SOCIALIST UNITY

Leading Student Respect member Fiona Edwards is standing for the position of Vice President Welfare and Block of 15 in the forthcoming elections at NUS National Conference in April.

Student Respect has joined Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy (NUS Black Students’ Officer), David ‘Daf’ Adley (NUS LGBT Officer) and a range of other progressive activists as part of a united slate to give students the NUS leadership they need.

Fiona has the full support of Respect Party Leader, Salma Yaqoob, who says: “Fiona will ensure that NUS puts progressive causes at the heart of its agenda. From fighting the fascist BNP to demanding free education and opposing cuts, Fiona is a candidate with a proven track record.”

Respect Party MP George Galloway has added: “A vote for Fiona is a vote for an NUS that stands in solidarity with the occupied people of Palestine – unlike the current leadership of the NUS which even refused to condemn Israel’s massacre on Gaza last year. Her record of joining me in breaking the siege on Gaza and as an anti-war activist speaks for itself.”

The united slate, ‘For a Strong, Campaigning and Democratic NUS’, is standing for an NUS that leads an uncompromising campaign against any cuts to education; which opposes all tuition fees and student debt; and calls on the government to increase investment to fund free education.

As racism continues to soars across society, NUS must prioritise campaigns against all discrimination and bigotry and lead the fight for equality. We stand for a vigorous defence of diversity and multi-culturalism – reaffirming NUS’ commitment to no platform for the fascist BNP and campaigning against the English Defence League’s violent and intimidating campaign against the Muslim community.

Whilst our government claims free education is unaffordable and introduces savage cuts to public services, it continues to waste billions of pounds on the war on Afghanistan and the replacement of nuclear weapons. We will continue to campaign for international peace and global justice and make sure NUS does too – troops out of Afghanistan – free Palestine – end dangerous climate change.

We also stand for a strong and democratic union which engages students at every level. We would reverse the decision to slash delegation entitlements which has made this year’s National Conference more unrepresentative than ever.

For a Strong, Campaigning and Democratic Union we urge delegates to vote Bell for President, Daf for Union Development, Mark for Higher Education, Assed for Society and Citizenship, Fiona for Welfare and Nikita for Further Education.

Congratulations to Respect National Committe member Ian Drummond who has been elected Vice-President of the University of London Union.

Students have joined hundreds of other activists from across Britain and the world to take part in the blockade-busting Viva Palestina Convoy.

The third convoy of its kind, the Viva Palestina Convoy, will be travelling for three thousand miles over the coming weeks, aiming to break the siege on Gaza on 27th December – the one year anniversary of the start of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza earlier this year.

Students have played an active role in raising thousands of pounds and collecting vital aid to be sent to Gaza with the convoy over the past few weeks. A number of students are joining the convoy itself and plan to meet with students in Gaza to foster links for solidarity work.

Professor Noam Chomsky has wished students on the convoy well, “What Viva Palestina have achieved on their previous convoys has been incredible. Not only did they break the siege on Gaza, but they brought much needed aid, and solidarity on a massive international scale. The efforts of everyone from right across the world who took part in the previous convoys by giving up their time to drive to the stricken region of Gaza should be fully commended.

To everyone taking part in the 3rd Viva Convoy, I wish you all the very best of luck, and your efforts for the people in Gaza just warms my heart. You bring hope, solidarity, peace, and love from right across the world. I am with you all the way in spirit.”

The NUS Black Students’ Campaign has enthusiastically supported the convoy, bringing Black students together nationally to discuss how they can contribute towards it at their annual Winter Conference.

Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy, NUS Black Students’ Officer commented, “The Black Students’ Campaign strongly supports this convoy. Our brothers and sisters in Gaza have had their education destroyed by Israel’s war and brutal siege. We wish the convoy all the success in breaking the siege. Viva Palestina!”

Fiona Edwards, Viva Palestina Student Officer, explained the importance of students getting involved with the convoy, “It is very important that students play an active role in challenging Israel’s inhumane and brutal siege on Gaza.

Students in Gaza have been particularly hard-hit by Israel’s war and on-going siege. Hundreds of young people were killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza last January and countless schools, universities and colleges were completely destroyed. The on-going siege has caused a severe shortage of vital educational supplies for Palestinian students – paper, ink, books, desks and more.

This Convoy is an important and practical way in which we can help students in Gaza and also raise awareness about the consequences of Israel’s aggressive policies against the Palestinian people.”

