Students Protest Against Education Cuts In Britain

As many of you will be aware, today was the second wave of student protests over government budget cuts to the British education system. The cuts plan to raise university fees from £3000 to £9000 a year, as well as removing the weekly EMA [Educational maintenance allowance] that low income families receive, and removing all funding for many university subjects such as the arts. Many students are particularly annoyed with the deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who promised that, if elected, he would remove tuition fees completely. His party is the smaller half of the current government coalition and since forming this coalition his plans for the education system seem to have been ignored. Many people are unhappy about this.

You can read all about it here: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11829102   
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/24/student-protests-school-children-streets   
 
         

As the news reports roll in you can see that the protests literally spanned the entire country and the, well, results have varied. The general protest was a walk-out, where thousands of students, lecturers and teachers from around the country all simply dropped what they were doing and took to the streets. In London, for example, thousands of students showed up in Whitehall and clashed with riot police, then opted to smash up a police van. Or maybe it was the other way around? I forget.

Other student groups have occupied public and government buildings. Earlier today I took part in a march on Bournemouth town center with about 500 other students and we sat in the middle of a busy street in the middle of town obstructing traffic for a couple of hours, for example.  

I figured that there will be a decent amount of British students using giantbomb, at least some of you must have taken part in some form of protest?

• Friendly neighbourhood moderator Mracoon has taken part in an organised sit-in, occupying a building and refusing to leave (for 31 hours, as I write this) as a form of peaceful protest. He was thoughtful enough to provide a live video feed, I know he would appreciate it if you dropped by to show him some love and support.  
• Really nice article here (From the Guardian) about kids as young as 14 taking part in the protests.
• An article written about the Bournemouth march I took part in in the local newspaper.
• Video of kids smashing up police van.
• BBC picture feed of protests from around the country.

• Picture feed from the Guardian.
• Reports of police on horseback charging protesters at Whitehall
• Live feed of "The aftermath"

Politics!

I wish I could join,

being in proves difficult

thank Christ we haven't had to slash and burn...yet

My opinion when it comes to these subjects can boil down to a rather short but nonetheless valid sentence, I believe:
 

How will smashing vans fix anything?

Anarchy kids are fucking stupid and kind of deflate any legitimacy in a protest. 

Thanks for the plug. The camera's off now because people are sleeping but I'll turn it back on in the morning. It's surprising the amount of people who are willing to watch people sitting down for hours on end. It's been a lot of fun though and it's great to see occupations happening at universities right across the UK.

Anarchy and vandalism is preferable to apathetically taking it in the ass. I've noticed a few petitions filtering down from Britain regarding arts faculties getting shut, such as Middlesex's well-respected continental philosophy program, which is bullshit. Hope the struggle against corporate restructuring has some success.

The tuition fee increase is just absurd. They need to stand up against this.

While not in Britain (I will be soon), I do keep up with the politics there, and many of the cuts seem to have been mismanaged. I understand that cuts need to be made (but I don't see why the Government can't simply confiscate some of banks' profits after they bailed them out), but they're being cut in the wrong places, for example I think the ditching of the Ark Royal and the Harrier jets was a disgrace, on top of this education thing.

" Anarchy and vandalism is preferable to apathetically taking it in the ass. I've noticed a few petitions filtering down from Britain regarding arts faculties getting shut, such as Middlesex's well-respected continental philosophy program, which is bullshit. Hope the struggle against corporate restructuring has some success. "

They are trying to dumb down the U.K and it's important to get more intellegent ppl there. If you are in the U.K, here is a cause that's worth protesting. I'm sure you wouldn't want your education system to be at the level of the united states. Well united states at least has decent universities.

It's hilarious how, last year, lectures were only ever half full, essays were always handed in late and now the fees are going up, everyone's complaining. As expected, British students only care because they've got to pay more for their three year holiday now and these Topman cunts acting out V For Vendetta just make the whole thing look like an embarrassment.

I hate that there will be a rise in university fees....But i hate smelly protesters or "Anarchy kids" more! also nice to see this being discussed on this site. 

Good thing you guys don't live in the U.S. You would burn this place down.

" Good thing you guys don't live in the U.S. You would burn this place down. "

" @Claude said:

" Good thing you guys don't live in the U.S. You would burn this place down. "

I don't want to speak out of turn but I think the states actually have more tuition assistance programs than the UK. "

For real, UK Rules.

When I was in school EMA was a complete joke. It was so easy to doctor the application forms and the money was never used as intended. We used it primarily to buy booze, cigarettes and weed at the weekend and generally fund our social lives as teenagers.  
 
I'm not surprised to see it being scrapped. It's probably half the reason the so called 'under age drinking problem' exists in the UK!

" When I was in school EMA was a complete joke. It was so easy to doctor the application forms and the money was never used as intended. We used it primarily to buy booze and weed at the weekend and generally fund our social lives as teenagers.   I'm not surprised to see it being scrapped. It's probably half the reason the so called 'under age drinking problem' exists in the UK! "

So by breaking shit (that'll cause more government money to be used in repairs) they hope that the government will want to give them more money. 
 
Makes sense to me.

Its still free in Scotland, sucks to be England. 

well good for them. i wish i was there. it sounds like fun to protest in a peaceful way. i never been in one.

