It is the day after our protest: my placard has been put behind the wardrobe for safekeeping, while my vocal chords recover from the two hours of screaming, “No Ifs, No Buts, No Education Cuts,” and footage of the Millbank ransacking has been posted on every news website for the entire world to see. It’s a strange feeling watching the videos of the first window being broken, and a copper’s hat being lobbed into the crowd, and thinking, I was one of those early onlookers; (fortunately we had the foresight to move on before the real violence started). The fact that a record breaking number of people made the arduous journey to London has now become overshadowed by the actions of a small minority, and I am left sitting on the fence, unable to decide how I feel about their destruction. Naturally, I am disappointed that nearly all the media coverage is concerned with the fires and roof-climbers, and very little of it focuses on the positive aspects- the drummers and the people who were dancing at one point, or the inspiring speech from the N.U.S. president, for example. The footage depicts the march as something really scary, which is as far away from how I felt being there as Hull is from China. Not only that, there was also a general concern raised on the journey back to Hull that the politicians might not take us seriously in light of the violence.
However, did they ever intend to take us seriously? In the march’s aftermath, Cameron asserts that he will not be budged in his plans to increase the fees. It is also telling that the Metropolitan police estimated the number of protesters at a mere 15,000, compared to the 52,000 that did attend the march. Such a drastic underestimation shows their lack of awareness about how strongly we feel about the cutbacks. You only have to look on people’s blogs or read comments from students printed in newspaper articles to see the anger and political disillusionment that is rife within the student population. Even among those of us who wanted to demonstrate peacefully there was that stamp of anger repeated over and over on everyone’s faces, and that is something I won’t forget in a hurry.
Yesterday was history in the making and as the N.U.S. president said in his speech, it is only the beginning of the struggle. But is it also the beginning of something else? Given the strong public feeling and the actions that small groups of extremists are prepared to take, does yesterday mark the start of a period of political unrest that hasn’t been seen in Britain since the sixties and seventies? If so, it will be on a much greater scale given that the number of students has risen since then, and if politicians continue to keep on ignoring the people they are supposed to represent, it is possible that there will be more events like Millbank in the future. I certainly don’t condone the violence, and yet at the same time I can’t find it in me to condemn them either. I like what the politicians are trying to do less and what are people supposed to do when they keep on lying to us and ignoring our interests? It isn’t students who made the country damn-near bankrupt, yet we’re among those they expect to foot the bill, while the powers-that-be received their education as a right, not a luxury. Although I don’t like the way they chose to express it, I can certainly appreciate their anger.
Yesterday was one of the most memorable days of my life so far- and I mean that in a positive way that’s not influenced by Millbank. I would therefore urge my fellow Hullians who didn’t get the chance to go yesterday, to not be put off by protesting. It’s a fantastic experience, and it’s something you can look back on and say you were a part of. Millbank won’t deter me from attending another protest. The placard I came home with will be lying dormant for a little while, but I’ll certainly be marching again.
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Another article which neither condones nor condemns the actions of those at Millbank. Your article does not explain the anger, provide any rational case against increased tuition fees or serve to explain why the NUS is persistent in its attempts to destroy the Liberal Democrat Party with its “Right to Recall” campaign. The reality is that international students pay in excess of £10,000 a year and many of these are not “rich toffs” or by any means wealthy. If international students are coming in such vast numbers, paying such a vast sum for a British education, why is it that we, as British students, feel we are exempt from this same fate?
Again, biased.
The author of this article is clearly partisan, advocating the rule of the mob over the rule of the law, whilst refusing to condemn law-breaking outright, awful. You cannot have your cake and eat it. The laws that were broken are not even contentious. Property damage, vandalism and trespass are fundamental to any society – I wonder how the author would feel if their house’s windows were smashed without recompense? Or is it only OK if those windows are someone else’s?
The reality is that the march gave, if it were possible, students an even worse press, grouping – as this article achieves – us all as an irrational, law-breaking, leftist, bunch which simply isn’t true.
I hope I may, in turn, be allowed to stereotype the average Hullfire contributor.
I suspect many are bleeding heart liberals who decry the likes of Fox News for being partisan.
Yet, their newspaper has become a bastion of left-wing sentiment.
You are what you loathe.
If I was a partisan then I would have joined in the violence when I had the opportunity instead of moving on. I write several times that I don’t condone Millbank and just because I write that Millbank may be the start of greater political unrest does not mean that I am an advocate of “the rule of the mob.” At no point in the article do I write that this is the way forward.
Secondly the article was never intended to be a critique of the issues arguing a specific case for or against with regards to some of the broader issues. It is, as the title suggests, “a reflection” of how the protest was portrayed in the footage and what signifcance the protest may have over the next few months. Given that I was writing the day after it is consequently a series of first impressions.
as i accompanied nicky during the protest i am a witness to her account, she has most artistically portrayed the feelings of many students within the country. as nicky i did not engage in the violence occuring at the tori hq. however i can put myslef in the shoes of those who were. i can see why the mob was angry with the government i can see why this frustration errupted into the riot which thus occurred. unfortunatly we are all in an impossible situation, the government, nus, the student population, everyone. in the end everyone is going to act in a way which they believe is going to change the world, some may believe breaking a window is the best way others believe peacefull protesting is the best. who is anyone to suggest that someones style of protest is invalid, im certainly not and niether are you.