Students at Warwick University have raised thousands of pounds to buy a van filled with aid which Fred Stevens-Smith and Nora Hassasien will be driving from London to Gaza over December. They said, “We think it is very sad that we have to go to Gaza and deliver basic necessities which the Palestinian people have to go without day in day out all because our own government has failed to take a stand for justice and human rights. But we are very excited to meet our brothers and sisters in Palestine!

After weeks of fundraising and campaigning on campus, SOAS student Ian Drummond is joining the Convoy. He said, “If we succeed in breaking the siege on Gaza we will not only be able to donate the much needed aid we have collected for Palestinian students, but we will also help to break their sense of isolation - an inevitable consequence of the siege which equals being cut off from the rest of the world. We also hope that by visiting Palestine and meeting up with students over there, this will provide a basis for students in Britain to link up with students in Gaza for solidarity work in the future.”

Mesrob Kassemdjian, a student from City University has raised £1,500 pounds and is also a delegate on the convoy. Explaining his motivations for joining the convoy he said: “The people of Gaza really need the international community to support them and students in Britain have an important role to play. The Viva Palestina Convoy is a truly unique way of contributing to the Palestine solidarity movement. Not only are we offering practical assistance but we are also highlighting the devastating impact of the siege.”

Students from Kings College London have led a highly success campaign on campus for the University to donate more than 30 boxes surplus educational aid to students at the Islamic University of Gaza. Students at Essex University raised £2,000 pounds in less than 3 days.

The Viva Palestina Convoy has helped to inspire new layers of students to get involved with Palestine solidarity campaigning. The recently established Palestine Solidarity Society at Queen Mary has raised hundreds of pounds for the convoy.

Aleena Iqbal, President of the society, said, “The VIVA Palestina convoy demonstrates the courage and hard work of individuals striving to free Palestine. At Queen Mary we have been eager to show our support for the convoy buy fundraising to sponsor a vehicle that will deliver aid to the Palestinians, as well as being used by schools and hospitals. Our Palestine Solidarity Society has been recently established, and we have been raising awareness on campus about the convoy and illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. We want freedom for Palestine; we want justice for the oppression and dispossession suffered by the Palestinian people, we want to re-store the lives of the millions of children who have been victims by chance.”

The Convoy’s progress can be followed online at:

www.palestinecampaign.org  or www.vivapalestina.org.uk

You can also follow the Convoy’s progress on twitter @Pal_S_Campaign or @viva_palestina

Hundreds attend George Galloway meeting in Birmingham University
by Ger Francis

For those involved in Palestinian solidarity in Birmingham, its university has long felt like some weird Zionist outpost. For years Israeli apologists, through bureaucratic bullying and intimidation via the Student Union Guild, have been able to hinder and stifle debate.

Those days are fast disappearing.

This week saw the Friends of Palestine Society sell out, at £5 a head, a 400 capacity auditorium (with a few dozen extra students having standing room only) for an audience with George Galloway MP. The success of the meeting, and the feebleness of the Zionist opposition to it, is further evidence of the growing hegemony of Palestinian solidarity in all corners of the city.

George set his stall out from the start, tackling head on the charge that critics of Israeli apartheid were anti-Semitic: ‘call me mad, bad or sad, but if you call me anti-Semitic contact your solicitor because you will be meeting me in the High Court for defamation’. Citing Albert Einstein’s refusal of an offer to be the second President of the State of Israel, the role of Jewish critics of Israel in the movement for Palestinian solidarity, his own long standing activism in the anti-racist movement and, allied to that, his call that Holocaust Denial should be a crime, he exposed the ridiculous nature of the anti-Semitic charge.

To those who believed that the Israeli state was the natural and just creation for a Jewish people exiled from their homeland in biblical times and wandering rootless ever since, Galloway said this was a fable, and a ridiculous one at that. Highlighting a new book by the leading Israeli historian Sholomo Sand, ‘The Invention of the Jewish People’, he said Jewish claims to a 2,000 year old lineage that justified theft of Palestinian land had about the same credabilty as the ‘descendents of the Romans, Normans, and Vikings’ laying claim on Britain today.

