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George Fox 6: Campus Activism at the Crossroads

GF6 supporters | 21.09.2005 23:00 | Anti-militarism | Education | Social Struggles

On Monday 26th September, the trial of the George Fox 6 commences at Lancaster Magistrates Court. Six student activists face charges in a three day trial arising out of an action that took place at Lancaster University in September 2004 where protestors had gone into the George Fox building at the university to hand out leaflets and talk to people at the "Corporate Venturing" Conference - a networking meeting for multinational corporations. Speakers at the conference were drawn from controversial arms manufacturer BAE Systems, Shell and other companies the six say have 'long histories of human rights abuses and environmental destruction'. Police attended and told the protestors they were doing nothing wrong, but some months later they received summonses through the post. The defendants are seeking support at the trial.

[ GF6 Support Group | Action at corporate conference | Call for support | Interview with defendant during trial lunch break - 1.2Mb ]



As Universities are forced to rely on external funding to a greater and greater extent, the face of the Academy is changing. Increasingly decisions are made by faceless bureaucrats, and traditional values such as 'academic freedom' are eroded by business plans and links with multi-national corporations, who expect returns for their investments. Campus activists are increasingly being subjected to harsh disciplinary measures, and the trial of the George Fox 6 has worrying implications for campus activism in the future. If the students are convicted, then we can expect to see Lancaster University's actions mirrorerd elsewhere. Students who object to the corporate raids on their campuses can expect to see themselves facing harsh measures, including criminal prosecutions.

...a trial - a charge against those who share and nurture knowledge that the old men do not like

In 1660, George Fox, founder of the Quakers, was imprisoned in Lancaster for refusing to swear allegiance to the king. The world has changed in the last 350 years, and these days the worst thing that could happen to you if you refused to swear allegiance to the queen is refusal of UK citizenship for immigrants, or the boot from the local Brownie pack.

Lancaster University, founded in 1964, and according to it's own website "one of Britain's top universities. The Times Good University Guide 2004 said Lancaster was "among the top dozen universities for research and in the top 20 for teaching".

In 1974, new colleges were opened at the Uni, which operates an Oxford style collegiate system. One of them was Pendle, named after the region associated with the 17th century witch trials of 1612, where 10 accused were sentenced to death after a three day trial in which they refused counsel or the right to call witnesses.

There is some irony in the fact that a University which, in the recent past, chose to identify buildings and colleges with miscarriages of justice, is now actively involved in the suppression of academic freedom and an attempt to criminalise dissent against corporations such as BAe Systems and the nefarious Carlyle Group. Their actions are yet another indication of the growing intolerance of dissent in a society which sees growing corporatisation of all spheres, including the academy.

"Disrupting lawful activity"

The students have been charged with the 'offence' of aggravated trespass, a charge which has been used against animal rights activists and anti-corporate protestors on numerous occasions since the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill made the offence, which was first used against squatters on outdoor land, applicable to events which take place inside buildings.

Charges were dropped against activists who entered the Iraq Procurement Conference in April 2004, after they sought to use the trial to highlight the illegality of an occupation force selling off Iraqi assets. When a group occupied the offices of the conference organisers, the CPS substituted a different charge.

Protestors operating under the smashEDO banner in direct actions against Brighton "weapons interface" manufacturers EDO MBM have also been prosecuted for the offence in two separate trials, where despite one group being found not guilty, the defendants were subsequently named in an application for an injunction against harrassment brought by the company which exhibits at DSEi

It is perverse that students risk being criminalized for leafleting conferences where companies that are widely known to be involved in a activities such as corrupt dealings with military dictatorships, climate change and human rights violations and cronyism and nepotism were in attendance, whilst the corporate criminals cry that they are intimidated, and the state pretends that what those corporations do is lawful.

That the University pretends that students are tresspassers on their own campus is astounding to many!

The corporatisation of the Academy

That the Academy is hurrying to join the state in prosecuting those who take a stand against the very impersonal transnational corporations that rob, rape and pillage our planet should come as a surprise to no one. Neo-liberal policies have effectively ensured that the impoverished academy is more likely to side with its corporate sponsors, who pump in larger amounts of capital than individual fee paying students, undermining academic freedom in the process. Individual students, the majority of whom will leave university up to the eyeballs in debt, are pressured to pursue the agendas that the corporations dictate, at the expense of student solidarity. Thus there appears to be no mention of the travails of the George Fox 6 on the University Student Union site leaving many applicants to the University unaware that they are about to join a University that has little respect for academic freedom or dissent.

Interventions by groups such as Liberty, local councillors, Lancaster Quakers and the National Students Union have fallen on deaf ears. An online petition has had no effect on the Vice-Chancellor, and a letter writing campaign has elicited standard replies which suggest that the letters are not even being read. NeoLiberal nuLabour minister Ruth Kelly, in her first speech on Higher Education, urged other Vice Chancellors to follow suit.

As a theatre critic at a Lancaster University production of 1984 noted:

" But in this case, I was also painfully aware, on this occasion, that 1984 was being played – by students, at Lancaster University - at just the same time as six of these students’ peers were being hauled through the courts on politically-motivated charges at the behest of the faceless bureaucrats and the global capitalists."

George Fox must be turning in his grave...

Links

[ Call for support | Corporate Venturing conference | Video of protest (divx 2mins long) ]

Campus activism elsewhere

[ Uni Teachers & Students Demonstrate Over Pay and Fees | Inspection teams move in on Birmingham University | Glasgow Uni persecutes anarchists ]

GF6 supporters

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Comments

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Urgent Alert: Protest Middlesex University’s Clampdown on Freedom of Speech

22.09.2005 12:37

------------------------------------------------
Islamic Human Rights Commission
------------------------------------------------

22 September 2005

Urgent Alert: Protest Middlesex University’s Clampdown on Freedom of Speech

IHRC urges all campaigners to contact Middlesex University to protest against its decision to suspend Student Union president Keith Shilson and revoke his studentship indefinitely for his refusal to cancel a debate with Hizb ut-Tahrir.

