Monday 26 January 2009

Update on Sussex

Contrary to an earlier update posted on this blog, we were just informed by a representative of the Sussex University occupation that they have not at this time ended the occupation, nor have they had all of their demands met by the University.

However, the Sussex occupiers are currently in an advanced stage of negotiations with University authorities and look set to achieve a succesful resolution and the granting of their demands in the immediate future.

The nearness of a resolution in Sussex reaffirms the power of collective student action, and we must congratulate our friends in Sussex who are perservering in harnessing that power to secure real results from Sussex University. We will continue to do the same at Cambridge and offer our continued support to Sussex!

24 comments:

  1. hope in one hand, shit in the other, see which one gets filled first.

    the man-hours of fund raising you thick fuckers have wasted beggars belief.

    and stop fucking cheering every ten minutes.
    it's not dunkirk, it's not a hunger strike, though christ knows some of you look like you could do with a bit more time on the barricades and a bit less time in the bakery, your achievements are those of the below average lawyer who spends their day hanging round nadia's.

    introduce some fucking self sacrafice and suffering to this debacle or so help me i'll find a way to introduce some for you.

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  2. Mate what the fuck is your problem. Youve got no fucking balls; at least these guys are standing up for a rightous cause. All you seem to be good at is constant bitching, like a fucking pussy. Grow some bollocks, and man-up you lonely prick. Get a life and stop bothering admirable students who are risking potential punishment for a justified cause. Idiot

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  3. silly rabbit, i've achieved more with the protests i've attended than these guys will in a lifetime so the stature of my melon-esque balls is not at issue.

    protest is righteous if it is well directed and meaningful, these kids are simply sulking around. nobility is won through sacrifice and disrupting alot of hard working students isn't noble, it's pathetic and rude.

    that is not hard to fathom.

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  4. Protests are not protests if they are not disruptive; thats the whole point.

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  5. christ. if you can't see that this is about as disruptive as it gets in a building used for studying and teaching then you genuinely many need some sort of psychiatric help.

    we have had to move lectures, move supervisions and have to present id to enter the building. that is before we get to the noise and disruption.

    if it were up to me, i'd beat every cunting one of them to demonstrate what a bit of real fear is like in life. luckily it's not, thats what we have proctors for.

    and 'mate' we're a fucking law faculty, we'll tell you what is and isn't a valid protest.

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  6. Crtical thought, visibility, discussion all promoted by somestimes necessary civil disobidience. As a law student I am aware of how only a certain conservative demographic get their bums on the lecture hall seats. This demographic goes on to perpetuate its postion inside the state. When they complain that a message is affecting their mindset, studies, scheduling and they shout then we are doing something right. This isn't just about the test of public consciousness that is Gaza, its also about regaining our critical capacities and empowering those whose values are outside the frame of profit and free-market capitalism. Its about getting beyond the values of the commercial lawyer who wants to insulate him/herself through the pursuit of self-interest. This is an information war and another view point is emerging, its not just about fundraising, its about informing minds! Well done to those who have stood up and said that what is happening isn't right ... we need to use what we can to counter the dominance of a centralised media and this occupaion is part of this. Students and university are places that should nourish alternative views, long may it last!

