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Campaign to Defeat Fees National Meeting Saturday 1 September 10am-4pm Exmouth Arms Pub 1 Starcross Street London NW1 2HR (Near Euston station) All anti fees activists welcome. Come along to discuss building a national fight back against fees, cuts and privatisation!No to fees! After top-up fees were introduced a year ago student debt is soaring. Thousands are giving up any hope of going to university because it's too expensive and there is massivefinancial pressure on students and their families. The new Prime Minister Gordon Brown is feeling under pressure too, the government knows that students are angry about fees and that many are campaigning and protesting. He has responded to this by increasing the number of students who can receive grants while they are studying and given graduates an extra five years to pay back their loans. These small improvements will help some students. But they are not enough!Brown claims to be listening and to be changing but most students will not be fooled or satisfied by Brown's proposals. We want more!Brown is expected to announce the lifting of the cap on top-up fees which means universities may charge up to £10,000 a year! The slight increase in the grants is almost insignificant in the face of this attack. Brown also has plans to sell off the student loan company to private investors who could hike up the interest rates on loans getting students into even bigger debts. So all together this means more debt, higher fees, more cuts and closures, more privatization and our right to a decent education being taken away that is not a future we can accept.WE SAY FIGHT BACK! The government can't be allowed to get away with these attacks. Many students are fighting back. Last year there were protests against rent rises, department closures, cuts in ESOL courses and in October 15,000 marched on the NUS demonstration against fees.The attacks continue and unfortunately there is no national campaign based on mass action bringing all the anger and campaigning together.That is why Socialist Students launched the Campaign to Defeat Fees after the NUS demonstration. The CDF with its national days of action on 22 February and April 27 involving hundreds of students in over 50 universities, schools and colleges has shown how a national mass campaign could be built. A mass movement based on mass action involving thousands of workers and students linking up with other struggles to defend public services could force Brown to scrap fees and publicly fund higher education. Unfortunately the NUS leadership which represents 5 million students is refusing to build a mass campaign and organise any national action in the first term of 2007-8. If the NUS leaders because of their links to New Labour are still unwilling to take action, CDF will continue to take the initiative!Although our resources are smaller than the NUS's and we will fight to change its policy, we feel it would be criminal to deny students - thousands of whom will be starting courses in September - the chance to voice their anger against fees.This meeting is a chance for everyone who wants to fight fees to come together to discuss about how to build an effective campaign, involving as many students as possible. We particularly want to focus on the question of what action we can organise nationally and locally to make the huge opposition to fees clear for all. From this meeting the Campaign to Defeat Fees will go on the offensive in the autumn term organizing protests and campaigning. We want to start building at the freshers fairs. Get involved, get active, become a fee fighter, come on September 1 .This meeting will discuss education under Browns government, what will happen with the review on the cap on fees, with vice chancellors lobbying for £10,000 plus? what do the changes announced recently mean? We will also discuss what campaigning we can do in the first term of the academic year, especially if NUS have not announced any activities. Anyone is welcome to come along and share their thoughts and experiences.Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor
Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor
Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor