NCAFC – National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts

Police, politicians and the NUS can't stop the fight for free education

By KD Tait 2014 was the year the student movement moved decisively from the defensive to the offensive. Tax the rich to fund education for all was the demand that mobilised 10,000 students to march on parliament for the first time since 2010. The demonstration succeeded in spite of the sabotage attempted by the national […]

Workers Power  ·  12 December 2014

On 19 November students can put free education back on the agenda

  By KD Tait The ritual central London march for free education, a staple of the student activist’s Autumn calendar for 15 years, has been called for 19 November by a coalition of student campaigns under the slogan ‘no to debt, no to fees – yes to free education’. The defeat of the 2010 student […]

Workers Power  ·  03 November 2014

Police retreat – students take the street

  credit: @ailiahrizvi Thousands of students defied the protest ban and demonstrated on the Bloomsbury campus of University of London, before marching to the Royal Courts of Justice to show solidarity with Mark Duggan’s family, writes KD Tait. The police were completely absent – ordered off the streets by their commanders, panicked into retreat by […]

Workers Power  ·  12 December 2013

Sussex shows the way!

By KD Tait Students at Sussex university will walk out tomorrow* in support of five students suspended for taking part in recent protests against privatisation. The students have been unilaterally suspended from their courses and banned from going onto campus. A petition calling for their reinstatement has gathered over 8,000 signatures in less than week. […]

Workers Power  ·  09 December 2013

To kick out the market, first kick the cops off campus!

By KD Tait University bosses have launched a crackdown against a wave of student occupations. The suppression of the right to protest signals the start of the final offensive in the struggle to complete the marketization of Higher Education. Injunctions have been used to ban all protests at several universities. Where students rejected the rulings […]

Workers Power  ·  08 December 2013

Students – reorganise, refocus, resist

  2012 was a year to forget for the Tories. It was, in the main, a year to forget for student activists as well, writes K D Tait. The first year of £9,000 fees saw a 10 per cent drop in student numbers. September saw the government try to deport thousands of overseas students from London […]

Workers Power  ·  20 January 2013

Lessons from the 2010–11 student movement

By KD Tait THE ACTS OF resistance taken by thousands of young people during the student movement of winter 2010-11 shook the government and sparked months of mass opposition to cuts. Democratic general assemblies uniting students with workers and young people, militant demonstrations using self-defence against police violence, and nationally coordinated waves of direct action including boycotts, […]

Workers Power  ·  10 September 2012

NCAFC Conference: Despite the problems, a step forward

Anyone reading the #NCAFC Twitter feed over the weekend will have got the impression that the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts descended into uncontrollable orgy of bickering and sectarianism. The truth was quite different. Read more here

Workers Power  ·  31 January 2012

Education not for sale

Public education is under attack. Greedy corporations are hell bent on getting their hands on schools, colleges and universities – desperate to make a profit out of education and knowledge. This is having a terrible affect on young people, adult learners and education workers – as the market drives up costs, drives down standards and […]

Workers Power  ·  27 September 2011

Militant action can reverse Con-Dem education reforms

A year after students took to the streets, the fight for the future of education in Britain continues. As young people are confronted with few university places and even fewer job opportunities, the need to integrate the education and the anti-cuts movement becomes even more urgent, writes Joana Ramiro

Workers Power  ·  31 August 2011

Open letter: Grave concerns over NCAFC 5 June conference

From anticuts.com We have grave concerns about the recent Ncafc conference – both how it was organised and the outcome of the conference, which imposed a new set of structures that undermine the unity and inclusivity of the national organisation.

Workers Power  ·  08 June 2011

NCAFC ‘reinvigoration meeting’: why we didn’t stand for the committee

Statement by REVOLUTION Many student activists will be wondering why we did not stand for, or vote, in the elections for a steering committee at the recent “reinvigoration” meeting of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts on 5 June. There’s no doubt been much frustration in the movement after parliament voted for tuition fees, […]

Workers Power  ·  08 June 2011

Education and resistance: next steps for the student movement

As the student academic year draws to a close, the summer is a good time for reflection on the year that was. John Bowman provides a balance sheet for Revolution. Read it here

Workers Power  ·  05 June 2011

Joana Pinto speaks to NUS conference: ‘together we can win’

Joana Pinto stood for the Vice President Union Development position at this years NUS conference. Below is her speech, calling for a fighting students union

Workers Power  ·  22 April 2011

NUS conference 2011: the fight for students has just begun

Joana Pinto talks about her experience running for NUS Vice President position, NUS conference, and where students can take the fight from here

Workers Power  ·  18 April 2011

Angry students chase NUS President off demo

Yesterday over 4000 students, workers and youth took to the streets of Manchester against the Con Dem cuts to EMA, education funding, and the public sector. Official ‘leaders’ of the movement tried to hold back protesters from expressing their anger. But they only showed their increasing irrelevance to the struggle. Many activists held placards declaring […]

Workers Power  ·  06 February 2011

Vote for NUS left slate

National Union of Students President Aaron Porter will be facing an election challenge at this years NUS conference, as left-wing student activists announced they would group together to form an anti-cuts, anti-fees slate. Joana Pinto, press officer for the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, and Workers Power member, will be standing for the Vice […]

Workers Power  ·  06 February 2011

Fees fight not over

Now that parliament has voted to increase tuition fees and abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), the student movement needs to force universities and councils to refuse to implement the policies.

Workers Power  ·  01 January 2011

Student struggle inspires UK-wide fight against cuts

Youth and students in Britain have run an astonishing campaign against cuts to education funding, tuition fee increases and the withdrawal of central government funding for the Education Maintenance Allowance. The month of high-intensity protest saw public opinion sway in favour of the student demonstrators, a political crisis in the Liberal Democrats, and most importantly, […]

Workers Power  ·  01 January 2011

Camden girls proud to fight!

We staged a 24-hour “teach-in” on Wednesday 8 December in a form of protest against this coalition Government, which has now voted for the raising of tuition fees up to £9,000. The main reason for the occupation was to raise awareness through media coverage about this rise in tuition fees, and we feel we were […]

Workers Power  ·  01 January 2011

"We turned Oxford into Paris!"

Over 1000 Oxford students marched through Oxford protesting spending cuts and the Browne review. A student body noted for its conservatism battled the police in an attempt to occupy the university. Today we saw the birth of a new student movement. Organised An initial organising meeting of 200 students discussed the Browne review and its […]

Workers Power  ·  28 October 2010

Class struggle bulletin

Stay up to date with our weekly newsletter