SHOUT OUT: Left Unity STUDENTS
Stephen Miller, Northampton Branch
The student youth movement burns brightly and Left Unity must help fan those flames to ensure that the fire does not burn out. Which is why we (students/youth) need to begin formally organising with LU, in order to:
1. Share ideas
2. Communicate and co-ordinate
- Create youth/student materials to share on campus/school
- Ensure LU has a student/youth voice
- Create a solid youth foundation within the party
Within the constitution it allows for the formation of a student caucus, and now is the perfect time to get this up and running. Left Unity students have been at the forefront of the battle in Birmingham, Glasgow and Exeter – now we need to begin working together nationally in order to concentrate our efforts in the battle for free education and the wider problems facing society, the cuts.
First and foremost we must be formally recognised within Left Unity as a section, then we must arrange to have a youth conference, and create a student broadsheet. This will ensure that a clear youth voice will be heard within Left Unity, and youth problems are not forgotten but kept to the forefront of the party as it grows. We must begin co-ordinating with one another now so that the student voice is not drowned out in the sea of voices at conference and beyond.
The student movement in recent years has fluctuated, we have witnessed mass demonstrations in London against the rising of tuition fees where hundreds of thousands of students up and around the country either gathered in London or took part in occupations, to more recent events with various occupations and student action. Therefore Left Unity must begin to water the seeds of the student movement which has already shown shoots of growth. This should not be carried out by anyone but the students and youth themselves which is why I call on all Left Unity students to begin organising within a youth caucus with immediate effect.
Historically, today and beyond the movement has been kept alive and furthered by the youth, from the Vietnam anti-war movement to the Arab Spring, the young have been carrying the torch of freedom and equality that step closer to the realisation of a just, free and fair society. No one can understand the problems faced by the young but the young themselves, therefore with this caucus Left Unity will be ready to aid in the battles of today, and the battles of tomorrow. The importance of the youth in any social movement is paramount, in the words of Huey Newton “The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.”
7 comments
7 responses to “SHOUT OUT: Left Unity STUDENTS”
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I’ve only been emailing into LU HQ since after the founding conferance about this…
Very good to see someone kicking of the discussion about the organisation of young people in Left Unity. As a Further Education student who intends to stand for the National Union of Student National Executive Council I would very much like to work with students within Left Unity to ensure Left Unity has representation on the NUS’ national co-ordinating body after the NUS national conference in April.
What I would like to know Stephen, is how do you think we should go about organisaing ourselves? Should we have a separate caucus meeting at the next conference?
I think the student struggle is a great example of how people are organising and advocating for change without solely concentrating on the ballot box as the only vehicle of change.
Hey Scott,
Sorry to learn that you had emailed the HQ and had no response.
This issue will certainly be discussed at the TNC meeting this weekend, and I look forward to you and our student comrades getting involved.
Hey Robert,
I am also engaged in post graduate studies. It would be good to host a caucus meeting, also to get a broadsheet created, to be distributed round campuses. There also needs to be a plan of action for freshers week.
Good luck for the SU NEC elections
In Solidarity,
I’d also like to stress the point that we should not fall into the trap of assuming everyone under the age of 25 is a student by de facto. Whatever name we chose for the youth branch must not have the word “student” in it as we must also represent those who are not in formal education. The Green Party of England and Wales call their youth branch “Young Greens”, whilst the Labour Party has both “Labour Students” (For their student members)and “Young Labour” (for their young members who are non-students).
The way the discussion seems to be heading; I.E. Naming the article “Shout out Left Unity Students” and talking about setting up student societies would suggest we are drifting into a situation where we do not engage young people who are not students.
Absolutely, Robert. Time was when the left wanted to recruit young workers (as well, of course, as students).
i think Robert is right, we need to be careful not to run together the two separate tasks of organising young people (a category I’d suggest we should understand as under 18s) and the very different issue of organising students (who could be of any age).