A TRULY RADICAL NUS – BEYOND TUITION FEES #2

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #FreeEdNOW, #NUSNC18, 2010 student protests, academic staff, anti-apartheid, Barclays, Barclays boycott, Beyond Tuition Fees, Blair era, boycott, bureaucracy, centrism, corbyn, cuts, direct action, Divest Barclays, divestment, featured, filibustering, fossil free, fossil fuels, Free Education, higher education, Labour, lgbt+ rights, living wage, mental health, NCAFC, NUS, occupation, plastic, South Africa, student activism, student mental health crisis, student welfare, tuition fees, UCU, uk, universities, university staff, USS strikes, votes at 16.

By Robyn Banks

It is a time of extraordinary potential for change in UK Higher Education. Labour’s promise to end tuition fees has defied the critics and united many behind Corbyn’s political project. But what will the implications for universities be if this comes to pass? And what can we do to leverage this progress? In this series, the Norwich Radical and Bright Green are bringing together perspectives from across the sector to explore these questions.

Over the last year the NUS has been a shadow of its former self, riddled with accusations of bullying from its President and marked by its failure to engage with the largest upswelling of campus activism this country has seen in years. It was bizarre enough that it refused to back demonstrations for Free Education last year, implying a denial that the end of tuition fees would be a benefit for students. But that pales in comparison to the extraordinary lack of NUS involvement in the recent UCU strikes. While its members joined the picket lines and entered occupation up and down the country, NUS chose to stay silent when our academic staff most needed their support. Continue Reading

NUS CONFERENCE OCCUPATION – SOLIDARITY FOR LEGAL ABORTION IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND STUDENT SEX WORKERS

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NUSConference, #NUSNC18, abortion, decriminalisation, democracy, direct action, featured, filibustering, Northern Ireland, NUS, NUS conference, occupation, protest, sex work, sit in, solidarity, student activism, welfare.

by Thai Braddick

I was elected as a delegate to NUS National Conference last year in October by students in UEA SU. I received the highest number of votes, and am proud to say that it was because I am a socialist who values and appreciates all intersections of my electorate. Today at the NUS National Conference, delegates were meant to be debating motions in the Welfare Zone, but the debate on motions W106 ‘Decriminalisation of Abortion in Northern Ireland’ and W107 ‘Students and Sex Work’ were both filibustered aggressively, with continued procedural motions and DPC and chair misconduct. These actions were taken to intentionally prevent conference being given the chance to support people in Northern Ireland’s right to choose to have an abortion and to support student sex workers through campaigning to decriminalise sex work.

“NUS IS YET TO FULLY EXPLORE THE VALUE ADDED BY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS” – NUS ELECTIONS 2018: RIDDI VISWANATHAN

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NUSConference, #NUSNC18, democracy, higher education, NUS, NUS conference, NUS Elections 2018, politics, student activism, student life, student movement, students, students' unions.

The Norwich Radical was born in the student movement, and we continue to play an active role within it. We recognise that while official structures are not the sum total of the movement, they are undeniably important. Following a highly controversial year for both the National Union of Students itself and the higher education sector as a whole, we contacted all candidates standing for the President, Vice-President and National Executive Council roles and offered them the space to write about their election campaigns, why they are standing and their visions for NUS.