The anti-cut movement needs radicalisation

The rise of tuition fee was passed, by a democratically-elected parliament. Of course the struggle must go on, but the strategy is the question – not only violent or non-violent. Now is the time to recognize the real enemy that faces us, and stop expecting any good from a capitalist “democracy”.

As we all know, no one can really represent the students and the working class – not to mention tories and liberal democrats, with their election manifesto, we have as well the labourites backing graduation tax. We have been putting so much hope on the democratic mechanism stopping the rise in fee. It’s the time for us to face the truth. Only by the united power of students and workers equipped with a well understanding of the system shall we win the war.

It is essential to ideologically radicalize the movement against the cut to win. Looking at the countries around us, France, Italy etc, the cut is not a special product of the coalition government but an inevitable result by the failing global capitalist system. Commonsense time. Who fund the politicians in elections? From which classes are the politicians coming from? And, it is not surprising, as a natural consequence, whom the government would fund, the people or the bankers that failed for their greed? If you are still obsessed with the fairyland where democratic politics is as pure as driven snow, see the recent wikileaks and the way the respectable democracies react. Target the capitalist dictatorship.

There has a notable trend of student elitism in the movement. It is not uncommon, when clashes emerge, to hear disturbing comments like ‘they are not students”, “it is only the extremists that causes troubles” etc. Come on, it’s not only a matter affecting students, but the whole working class and, of course, the universal value of justice and fairness. The struggle against the cut is not a lovely bourgeois extra-curricular pastime of the prestigious students but a matter of social justice and, specifically, I have to emphasise, a class struggle, a global revolt against capitalism.

Violence can be justified when of the purpose of self-defense and if preventing further violence. Malcolm X said, “I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence.” And, please don’t compare broken windows with the institutional violence posed by the ruling classes against the people. It is worrying that, however, we spent too much time on visible and formal violence (like smashing windows) but ignore whom we are against and how we shall win, in other words, the ideological tools we need.

No doubt the students alone cannot keep up so long. Occupation is only a mean to earn more time but never the solution. Therefore I’ve figured out the things that shall help the movement.

1. Closely cooperate with the workers and turn the student movement to a social movement – strikes of non-productive students merely won’t work. We should have got the strong tool of general strike.

2. Establish autonomous bodies democratically controlled by the students. Occupation is just not enough. Take over the school! And workers take over factories.

3. Ideologically radicalize the movement by propagandas. Analyse the current situation related to the macro-socio-economical system but not randomly throw out discrete sentences. Instead of aimlessly smashing windows, write black and red slogans that target our real enemies. Better utilize these occasions of clash!

I would be happy if you comment on this. Also please share. Thank you so much.

Jean Mina