Video of the student protest outside Millbank, Wed 10th Nov

Your help is deeply appreciated...

Olivia Wedderburn, a student at Esher College has just been suspended for taking part in the anti-fees protest in London on Wednesday. you can read the story below.

Please send a message of protest to Dan Dean, Principal of Esher College via our online petition which can be found at http://www.redhillcutscoalition.moonfruit.com/

Esher College student suspended over part in London tuition fees protest

An Esher College student who joined tuition fee protestors on the roof of Tory HQ in London has been suspended by the school.

Olivia Wedderburn, 18, of Kingston Hill, was taking part in the demonstration on Wednesday, November 10, when she followed a splinter group who had broken the windows of Milbank Tower and occupied the building.

Miss Wedderburn said she had been in the courtyard when she saw a window to the building getting smashed and people entering.

She said she then joined after being encouraged by others and followed the crowd upstairs.

It is believed the trouble at the otherwise peaceful demonstration, attended by about 50,000 students, was started by a anarchist groups who hijacked the event.

Miss Wedderburn's father, Peter Wedderburn, 59, said his daughter had only entered the building because a crowd behind her had pushed her inside.

He said she left after a friend of hers started to have a panic attack.

Dan Dean, principal of Esher College, confirmed Miss Wedderburn had been suspended because she had taken the day off without permission.

He said the college "does not condone any behaviour which breaks the law". The demonstration was organised because tuition fees are set to rise from 2012, with a lower cap of £6,000 and the opportunity for universities to charge up to £9,000 – triple the current cap.

Marches, protests and demonstrations change history

History shows that protest works, say Lindsey German, national convenor of Stop the War Coalition, and Independent journalist Johann Hari. With a government determined to destroy public services and the welfare state, while still justifying billions spent every year on the war in Afghanistan and on weapons of mass destruction, we need a lot more marching and direct action.

On the evening of 10 November, following that day's huge demonstration against education cuts, Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes declared MP Simon Hughes that change only came about by the power of reason and debate.

"Rational debate wins arguments, not protest," said Hughes.

It was, of course, his forebears in the Liberal party before the First World War who refused point blank to grant women the vote.

After a period of sweet reason, women decided they had had enough and began to take action. They marched, disrupted ministers' public meetings, rushed the House of Commons, broke windows using neat little hammers they kept in their handbags.

The suffragettes understood that appeals to the better nature of politicians simply would not get them very far. They stand in a long tradition.

All the major gains achieved in Britain - from the vote for workers and women, the right to join trade unions, the right to demonstrate, the welfare state itself - were only granted as a result of protest, campaigning and struggles until they were won. Many of those involved made great sacrifices, from the Tolpuddle martyrs transported to Australia for trying to form a union, to the suffragettes who went on hunger strike for their cause.

We should remember this when listening to the outrage about the broken windows of the Conservative Party headquarters on Millbank, when it was occupied by students on the anti-cuts demonstration.

We should also remember that in the past people also used tactics to draw attention to their cause which were widely criticised.

There are two points that we can draw from the November 10 protests. The first is that there is a great deal of hypocrisy about the violence on demonstrations. The proposed cuts by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government will create misery for many people.

Young people will not be able to go to university, those forced to move will suffer real stress sometimes resulting in illness or family break up, the sick and disabled will face benefit cuts. Surely this should be condemned much more strongly than the breaking of a few windows in central London?

Protest works

The second is that protest works. Not because the students have won their demands, although they have created a mass movement which certainly creates the potential for them to win. But because by going on the streets the students have asserted that there is an alternative to simply sitting back and accepting the hideous consensus which passes for political debate in most quarters. They have in one day pushed their views onto the political agenda.

Demonstrations also help to build confidence and solidarity among those who demonstrate – they establish that the protesters are not isolated but part of a bigger movement. This has been one of the most important aspects of the anti war movement. It has created a culture of protest and a network of activists who have helped to spread the movement.

The mantra 'what's the point of protesting' is a counsel of despair, a refusal to acknowledge that we can change the world for the better. The anti-war demonstrations have helped build a mass consciousness in Britain, have got rid of Tony Blair, who was forced to agree to stand down as prime minister just days after the demonstration against Israel's barbaric Lebanon demo in 2005. They have helped fight Islamophobia and attacks on civil liberties. They have made future wars harder to justify.

With a government determined to destroy the welfare state while still justifying billions spent every year on the war in Afghanistan and on weapons of mass destruction, surely the anti-war demonstrators should be making links with the students, demanding to cut the war not education.

On Saturday 20 November, we'll be marching again, to get the troops out of Afghanistan and in protest at the Nato summit which will meet the same weekend. We expect many students and school students, as well as peace activists and trade unionists, to be there.

