Inside the Newcastle student occupation

Steve Brown, from Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in the North East, wrote this about his visit to the Newcastle student occupation:

'I found myself stuck in Newcastle on Monday night due to the cancellation of the buses, and took the opportunity to walk over to the fine arts building at the University to see how the students were getting on in their occupation and asked if there was any other support that they might need.

As I arrived I found them (60+ students) in a full meeting in the lecture theatre making plans for the demonstration the following day. Imagine attending a union meeting where everyone, all 60+, had a full roll to play, are fully geared up to perform several tasks and are completely absorbed and focussed upon getting as organised as possible.

The students have an elected facilitator who was at the front making bullet points on a white board and there was a full size projection (10 feet high) of a laptop where another student was taking notes and updating social networking sites as the meeting progressed. All the deliberations were completely democratic; everyone spoke in turn and were respectful of each others views.

All were very sensitive to each other's contributions and all listened carefully to what was being said in case they missed any important comments. As the meeting progressed the details of the following day emerged as representatives from several 6th form colleges chipped in on how to mobilise their own students, to get them in from the areas. The use of technology was massively evident with wireless networks and many armed with laptops; along with banner making sessions, leaflet and publicity sub groups, some breaking off to liaise with the police, talk to the press, organise stewarding and tackle any emerging problems as they arose.

This answers any myths that our youth are unruly and unfocussed, are not politically engaged or conscious and don’t know how to conduct themselves in an organised fashion. They are an inspiration to us all!

As with all such occupations (the last one I attended was in 1983 at the Howden Water Works) the facilities were frugal with sleeping bags and an improvised food preparation area. Spirits are high however, with revolutionary sing-songs and no evidence of alcohol present. Support has been forthcoming from fellow none-occupation students and other supporters with a delivery, while I was there, of 60 pizzas, and other supplies.

They are well dug in with even the security guards, that the college have deployed, being behind them and sympathetic to their plight and the future of youth in general. One guard commented, "I've got a cousin with a kid going to college soon and I don't see how it's going to happen. Who can blame these kids for doing what they are doing!”.

The students are adamant they will stay for as long as it takes, are absolutely right in what they are doing, and should be invited to speak at as many meetings of the Public Services Alliance and union meetings as possible. The bridges need to be built between them and the wider TU and Labour movement. We ignore this at our peril!

I would encourage all to visit them as they are keen to get as much support as possible. If you do go, take along some food or drink to help them out, take along messages of support too from your unions or local Labour Parties.'

Reproduced from http://luna17activist.blogspot.com/2010/12/inside-newcastle-student-occupation.html

'Protests and occupations will continue, with or without the NUS.' Guardian article from a member of the occupation

One of the occupiers at Newcastle was asked to write a piece for the Guardian on our occupation's response to Aaron Porter's (NUS) newly declared support for direct action.

Rowan's piece is here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/30/student-protests-aaron-porter-university-occupations?showallcomments=true#comment-fold and she'd especially welcome any comments in support of Sociology! She hadn't realised her being a Sociology undergraduate would get up so many peoples noses...

Don't make history history

Written by Simon Childs, one of the occupiers in a personal capacity. The opinion expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the occupiers as a group.

If there’s one thing the process of occupation has done for me personally, it has been to reinforce my love for my subjects – history and politics – just at the time when they’re under threat. These subjects are so intertwined that it seems pointless to talk of them as separate – for this article I’ll address them as ‘history’, in that everything that happened since I finished typing this sentence is history, and politics happens in a historical context.

As one of my history lecturers said today, we are facing more than just some cuts to our education and a rise in tuition fees, terrible though those are. As historians (and the same goes for politics students, sociologists, artists, musicians, geographers, etc etc. ad nauseam), we are facing a complete dismantling of our subject in this country.

So, how can history help decide what to do about it? Well, in the process of this occupation alone we’ve been inspired the occupations that happened in Paris universities in 1968. History tells us that people power can work. I’ve heard so many people invoke the poll tax riots – they’re talking about history. It can also warn us of past mistakes and tell us what not to do.

In a wider sense, for me, history gives a sense of perspective. It allows me to realise that these cuts are not inevitable – throughout the history of humanity, societies have organised themselves in thousands of different ways. There is nothing inevitable about these cuts, or about anything. Life is what we make of it. Society is what we make of it. The limit is our collective imagination.