He reminded the audience that instead of the Zionists following some historic mission to Palestine, they considered Uganda, Scheyelles, and Patagonia as possible locations for a Jewish state. They settled in Palestine, with the support of Lord Balfour, (‘an anti-Semite who wanted all the Jews to leave England so that he would never have to look at their faces again’), in order that the British Empire would have a ‘loyal little Ulster’ in the region.
Israel ‘is just another European settle state, similar to apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia’, in that it was a political construction designed to maintain the privilege of one section of the population over another. Britain was there at the ‘original sin’ of the theft of Palestinian soil and has responsibility for ‘the blood that has flooded since’. Is it any wonder, George asked the audience, that more suicide bombers come from the living hell that is Jenin refugee camp when the generations of Palestinians confined there can literally see the city of Haifa from which they were driven out from. Without a just political settlement, continued violence and instability in the region was an inevitability as the Palestinian people will not give up, they will not accept being ‘put on the reservation’, they will not disappear from history.

George explained the evolution of his own views on a solution. Describing himself as a life long supporter of the PLO and the leadership of Yasser Arafat, he had believed that the Oslo Agreement was the best that the Palestinians could have hoped for, in view of the collapse of the socialist bloc and allies there, and the extinguishing of progressive Arab nationalism. However, Oslo had been a disaster for the Palestinians and Zionist aggression has killed the possibility of a two-state solution. The only solution was now a single state, called either ‘Israel/Palestine or Palestine/Israel and running from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea’ in which all people are entitled to live as equal citizens under the law.

‘What is wrong with that?’ he asked. ‘When Nelson Mandela was freed from jail he was approached by some Boers wanting their own white Orange Free State. Mandela refused because he said wanted a democratic state for black and white to live as equals under the law. If it is good enough for apartheid South Africa it is good enough for Jews and Arabs’.

George rounded off with a call for people to commit to the Palestinian solidarity movement, highlighting the huge advancements in the demands for boycotts and disinvestment and urging support also for ‘siege breaking’ and the work of Viva Palestina. The next Viva Palestina convoy is scheduled to leave the UK on December 5th. For more information visit:

http://www.vivapalestina.org/

George Galloway is simply the most eloquent advocate of the Palestinian cause in the English speaking world. And he is also one of the very few politicians who can attract audiences of the size seen in Birmingham earlier this week.

All in all, a very encouraging evening.

I am hearing rumours that two leading SWP students, Clare S and James M (both relatively well known from the blogging world) have been suspended from the SWP, seemingly because the SWP student group (SWSS) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London have been taking a different trajectry from the very narrow “party-building” line advocated by the SWSS office.

Student societies need to collect signatures at Freshers’ Fairs to register as student societies and thus get funding from their student union, but following this spat the sign up sheets for SOAS SWSS have been taken away by the SWP, preventing the SOAS SWSS society from registering this year.

As one of the comments below points out, this is the second time in very recent years where administrative suspensions have been used, seemingly to silence dissenters, just as the pre-conference discussion period opens.

interview with student leader Manushi Bhattarai

Manushi Bhattarai is part of the Maoist ticket that swept the student elections at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu - Nepal’s largest university. Here she discusses the revolution, recent political developments, the international situation and the role of young people with Ben Peterson.

Peterson: Thanks a lot for meeting with me. The All Nepal National Independent Student Union (Revolutionary) won the student elections at Tribhuvan University. What did the campaign involve, and what are some of your policies as a revolutionary student union?

Bhattarai: The student union elections were a very historically important process for our organisation and for the Maoist party. There have been student elections for many years, but for some time the revolutionary student movement has not been able, or allowed to participate. We were banned. Also we did not look at these elections simply from the point of view as elections to the student representative bodies but as part of the whole ongoing political process in Nepal.

So in those terms, we had a real breakthrough. We were not contesting for the offices as such, but linking the student struggles to the political process. While we were campaigning we always had this in mind. We campaigned around the issues on this campaign, but also around the entire education system across the country. And in these terms it all came back to the political issues that our party has been addressing for many years now. That was how we campaigned, and I think we were successful in spreading our message to the other students. We were coming back into open student politics after a long time. We were new faces, with a new agenda. People knew about our commitment and the gains our party has been able to make during the People’s War. People can actually see the gains, we are now the Republic of Nepal.

Peterson: So the revolutionary students were very clear about putting the elections in the context of the wider political context, the revolution. Can you elaborate a little bit on this political process and the role of students within it?

Bhattarai: As you know, the People’s War was initiated in 1996 and since its beginning students were at the forefront of the revolutionary process. Many thousands of students have sacrificed their education and their lives. They left their homes, their families to participate in the revolution. In those terms, whether it was within the People’s Army, or in our party organisation, students have been playing key roles in all fields. In terms of the student organisation it has been in an interesting position. In the schools we were able to maintain our own committees and continued our organisational work. We took up agendas and fought for them, and on certain campuses we have been very successful. We especially try to work on the public institutions.

