By Joe Stanley-Smith
The Socialist Worker Party (SWP) has called on Kingston students to rally in support of the national demonstration on November 9.
The demonstration is being held against the higher education white paper, which some believe will seriously endanger the quality of education at universities including Kingston.
Belief in an alternative
“Inside every student group and area we want to build up a belief in an alternative,” said Simon Guy, who is a member of the SWP. “Kingston students have to start saying no to the capitalist system we live under.”
The call came during an open SWP meeting, entitled ‘Marx, Crisis and Revolution’, in the John Galsworthy building at Penrhyn road campus which 35 people attended.
The meeting came as the ‘Occupy’ movement against global capitalism gathered momentum, with occupations springing up across America and Europe, including two in London.
The meeting was held just hours after news of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s death and Mr Guy was keen to talk about the revolutions that swept through North Africa this spring.
Dramatically
“The world is changing dramatically and in a very quick way. We’re in the biggest crisis of capitalism that has been put off for 30 years,” he said.
Mr Guy also called on Kingston’s students help support the National Union of Teachers’ planned strike action by staging a picket and refusing to enter the University on November 30.
Charlie Fowler, a second-year film studies student said: “I saw the flyers for the event and thought I’d come along. I came because I’m interested in different ways of the society being run, although I wouldn’t call myself a socialist. I found it really enjoyable.”
The SWP’s next meeting will be ‘where next for the Arab Spring?’ with British-Lebanese journalist Simon Assaf talking about the relevance of the Egyptian working class to Palestine at 5pm on November 3 in JG1001.