(en) Britain, Glasgow Anarchists: Free education and the
Liberal Democrats: a student's perspective
A student member of the Anarchist Federation's account of the Lib Dems' promise on
university tuition fees and the lessons learned. ---- Living in Sheffield at the time of
the last election, I saw that there was massive voter turn-out and support for the Lib
Dems amongst students. A tangible optimism and excitement existed in Nick Clegg's
constituency. Personally, I spoiled my ballot paper with, 'If voting changed anything
they'd make it illegal'. However, I did wonder whether a Lib-Dem rise could contest the
New Labour/Conservative stalemate of neoliberal similarity. ---- Clegg now sports a
satisfaction rating of minus-40 (Mori survey). This is well deserved. Instead of capping
tuition fees he has overseen them triple to £9,000. Young people among many others who
voted Lib-Dem have been left disillusioned by this, becoming disengaged from politics.
What has been proven is not that young people are not interested in politics, but that
politicians are not interested in young people.
Debt
I was lucky and only had to pay £3,000/year in fees. But I now owe the Students Loan
Company £23,000. This increases by at least £30 a month due to interest, which started
whilst I was still at university! I am persistently being hassled by them checking if I'm
earning enough yet to start paying it back.
Neo-liberalisation
When I finished university I wanted to continue studying. However, funding for a social
science Master's degree is rare and most students are self-funded. I couldn't stand the
thought of incurring more debt by taking out a loan, so I gave up on the idea. I moved
home and worked in a café trying to get out of my overdraft. I found out that there are no
tuition fees in Sweden for EU citizens. I applied to Stockholm University and got in,
paying living costs with money I'd earned in the café. I then found out I could return to
the UK on an Erasmus exchange, avoiding tuition fees and even getting an EU grant!
This illustrates the lengths that you have to go to if you come from a background where
higher education is unaffordable. Furthermore, it has taught me that a free education is
feasible, but cannot be accomplished by relying on political parties and the
establishment. The neo-liberalisation of higher education has proliferated under the
Coalition. Education is becoming the preserve of the upper-middle-class. Research too must
now be 'competitive', not expressing critical, independent thought.
To contest this, to strive for free education, the only way is to self-organise! The
demise of the Lib-Dems has shown we cannot rely on any political party to deliver this.
This is why we argue 'Don't Vote - Organise!'
https://glasgowanarchists.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/free-education-and-the-liberal-democrats-a-students-perspective/
