Protesters liberate broken Tory HQ and take to the roof as anti-cuts resisters resist shock therapy

[Magda Hassan]

A very positive piece from the British MSM about the students. Paul O'Grady also was very supportive of the students and their cause when he introduced his show this week. The one with Julie Walters.

Stick-wielding Leftie yobs? Not the lovely boys I met at the pub


Last updated at 12:56 PM on 14th November 2010

Are our students taught how to demonstrate properly? Do they understand what a riot is? Do they know the historical context of this British tradition?
I do hope so – and, indeed, if they are ALL doing media studies they will find that every cliche in the book has been mindlessly lobbed at them.
What happened on Wednesday has been *spoken of breathlessly as both the beginning of the revolution and the collapse of Western civilisation.

The cost of education: The demonstration was not only about fees for posh kids, it was about a future in which we know only the price of education, not its value

All rather thrilling: fire and broken glass and smirking boy-band faces uncovered because they hadn’t really planned this opportunistic rampage. Pull the camera back *further and one sees lots of people unsure but watching a few others do the bad stuff.
Having failed to predict a riot, we now have a lot of blather about the full force of the law being brought down on these ‘seasoned anarchists’. This from Bullingdon boys who used to leave huge tips because of the damage they caused.
The full force of the law did not look that impressive on the day and is, indeed, itself subject to cuts. Perhaps the police are like the rest of us and have bought the myth that all students are middle-class and the middle class don’t do this.
Perhaps they believe we have been so groomed for austerity that we will go quietly. Perhaps they did actually learn a *lesson from the G20 protests when a man died after being struck by an officer.
Certainly, since the Tory coup there has been fuzzy talk of unrest. Why is it a shock it should come from students? They are mobile and able to organise as a group unlike, say, defenders of council housing or the ‘workshy’. They could wait until the next Election to show their dismay, but in the meantime they don’t have a lot to lose.
Financial independence, decent housing and employment are being taken away from all but the very privileged. Tertiary education is no longer a right but a purchase. As Labour intro*duced tuition fees and would also have increased them, this leaves little opposition to coalesce around.

Outrage: Financial independence, decent housing and employment are being taken away from all but the very privileged

As I like a drink with ‘stick-wielding Leftie yobs’, I found myself with some students on their way home. These nice boys were mostly taking pictures of themselves and their placards in the pub. They were as high as kites – as you can be when you think you have achieved something but don’t know what it is.
A peaceful demo is a long, slow trudge and these boys were ambivalent but excited about the violence. One told me he had been chanting ‘Idiots’ at those shoving their way into Millbank, and then found himself inside ‘going for it’.
They all felt deeply betrayed by Nick Clegg even though they had not voted for him. They were all concerned about whether they would be on the telly. They are not entirely stupid.
If this protest had not erupted it would not be front-page news and all sides know this, really. Protest is a game of push and shove with the media, as well as the police and the politicians.
The Right are barking on about organised activists and the NUS. Look at the real story. At least ten of those arrested were under 18. Lots of the kids who swelled the numbers were bunking off from the sixth form and have not even got to university.
The removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance and cuts to Further Education actually will do real damage to the life chances of those from poorer families. These are your actual apprentices.
The demonstration was not only about fees for posh kids. It was about a future in which we know only the price of education, not its value. And the protest was made by those who know that education remains the key motor of their own social mobility.
There will be more protests because neither Clegg nor Cameron has the mandate needed to make such huge changes. Their support is tentative. Those in power, who have had the very best start, look ever more distant from those who are asked to bear the brunt of this crisis.
When the demonstrators got near Millbank and the distance closed, the result was anger. Mob violence is neither pretty nor planned: a smash and grab at power. But I ask you to look, properly look, at the faces of some of these 50,000 kids. Do I see a mob infiltrated by evil?
No. I see our children.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/articl...t-pub.html