Silent Long Enough!

Monday February 03, 2003 12:55

by Campaign for Free Education - CFE

The Campaign or Free Education as been one of the ost formidable opponents f fees and cut-backs in education ince the summer. It has organised numerous on-campus demos in UCD making it a place of hostility to visiting government figures. lockaded the education Minister in college buildings for hours and organised successful occupations of the M50 motorway,the Departments of Finance, Education and Transport. All this has brought invaluable media and public attention to educational inequality and the danger of fees.

But media attention yesterday, does
not mean an adequate living grant today. A
further proposed doubling of registration fees
next year, betrays the governments attempt to
reintroduce fees through the back door, and we
really must get organised and stop this, before
college once again becomes only an option for a
select few. Rocketing accommodation costs,
unrealistic income thresholds for the grant, ex-orbitantbook and food prices and more form
hidden financial barriers to access to third
level education.

The last time we gathered outside gov-ernment
buildings to oppose fees, we were told
to go home and write letters to our local TD, as
a result the march barely made the news. Pos-ing
in mass photo opportunities, rhetoric and
individual letters of opposition collapse in the
To really stop the reintroduction of fees we have to stop only embarrassing the gov-ernment every few months on the news, and we
must begin to harass them into taking action to
remedy the inadequacies and inequalities of our
education system. We must shift focus away
from responding to their agenda, and force them
to respond to ours, an agenda where educational
opportunity is not mitigated by your economical
and social background.

The years of complacency, respectability
and negotiation in the student movement must
end, and action must begin. We need to show
the government how serious we are on this is-sue,
through a campaign to mobilise students
and involve students in actions such as block-ades, mass occupations, lecture strikes and
more, which directly affect and upset the gov-ernment.

There is no point sitting back and waiting for someone to organise this campaign
for us. To be effective we must all get active
and be involved, organising meetings, demos and groups to take action against the government.

Silence got us here, and action can get us out!