Education Struggles – We are Plan C

2+ years of militancy in universities: What do we know and where do we go?

By Gareth Brown and David Harvie. Cover photo credit: Jacob. On the move UCU (University and College Union) is on the move. Less than six years ago, our union’s national leadership was ordering 2-hour strikes. A handful of lecturers plus assorted librarians, technicians, and others stood shivering on the perimeters of campuses in what appeared […]

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Education Struggles

17th February 2020

Revoke the ban on the University of Reading students!

On Sunday 1st December, nine University of Reading students attempted to occupy the ICMA building on the university campus. Two students have been informed that disciplinary action is being taken against them. One has been suspended immediately and banned from campus. The other student has been banned from campus. Below is a joint statement by

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Education Struggles

4th December 2019

How to combat the far right on campus

Fascism and the far right can come in various guises at universities. Rather than, for example leading demos where they attempt to present themselves as “ubermensch” as part of a “march and grow tactic”, or stirring up race hatred on estates, the far right at British universities usually attempts to proliferate their ideas through being

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Anti-fascism, Education Struggles

14th September 2019

HE strike – What next?

In the wake of the UCU strike, the 2018-19 Pay Negotiations are now underway. Last year, the unions settled for a below inflation increase of 1.7%, this year things might be a bit different. Militancy on campuses, distilled into collective action, sowed the seeds of discontent, and there’s a real possibility that we will be

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Education Struggles, Strike, Work

8th May 2018

Struggles in education and political re-composition: On the latest UCU strikes

The student movement which started in 2010 in protest of the tripling of tuition fees in higher education predominantly took the form of direct action, with its preferred tactic being the occupation of public space. This was a powerful act of defiance against the privatisation of services forced through austerity. While we should have no

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Education Struggles, Strike, Work

4th April 2018

Sussex Students in Solidarity with the UCU

The University of Sussex had been slowly grinding to a halt since the start of the UCU strike. Things came to a head last week, with the students calling a national demonstration for 15th March, and the management’s decision to shut down campus in response. All sorts of emails were flying around from the VC’s

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Counter-power, Education Struggles, Strike

20th March 2018

Free University Brighton: Education for love, not money

Matt Lee, Brighton Plan C “We know that the more a place is set apart for free play, the more it influences people’s behavior and the greater is its force of attraction.” (Ivan Chtcheglov, 1953) Free University Brighton (FUB) is both a protest against the growing marketisation of education and a practical response. It

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Education Struggles

25th March 2017

Solidarity Networks and Rent Strikes

This is the text of a pamphlet handed out at the recent Rent Strike Weekender. You can find a pdf of the pamphlet itself here. Renting is shit – but rent isn’t our only problem. We work, more than ever before. We’re depressed and anxious, more than ever before. Life is expensive, academic work is

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Commons, Education Struggles, Feminism, Housing, Kurdistan, Social Reproduction, Social Strike, Strategy, Strike

23rd September 2016

From A-Z to Counter-Power

This article by Callum Cant is a response to Shelly Asquith’s article on A-B marches. The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) is a democratic student organisation, established in 2010, that seeks to co-ordinate a militant Free Education movement based on the activity of grass roots organisations. They called the 10,000 strong demo on

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Actions, Counter-power, Education Struggles, Popular Education

19th June 2015

The university is a factory, burn it down!

“The university is a factory”, we hear this cry everywhere, sometimes as a declaration and accusation of contempt, shouting out to the world. “This isn’t how it’s meant to be. Once universities were pure places of learning and research, serving all of society, before neoliberalism and capitalism ruined it all”. Often there is the corollary

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Education Struggles

15th May 2015

#copsoffcampus – #copsoffcampusmcr

This is a shorter write-up by members of Plan C Manchester about Wednesday 11th December’s #copsoffcampus activities. A longer account, written also by members of Plan C Manchester but specifically for the Beyond Europe platform, can be read here. In Manchester, the response to recent events in and around the University of London was heartening. We

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Austerity, Education Struggles, State Violence

16th December 2013

Edu Comm Report: Behind the Facade, the Farce

The Education Commission has released a new report, Behind the Facade, the Farce in which we look back at some of the central effects and changes that have been the result of the Education Act 2011 and outline the bleak landscape of higher education as universities increasingly function as sources of profit. About The Education Commission:

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Education Struggles

26th October 2013