Stick Legs":t1fgy3z3 said:
I am probably going to say something controversial now but here goes...
(Long post warning...Sufferers of short attention spans know where the scroll button is)
Not particularly controversial I don't think. In fact quite a common and widely held point of view. It would be warmly welcomed by the government and their media cronies who are now seeking to return higher education to being the sole preserve of the wealthy.
"Free" university education has never existed! It's a question of how we choose to pay for it. Your example of the street sweeper and the doctor is a memory of a time when the working class had very little chance to access higher education at all. Social funding was welcomed as a good idea then, it was after all public funding almost exclusively for the wealthy.
As you suggest though, times and our economic status have changed. Due to our being ripped off by some extremely wealthy individuals and corporations, aided and abetted by our elected public servants in their pockets, we can't afford to maintain the numbers seeking higher education from the public purse any longer. Answer...ration higher education and impose restrictions to prevent the less wealthy from accessing it!
That is not a just way to address the problem.
You question the intelligence of those who choose to take direct action to protest this injustice. It is my experience that when people resort to attempts at discrediting opposition to their cause by denying the intelligence of their opponents, it usually indicates something lacking in their own argument, or their own intelligence. I will proceed on the basis that it is your argument that is at fault.
OK the lad who chucked the fire extinguisher was totally out of order. Everyone I have spoken to who was involved or in support of the protests agrees. It is totally unreasonable to use that unrepresentative act in an attempt to tar all the protesters with the same brush. Do you also condemn all the police for the excessive violence some of them used? Daft lad got carried away, was fortunate that it didn't turn out worse and will hopefully learn a lesson.
As someone who you might describe as an "agitator" myself, (activist would be more accurate but never mind) and someone who is in contact with many others, of many different political persuasions, I can assure you that these protests were not directed or whipped up by any particular political group or organisation. Not that I think that would be wrong as it appears that it is acceptable that support for the cuts is being whipped up by the government via their friends who own the media. The fact is many have been left scratching their heads over the turn of events. The wind taken out of their sails by their total inability to predict, control or take any credit for this resurgence of radicalism. Of course there were members, flags and placards from many leftist political groups there. Many students are members of those organisations. What do you expect, Countryside Alliance banners?
"Class war behaviour"? What a strange turn of phrase! At least you recognise the class aspect of it. I presume you are attempting to imply (correct me if I'm wrong) that it wasn't genuinely a class war action but just kids playing at it. I would say that these cuts along with others are a direct attack on the working class and if these protesters were not yet fully aware of the class aspect of their fight, playing is a good way to learn. The belief/hope of those who wage this war on the weakest target they can find, that their victims should meekly submit and accept whatever fate is dealt them is incredible. You can fool some of the people...etc...
"Special case"... you bet we are. We are the vast majority of the population and have been dumped on from above for too long. When we wake up and demand what is rightly ours all the privilege in the world will not be able to deny us.
Anyway it would really be interesting to hear your advice on exactly how the working class should conduct its defence in the class war that has been waged on us for centuries. One thing for sure, if the government, the media, the apathetic and even well paid professionals are desperately reminding us of how we are failing, we must be doing something right.
"Were all in it together"...Yea right. It's just that some of us are further in it than others.
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