Yeah, sorry about that.

Sucks for you people!
The government pays me to go to school. And my tuition is tax deduct-able. 

I wonder if they are checking into FourSquare while they riot like during the SF "riots" after the Giants won the World Series. Seriously America forgot how to stage protests.

Wow people really don't understand how protests put pressure on the goverment? Really? Reeeeaally?
 
I don't know what's worse, that or the people dismissing the protest because the people dress "funny".

"My opinion when it comes to these subjects can boil down to a rather short but nonetheless valid sentence, I believe:
 

How will smashing vans fix anything?

Seriously, the guy in the last picture describes that one of those adolescent stereotypes that I simply cannot avoid to hate: poorly dressed, foolishly idealistic, most likely pseudo-intellectual, idiotically vandalizing government/private property believing that will make a difference? There he stands, all full of himself, making a show for everyone, fighting for his rights in the most immature way possible. Despicable. I respect Mracoon for the sit-in you mentioned: it demonstrates how unhappy the group of people that took part in the protest are, without hurting or destroying anything.  But honestly, we've seen the violent sort of riots happen over and over. Basically people who have not met life yet and have not met disillusionment and cynicism, shouting out with all the energy of their youth for some cause. The cause is valid, but what on earth are they doing to fix it? Drawing graffiti that read "REVoLuTIon"? Grow up. "

That's gotta be the only Red phone box left in the UK, and look what those soap-dodging cunts did to it.
 
 
Where am I gonna get my tart-cards now?

=D I was totally part of the Liverpool one.
 
Win.

Yeah!  Go UK!  Protest because the government can no longer afford all the programs you think you're entitled to!

" =D I was totally part of the Liverpool one.  Win. "

" @Ineedaname said:

" =D I was totally part of the Liverpool one.  Win. "

I can't imagine it looked any different to Concert Square on a friday night. "

I am behind this, more people need to stand up against the wankers.
 
Sweep I want to see you on the news some day..

Aaaaand that's what happens when the people of a country are dependent on their government's social programs.  When cuts need to be made, people go apeshit.
 
Just a generalized statement, as I know nothing about the UK's education system or their politics as a whole.

To put this into perspective for the Americans. After doing an average three year degree you will most likely be $42,570 in debt. 

Great way to start out your career isn't it. After all, us students are just rolling in the money.

I understand yearly fee raises but 3000-9000 pounds no less? A bit extreme. What were they thinking? 
 
Also, protesters need to learn to wear helmets. Even bicycle helmets would be good.

ergh. 
I wonder how much it cost to clean up after them, pay the police to deal with it and fix that van. 

" Aaaaand that's what happens when the people of a country are dependent on their government's social programs.  When cuts need to be made, people go apeshit.  Just a generalized statement, as I know nothing about the UK's education system or their politics as a whole. "

All the Topmen need that extra money so they can buy the Kinect and Dance Central.

" Aaaaand that's what happens when the people of a country are dependent on their government's social programs.  When cuts need to be made, people go apeshit.  Just a generalized statement, as I know nothing about the UK's education system or their politics as a whole. "

" It's hilarious how, last year, lectures were only ever half full, essays were always handed in late and now the fees are going up, everyone's complaining. As expected, British students only care because they've got to pay more for their three year holiday now and these Topman cunts acting out V For Vendetta just make the whole thing look like an embarrassment. "

God forbid the people using a service actually have to pay for it themselves.  Is there really nothing better to protest? 
 
Where I went to law school (in the U.S.), it was not uncommon for people to come out with six figures of debt.  That's not a good thing, but it's made it rather hard for me to get worked up about this.

" Doesn't this just mean that many students will be taking out 3 times the loan amount to pay for their courses? Then paying it off slowly after they get a job. "

As for the violence

" My opinion when it comes to these subjects can boil down to a rather short but nonetheless valid sentence, I believe:
 

How will smashing vans fix anything?

Seriously, the guy in the last picture describes that one of those adolescent stereotypes that I simply cannot avoid to hate: poorly dressed, foolishly idealistic, most likely pseudo-intellectual, idiotically vandalizing government/private property believing that will make a difference? There he stands, all full of himself, making a show for everyone, fighting for his rights in the most immature way possible. Despicable. I respect Mracoon for the sit-in you mentioned: it demonstrates how unhappy the group of people that took part in the protest are, without hurting or destroying anything.  But honestly, we've seen the violent sort of riots happen over and over. Basically people who have not met life yet and have not met disillusionment and cynicism, shouting out with all the energy of their youth for some cause. The cause is valid, but what on earth are they doing to fix it? Drawing graffiti that read "REVoLuTIon"? Grow up. "

As an American, I'm gonna say that while a little smashing doesn't help anything, an awful lot of smashing makes all the difference.  We called it the "Boston Tea Party" and it was part of a bigger movement that had lasting impact.  I can't in good conscience encourage that kind of activity, but I'm not surprised it's happening.

Perhaps, if the youth are desperate enough to smash random vehicles, the problems are finally big enough that they need addressing?  It sounds like there was money promised for votes during the election , and you can't expect the electorate who voted for you to take it lying down if you ignore them.  The difference between "Free" and "Three times what it used to cost" is pretty big.  You should be glad he's not smashing faces.