In Nepal there is unequal education. Public institutions are in very bad condition, but this is where poor people, people from rural areas, or people from marginalised groups must go to study. These areas are where our student organisation is focusing. At a national level, we have been addressing how we should move towards ending the privatisation of education and empowering the public institutions. This is all linked up with the social economic reality of Nepal, and pulling Nepal away from feudalism. Uprooting the old system.

Peterson: In recent days the Maoist-led government has been basically overthrown by the unconstitutional actions of the President, and a new government has been formed by Madhav Kumar Nepal from the UML. Has this disrupted the political process and your plans for education?

Bhattarai: Of course! This is disrupting everything. It needs to also be analyzed in the context of the political processes. The coming of Madhav Kumar Nepal, the people now understand this government exists as a puppet government only, backed by certain forces which do not want the Maoists to be successful in implementing revolutionary programs and policies. Since this is a puppet government, it is aimed at pushing back the Maoists, what they have achieved and trying to get them to go back to the people’s war in Nepal. There are those that would like Nepal to become like another Sri Lanka.

It is all simply against our agenda, it is against making public institutions a better place, against having an equal education for all and in a way that people from all regions of Nepal can have a primary and secondary education in their own language, as they want and according to their own priorities and the necessities of Nepal, not in a way that is determined and dependant on private institutions.

So eventually, a person like Madhav Kumar Nepal- or any other person, it’s not about a new person becoming Prime Minister- but anyone who comes to power in this way is bound to backtrack on our revolutionary policies. In the education sector it will mean re-empowering the private sector. The Maoist government had started to gain some control over the private education sector, through a new tax policy. The new government will backtrack on this.

Peterson: The new government is made up of 22 parties, and doesn’t have the support of the party that won the elections- how long can it last?

Bhattarai: There is no basis for this government to exist for any significant time. The way it has been formed without any coherent agenda or program or common ground. For a government to be formed it should have some sort of common political ideal that is binding. For these parties it is like some invisible hand is holding them together. How long it will last, I don’t know. In the Constituent Assembly when Koirala (of the Nepali Congress Party) proposed M.K. Nepal as the Prime Minister you could clearly see problems already. All the parties came forward to support the new government, but all of them had ifs, buts and maybes. All the parties came forward with their own baggage and agenda, which can be very different to what the UML stands for. So it is like some invisible hand is holding them together and it can’t last long. There is no common agenda, policy, ideology- except for the one reason, which seems to be to ‘teach the Maoists a lesson’. Time will tell how this all pans out.

Peterson: So now there is this contradiction between the direction of the government and the aspirations of the people, as we saw in the People’s War, the Jana Andolan and in the election results. How will this struggle between the revolution and the status-quo be played out?

Bhattarai: The whole thing is about contradictions, that’s what justifies us, our party. That’s why we waged the People’s War, and we have not abandoned the People’s War. There is a continuation of the same process and struggle we started more than 12 years ago with the People’s War. We have made some achievements, and we need to sustain those. We need to always keep in mind the international situation, the national situation, we need Marxism Leninism Maoism and need to be thinking about what that means in the 21st Century world.

We need to keep all this in mind and we are faced with what is definitely a very challenging situation. We have all these radical agendas, and that’s how we have been able to mobilise so many people, the whole country and now we have to do so once again. We have worked with forces that are status quo-ist, that still have an attachment to feudalism, still have a tendency to look to expansionists and imperialists. This was to do away with the monarchy in Nepal and make Nepal a Democratic Republic. That was what the process was about.

Now Nepal is a republic, and this is a big thing. Sometimes people forget that Nepal is now a Republic and minimize the significance of it, but this is a big achievement keeping in mind the history of Nepal. Having said that, now we must move ahead. Just because the Monarchy is gone doesn’t mean feudal elements have all been uprooted. That is the situation right now. We have removed the Monarchy, and to do that we had some kind of alliance with what are status quo forces, so I guess now there is a huge challenge for our party. Now what? Where do we go from here? For us it is still a fight to establish a Democratic Republic for establishing a socialist system in Nepal. We have to be oriented towards socialism, our party has said very clearly that we are oriented to socialism. For this we have waged the whole struggle for the sovereignty of the people of Nepal. The army issue was never about one general Katawal, it was all about the sovereignty of Nepal. For Nepal, right now, the challenge is to internally fight with the status quo forces and externally fight against expansionist and imperialist forces. As I said, there are many fronts, there are many challenges, but challenges always come with possibilities. So we are confident. We have had many fronts, People’s War was one front we fought on, this is just another.

