Pupils again take to the streets and protesters occupying a college join striking Tube staff as a generation ‘let down by democracy’ finds its voice

Published: 2 December, 2010
by TOM FOOT

Birth of a student movement

STUDENTS defiantly occupying University College London say they are at the vanguard of a 21st century popular movement that can inspire millions into political activism across the country.

Undergraduates have vowed to remain in the Jeremy Bentham Room and Slade Art School through Christmas and beyond... until their demands are met.

They are calling on Provost Malcolm Grant – who yesterday (Wednesday) returned from Qatar, where UCL is opening a campus – to follow other universities and publicly criticise the government’s proposals to remove a cap on fees.

But the students are hoping to reach out beyond the ivory towers of higher education and build on a growing atmosphere of unrest sweeping the country.

This week they joined picket lines alongside striking Tube workers, lobbied for fairer pay for low-paid UCL staff and organised a “flash mob” protest in Oxford Street over big businesses’ tax avoidance.

Second-year BA architecture student Ben Beech, 20, said: “We are not just talking about a protest against fees – we are talking about a development of a movement. We are a generation of young people who have been ignored and let down by democracy. We are the vanguard – but there are thousands taking to the streets already. Soon it will be millions.”

He said he had noticed a change of attitude among students during the Gaza bombing protests in 2009. “Now you hear people talking about politics and protest,” he said. 

“The cleaners are bringing us food and we are talking to them – what students do you know that talk to the cleaners?”

Students taking part in the occupation said they felt “disenfranchised” by self-serving politicians and that they had been repeatedly “ignored” over Iraq and tuition fees.

This week, the occupation has heard performances by Billy Bragg and comedian Mark Thomas while winning support from political columnist Polly Toynbee and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone. In a message to the UCL occupation, Mr Livingstone described the protest as a symbol of a “new anti-Tory generation”.

The St Pancras Labour Party is backing the occupation and its chairman, former Camden council leader Raj Chada, said: “There is an energy and purpose on the left that I haven’t seen in a decade. As part of this new focus, we have supported students. Political parties need to adapt to the new circumstances and that is exactly what we intend to do.”

But East European Studies UCL student Ed Alexander said: “I don’t feel like our protest is in any way party political – I am not for one or the other, as they are mainly the same. I know it is this government bringing this in – but I’m sure whichever of the mainstream parties had got in they would have done the same.”

The Jeremy Bentham Room is used as a function room for student societies and, according to a university spokes­man, was also rented out for corporate events or for use by film companies.

Students said management had booked university society meetings into the room in the knowledge they would not be able to go ahead – an effort to “divide and rule”, they claimed.

Yesterday, UCL bosses temporarily shut down the quad as security officers delivered a notice to the student occupation. 

It said: “Your occupation has led to the University having to cancel a number of events. Whilst UCL recognise your desire to protest and express your views concerning these issues, it must balance this with ensuring the smooth operation of the University.” The UCL occupation is using Twitter, Facebook and internet blogs to organise protests but also to exchange messages of solidarity with other campaigns.

Students have organised meetings on subjects ranging from feminism, cynicism and direct action to the law and the mainstream media. 

It is felt that students taking degrees with the expectation of a highly paid job at the end are not so interested in the future of their peers.

But, privately, academics said they were surprised by the level of anger across a campus that has hardly been a hotbed of radicalism in recent years.

A lecturer in the modern languages department said: “I am surprised, but also delighted, that UCL students appear to be leading the way in the crucial struggle against the cuts and rises in tuition fees which this government is planning to implement.”