Education, free at all levels and funded by the state, is necessary for a democratic society. It allows people to discuss and think creatively and critically about the world they live in, and allows society to flourish by giving people the means to learn, discuss and teach whatever they choose to. Because education benefits all of us, the costs should be borne by those who have the means to pay for it. Course closures and cuts affect us all, they diminish the breadth and scope of opportunity, they increase class sizes and offer austerity in place of hope. We must build a strong, democratic fighting movement that can do more than lobby, one that can show its power both through institutions and on the street. We must learn from the movement that precedes us, both home and abroad. Students have been at the forefront of radical social change. We must follow in that tradition. As students we face daily financial hardship, bearing huge costs for housing, while being saddled with in excess of £30 000 of debt while studying, creating a further financial burden post graduation. The answer to that cannot be piecemeal change, or reform. Since the introduction of tuition fees, the situation for students has been in constant decline. Bringing real lasting change requires a long term strategy and a basis on which to build it. I am a socialist, that means I fight for an elimination of exploitation, for an end to capitalism. If we are to bring about the change we need in society, we will have to fight, not lobby, for it against the government, regardless if it is Labour or Conservative. We do that on the basis of human solidarity, a unified struggle between the student and workers movement, standing alongside campus unions, and the broader labour movement. I’m an internationalist, that means standing in solidarity with struggles around the world, fighting for a world without borders, an end to the hostile environment that plagues our society and intrudes into education. Our rights are under attack, from direct attacks on the right to organise under the guise of the Minimum Service Legislation, a walking back on hard won equalities gains for LGBTQ+ people, attacks on the right of pregnant people to chose, and clamping down on dissent dressed up as ‘free speech’ legislation.
Participation in NUS and SUs is down. We have to address this negative trend. Our movement cannot be reliant on a dwindling number of activists, or we become nothing more than a talking shop,siloed into isolated campaigns that are top down exercises with little participation. That has to change. To do that we need to empower our membership to take collective action. While attempting to rectify real issues, reforms to NUS structures have weakened democratic participation and the accountability of our elected representatives. We have fewer national officers than ever, and a limited and toothless lay structure which is unable to react or scrutinise effectively. I will campaign, nationally and on campuses, to build participation, and develop a student movement capable of rising to the challenges we face.
Education is a social good. Education is liberating. Our fight for a better education system is part of a connected struggle for the broader liberation of humanity. I oppose sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and disablism, not only within our movement, but in society at large. We must urgently connect our movement with that of the wider labour movement, and specifically in Education, we have to unite with all campus unions to build collective power. Only shared struggle can bring about a truly free, liberated education system. We will have to take action, we need mass mobilisation in numbers that we haven’t seen for over a decade. Taking inspiration from rent strike organising, We should push for linked up campaigns that call for national action across the constituent bodies that make up our movement. That means launching real living campaigns that exist beyond social media, that have a real presence on campus, that bring all of our members, reps and officers into action. That means supporting direct action, occupations, sit ins, banner drops. In turn, organising seriously for national demonstrations, building a public presence and putting real pressure on political leadership.
We need to be able to win arguments, to shift debate and to think critically about the challenges we face when we come up against management, and the state. To do that we need political education and training. That means training and educational materials that equip us with the skills and ideas that we can take onto campus and into the streets. NUS, all of us, should come together to run an organising school, facilitate training on campuses, across the regions and nations of our movement.