So the start of being at the new building was with a day of not being in it. The emergency NEC meeting to discuss the highly anticipated report into the anti-Semitism allegations. And what a shock, we found out that NUS isn’t institutionally anti-Semitic. Other revelations were that our disciplinary procedures are a bit rubbish, that there was a cock-up by the Winter Gardens providing Kosher food as requested (NUS had made sure breakfasts at hotels were supplied, which was our responsibility) and we should solve it by doing exactly what we ended up doing, and that steering committee are overworked at conference. There was nothing there that we didn’t know really. I only hope that the fact we have spent so much money and endured the stress and the reputational damage that 27 papers internationally reported as fact that there was either apathy to anti-Semitism or there was anti-Semitism within NUS, will mean that the report is heeded and the recommendations implemented.

Next there was the extraordinary meeting to decide whether we should have a demo or not. The decision it seemed had been made by the observers. Region after region reported back that no-one wanted it and there was no support for it, apart from my region, West Midlands! Little things like conference voting against it, them and NUS not being able to afford it, that we should be doing stuff on campus. So say there was a massive about turn would be an understatement, with a resolution to look at options for action, which is what should have happened in the first place. The question is, is a national demo the best way to build a campaign? That question had not been answered, all that had been said was ‘We always have a demo”.

That brings us up to maybe the sign of what we should do next, protest on campus. The George Fox Six trial was finally upon us. Despite the amount of national and international pressure on Lancaster University, they were still adamant that the six had committed aggravated trespass on their property and the CPS had taken the case. Well here were, the start of the trial. There was a great turnout of support on day one and the press had picked it up. The stakes had raised somewhat from the early days. A right wing think tank had come up with this ludicrous idea that there were ‘24 extremist groups’ on university campuses and Ruth Kelly had come out the week before saying she thought that universities had to crack down on campus and that they should invite in exactly the sort of firms the GF6 had been protesting about.

What had happened back on 10th September 2004 was five students and one graduate of Lancaster entered a lecture theatre in the George Fox Building. They were protesting about the ethical values of the firms which had been invited to a Corporate Venturing Conference, which was about getting corporations more involved with universities. Lord Sainsbury was there, so the question of GM foods was thrown in too, but the thing that was really bad was that arms manufacturer BAe had been asked to a building named after the founder of the Quakers!

They unfurled banners, engaged in debate, blew whistles and had loudhailers. They were out in a couple of minutes and the conference went ahead. When I say debate, an example would be when one of the delegates said “Why don’t you sod off?” to be told by an ethics student “Why should we sod off, the people from the companies in this room are killing people every day. Companies here today are killing far more people than the ten killed in terrorist acts yesterday. Shell, BAe and Dupont every day are making cluster bombs.”

When out, one of them was dragged away by police and the protest continued outside the building. A video was posted on indymedia of the incident. They were now being charged with aggravated trespass, under amendments to the 1994 Criminal Justice Act which the government put in as part of their terror crackdown, which makes it possible to trespass indoors. The original 94 act was designed by the Tories to crackdown on hunt protestors! The maximum sentence is 3 months in prison.

Despite the 8:45 start, there was a great showing. All the Lancaster sabbs were there for a start. How many sabbs will you normally find at work before nine on a Monday morning? The Quakers were there in force, not too happy about the whole George Fox and arms thing. Plus of course George Fox would probably have been the first to do the medieval equivalent of what they did. Oh yes, he was! There was a good chance there wasn’t going to be room in court for everyone, and at some points in the trial there wasn’t. Damn good banners too.

Anyway the trial started in earnest, and things looked good at the start. One of the prosecution witnesses went so far as to say ‘Lancaster has a proud history of student protest’, which is odd, because Lancaster also had a proud history of cracking down, allegedly suspending a staff member whose only crime was to be in the Communist Party. The person with responsibility for meetings said he didn’t think the conference would be controversial and that the ‘meetings committee’ had only ever met once, a key argument in deciding whether the conference itself was legal under university rules.

But that didn’t matter in the end. Charges of intimidation were dismissed, but the charge of ‘disruption’ was upheld, due to the district judge having three dictionaries, one of which said that interrupt meant the same as disrupt. There could be no question that they interrupted a lawful meeting. Interestingly enough, although the judge said that they “The university took no steps to say they were not permitted to enter, but it is my view that none of the defendants could possible believe they were not trespassing in a meeting they had not been invited to.”, he also said that they went in with the intention to interrupt/disrupt, so whether they were meant to be in there or not didn’t matter.

So what does that mean? Well what the judge effectively said was that if you go into any ‘lawful meeting’ at a university with the intention to disrupt, and do that, you are guilty of aggravated trespass. And he was saying this just after Mr Wolfgang got thrown out of labour party conference for shouting ‘Nonsense’. He didn’t also believe their freedom of speech under the Education Act had been compromised as there were other forums for freedom of speech provided.

The other charges were dropped and they were given a two month conditional discharge and order to pay £300 prosecution costs each at £7/week. Outside there was just as good a show of support as there had been at the start, and the press was there in droves, but not a good time for starting a news story, coming up to four on a Friday afternoon, but still the fact that students had just been found guilty of trespass for blowing whistles, having banners and a bit of shouting did make an impact, just as the good news came in from Middlesex that their president had been reinstated.

So what now the Orwellian nightmare is alive in Lancaster? Well first off, a speaker tour for the six is in the offing, along with an appeal. Lancaster will have to continue to endure the damage to their international reputation, and may regret their level of support, with university staff passing notes to the prosecution during the trial. This isn’t going to go away, and especially not now. In history, the times when dissent has always become loudest is when so much is done to silence it. Internationally, governments know if they can do it in universities, they’ve got it cracked, and this is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Terror is, at has always been, a smokescreen.

Tony Blair has lied to students more than once on changes to their funding, his fledgling policies are now coming home to roost, with the greater influence of big business in universities and market-driven course and site closures. Students are watching the creeping privatisation of their education and will soon be asked for £3,000 per year. The George Fox Six, along with what happened at Middlesex and the growing attempt to neutralise the influence of students unions on campus by removing their services is all part of an agenda to intimidate students and others into not expressing their growing dissent.

The thing is, it’s coming. It doesn’t matter what you try and do about it. People are finally cottoning on to the fact that Tonys policy on higher education is a three stage process to unlimited fees and full privatisation. We are just about to see the implementation of stage two with top-up fees. When everything has gone wrong again in a few years time, he’ll be saying that this is the only way to go. Maybe he won’t talk about privatisation, but that is what we have seen. Just like in healthcare, catering and cleaning have been outsourced, and of course how could we not mention the widespread privatisation of halls of residence in the last few years? Maybe it is even one of those ‘reforms’ he wants to see through that is stopping him stepping down sooner. After all, what is the point of having a three-stage process if you only see it through to stage two?

We have to start doing something about this on campus in a coordinated way. Campus based protest and campaigning is much more likely to achieve something, you just need to have the facts behind your problem. How much each university has set their top-up at is a good one. Almost all of them are at the maximum. Also, actually finding out which dodgy firms your institution is involved with might prove worthwhile, as will stopping the cuts to your unions. We have to give it a kick start. It’s the only way we can stop losing, let alone make a change.

And some more photos, showing four of the six as they are interviewed by the BBC and then a later shot showing all of the six (almost) in the various stages of media interview

The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students.

All links in blogs will open in a new browser window.

The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/joerukin/271558.aspx