When Peter Tatchell said, “All human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and powerful, vested interests,” it’s an understanding of history that gives him that insight. And that insight allows him to urge us; “Don't accept the world as it is. Dream about what the world could be - then help make it happen. In whatever field of endeavour you work, be a change-maker for the upliftment of humanity."

I don’t care what Lord Browne, the former head of BP, thinks about history. I don’t care that he doesn’t think it’s an economic priority. History is awesome. Don’t make it a thing of the past.

6th Form Protest, whatever you think, they will protest.

Another comment piece from one of the occupier, in a personal capacity.


Students are apathetic.

Students are lazy.

Students only want to get drunk.

Three stereotypes, each one as preposterous as the last.

Tonight I sat in a lecture theatre, on a Sunday, in the middle of record November snowfall and for two hours debated the rights and wrongs of 6^th Form pupils protesting.

One thing was clear; their voice deserves to be heard. They have the most to lose from the Education cuts.

Most of the current University students will have left before the funding changes take place. All current University students will not be forced to pay the higher tuition fees. The students are here because they believe that education is about so much more than a cost benefit analysis.  

In a cost benefit analysis X benefit is weighed against Y cost. Yet how can you quantify the benefit gained from three years in a place of learning that encourages freedom of expression, allows interaction with the widest scope of people and encourages growth. Tell me the sum of the benefit of a Nurse, who goes on to help other individuals, or a Sociologist who tries to make sense of the way we behave, or the psychologist who looks at how we think?

Education is not a zero sum game. It does not fit into such an equation, what people learn from university enriches them far beyond the amount of money that they earn in a life time, and it enriches our society as a by-product.

So the University students protest because the world that they have been able to experience at University is to be taken away from those that come after; the 6^th Form students because those that benefited from Free Education do not feel that they deserve it. They feel like the promise of a future has been ripped from their grasp, and given to a banker, to ensure his bonus. They are angry, they should be, so they deserve the right to protest.

Their schools have denied them this right, threatening detention, exclusion, locking the school gates and placing the fear of expulsion into the minds of the pupils trying to organise a fight back.

So we as occupying students have given them a space to organise, plan and ask questions. They have blossomed in the freedom, and have come out with some brilliant ideas and Tuesday’s demonstrations in Newcastle are going to be the most well organised, biggest, boldest 6^th Form led protest in the history of Newcastle, if not the United Kingdom.

Yet tonight in our general meeting, debate raged. The reasoning was simple, from the outset we said we would not lead the 6^th Form pupils, they must be autonomous, we could not be seen to be coercing them into action that they would not do themselves. Instead we nearly made the opposite mistake, embolden by their youthful exuberance and their belief that after Wednesday they could do anything, we nearly made a fatal mistake, and didn’t use our own judgement to guide them, so scared were we of being seen to lead them.

It would be letting them down it was said, if we didn’t follow through with what they had said that they wanted to happen. It could be done, they would be free to make the decision to join in, they would make the choice it would be what they want. We would be providing what we set out to achieve when we met with 6^th Form students, giving them the tools to do what they want.

But then that was never really the point, because this is an occupation not about money but about education, and while caught up in the youthful exuberance we had forgotten our own experiences. These 6^th Form pupils had been on one successful peaceful protest, many in the room have been on protests that have not ended so well.

So debate raged on, and the point was found, lost, then found again more times than I care to recount. What came through at the end was our education, our experience of doing this before. So a compromise decision was found with in the group, one that actually suits all parties the best, and most importantly is completely safe.

Left to their own, they 6^th Form pupils might well have come up with some great plans, but the most likely scenario would have been another widespread walk out, with no real direction, and when a large angry disaffected group gets together with no clear purpose the end is usually inevitable.

These young adults are vibrant, energetic and insatiable. They would be protesting on Tuesday even if we were not here, but we are trying to give them a way to do that properly, by advising them, engaging with them and letting them come to the right conclusion on their actions. Maybe this kind of response from our Secondary School and Further Education systems might result in a more energetic form of education.

For now I am just happy to be changing stereotypes.

We are not apathetic.

We are not lazy.

And this occupation is dry…. but after tonight we could all do with a drink.

A comment piece by Peter Campbell

When the Police come knocking on your door...

    This is a comment piece by one of the Newcastle occupiers, written in a personal capacity.

When in an occupation, three days in, having slept on a bare concrete floor as snow falls outside, one thing more than anything chills your bones.

“Riot Van! Outside!”

