Youth
Organise to defeat fees: Shut down Third Level for a day
By Ann-Katrin Orr, UL Socialist Youth
ON 4 February, thousands of students marched through the streets of Dublin to vent their anger against the government’s plans to reintroduce college fees. This cannot be seen as the end but must be the start of a fight to force the government to back down. A mass campaign of thousands of college and school students, parents and staff must be built to achieve this.
FEE holds successful national meeting
By Liam Cullinane
FREE EDUCATION For Everyone (FEE), a national campaign of students opposed to the re-introduction of third-level fees, held its first national meeting on Saturday, the 31 January.
Socialist Youth members participated in the meeting, with students representing FEE campaigns in colleges such as UCC, Trinity, UCD, NUIG, UL and NUI Maynooth.
NI: University of Ulster – Scrap the Political Protocol
By Ciaran O’Neill, UU Coleraine Socialist Society
UNIVERSITY OF Ulster’s political protocol cuts across students’ rights to speak and organise. The protocol says that, “political leaflets … may not be displayed outside the closed environment”. This in effect means students are not allowed to politically organise and could be “sanctioned” by the union if they do.
FEE keeps Bertie from the wine and cheese!
By Richard Manton, Galway
ON 2 February, Bertie Ahern was due to speak at the Literary and Debating Society in NUI Galway. The event was cancelled due to a protest by Free Education for Everyone (FEE).
NI: Scrap fees in the FE Colleges
STUDENTS OVER the age of 18 in Belfast and other Further Education Colleges have to pay as much as £1,000 a semester for A-levels and GCSEs. The Socialist spoke to Socialist Youth member Colm Smyth, an A-level student in Belfast Metropolitan College, about crippling effect of fees on students in colleges.
QUB protest against US Consulate visit
By Kevin Henry, QUB Socialist Society
20 STUDENTS and workers joined a picket organised by the QUB Socialist Society and Socialist Youth against the visit of US consulate representatives to Queens.
Stop the fascist Irving
By Richard Manton
ON 19 March, the convicted Holocaust-denier and fascist David Irving will try to speak at NUI Galway.
In March last year, Irving attempted to speak at UCC in Cork, but was stopped by the Stop Irving Campaign initiated by the Socialist Party. There are a few important differences between the two attempts. Firstly, Irving will speak on his views on the Holocaust rather than free speech, making it even easier for him to cut straight to his fascist and anti-Semitic programme. Secondly, there have been huge developments in the economic and political situation in Ireland in the last year that could assist Irving in building the far-right.
