UMSU Activist

The anger that exploded in Greece following the police killing of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos is still raging.

Solidarity with Workers and Students in Greece

Workers’ strikes, student occupations, walkouts by school students, mass demonstrations and clashes with the police are intensifying the pressure on the right wing New Democracy government.

The shooting of Alexandros on Saturday 6 December has become a focus for all the discontent in Greek society – over job cuts, low wages and lack of opportunities. Instead of dying down, as the government had hoped, the revolt has instead taken on a more organised form.

Teachers struck on Tuesday of last week over the killing, as Alexandros’s funeral took place. Thousands of school students also demonstrated. A general strike of workers over the government’s austerity budget plans shook the country the following day. Trade union leaders cancelled a march that was to take place in the centre of Athens and held a rally instead. But the Anti-Capitalist Left coalition went ahead with the march. And it was massive – with several thousand joining it. The march reinforced the feeling that it is possible to act and to demonstrate – and that we will not let the police teargas us off the streets.

Many students refused to go to school the next day. They marched to the local police stations and attacked them. When the police fought back, local people intervened on the side of the students to help chase the police away.

A coordinating meeting of university students has called for a day of action and national demonstration on Thursday of this week. It also urged the unions to call a new strike.

Hospital workers are already planning to strike on that day against cuts and privatisation, and the teachers’ union is also expected to join the action.

The Greek TUC has called a demonstration outside parliament for Friday of this week, as that is the day of the budget debate.

The following day there will be an anti-racist demonstration against recent attacks on Pakistani immigrants.

While things may calm down over the Christmas period as schools and universities are closed, there are signs that the movement will re-emerge in the new year. There is already a day of action planned for 12 January, when teachers will commemorate a colleague killed by right wing thugs during a wave of industrial action in 1991. The day will also now be used to remember Alexandros.

The revolt has intensified the government’s crisis. Its support is plummeting, with polls showing it trailing the centre left Pasok by 5 to 7 percent. But the parliamentary left is in disarray. The Anti-Capitalist Left has argued that the riots should turn into an organised movement that could then overthrow the government. The first part of this has happened. Now many people are pushing for the second part to take place. There is a massive feeling in society that the government must go. So there is a big opportunity for the radical left—and we are trying our best to grasp it.

The solidarity protests across the world have shown us that we are not alone. People around the world should continue to stand with the uprising in Greece.

This article originally appeared in Socialist Worker. It and other articles can be found there.

The Socialist Workers Party is part of an international grouping known as the International Socialist Tendency. Its Greek section is called SEK and is part of United Anti-Capitalist Left (ENANTIA) in Greece.

UMSU Activist is a website run by members of the Socialist Worker Student Society at the University of Manchester. It aims to be a place on the web where left-wing activists and socialist can come together to debate ideas, find out whats going on and link in with the struggles around the world.

The Socialist Worker Student Society is the student wing of the Socialist Workers Party. We stand for:

• Against Imperialist war, for troops out now
• Freedom for Palestine
• Solidarity with workers fighting back
• A radical solution to climate change
• Unity against oppression, smash the Nazi BNP
• No to the market, free education for all

For more info check out the SWSS website or email mancswss@gmail.com.

It was our generation that marched out of the schools to oppose this war when it started. Our generation is being asked by the military recruiters at campuses up and down the country to pay the blood price for Tony Blair’s decisions. The military propaganda tells you that a life in the army is one were you learn a skill, pay off your education debts and have exciting experiences around the world.

Horrific Reality

The reality is different. There are 273 families in the UK today, who mourn at the graves of their sons and daughters. There are thousands more, who have lost their limbs. Who will never walk or see again. The military propaganda doesn’t remind potential recruits about this - it just tells you how exciting it is to parachute out of plane. They don’t remind you that you might have to shoot at a family, or press a button to drop a bomb on a village - but millions of Iraqis and Afghans know the other side of military recruitment.

Military recruitment is about selling a lie to young men and women, the campaign by Military Families Against the War shows that after 5 years of conflict many serving soldiers no longer want to pay the ultimate price for Bush and Blair’s lies.

We are constantly told there is no money for education. The longer this war continues, the longer the military is fed the young men and women of our university, the longer they will be able to pour precious money into the war: money that should be spent on Universities, hospitals and schools.

Motion 3 at Wednesday’s General Meeting is part of a national campaign initiated by the Stop the War Coalition, to stop military recruiters from using the resources of our Students’ Unions to seduce young people into war. The Students’ Union is our organisation, its buildings are our buildings and its resources are our resources. This motion is aimed at stopping our Union being used as a base for military recruiters. The motion does not call for the various military clubs - such as the Officers Training Corps - to be shut down, but does call for them to be banned from using Students’ Union facilities. This already happens in practice, and is based on annually renewed Union Executive decisions. We believe that as a democratic organisation, this Union should be used to both promote peace and to protect our members from exploitation.