People charge around, some fly to the windows, others to the door. It is swiftly makeshiftly bolted with a bicycle lock. You wonder, is this it; have they finally come to pull us out, like they threatened with SOAS, are they going to punch a hole in the wall like in Oxford. Police attempt to push the door open. They seem surprised to find it locked. They call through the crack in the door;

“Is Markus there, we just want to talk.”

Confusion reins, this is not what we were expecting, is this not to be our last stand after all? Markus trots to the door, pears through and has a look.

“It’s alright”, he says “I’ll just have a chat.”

The looks are nervous as he unlocks the door and steps out. It is quickly bolted behind him. As the rest of the sixty strong occupiers strain to hear the conversation through the door the tension grows and grows. The doors creak under the strain. A minute passes, and finally Markus turns round, almost surprised at the attention he is receiving.

“Just give me a sec,” he says to the Police, “I’ll let them know what’s going on.”

“Don’t worry guy’s. It aint about this.”

Because you see this isn’t London, the Police are not the violent thugs who use a bit of broken glass as an excuse to attack school girls and charge crowds with horses. Here the students are not the enemy. In fact the students are the Police’s friend. Why? We are in occupation of a building against the wishes of its owners, we march through the centre of Newcastle over 2000 strong, causing chaos, with no clear direction, marching on the Civic Centre, the Finance Building and for a brief period occupying the Eldon Square Shopping Centre.

If this was London that would be cause for the Riot Police, arrests, court hearings and widespread media condemnation, so what is different in Newcastle? The answer is simple. The Police are not thugs and they recognise that Newcastle students and pupils have a right to protest and we are the only ones who care about our future. Abandoned by our Government we marched on London. Abandoned by our student union for our support of direct action against cuts and fees we were left to fend for ourselves.

Did we wither and die like they hoped? No we stayed strong, we organised and we prepared. For one thing is clear. The students are leading the way, they are the vanguard for a social upheaval not witnessed for a generation. Plus, we were angry, a small group though we were, we realised we were not the only ones. Especially when college and school pupils began to look for support.

They too found themselves isolated and alone. They found a natural ally in the Newcastle Free Education Network. When they tried to organise within their Schools and Colleges they were threatened with exclusion. We offered them nothing but support and a place where they could come and be heard. They have most at stake in this issue and their voice deserves to ring loud and true.

Our Student Union pulled support for their own walk out on Wednesday because we could not give them assurances we would not be violent. This is an outright lie, when assurances where asked for they were given wholeheartedly. We were shocked when support was pulled the night before the event on health and safety grounds. A scandalous hypocrisy as they had promised the Police they would provide stewarding at the event.

So on Wednesday twenty university students were left with the job of containing a 2000 strong protest that we had merely helped get off the ground. We were by no means the sole organisers and can claim no credit for the vast numbers who attended. That credit must go to the hard working 6th Forms intent on defending their education.

But the Police had met with one of our number in a joint meeting with us and the student union, and so looked to us to help with an impossible task, controlling 2000 angry protesters. Yet they did not need ‘controlling’ in the Metropolitan Police sense. Why? Because once allowed the space required of a march of this size, well policed, with clear overspill areas despite the constant spontaneity, the march was entirely peaceful. A point for which the Police commended us on our efforts and we return our gratitude to them.

We arranged a ‘teach-in’ with pre-booked rooms in order to attempt to dissipate the march in a semi orderly fashion. (We underestimated numbers, but coped well.) At the teach in a number of workshops were run, including those on non-violent direct action, in an effort to educate those who had possibly just witnessed their first protest.

At the end of the teach in we democratically voted for continued action and have since occupied the Fine Arts Building of the University, and it was here that I found myself when the Police knocked on our door. Not the Student Union’s door, they had already showed that they can not be trusted. Not the doors of schools and colleges, by not supporting their students they had shown that they were unable to control them. But at the door of sixty occupying students, asking for a Dock Martin wearing, Mohawk sporting Politics student, because he more than anyone in any form of establishment could speak to the will of the students, and he had far more idea of potential plans for the second National Day of Action on Tuesday than any University, Union or School bureaucrat.

The occupation of Newcastle University continues, we are providing workshops and alternative lectures for students, we are completely happy for normal lectures to continue in the lecture theatre that we control, yet management are not. Yet, now we are more than this, we are now a beacon of hope for school and college pupils in the area. We are the people that show them they are not fighting on their own. So they come knocking on our door asking for help.

And so do the Police.
A comment piece by Peter Campbell