[Campaignforrealdemocracy] Fwd: [Dem-Village] The student movement and peoples assemblies

[Mark Barrett]

Monday, December 13, 2010 – A World to Win BLOG – WWW.AWORLDTOWIN.NET

Student revolt shows state in turmoil

The continuing wave of student protests against increased fees and
education cuts is highlighting a deepening crisis within the British
state, one that presents opportunities as well as threats.

Plans for more demonstrations, including today’s against the abolition
of the education maintenance allowance, show the real concern not only
of students but also parents and teachers about how education is
increasingly run along business lines.

It has emerged that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul
Stephenson almost quit over the incident last Thursday when Prince
Charles and Camilla’s vehicle came under attack from protesters. The
episode made it evident that 3,000 officers failed to seal off streets
in central London, once demonstrators had got wise to their kettling
tactics.

Stephenson and his ilk are still smarting from being caught off their
guard by protesters at Tory party headquarters in Millbank Tower
during the protest organised by the National Union of Students last
month. In revenge attacks for November, last Thursday’s operations saw
massed ranks of police deployed around Parliament Square.

A police cavalry charge was used as a terror tactic. Police used
truncheons indiscriminately on defenceless students such as
20-year-old Alfie Meadows, who is recovering from a three-hour brain
operation. Officers pulled Jody McIntyre, who suffers from cerebral
palsy, from his wheelchair. So far around 180 people have been
arrested and the Met is preparing criminal prosecutions against them.

So now Home Secretary Theresa May says she does not exclude the
possibility of the police deploying water cannon to curb further
student protests. Recent citizen protests in Stuttgart saw serious
injuries as a result of their use. That won’t bother the Coalition and
no doubt tear gas and para-military riot units won’t be far behind.
Behind the continuing protest movement there is a deeper current of
disaffection.

Today’s publication of the British Social Attitudes Survey shows that
trust in politicians has reached an all-time low.

This groundswell of distrust indicates that there is a breakdown in
the relationship between the state and the mass of the population,
especially young people. This is fuelling their evident desire to go
beyond and outside the worn-out parliamentary channels of protest and
pressure politics.

In doing so they are moving politically ahead of the mass of workers
who are being held back by the Labour Party and trade union
bureaucrats. Young people are not as trapped the those who seek to
place a safe cap on things and keep the status quo. They are not
hanging around for the feeble stroll around the park being organised
by the Trades Union Congress in over three months time.

But today local councils up and down the country are being told how
much to cut - how many jobs and services are to disappear, leaving a
trail of devastation and misery. Most councillors – whatever their
political affiliation – will be voting through the cuts. Ordinary
people, not only public service workers, will now be drawn into a
wider movement.

So the urgent issue is to continue to explore and develop new
political forms outside and beyond local government, the conservative
trade union leadership and parliament.

Last Friday a student meeting at the London School of Economics,
called to discuss the way forward in the battle against education
cuts, proposed that assemblies should embrace not only the national
student movement, but also those fighting against the cuts more
widely.

And the momentum for building People's Asssemblies took a step forward
at the “Liberation beyond resistance” meeting in London on Saturday.
There was a wide-ranging discussion on the nature and purpose of
People's Assemblies and many proposals made for concrete actions in
2011. Assemblies have the potential to challenge the state for power
itself in order to create a truly democratic society, in terms of
politics and the control of resources. They are the way to go in 2011.

Support for Xmas Number 1
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