Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

SOAS Students Day X - The Battle for Education

Corine Dhondee | 26.08.2011 12:09 | Education | Policing | Social Struggles | World

SOAS Students Day X - The Battle for Education is a documentary in the shape of a diary of events that led up to the day of the vote. It is a first hand account from the perspective of students. Funds to finish doc are being raised on indiegogo  http://www.indiegogo.com/SOAS-students-Day-X-a-diary-of-events Powerful and unflinching the film is an elegy for the right to protest.

SOAS samba on protest.
SOAS samba on protest.


A 90 minute documentary by Corine Dhondee. Funding to finish the documentary is being raised on Indiegogo  http://www.indiegogo.com/SOAS-students-Day-X-a-diary-of-events

"We didn't know SOAS was in occupation. We found the short so inspiring we screened it the following day". Brighton University students in occupation.

"Thanks the students loved watching it". Lecturer in Glasgow

"There’s no one answer. At a general level, we all know the same and right answers, educate, organize, act as appropriate. As we become less abstract the answers vary greatly, depending on individual circumstances, goals, opportunities. We have to find our own place in this broad spectrum of opportunities". Professor Noam Chomsky's response to the Director's question what can we do about budget cuts?

It is evident that the recent student protests is one of the most important movements the UK has witnessed since the 1960s. The protests were in direct response to the coalition government's decision to scrap the EMA whilst simultaneously raising tuition fees. Students were also angry at Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats who for a number of years had wooed young voters with the promise of no fees. In 2007 Clegg said, '‘As leader, I will defend party policy as it is, which is to scrap tuition fees. I start from the simple principle that I want a higher education system accessible to as many people from as many possible backgrounds as possible’, continuing with the same rhetoric into 2010 which quickly vanished into the shadows with his ascension to power.

In response to the raising of student fees, the NUS and University College Union (UCU) called upon students to protest. 52,000 students marched on the streets of London. According to official reports around 200 students occupied Millbank, the headquarters of the Conservative Party. Although in truth thousands of students occupied Millbank inside and outside. Thirty two arrests were made. The student protest broke the coalition government's confidence, cracks began to appear, MPs who spoke out were whipped back into line and the Liberal Democrats popularity fell. Student protests and occupations, without the support of Aaron Porter the president of the NUS, continued in the battle for education.

This is at the heart of SOAS Students Day X – It is a diary of events that occurred when students occupied a building on the SOAS university campus. Filmed as an observation documentary, one watches the progress of the occupation and hears the voices of students as they fight a court case, whilst continuing to protest in the knowledge that something larger is at stake. What is explored is the real, not the feigned attitude of students, combined with their desire and determination to engage within the political framework set. So discussions are had, voting is called upon, meetings are held and the occupation space becomes a place of learning about the current political climate. Lecturers held classes there alongside the public space being transformed into a place where talks and symposiums are given and held by academics and politicians alike.

The narrative has a much larger reach. It suggests that when it came to the student protests, both the government and media were apathetic. They may have appeared to care, and they may appear to produce reports of veracity, but eyewitness accounts from the student protest held on the day of the vote gives a different insight to that which was aired on mainstream media channels. An example of this is although the BBC reported that Westminster Bridge was clear at 2300, in realty students were still being held there, kettled on a bridge with a drop into the freezing Thames on either side. And although the police had their say, students let it be known that police on the night were shouting at students, telling those who wanted to go to the toilet, 'piss there bitch'.

Many students who wanted to go home were not allowed to, instead they were pushed into another kettle whereupon they were again beaten. Everyone ought to watch SOAS Students Day X. It is a diary of events that led up to the day of the vote. It is a first hand account from the perspective of students. The student protests did not stop cuts to EMA in the UK but cuts to EMA did not happen in Wales and Scotland. The student protests may not have stopped the rise in tuition fees but it did break the popularity of the Liberal Democrats. The student protests told the UK and the world we are here, we are students, we are politicized and we have the right to protest. The student protest inspired other groups to protest. The film is an elegy for the right to protest.

The documentary is now on Indiegogo to raise funds to finish it and to make DVDs to send free of charge to schools, Universities, and anti-cuts groups. There are gifts in exchange for funding, from a dedication, to packages which include an online download, DVD, a workshop with Aaron Peters - an internet genius, or a film night and dinner plus a lot of other goodies, or an invite to a SOAS party plus other goodies.

At the time of writing many young people do not know they have the right to protest. This documentary says! Yes you have the right to protest, and yes, you can make a difference. Be a part of the film  http://www.indiegogo.com/SOAS-students-Day-X-a-diary-of-events join facebook  https://www.facebook.com/pages/SOAS-Students-Day-X-The-Battle-for-Education/114301245335446?ref=ts

Corine Dhondee
- Homepage: http://www.indiegogo.com/SOAS-students-Day-X-a-diary-of-events

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech