Defend the NHS – and fight for more!

I just got back from the demo to ‘Save the NHS’ in Manchester, which as I’m sure you all know, took place outside and around the Conservative Party Conference.

There’s a lot of things to say, about the day, the campaign, and what we do next.

I was really pleased to be part of the student bloc for much of the march and to meet so many enthusiastic activists from Manchester, Sheffield, Royal Holloway, Birmingham, KCL and UCL there – I’m sure others too who I didn’t get to meet!

Manchester University has a really vibrant group called Manchester Save Our NHS, which is, as far as I’m aware, the most active student group campaigning around NHS cuts in the country. I’m incredibly impressed by their work, and the amount of energy they put into building the demo was clear to see. Here’s them alongside NUS activists and students from around the country.

By all accounts the demo was fantastically well attended – 50-60,000 being quoted by even the BBC, which for a demo outside London is brilliant. There were thousands of trade union activists (including a good turnout from my own trade union, PCS), people from Disabled People Against the Cuts, and even the anti-cull types in their lovely badger suits (http://www.demotix.com/news/2110409/save-badger-cull-british-nationalist-party-protest-london#media-2110391). As demos go, I think everyone agreed it was positive and in good spirits. I witnessed one arrest, where police typically overreacted to someone who climbed over a (roughly 3′ high) barrier, and four or five cops pinned him to the ground, and bundled him into a van. A reminder that the police aren’t there to keep us safe – they’re there to protect the state.

Worth noting as well that the private security company, G4S prevented the BBC from filming the demo (http://www.politicshome.com/uk/story/37514/save_our_nhs_rally.html) resulting in a media blackout – so spead the word!

What next? Does a demo change anything?

In my view, demos and protests like this don’t change the world on their own, and today will not reverse Tory party policy. I was one of 2 million people on the demo against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and that didn’t change Labour’s minds about the war. That’s not to say they are useless though. What they are good for is getting issues out there, getting people thinking, and invigorating a movement which can often feel like a long, hard slog.

The important thing about days like this is that we use them to build around. Feel positive and buoyed up by the size and passion of the demo today, and take that feeling back to your student unions and workplaces, and build local campaigns to defend the NHS. Use the success of this demo to keep working hard, and get students who are studying in the NHS (medical students, nurses, paramedics, physios, social workers, mental health and psychotherapy students…) interested in the political issues surrounding it. Hold a meeting on your campus – get in touch with me if you’d like some help.

Earlier this month I attended a meeting held by Medsin and NCAFC at Goldsmiths University, which put a lot of plans in place to start more student action around the NHS. One of these plans is for a week of action around NHS cuts and privatisation from November 23rd – 30th. You can find out about that exciting event here: http://studentsforthenhs.blogspot.co.uk/ and more information will be added in the next couple of days (at which point I’ll update this post). If you’re interested in organising action on your campus (things like zombie flashmobs are being discussed…), get in touch with Pete at nhs@medsin.org or send me a Facebook message or a text to 07810632653.

Save the NHS – and fight for more!

So it’s no secret I’m a socialist – it says so right up there. That means that ‘saving the NHS’ just won’t cut it for me. The NHS has always had some private interest, and the privatisation of some services goes right back through the Labour years and the legacy of the Private Finance Initiative. What we need is a health service that is truly public. That means that the control of resources should be in the hands of the NHS workers, and not related to the interests of private interests, research funding, or multi-national pharmaceutical companies. You can sometimes see a small scale version of this when NHS workers go on strike – nurses and paramedics manage their own shifts and cover the services they know are vital themselves, through the democratic process of their trade union branches. Making demands for a democratically controlled NHS might seem far-fetched, but the privatisation that the Coalition have already brought into the health sector is pretty revolutionary too. Most people are blissfully unaware of the changes that have already been rail-roaded in through the back door – privatisation happening under the name ‘National Health Service’ (now used simply as a brand name to badge any number of private providers – don’t believe me? Check this out: http://www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk/all-guidelines/guidelines/independent-sector-treatment-centres/introduction), and many are still to come. We need to Educate students and the public about the changes, Agitate for a health service free of private interests, and Organise against the cuts before it’s too late.