Peterson: You mentioned the international situation. It is a very difficult situation for revolution, there is no more USSR and China has well and truly abandoned the revolution. So what do you make of the international situation, and in particular, are you looking to Latin America, where there are revolutions also happening?

Bhattarai: Our party, as far as I know, has some links with the parties and people there. Personally I have been following these situations like in Venezuela and Cuba. I would certainly like my party to have more serious links with Latin America. I think our party hasn’t had as close links as we should have, but this is largely because there are so many differences between our situations. There are certainly similarities, in terms of our goals and our ideals and we are all waging an anti-imperialist struggle, but we are in a very specific situation. The geopolitics of Nepal is very specific and different to Latin America.

Having deep links with Latin American revolutionaries is a longer term goal. We should have those links, ideologically. We should be having a discussion and learning from what they have been able to do, their policies and programs, but at a diplomatic level having strong links with Latin America doesn’t make much sense because of our geopolitical situation. We are landlocked between India and China. Diplomatic links are important, but maybe in the longer term, but the policies, programs and leadership of Latin American revolutions we have a lot we can learn from.

Peterson: In Nepal the youth are playing a very big role in the revolution, but at least within Kathmandu there are also many westernised youth who look more towards Europe, the US and India for their culture, and then also politics. Is there a cultural clash between westernised youths in urban areas, and revolutionary youth?

Bhattarai: I wouldn’t say there is a culture clash, but as you say there is a community of upper class pro-western kids. I think it’s not their fault, its nobody’s fault really, its just where they come from. They are more likely to look to the USA, the UK or India for their education. It all really starts with education, and then becomes cultural, so I think its more of an issue of class background. There isn’t so much a cultural clash, but a clash of class interests. This is bound to happen as they tend to look to the west, and we the Maoists look to ourselves and the lower classes. At some level there is bound to be a clash because they are in favour of more privatisation of schools and institutions where as we stand against that and for the betterment of public institutions. But I don’t think… I think we are quite capable to talk to these youth and at least get them to listen to our agenda.

There are some westernised youth on this campus, and these people really just want stability and peace. They have everything else- money, cars. They have no problems, except for peace and stability. So if the Maoists can give them that, then for the time being there won’t be such clashes. These youth are basically the product of the whole system, and we should try to avoid antagonism between our generation at this time given to political situation.

Peterson: There are a lot of Nepalis who go internationally for education. Does the student union have international organisations and try and organise Nepali students abroad?

Bhattarai: Our student union does have an international department which looks into this aspect and establishes links with Nepali Students studying abroad. We believe it is not the fault of the students who leave, they just want a good education in a good environment and we know our country right now is not able to give that. Keeping that in mind and being practical, we look to make links with these students so we can encourage them to come back and use their expertise to develop the country.

Peterson: Are you optimistic about the future of Nepal?

Bhattarai: Definitely! Otherwise I wouldn’t be where I am right now!

Also published at 21st Century Socialism. Further reports by Ben Peterson on the situation in Nepal can be read at Lal Salam- Revolution in the Himalayas.

The picture is of the occupation in Manchester (by Richard Searle). But the text below is from Glasgow University Students

Glasgow University Occupy in Solidarity with Gaza
Students begin the 23rd university occupation in Britain in the past 3 weeks

At 2pm this afternoon over 50 students at the University of Glasgow went into occupation to protest against the current siege of Gaza, in solidarity with the Palestinians, and against the involvement of arms manufacturers at our university. After weeks of campaigning, they presented the Principal with a set of demands and petitions signed by over one thousand Glasgow University students and staff in support of the people of Gaza.

Following an unsatisfactory response from the Principal Sir Muir Russell they decided to occupy the Computing Science building at the university. The university has proven funding and investment links to BAE systems and other arms manufacturers who supply weapons to the state of Israel. The Computing Science department is one of the departments with major links to BAE systems. This action is taking place against the background of a wave of successful occupations around Britain.

The students are demanding:
The severing of links between the university and arms manufacturers, such as BAE Systems.
An official university statement condemning the Israeli army’s atrocities in Gaza.
A boycott of all Israeli produce on campus, such as Eden Springs water.
Donations of academic resources to help rebuild Gaza’s battered schools and universities.
A day of fundraising across campus in support of the DEC appeal.
A commitment to fund scholarships for Palestinian students.

