Over 30 University of Portsmouth student and myself have just returned to the island after traveling up to London to march against the privatisation of Higher Education and the increase of tuition fees. This is not much more than my thoughts spread on a webpage.
Media
The coverage has been interesting to say the least. There were countless photographers and journos on the day, quite obviously expecting the riot that never was. The coverage says a lot about the difference between a “violent” protest and a “peaceful one. After November 10th and the Day X’s of last year, many argued the reasons that our arguments were not put forward in the media was because they focused on the “violence”. Today, we saw very little protester “violence”. Reading the few articles that I have had the chance to see, our arguments against the HE White Paper were not put forward.
One question that needs to be asked is, would we have had so much media attention today, and last autumn/winter if Milbank had not happened? I do not believe we would have. As had happened so many times before, a routine A to B march that went to “plan” and went home would have got some coverage on the day and very little after. I would go further to argue had Milbank not been occupied and had Whitehall been left untouched on December 9th, we probably would not have been marching today and tuition fees would not have become the stick that the coalition were rightly whacked with.
With the mainstream media you can never truly win, although there are some publications that can be exceptions. If there is violence, they will condemn you. If there isn’t, they will ignore or humour you. Why is this? That’s really another blog, but when the bulk of the mainstream media is owned by Ruling Class millionaires and puppet masters of our politicians, they do not want to put your arguments forward. Heaven forbid, you may gain support and inspire others to resist!
Another interesting point is that the Sparks and Cabbies demonstrating on the day were hardly mentioned. In all fairness, the last month’s worth of Sparks demonstrations has not been mentioned, but as many have pondered on Twitter, this has a lot to do with twisting the views of others. The average person may have an image of the student demonstrator after the relentless witch-hunt of protesters last year. To throw a whole day of action by numerous groups as a “student demo” makes it easier for the MSM to slam it.
Police
The police were very well at what they did. And I don’t say that as congratulations. The MET could not afford to lose control of an anti-austerity demonstration again. In the past 12-months, they have been lost control almost every time. The sheer numbers of officers (4000) shows how serious they were about keeping control. Essentially the day was a moving kettle for people who stayed on the main march. The police controlled the pace, the route, how tightly we were cramped together, and were free in many cases to wonder in and lift people marching.
The protest also saw a major increase (at least in my experience) of undercover police, at least in their boldness. It was worrying and slightly intimidating to see it. And that comes down to the pinnacle of the police’s tactics today more than ever. Intimidation and fear.
Although people were chanting “You can stick your rubber bullets up your arse”, it was apparent that the threats of violence had an effect on the willingness for civil disobedience and direct action. Massive respect for the people who were not put off and refused to be intimidated not to attend, but last year it felt as though people would think nothing of trying to break through police lines whereas today they did.
Today, also shows why letting the police pretty much dictate the route is pointless. The police successfully managed to keep students and sparks from each other and the route was like a fortress making breakaways near impossible. I also have to share my disgust frankly, when we got near the sparks and could see them, that stewards were telling people that we should go up Fetter street to join the sparks when in reality they were knowingly guiding people into a kettle where we were stuck for a good 30 minutes. It’s all the more disheartening when the stewards came from an organisation that were vitally important in getting the student movement to the height it did last year.
I am tired, and aching, and admit that this is more my optimistic side disappointed that today was not a repeat of last year, something my brain knew before I left. And really, the fact that we could have a march that was the size and verbal anger that it was, a good nine and a bit months after any real national mobilisation is a testament to how passionate students are in fight against the HE proposals. And there are real signs that we could be headed to a similar, albeit under different circumstances, level of struggle we saw last year at a minimum. And there were some truly inspiring moments. Being on the Strand as thousands chant “students and workers unite and fight!” and construction workers downing tools and raising their fists in the air was my highlight.
So I will reiterate what people have been saying and tweeting all the way home. We must build the fightback on our campuses. We must build for the 30th in our towns and get students on the picket lines with public sector workers. We are living in exciting times, and with the occupy movement, and the resistance we see in Chile, Europe and everywhere else, they are only going to get more exciting. We have a world to win, so organise, occupy and hit the streets and fight back!
beckygardner
November 10, 2011
I think your your comments on the Media are very insightful- the same can be said for the January 29th demo which many wouldn’t say fell into the “student demos” but was actually (for me personally) a very powerful demonstration, yet as nothing really “kicked off” the media barely mentioned it.
Yesterday the fact we were having a march was mentioned but nothing even mentioned the HE white paper- it was assumed we were still a bit pissed of my tuition fees.
Plus it wasn’t only the police trying to keep us apart- the media (especially the London Standard) tried it’s hardest to show how different the cabbies/sparkies/ student protest/ strikes were and how stupid it would be for us to unite.