1. Background

The Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir had been invited by the Student Union of Middlesex University to take part in a Question & Answer meeting next Wednesday 28 September 2005. Last week, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Michael Driscoll, ordered the Student Union to cancel the invitation to Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Student Union was told that if it did not cancel the invitation, the meeting would be “banned”. Student Union President Keith Shilson refused to cancel the invitation arguing that it should be allowed on the ground of freedom of speech.

Due to this refusal to cancel the invitation, Mr Shilson was yesterday suspended from the university, had his studentship revoked indefinitely and was escorted from campus by university security. Hizb ut-Tahrir has not been banned by the Government or on campus in Middlesex University and promotes a non-violent approach to political change. It has repeatedly condemned acts of terrorism such as the London bombings as having no justification in Islam.

The Vice Chancellor’s decision to suspend Mr Shilson is a clear sign of the new form of McCarthyism currently at play both on university campuses and in the wider British society. We have reached a stage now where not only Muslims are being persecuted for their beliefs but also members of other communities who may defend Muslims against such persecution or simply seek to understand their beliefs.

2. Suggested Action

a) Contact the Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University and request that Keith Shilson be reinstated with a full apology. A sample letter may be found below for your convenience.

Professor Michael Driscoll
Vice-Chancellor
Middlesex University
Bramley Road
London
N14 4YZ

Tel. 020 8411 5606
Email:  m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk



b) Send messages of support to Keith Shilson for his courage and bravery in refusing to buckle under tremendous pressure and standing up for fundamental freedoms so precious to us all.


Keith Shilson
President
Middlesex University Students\\\' Union
Bramley Road
London
N14 4YZ

Tel: 020 8411 6763
Fax: 020 8440 5944
Email:  K.Shilson@mdx.ac.uk




[Your name]
[Your address]



[Date]
Professor Michael Driscoll
Vice-Chancellor
Middlesex University
Bramley Road
London
N14 4YZ

Email:  m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk


Dear Professor Driscoll


Re: Suspension of Keith Shilson


I am writing regarding Middlesex University’s decision to suspend and indefinitely revoke the studentship of Student Union president Keith Shilson.

I am very shocked to hear that the reasoning behind the suspension was Mr Shilson’s refusal to cancel an invitation to the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir to a debate on 28 September.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a non-violent group which has repeatedly condemned acts of terrorism such as the London bombings as having no justification in Islam. Despite much propaganda, it has not been banned by the Government. Irrespective of whether we agree or disagree with the beliefs and principles held by Hizb ut-Tahrir, to prohibit them from publicly speaking is abhorrent to the precious values of a liberal democracy such as Britain. It is an active effort to clamp down upon freedom of speech and freedom of association.

Furthermore, to punish a student who may neither belong to nor even share the beliefs of Hizb ut-Tahrir is eerily reminiscent of the shameful era of McCarthyism. In attempting to cancel the debate and in suspending Keith Shilson, Middlesex University is stifling freedom of academic thought in university, the very place where ideas must be debated and exchanged.

I urge you to reinstate Mr Shilson immediately with a full apology.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly regarding the action you have taken in this extremely serious matter.

Yours sincerely,


[Your signature]

[Your name]

student


76 arrested in New York University graduate union protest

22.09.2005 13:43

76 arrested in N.Y.U. graduate union protest

A demonstration in front of New York University’s Bobst Library on Aug. 31, the last day of the university’s contract with United Auto Workers Local 2110 representing graduate student assistants, ended with 76 protesters being charged with obstructing access to the library.

The protesters, who were among a group of several hundred protesting the university’s refusal to continue recognizing the union as representing the graduate assistants, were not actually jailed but were removed from the front of the library and issued desk-appearance tickets.

John Sweeney, A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, and other top union officials were among the protestors who had notified police that they would engage in a civil disobedience action. State Senator Tom Duane also participated in the protest action and was arrested. Other officials at the protest included Councilmembers Christine Quinn, Gifford Miller, Gale Brewer, Bill de Blasio and Robert Jackson and State Senator Jose Serrano.

Following the National Labor Relations Board’s reversal last summer of a 2002 ruling that grad student instructors be recognized as workers who could negotiate as a collective bargaining unit, N.Y.U. decided not to renew the union contract it signed three years ago.

The university gave graduate assistants a last offer on Aug. 2 that would allow them to continue negotiating economic issues and maintain benefits of the now-expired contract but would not accept U.A.W. filings of grievances or contesting of academic appointments. The graduate teaching assistants are expected to go on strike. N.Y.U. says it has contingency plans, but has not provided details.

 http://www.thevillager.com/villager_123/76arrestedinnyu.html

American Anarchist


Management remove posters!

22.09.2005 16:30

Just seen a member of Lancaster uni cleaning staff - who told me that they have been have been instructed by uni management to remove any posters associated with the GF6 campaign!!!

This is ironic, as the posters have a photo on them saying 'lancaster university denies freedom of speech'

Barry Kade


email the vice chancellor of Lancaster.....

23.09.2005 16:23

-I just emailed Prof. Paul Wellings  m.needham@lancaster.ac.uk expressing my disgust at the decision to prosecute-

Jim


...and if you'd like to phone him...

24.09.2005 13:49

... and if you'd like to phone vice chancellor paul wellings you can try: 01524 592001

or write to him at
University House
University of Lancaster
Lancaster LA1 4YW

Jane Robinson


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