I salute the students.
I thought the power to revolt was dead in the water. I thought it had disappeared beneath the oceans of Brittania. Drowned and dead.
Apparently not. The students are out in this filthy weather shouting their slogans, resisting being kettled by the arms of the state (police).
Using the right they have to say 'no' in a peaceful demonstration.
I think they are marvellous.
From the sublime to the ridiculous. From fifty percent of this country's young people being encouraged to go to University now we have anyone whose parents aren't loaded struggling a) to get in and b) not to be encumbered with debt for twenty five years.
Punish the poor and the middle class when they never benefitted from the good years, but, oh yeah, make them pay in the bad years.
I believe that the bankers etc. organised the terrible chaos we're in. How else were they to stop paying savers the rates the savers were owed?
Protest on, my young friends.
"They (the youngsters), like many others from across the country, had just spent the day protesting or lobbying or saying a speech, all in the hope the government would listen."
They don't listen, darlings. They only listen when you agree with them, when you're one of them. They aren't there for you, my children. We, home educators, could tell you how deaf they can be, how frustrated you all would be.
Protest on, even though you think you may have lost. You will carry the day.
Life is stirring in all of us. The knowledge of fairness is raising its head. The sense of something wrong is dawning.
"There were shouts of 'I can't breathe' and calls for medics for those with bleeding heads who had been hit by baton-wielding police. Ian Dillets, a student from SOAS said:
"Everyone is cold and hungry and would like to go home, but we're not allowed to go home. There are a lot of people now standing around saying if they're not going to let us out we might as well go and get angry.""
Are our children to be treated like criminals? Who are the police protecting? The rights of the state to do whatever it damn well pleases. We are more than the state. We are greater than any Parliament.
Times are indeed a'changin'.
"Tim Mortimer, Leeds University Union Activities Officer, said he had great trouble seeing Simon Burns, his local MP for Chemsford yesterday:
"I rang and emailed him several times but he managed to wrangle his way out of it saying as he was a minister he didn't have time to meet with his constituent. It's a bit upsetting. MPs are condemning any kind of violent action but were not allowing people legitimate means to get their point across.""
Maybe he doesn't represent you, Tim. Who does he represent then? Who are these people? What is this system? These are questions that Tim might be asking himself tonight. The questions we all should be asking. Don't we deserve better than this? Don't our children deserve better than this?
Quotes from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2010/dec/10/student-tuition-fees-protests-leeds-view
I was actually inside Parliament for much of the afternoon, having arranged to be there that day with my family long before the date got picked for the student debate. Mostly business continued as normal, although the helicopters were very audible, even sitting in the Lords chamber observing the debate there. When we passed through the central lobby as part of our tour there were some students there, presumably to see their MPs, so I'm guessing they weren't all as hard to get as Burns. Walking round the outside of the police cordon trying to get into Parliament, most of the protesters we encountered were good-humoured, as they were on the trains to/from London.
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