It was a strange couple of days. I came back from my beloved Anam Cara Writing Retreat where for over a week I was blissfully unaware of anything except my work, the work of my friends, and the incredible cold. Here are a few photos I took of the surrounding landscape of the Beara Peninsula, which is where the retreat is located, on the southwestern most point of Ireland.
I then came back to London and the student demonstrations. I have found this to be an especially tricky issue for me, one which I can’t completely unravel from my own past. I grew up in the US in the 70’s when student demonstrations were the primary force for change in my deeply troubled country. It was the efforts of the students that helped bring about civil rights and a first attempt at racial equality, and it was the student demonstrations which helped force the end of the Vietnam War. I deeply believe in a citizen’s right to demonstrate, and I also believe that it is, in some ways, part of the learning experience of the university student to find a cause and find his/her way of standing up for it. And so I am instinctively drawn to the side of the students. But I don’t believe in violent action. I don’t believe that violence ever moves an argument forward. I can never support a violent demonstration. Then there is the added difficulty of my understanding that the universities are going bankrupt. There’s no use ensuring access for all to a university education if there are no longer any universities worth going to. The reality is that it costs a great deal of money to keep universities open and to provide them with facilities in keeping with the needs of our changing world. As someone who went to private university in America and is now sending a child to a private university in America, I can’t help but find myself thinking that Brits don’t know what expensive is. But there is the problem of the recent campaign’s broken promises and the breaking of a social contract — things that don’t apply to the American paradigm. But I don’t really want to get into this argument now. What I want to discuss is that in the midst of all this, I found myself at the End of Year Party for the Asian Department of SOAS (the fantastic School of Oriental and African Studies). I was there to talk about “A Clash of Innocents” and show some of the photographs by the kids of Anjali House.
The event was originally going to be held in one of the larger assembly rooms. But that room was still under a student occupation, so it was moved to a much smaller conference room. At first I was concerned — would I somehow have to cross a barricade, would I be doing something that might go against my belief in a student’s right to protest? But of course not. Despite the deep sense of solidarity among the students and professors at the event, and their disappointed worried comments, everyone was there doing what they as students were there to do in the first place, namely meet and talk with people of similar interests and celebrate the efforts they are making in pursuing their education. Despite a week of extreme turmoil, the students were all still there being, well, students, and it gave me hope. Education is both a right and a privilege. It is something worth fighting for, but also worth working and sacrificing for. Many of these students will now have to work harder than they had originally thought in order to get the education they deserve. But as we all know, the harder we work for something the more we appreciate it. It’s a difficult and tricky situation. I think Nick Clegg’s face says it all:
thanks to Baroque in Hackney for this photo.
I think there will always be hijackers of peaceful legitimate protest – and now, there are also those who are genuinely angry and afraid for their futures – and those of others to come. The students are demonstrating for more than just themselves – it seems like the visible face of a groundswell of anger against the swingeing cuts that will affect everyone except the fat cats who caused the financial situation, largely.
Of course, nothing is ever simple, and of course, something needed to be done to bolster the financial status of the higher educational establishments. But what worries me is the sudden disenfranchisement of those without the funds to pay, and those for whom a debt of the size envisaged is something unthinkable.
It is a class thing, in the end. When my father left school, in 1932, one boy from his year went to university – the son of the solicitor. Not the brightest, one of those who had come from the poorer end of town and worked their socks off to get top marks – the one with the cash.
We have very different cultures, USA/UK. Money has never been the major badge of success in the UK. Take a look at Katy Evans-Bushes note on facebook – setting out far better than I can the differences – for her US friends who think its a simple matter, all this, and dont see the fuss. (Not saying you are like that! But its a very good analysis, made me think,.)
My fear is that we are doing several things – in accepting the cuts, we give tacit agreement to a return to the 1930s. To the rich having easier access to tertiary education. To those who are already struggling, the weaker, being given heavier burdens to carry, and lessening the likelihood of them ever climbing out of their social strata. To preserving and strengthening the old boy’s network.
Other regimes might be accused of social engineering. Police tactics, kettling particularly, indiscriminately and cynically preventing peaceful demonstrators from dispersing, no food, water, access to sanitation for many many hours, to lessen the likelihood of them demonstrating again when it is one of their fundamental rights – smacks of “other regimes” frighteningly.
Im with the students.
I think there will always be hijackers of peaceful legitimate protest – and now, there are also those who are genuinely angry and afraid for their futures – and those of others to come. The students are demonstrating for more than just themselves – it seems like the visible face of a groundswell of anger against the swingeing cuts that will affect everyone except the fat cats who caused the financial situation, largely.
Of course, nothing is ever simple, and of course, something needed to be done to bolster the financial status of the higher educational establishments. But what worries me is the sudden disenfranchisement of those without the funds to pay, and those for whom a debt of the size envisaged is something unthinkable.
It is a class thing, in the end. When my father left school, in 1932, one boy from his year went to university – the son of the solicitor. Not the brightest, one of those who had come from the poorer end of town and worked their socks off to get top marks – the one with the cash.
We have very different cultures, USA/UK. Money has never been the major badge of success in the UK. Take a look at Katy Evans-Bushes note on facebook – setting out far better than I can the differences – for her US friends who think its a simple matter, all this, and dont see the fuss. (Not saying you are like that! But its a very good analysis, made me think,.)
My fear is that we are doing several things – in accepting the cuts, we give tacit agreement to a return to the 1930s. To the rich having easier access to tertiary education. To those who are already struggling, the weaker, being given heavier burdens to carry, and lessening the likelihood of them ever climbing out of their social strata. To preserving and strengthening the old boy’s network.
Other regimes might be accused of social engineering. Police tactics, kettling particularly, indiscriminately and cynically preventing peaceful demonstrators from dispersing, no food, water, access to sanitation for many many hours, to lessen the likelihood of them demonstrating again when it is one of their fundamental rights – smacks of “other regimes” frighteningly.
Im with the students.
rant over.
Vanessa: D and I were talking about it again last night. I’m completely on the side of the students, I just don’t know what the answer is to the funding needs. I do know that something has to give, something has to change — but what? Luckily (in this respect) no one really listens to me anyway…. It does feel like the bad old Thatcher days. And I did read Katy’s US vs UK explanation, which I think is incredibly well-argued. In some ways, i suppose, this situation exposes the differences between the 2 cultures better than any.
The fee rises affect me because I’ve a son going to univ next year (on a 5 year course maybe). However, I think it’s worth pointing out that the new Vice-Chancellor of the univ I work at pointed out that for us “there is an average deficit of 9000 pounds for every undergraduate and that’s unsustainable” so something has to change.