What kind of student movement?

Submitted by Anon on 26 September, 2008 - 11:19 Author: Dan Randall

Student Respect, or in other words Socialist Workers’ Party students, are organising a conference for a “democratic, campaigning student movement” at the School of Oriental and African Studies on Saturday 1 November.

Entitled “Another education is possible”, it will have sessions on education, NUS democracy, war, racism, climate change and solidarity with workers’ struggles, as well as on building a united student left. The event has the backing of SOAS, Coventry, Goldsmith’s and Essex student union, and seems to be attracting quite widespread support from the beyond the ranks of Respect/SWP. Fair enough.

Unfortunately, the conference is being organised semi-secretly; the founding meeting for it was invitation only, with no invitation, for instance, to AWL or Education Not for Sale students. There is no email list and no Facebook group for those who want to get involved; and when Essex president and SWP member Dominic Kavakeb came to the ENS steering committee to discuss the event, he basically said that decisions were being made by him, and that if anyone had any ideas for the conference they should contact him.

ENS is supporting the event, but — particularly given the record of the SWP, who only last year tried to exclude left-wing oppositionists from the steering committee of the Defend NUS Democracy campaign — we have concerns that the event will be undemocratic and exclusive in the extreme, completely dominated by Respect. The fact that there is no mechanism for those outside the inner circle to get involved does not bode well. Nonetheless, we will be there, arguing for the kind of democratic, open united left the student movement needs.

• For more information, see the ENS website: www.free-education.org.uk

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