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  7. Edward, I must say: I agree with you about the cheering and I apologise for the disruption to law students caused by it. However, getting to the level of insulting people for being fat is fucking ignorant of you and you know it. We have contstantly moved to ensure lectures can take place, we have cleaned up after ourselves so that the cleaning staff don't have nay extra work, and the security guards checking your id on the gate is the university, not us, so get pissed off with them about that, not us. And I know plenty about real suffering, fear and pain, which is why i am able to epathise with those in Israel and Gaza and why I am acting to raise awareness of the issue and achieve concrete objectives that will help. We need to do more than just fundraising, what's the point in fundraising when we are part of an institution that invests in the arms trade that is causing such agony, when we're part of a country that sells arms to Israel and is not taking a strong enough stance on this issue. We achieved stuff by this protest simply by raising the issue, both to other students and to the wider world through media coverage. I don't know what protests you've been on in your enlightened and proactive life, but stop fucking judging us when you know NOTHING about us. As for hard work and self-sacrifice, the students who are there, sleeping on the floor, attempting to make a difference and still do their work, are sacrificing a lot more than you are currently. And I for one would like to claim having to listen to overly-enthusiastic marxists chat endlessly about anarchism vs socialism, etc, and then trying to calmly work with them to create a valid statement that speaks for 100 people of differing political views, as one of the most frustrating, hardest, and rewarding things I've ever done. As one of the security guards said to me "you're students - it's your job to protest". At least we've got off our arses and done something rather than endlessly intellectualising and toeing the line.

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  8. Edward, you're an igorant little fucker aren't you. You have no concept of protest, no idea about what the protest is about and about why it has to be necessarily disruptive and attack students with fucking stupid one liners and 9yr old verbal abuse. Grow up and get a life; dont stand there being apathetic you wanker. As for the disruption, i support it absolultely; it'll wake you up u prick

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  9. Psst, Sammy? Clearly Edward is an idiot. However:

    a) "constant bitching"
    b) "fucking pussy"
    c) "grow some bollocks, and man-up"

    Could any points you wish to make, or even abuse you wish to throw, possibly be done without resort to misogynistic crap? kthxbai.

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  10. and there we go, the silver bullet, it is disruptive sammy. hugely so.

    at least you'll agree with regents house about something, and thats the ten foot pole they're going to fuck you with when you leave.

    if you'd had any sense, or any sense of actually wanting to cause a fuss you'd have chained yourself to the railings during the 800 year light show (see, thats the advice that comes from someone who knows how to get peoples attention-years of experience children) but no, you chose to house yourselves up in a nice warm building, steal our electricity and complain when we try to stop you bringing food in and pretend you're not actually being disruptive. I've always considered the ability to self-delude the greatest weakness in any protest movement and you kids are no different.

    to pretend it's anything other than a fairly pointless annoyance to the hard working people that live here is simply false.

    but as I say, i'd keep an eye out for proctors with poles, cuz you're going to get fucked at the end of this, and not in the good way either.

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  11. Hi, I'm one of those involved in the occupation at Sussex, and I wanted to post a correction that the occupation is not yet over. I've heard that we have had positive communication with Sussex management today, but the details have not yet been discussed at the public meeting, and no decisions have been made regarding the demands.

    But thanks for the congratulations, even if it was a bit early!

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  12. matt, i'm really sorry to hear that. keep pushing on for gaza and we look forward to hearing of your success!

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  13. Can I just make a comment or two about what I've seen and heard about the occupation? Just to clarify before I start- I am in, general, in support of your aims although i am not convinced about your demands. What I take issue with is your tactics.

    1. Firstly, I witnessed what happened with the soup at lunch time- this was just childish. By pretending to engage with the chair of the law faculty (I think that's who it was), you created a smokescreen so that you could sneak the soup in. Fine- diversionary tactics. But what was disappointing was that once the soup was in and the Irish guy in the library had blown your cover, you all just abandoned the discussion in favour of the soup- it seemed like smuggling a pan of soup into the law faculty was more important than the discussion.

    2. Secondly and this is more of a suggestion than observation- you know that the University agreed to have a discussion with a delegation but you refused because more students couldn't be present, maybe an idea would be to have a meeting in a private room and stream the meeting to a laptop in a lecture hall, plug that laptop into a projector and then everyone can see what happens, no-one feels intimidated and you actually come to some kind of conclusion which all parties are happy with... if that's what you want.

    All the best and good luck.
    J

    PS hope the soup was worth the effort!

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  14. I think there's a lot to be said about being at least civil to the likes of Edward even if he isn't civil towards you. It would help your cause. I'm not convinced you need to respond to him to defend your position. Ditto Angelica's point, less misogyny please...

