry for a socialist message
. . . and he does!
Style and panache: decisive contributions of youth to the anti-cuts movement
Of course, Saturday’s march was only the beginning of the fightback against the Tory blitzkrieg, so keep checking back here for all the latest news about the resistance to the Tory occupation of Scotland.
At Climate Camp last week our main target was the Royal Bank of Scotland for it’s part in bankrolling climate change, but a secondary one was Edinburgh based Cairn Energy.
Cairn aren’t a famous name like BP or Shell, but right now they’re at the heart of one of the biggest battles that the environmental movement faces in the next few years: the fight to stop extreme oil extraction.
More and more geologists now suspect that the world is approaching peak oil, the point at which we will have reached the maximum rate of global oil production, after which the rate will decline and oil will become harder and harder to extract. Most of the world’s most easily tapped reserves of oil are in production or in fact have already peaked. With declining availability, the price of oil gets pushed up. This problem is made even worse by the fact that financial speculators on the commodity markets take advantage of the situation, and push the price up even further. In this situation it becomes profitable to get oil from places so extreme that before companies wouldn’t have bothered.
Thursday saw mass student protests in London and 
At Climate Camp last week our main target was the Royal Bank of Scotland for it’s part in bankrolling climate change, but a secondary one was Edinburgh based 
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