Opposition to War and the recruitment crisis

The illegal and murderous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are overwhelmingly opposed by the British public. The vast majority of people can see that the occupations are destroying both countries, and they can also see that young people are being killed for nothing but the vulgar projection of military power.

The massive opposition to War has created a recruitment and credibility crisis for the military, and it has tried to fill the gap by targeting the young and the underprivileged. The Army’s website gushes “How would you like to learn vital life skills, face exciting challenges and make loads of new friends - while being paid for the privilege?”, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Army recruits people to fight, die and kill in massively unpopular wars. Military recruitment often targets people who are less well off and this includes students; as education costs and student debt rises, the military plays up its scholarship schemes that offer the prospect of a bursary and employment.

Propaganda, Lies and protecting our soldiers

However, it is not only for the policy of targeting the less well-off that we should oppose military recruitment. The attempts to glamourize Army life – the beer’s cheap, the friendship’s good and you get to play at being Action Man – actually mask the true horror of war. Many soldiers and soldier’s families have spoken out against the treatment of soldiers in the MoD, the terrible effects that service has had on them and the complete lack of care they receive after service. At the heart of the Army’s crisis is the fact that thousands of soldiers have left the Army since the start of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a statistic that should show just how deceitful their recruitment propaganda is.

Part of the biggest mass movement in British history

By banning military recruitment in our Union we are sending a clear message that Manchester students do not give political or material support to the illegal Wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. By passing this policy we show that we reject both the lies and deceit of this Labour Government that took us to war, and those of the military recruiters who bribe young people to fight and die for them. The overwhelming majority of people want the troops brought home now and this campaign is an important part of making that happen. We urge you to support Motion 3 and to call for an end to this War and an end to military recruitment on campus.

For more information check out:
UMSU Activist
Stop the War Coalition
Military Families Against the War

Ex-SAS soldier Ben Griffin speaks about his experiences


George Solomou speaks

Debate on Military recruitment at Stop the War AGM

Since the introduction of tuition fess in 1998, and top fees in 2003, we have seen increased student hardship and debt. Many people are put off university altogether while those who do enrol are forced to work long hours to pay for education, accomodation and food. What’s more, the standard of education they receive is also compromised and devalued in this system.

Fees turn universities into businesses, selling their commodity (education) to their customers (students). A business always asks itself two questions. The first is “How cheaply can we produce our commodity without losing customers?” This is why our contact hours are cut, why staff are pressured to prioritise lucrative research over teaching, why teaching is shiften online, why halls are sold off, and so on.

The second question businesses ask themselves is “How much can we charge without losing customers?” That is why the Labour-dominated NUS is selling us short when they refuse to fight for a Free Education, thus accepting fees, and campaign instead against increased fees. We cannot accept fees because that would mean accepting that we are just customers, that universities are businesses and education is a commodity: from that position it is difficult to deny them the “right” to lift the cap and charge whatever they like.

On Thursday we marched with lecturers and teachers as they strike against attacks on our education. The General Meeting on Wednesday will be your chance to tell the world that Manchester students believe in a Free Education. Another Education Is Possible and together we can make it reality.

Tom Skinner

UMSU General Secretary

“How would you like to learn vital life skills, face exciting challenges and make loads of new friends - while being paid for the privilege?” This is how the Army advertise life in the military. Adverts glamorise Army life as a way to go and see the world and have a pint with your friends on a Friday night.

It completely ignores the fact that young people are being recurited to fight and die in massively unpopular wars. The British military, under this Labour government, has occupied Afghanistan since 2001 and Iraq since 2003, and has seen hundreds of British soldiers killed (not to mention the millions of ordinary Iraqis and Afghanis). The UN has called Iraq “the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.” The deepening crisis in the Middle East and the strength of the opposition to the illegal Occupations at home has meant that the military have found it much harder to recruit. As the military face credibility and recruitment crises, they have turned to targeting students much more heavily.

The MoD has been producing lesson plans for children at school and offers grants and scholarships to students in both Further and Higher Education. Disgustingly, the military targets people who may have economic difficulties in carrying on their education with the prospect of well paid employment, while neglecting to mention the harsh realities of military life and the wars they will be fighting. They should have no place on our campus.

About half of all British Army Officers are recruited on university campuses, and denying them access to our campuses is an effective tool in countering military recruitment. Anti-recruitment campaigns should be used as part of the wider effort to end the Occupations in the Middle East, where the military’s role has been disastorous, and is opposed internationally, including by students.

We should not allow our Union’s resources to be used to encourage students to join the military or facilitate military recruitment campaigns. By banning military recruitment on our campus we send out the clear message that we do not give political or material support to the murderous Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by the British military. The military of any country should not be allowed to have a presence at our Fresher’s Fair, any other Union sponsored activities, on our Union premises or in our media.

We call for the troops to be brought home now and banning the military from our campus is part of the fight to achieve this.

Sundara Jerome

Stop the War activist