Anti-cuts movement needs you

Leeds University Against Cuts, now an officially recognised LUU society, is no extremist movement; it wants to represent you

By Henry Raby

Cuts never seem to be out of the paper these days. Protests, sit-ins, strikes, demos, condemnations, arts nights; it’s all kicking off. The core membership of Leeds University Against Cuts are a dedicated band of individuals from very different political backgrounds coming together to offer the bulk of organization and effort into maintaining and running the group. But there’d be no point in us devoting our time to this issue if the mass majority of students weren’t behind us. In my experience, you chat to a student on the matter and you’ll find they oppose cuts, specifically job losses. No one likes cuts, who wants cuts? Only the villains over at Leeds University For Cuts.

There’s probably a name for it, but for now I’ll call it the ‘just because’ argument. It goes as follows: 300 students sign a petition opposing job cuts and hand it to the Vice-Chancellor. He flicks through and shrugs. Just because a handful of students signed some paper doesn’t mean he’ll stop the cuts. The School of English organizes a night of protest poetry. The night is well-attended and many dynamic and inspiring poems are read by staff and students alike. Just because some poems were read in a building Lord Mandselson isn’t going to stop cuts. A night of arts is well-attended and bands, poets and musicians perform in the Riley Smith Hall against cuts. Just because they yelled into a microphone doesn’t mean the government are going to suddenly invest in our education.
Just because we’re shouting, doesn’t mean they’re listening. So what’s the point in us doing these things? Firstly, they raise awareness. Our stunts, our sit-ins, our performances, our petitions all get the word out there, engage students, build support and deliver information. It’s also a link in a great chain of events, arguments, protests and campaigning.
So how do we get to the stage where the management can no longer offer the ‘just because’ rule? Where what we do really does shake them up? Protests, strikes and even occupations prove to management and even the government that education belongs to the ones being educated and not just the ones educating.
The nature of Leeds University Against Cut’s protests have been, I would argue, pretty tame. It’s not 1968 where the French police attacked students with tear gas. It’s  not the Miner’s Strike where the police sent in riot squads. Some people can be put off by an anarchist banner and a raised fist, but let me assure everyone that it’s not as bad as you might think. They might not be for everyone but they’re not destructive. They usually end up in important planning meetings and progressive discussions. Usually fun too.
I would like to add that in Sussex, some students have been arrested and threatened with suspension from university. Let me also make clear that their students have rallied round them in unity. We at Leeds have offered them support, others universities will do the same. They cannot threaten us when the response will be a wall of defence and unity. They will back down.
I often think of Frank Turner’s lyrics from Love, Ire & Song: “We got let down again by some poor excuse for protest/ Yeah by idiot f***ing hippies in 50 different factions/ who are locked inside some kind of 60s battle re-enactment/ and I hung up my banner in disgust and I head for the door”. It’s easy to think like this, easy to let the lefties get on with it themselves, to criticise and distance oneself. My argument is thus: this matter goes beyond politics. It goes beyond being a socialist/communist/anarchist; you don’t need these prerequisites. Many members of LUAC aren’t Marxists (though there’s nothing wrong with that).  Cuts will affect everyone and everyone will be affected.
 On the subject of these dreaded ‘occupations’, what if I said we’d have live music, artistic endeavours with paint and canvasses, film-showings, poetry, comedy, theatre, games and, best of all, parties? What if the doors were unlocked and anyone could come in and out whenever they pleased. Reclaiming of space in an occupation not only ideologically proves we run the university, it also builds a creative, fun, dynamic and progressive environment without the threat of violence, rage or unnecessary politicising.
The management want to conform everything to monetary gain. They want to streamline the University and focus on the economical potential. The dreaded bureaucracy of Franz Kafka’s work is becoming a reality. Well, maybe I’m biased as an English and Theatre Studies student (and proud member of the Workshop Theatre) but we can resist this oppression of faceless market ideology. Our words are weapons, ours numbers are legion, our poetry is in the streets and we’re not going away. They want education to mean we become customers in a system of certification where decisions are made for us by people we’ve never even met.
Legendary American 1960s folk singer Phil Ochs wrote “Who say you must protest you must protest/ It is your diamond duty…/ Ah but in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty.”
These are ugly times. So we’ll combat their ugliness by making protests beautiful. We’ll make them mean something. With colourful banners, powerful slogans and music with the fresh scent of unity in the air. With sit-ins and occupations dotted with art and poetry. In Paris 1968 they declared ‘Poetry is in the Streets’ and we’ll put poetry squarely into our campus and in doing so paralyse the Mask of Anarchy Shelley railed against in his 1819 poem. Leeds is a battleground for Higher Education, but a battle that will be fought with raised voices, raised fists and the spark of creativity.  
 So next time you get invited to a protest or event from Leeds University Against Cuts or a similar group, please come along for the ride please, we’d love to have you.