We need a lot more marching, as well as direct action, if we are to win a world that prioritises welfare provision and public services for all, rather than wars that bring nothing but mass slaughter and destruction.

Lindsey German will be speaking at the launch meeting of Redhill Coalition against Cuts on Wednesday 24^th November at 7pm in the Harlequin Theatre, Redhill

Student leader: ‘Make fees this government’s poll tax’



Mark Bergfeld

 by Mark Bergfeld, NUS executive (personal capacity).

“Wednesday’s demo was brilliant. It brought home the mass feeling against the government and its policies.

“Everyone needs to ram home that message. But we also need to stand with the Millbank protesters.

“Far from being an unrepresentative minority, the Millbank occupation involved thousands. Tens of thousands of others on the demo, hundreds of thousands of students across Britain, and millions of working people will identify with their spirit of revolt.

“Nobody should be punished or charged for what happened at Millbank.

“The Tories are wrecking lives. It’s completely welcome that the revolts we’ve seen in Greece and France have now come to London. It is the beginning of a process, not the end.

“Let’s make fees and cuts into the modern Tories’ poll tax.

“We need more demonstrations and protests like Wednesday’s. We need occupations and protests in as many colleges as possible. And students need to unite with workers and other campaigners against the government.”

Government presses ahead with Royal Mail part-privatisation

The government promised an "exciting new era" for the Post Office today, pressing ahead with controversial plans to privatise parts of the Royal Mail and pledging to invest in the network, refurbish branches, extend opening hours and cut queues.

The government will today confirm its long-term goal of converting the
Post Office into a mutual structure. Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian

Ministers also announced moves for new government and financial services to be offered at post offices in a bid to attract new customers.

The postal services bill committee started questioning witnesses today, including those from Royal Mail, unions and user groups as the government confirmed its long-term goal of converting the Post Office into a mutual structure, similar to the Co-operative Group, giving employees, sub-postmasters and communities a greater say in how the company is run.

A policy statement published by the government today said that the funding would enable the Post Office to reach out to new customers by investing in its network, refurbishing its branches, extending its opening hours and reducing queues.

The measures will be fiercely opposed by the Communication Workers' Union, which will argue that Royal Mail can have a successful future without being privatised.

Edward Davey, the postal affairs minister, said: "We're determined to turn the Post Office network around and end the years of decline. The Post Office is a tremendous national asset. It will not be for sale and there
will be no programme of closures.

"To underline our commitment we have announced £1.34bn of funding over the next four years. The money will put the Post Office on a stable financial footing. It will help modernise the network and make it even more appealing to customers. Our programme means the network is on the cusp of an exciting new era."

Yesterday, the Royal Mail received permission from the regulator to increase prices on stamped mail by up to 10%, which could equate to a 5p increase in the cost of a first class stamp to 46p, and a 4p increase in the cost of a second class stamp to 36p.

Postcomm said Royal Mail should have the flexibility to increase the prices it charges customers from April 2011 on average by 7%, which would mean it could realise up to £280m in additional revenues.

It also gave greater commercial freedom for Royal Mail under plans to tackle growing competition and maintain the universal postal service.

Royal Mail welcomed moves to give it greater freedom to compete and continue investing in modernisation, adding that no decision on stamp prices had been made.

The government said today that it wanted to see the Post Office continue to expand its range of financial services with an ambition that all UK current accounts would be accessible through the network.

It announced a new agreement between Royal Bank of Scotland and Post Office Ltd to provide access to current and business accounts through post offices.

"This will give RBS and NatWest customers access to their current and business accounts through the Post Office. This will mean that almost 80% of current accounts will be accessible at post offices," a Department for Business statement said.

Ministers also want to see the Post Office become a "genuine front office" for local and national government. It is understood that a number of pilot projects have been agreed and other opportunities are being developed which could see the Post Office verifying supporting documents for customers of the Pension Service.

The government is also thought to be considering whether it might be able to play a role supporting Jobcentre Plus in the national insurance number application process.

Ministers argue that the plans will break the "cycle of decline" and ensure that post offices across the country continue to be at the heart of their communities.

But the CWU stepped up its opposition to privatisation by targeting scores of Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs it hoped would refuse to support the government.

Billy Hayes, the general secretary of the CWU, warned that plans to privatise the Royal Mail arm of the postal group would "kill off" post offices.

He argued that selling off Royal Mail, coupled with rumours that the payment of benefits was to be handed to a private firm, would deny post offices the "oxygen" they need to survive.

Hayes told BBC Radio 5 Live that his local post office in south London had just closed, and questioned the government's pledge not to repeat Labour's closure programme.

"If you take away the oxygen of the Royal Mail from post office counters, if you take away the welfare contract, you are going to kill the post office network."

Made in Dagenham - Now being shown at the Harlequin, Redhill