Rosie

Motions and Amendments to NUS NEC

It’s that time again, and I do hope to write more on here in future than just around motions and amendments (in fact, more soon on what I’ve been up to at the NCAFC Training Weekend in Edinburgh, and planning for the NUS Supported ‘NHS Demo’ outside Tory Party Conference on September 29th), but it is that time again, so here’s what I’m proposing/supporting for next week’s NEC meeting.

Fellow NEC member Edmund Schluessel has put the up to date NEC papers online here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/167948258/NUS-NEC-papers-set-2-for-17-Sept so have a look at them.

I’ll only make points on a couple of motions, though it’s really important that people make themselves aware of the situation with the London Area proposal, which James McAsh has blogged about here: http://jamesmcash.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/nec-should-not-railroad-through-undemocratic-decisions/

Syria

There are three separate submissions up for discussion on the subject of the Syrian conflict. One from myself; one from the broadly New Labour leadership of NUS; and one from the Stalinist Socialist Action group. (You can read all three here.)

My motion opposes the US bombing Syria while also opposing Assad, his foreign imperialist backers and the sectarian opposition militias. It argues for solidarity with democratic and working-class organisations in Syria, as well as support for Syrian students in the UK.

The leadership motion says that NUS should “maintain at this stage no position on intervention”. This is presumably because of the disagreement among the different right-wing factions in the Labour Party about the issue.

The idea that a union cannot take a position on controversial issues is wrong. This is particularly the case since it seems like the NUS leadership motion will hinder, rather than promote, debate about such issues among NUS’s affiliates and members.

Those in the NUS leadership “group” who see themselves as left-wing, anti-war and internationalist should vote for my motion, not for the “no position” one.

The Socialist Action motion is a pro-Assad motion posing as anti-war. All it says is that it is against US intervention. It says nothing about Assad’s war, backed by Russia and Iran, because in fact Socialist Action supports that war.

If Socialist Action were honest, this is what they might have written:

NEC Believes:
1. That Bashar al-Assad’s government is waging a progressive struggle to defend Syria’s national independence.
2. That all those in Syria opposing the Syrian government are, whatever their motivations, weakening this struggle against imperialism.
3. That Russia, Iran and Hesbollah are supporting Syria’s anti-imperialist struggle.
NEC Resolves:
1. To support the Syrian government’s struggle to defend Syrian independence.
2. To support Russian, Iranian and Hesbollah intervention in Syria.

If someone genuinely believed that a motion condemning US intervention, and saying nothing else, was adequate, that would be wrong. But it’s important to understand that something else is going on here: Assad supporters covering their politics under the banner of being anti-war.

Students in the Armed Services

Myself and other NCAFC members James McAsh and Arianna Tassinari are backing an amendment to a motion about supporting students in the armed forces. I think it’s important to distinguish between supporting the rights of students in military service, and supporting militarism – the two are not the same, and I think NUS should take a position which opposes the agenda of the British military and the MOD, whilst increasing its level of support and representation for students who study through the services. My amendment actually expands on what that kind of support and representation would actually mean, however. I think it’s absolutely vital that students in the armed forces, like all workers in the forces, have the right to join and organise in trade unions, and be critical of their own leadership. This is a basic political demand that should be extended to students in other ‘alternative providers’ (e.g. offenders) identified in the other amendment to this motion.

The British Military is responsible for some of the world’s greatest crimes against humanity. Throughout history, it has recruited working class people to commit war crimes, not in their interests, but in those of the British ruling class. What the military has done to countries around the world through politically-motivated intervention is imperialist in nature, and has completely destroyed the lives of millions of people.

Smallwood’s motion bigs up the positive aspects of the armed services, and what support they give to students, but gives no mention to the fact that many young people in service have been injured, and killed, because of the decisions of their commanders, and says nothing on its record internationally. My amendment services to cast a critical eye over the agenda of the British military, as well as improve support and representation for forces students by giving them the right to organise autonomously from their leaders.