Our boiler is on the blink. No hot water, for several days now. Naturally I’m staging an “Occupation” in protest. In this case the “occupation” is of our front room. By shear coincidence, the front room is also where the (unaffected) gas fireplace is. I’m not leaving until the problem is fixed, or until I have to go outside, or I fancy something to eat.
But there was another equally world-changing “occupation” earlier this week – that of the University of Birmingham’s gorgeous Aston Webb building. Joseph Chamberlain’s Edwardian dream realised in stunning redbrick (and due for completion in 2011). The background will probably be obvious to most folk – fees, cuts, etc. Anyone with sensible anti-fees or anti-cuts policies would be sympathetic to a protest on these grounds. So what happened this Wednesday? Well let me, as a (mostly) impartial part-time observer and subsequent researcher, talk you through it.
It all started very early on the 24th of November. A University Staff union had a peaceful protest planned for that day, and the University were expecting trouble. As a student whose department and office is within the Aston Webb, I had been notified a few days earlier that access might be restricted. There have already been incidents this term of students trespassing into private areas of the Universities administrative buildings. As the main front doors of the Aston Webb were opened first thing in the morning, a large group of student protestors effectively surged and forced their way into the building. And there they stayed. For the whole day.
They set themselves up on the first floor, where the rotunda above the main reception is. There’s a lovely, if underused, interior there. From here they had access to a small outside ledge over the main doors. Not quite “up on the roof” as some of them had hoped, but a realistic alternative. When the local news cameras were rolling they’d stand up on this ledge in a line and shout slogans, neither catchy near clear from more than 50 m away. It is a narrow ledge, which did make one rather concerned for safety given the risk of slipping or falling.
But who is this “they”? Well, as far as I can make out they are a rather disparate grouping of “leftist” groups, agitators, and rent-a-mob types. A student politics insider might be tempted to say “the usual suspects”. Amongst various free education chants, later in the afternoon (around 5pm) shouts of “free Palestine!” were heard, which suggests a somewhat mixed message. There were some rather fetching socialist flags on display, with a very 1920′s look to them; these I found quite fetching. The protest, such that it was, didn’t feel mainstream. No doubt there were some very well-meaning individuals there, some good sorts, among those with less pure intentions. However, too many normal students were simply walking by; a mixture of bemused, irritated, and condescending.
For while the protest may have had some fair points, its execution was such that it likely alienated more people than it won over; it was preaching to the choir whilst slapping some of the wavering choirboys (a popular past-time in some circles). The demands of the occupation were not in themselves unjustified, but they were hopelessly optimistic and naiive. The University is not going to undertake an abrupt u-turn on several aspects of policy, whilst sacking its Vice-Chancellor, in a 12-hour period at the behest of 30 trespassing squatters. Occupations in themselves are a deeply polarising campaign strategy – great for the radicals and the hard core, but scarcely something that is inclusive to all students. As one very ‘Rah’ passing student put it; “Don’t they see the irony of shouting about ‘access’ [to higher education] whilst keeping us out of our lecture rooms?”. The method puts off more than the message persuades – in fact, the occupation becomes the message.
Let us consider the results of the occupation. In the first instance there was the entrance and establishment of the 12-hour squatter camp. Several reports have reached me of injury to university security forces – decent people doing their job. Staff were outnumbered, pushed aside, and in one instance a member of the security forces received a boot to the head. The protestors own video footage shows aggressive confrontations with security. The severity of injuries varies in reports, and we’ll probably never hear the full story. Secondly consider that the entire building was locked to students for the whole day as a consequence. That meant delayed work, no access to offices, and cancelled lectures and lab sessions for students whose departments are in the Aston Webb building. A lost day for many many students and staff, none of whom are to blame for current circumstances, all to satisfy the smug egos of a minority. “Selfish bastards” one disgruntled student was heard to exclaim. What’s more, several officers from West Midlands police (also facing cuts) had been called in by mid-afternoon – a complete waste of their time. One hopes that no horrific but preventable crimes were committed elsewhere in the city that day.
The whole charade dragged on through the day until late in the evening when the occupiers left “under duress” (in their own words). My guess is simply that the University was happy to let them stay, on condition that they a locked in, with both the electricity and the heating turned off. Staff go home, and the building doesn’t operate through the night on any other occasion. What was achieved then? Presumably at least one of the occupiers demands – that none of them face any consequences for their actions – was met. There were many other demands of course, that I have alluded to, among them a cut in the VC’s salary, no staff cuts, no preventable cuts, and a rethink of fees. All of them I agree with, and are totally justified. A more mature and responsible campaign might succeed with a similar message.
Perhaps the University should seek to prosecute some of those involved – for assault, trespass, criminal damage as appropriate. They tarnish the reputation of all students and by association they damage their professed cause. Regrettably, student politics as a whole might be healthier and more productive if certain extremists were no longer students.
