Student Strike: Walk Out / Teach In
Written by Juan Andres Cuervo, Communications & Campaigns Assistant at Birkbeck Students' Union
The National Union of Students (NUS) is calling for a National student strike on the 2nd of March. The idea is to join alongside other students and students’ unions to organise for a New vision for Education and gather in a public space over central London. As a day of engagement and debate, the protest will serve to establishing alliances, building communities and sharing knowledge with all the attendants. You can see the NUS briefing here.
The Student strike will serve to demand changes in the educational system, including the creation of inclusive spaces for all the communities, fee funding and more initiative for the students. To know more about the organising of meeting through a guide for mobilising access here.
When and where do the strikes take place?
The protests will take place on the 2nd of March of 2022 in central London. The aim is to group together in the public sphere, forge a community to share ideas and learn from others, and talk about initiatives to be implemented in education. You can check the Student Strike FAQs here.
Why this strike is taking place?
The NUS was formed in 1922 at a meeting held at the University of London, and one of its founding members was the union of Birkbeck. Hence, it will be the 100th anniversary of the creation of the organisation. To commemorate this ephemeris, the Student Strike: Walk Out / Teach In will consist in building a movement to change the narrative on education. In order to win funded, accessible, lifelong, and democratised education, there will be direct action and community organising across the UK. The aim is to raise a movement from below to reach the institutional sphere. In other words, create social consiousness and reflect people's demmands in the legislation, thus developing a real lasting transformation.
How can I prepare for the strike?
You can do many things, feel free to be creative and bring your ideas. For example, you can organise meeting alongside your colleagues, generate publicity for the strike, and encourage participation in the campaign. If you live far from London, you can gather with your fellows to travel for the teach-in.
Why are important the student's movements?
The student's movements have had an essential importance in history. During the 1960s, the number of demonstrations were huge, and some of the most known actions were carried at the University of Berkeley in California. Simultaneously, the students played a significant role in the movements of Paris, London, Berlin, Prague or Mexico City. Although the national context of each country was different, the international framework shaped their actions. Those were the years of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, and there was a widespread demands for equality for black people, women and the gay community. Those fights for freedom were reinforced by international events such as the Vietnam War, and the spread of the ideas of thinkers such as Herbert Marcuse and Frantz Fanon helped to configurate a highly politcised world. As students' leaders, people like Angela Davis, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Tariq Ali became figures in the movements of the USA, France and the UK, respectively.
One of the significant aspects of these social movements is that they gave not only national but also international expression to political and social discontents. This meant that the unfolding revolts of Paris in May 1968 had a huge repercussion in the universities of Madrid and Prague, for example. In the words of Eric Hobsbawm, those events in France became 'the epicentre of a Continent-wide student uprising'. Nowadays, the digital revolution has helped to connect the whole world as never before in the history of humankind. Therefore, the students can share more ideas to thrive in their demands to improve the educational system.
Other Resources:
Know Your Rights - a guide for protesters