The students say they will remain in occupation indefinitely until their demands are met.
Contacts:
glasgowunioccupation@gmail.com
www.glasgowunioccupation.blogspot.com   

Victory for the SOAS Occupation in Solidarity with Gaza
by Ian Drummond

On the evening of Tuesday 13th January a group of students at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) occupied the Brunei Gallery Suite at SOAS. This room, and the entire Brunei building it is in, is subcontracted to the company Sodexo, which also provides catering for the US army at Abu Ghraib prison (where standards infamously slipped after the end of Saddam’s regime) and runs brutal immigration detention centres in Britain. The company charges £1000 a night for the Suite, permanently pricing out the Student Union and student societies, but had given the space for free to an exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, aimed at schoolchildren, on ethnic minorities in the British Armed Forces from colonial times to the present.

The exhibition effectively glorified what largely amounts to the fact that some colonial subjects fought their own people and other peoples like them on behalf of Britain, in which they had no interest and by which they were oppressed. The most sympathetic figure commemorated was Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian princess who died in Dachau for working with the French Resistance; theirs was the same legitimate struggle against occupation as that in Gaza today. That such an exhibition, sponsored by the blood stained MoD and supported by a company despised in SOAS for its role in the War on Terror, happened to be on campus during the massacre in Gaza, provided a perfect storm for students wishing to make the leap from being angry to taking a concrete stand of solidarity.

The occupation began immediately after the end of the Student Union’s monthly general meeting, during which every single relevant vote had been won by the side in solidarity with Palestine. These included a general motion on the Gaza slaughter, a motion in support of global non-violent direct action against Israel’s crimes, (in which the section on the legitimacy of the Palestinian resistance, which some sought to remove, was explicitly affirmed) an emergency motion against the MoD exhibition, and 2 emergency motions on the issue of a lecture series celebrating Tel Aviv University, denouncing the series and the conduct of the police when called onto campus to make sure the lecture went ahead.

After locking ourselves in the room we wrote a statement, put placards in the windows and slept overnight in the room. The following day more students joined the occupation through the windows and came and went throughout the day. We were covered by al Jazeera and other news agencies. When the schoolchildren turned up they were not allowed by their teachers to see the exhibition under our occupation as we had specified that the MoD guides were not allowed in; they were enthused by our action but the teachers attempted to keep their exposure to us down to a bare minimum.

There were negotiations with the school throughout the day and eventually a deal was reached which amounted to an overwhelming victory. In return for the students agreeing to unlock the doors and cease the occupation, we would be allowed to use the space, previously denied to us, for the rest of the week, to hold events to raise awareness of and show solidarity with Gaza. The MoD would be allowed in the room for only one purpose: to remove their exhibition forthwith. No student who took part in the occupation is to suffer any consequences, the school is to open negotiations with Sodexo to secure times for students to use the space, and any future military presence on campus must be agreed with the Student Union.

There was a comic epilogue to our struggle as representatives of the School, in a display of bureaucratic logicality, didn’t allow us to end our own occupation and unlock the doors until they saw a signed copy of the agreement. We later held an anti-Zionist meeting in the liberated space and are arranging an intensive series of events for the next 2 days. Other universities are planning similar actions, as it becomes clear that the movement for Gaza must be taken to a new level of concrete, radical solidarity action.

75 New York students are mounting a militant occupation, to demand the sacking of university President Bob Kerrey. Kerrey, the former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator who has led the school since 2001, received a vote of no-confidence from senior faculty, which was then endorsed overwhelmingly by full-time staff. They also demand the removal of Executive Vice President James Murtha and more transparency and student participation in large university decisions.

The students have been excluded from all decisions in the university for the last 7 years.

Read More at New School in Exile

The New Labour led NUS leadership are proposing to remove compulsory democratic elections to annual conference, and extra layers of bureaucracy which will be used to stop effective opposition to government anti-student measures.

Matt Dobson, Socialist Students National Organiser says ‘These measures will insulate the leadership from ordinary students, who oppose fees, privatisation of universities and accommodation and worse conditions on campus and in the colleges. They will be opposed by all those who are involved in campaigning for students’ rights who are present at NUS conference. However, if these measures are passed, Campaign to Defeat Fees is determined that ordinary students will not be prevented from organising to defend their rights. That’s why we are back the conference organised by Portsmouth Student Union on April 12th to build a fight back.’

A debate is taking place at a conference organised by Portsmouth Students Union on the 12th April about the how activists can organise to build further links between those students and students unions who genuinely do want to campaign