    Hope you have a good night

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  15. in almost every other situation, pointing out to someone that they are getting themselves into trouble would normally be considered the actions of a good samaratian.

    in this case given that the stakes are high regarding the punishment the university is likely to levy I feel it only fair, and indeed fun, to point this out until it sinks into their mindless little heads.

    there is a stunning disjunct between their actions and what they see as the effect along with the increasingly likely outcome of this whole fiasco.

    I'm sick of listening to their whining and don't want them to think that somehow they're getting away with it.

    as the film says, be afraid, be very afraid.

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. I think the occupiers should be mindful of the fact that edward's real identity is most likely one if not all of the following:


    a.) A proxy for the uni authorities trying to intimidate you into giving in, using fear of reprisal as a calling card (be aware: the precedent supports the occupiers: see here for some much needed institutional memory: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/cambridge/2003/10/279258.html
    b.) A Zionist trying to intimidate you for political reasons.
    c.) A law student to whom you don't need to pay any attention because of the evidently childish threats s/he is making.
    d.) who he says he is - a veteran of 68 now working for the law faculty - in which case he is simply a traitor.

    D seems the most unlikely to me given that I would credit anyone working for the Cambridge law faculty with a modicum of intelligence. Thus far, the general tone and vocabulary of his postings have displayed very little articulacy or intelligence. He is simply trying to goad and intimidate people and this is to be resisted at all costs. Simply ignore him. This will frustrate him most. The beauty of this strategy is that he seems so unable to ignore you: like a moth drawn to the flame of his vanished youth, he bashes his head repeatedly against a light-bulb, not realising it is really a fire and he will be burned.

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  18. If these people want to show empathy with people suffering in Gaza, why don't they go there and hold an anti Hamas protest?

    I wonder how long they would last.

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  19. But who has destroyed Gaza, and occupied Palestine for 60+ years??? Hamas or Israel???

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  20. Barry - When Palestine has an embassy.

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  21. "Who has destroyed Gaza?"...perhaps you should have a look at what Louis Mitchell EU Chief of Humanitarian Aid has to say. "Hamas bears the overwhelming responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza". Or let me guess, he is a Zionist now?

    My point isn't that Israel is innocent, but that your demands and condemnation represent such a one sided vitriol of hate and demonisation that they border on racism.

    I am not a Jew or a Zionist, but I can see why members of either group may feel somewhat aggrieved when you hold the Jewish State accountable to a set of double standards and don't openly criticise those that committ offences that are far worse and far more frequent!

    The University is a charity! It legally cannot take a political stance on the matter, or it loses its charitable status!

    Furthermore, you have no guarantee that any aid you do raise won't go to rebuilding terror and Hamas. The EU has openly declared Hamas an evil terrorist organisation and has voice concerns that they will hijack aid, and sell it off to the highest bidder so as to further fund their genocidal goals. It is documented that they have done so in the past.

    Israel is not innocent, but far less guilty than you would like to admit. Hamas in this situation is the devil from which you should be trying wrestle innocent Palestinians. Your demands are unreasonable and your cause so one sided that it undermines what you are trying to achieve.

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  22. The above claim that Israel "has occupied Palestine for 60+ years" is very disturbing.

    The commenter uses "occupation" in the sense Islamic extremists use it -- that is, as a disparaging term for the sovereign, internationally recognized nation of Israel, which they hope to destroy entirely.

    I had assumed the law faculty protesters did not mean to use this sinister usage of "occupation", and were not opposed to the very existence of Israel.

    Now I'm not so sure.

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  23. Exactly, for somme in that building, 'occupation' = Israel. The occupation won't end until Israel ceases to exist! Hamas also claim only to want to end the occupation of Palestinian lands, and what they want is Israel wiped off the map in genocide.

    And now tell me this occupation is just an apolitical call for aid?

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