The truth about Millbank
This is a guest post by Tom Beasley. Go here to read more by him.
So yesterday, I was at DEMO-lition 2010, the massive demonstration organised by the NUS and UCU in order to protest the ridiculous cuts to the education budget and hikes in tuition fees proposed by the coalition government.
As anyone who has come within earshot of the news over the last 24 hours will know, the peaceful protest was overshadowed by a splinter group of the protesters storming the Tory headquarters at Millbank tower. The media coverage has, as you would expect, focused on this aspect of the story, despite the fact that it wasn’t even nearly as sensational as they said it was.
If you believe every aspect of the media coverage, then what happened was the protesters marched past Millbank, then dived in and started smashing shit up and lighting fires. I was there at the very beginning of it all and the protesters who stormed Millbank were a tiny number of the tens of thousands there.
In fact, 95% of the protesters had no idea what had happened at Millbank until they saw the news. Whilst a comparatively small group of protesters surrounded Millbank, the rest of the demonstration continued to march to the end of the route. So for the media (specifically our good friends at the Mail) to call the demo a “tuition fees riot” is ridiculous and misleading.
To be fair to the media, most networks did mention that the violence was down to a minority, but this information was only briefly stated in a voiceover put over images of violence and criminal damage. That’s not the way to do it.
Reports suggest that there were 50,000+ people demonstrating yesterday and for the work of so many to be destroyed by the violence of so few is grossly unacceptable.
When I started writing this piece, I intended it to be a critique of the general media coverage, but some of the quotes from the Mail article are too good to avoid.
“Militants from far-Left groups whipped up a mix of middle-class students and younger college and school pupils into a frenzy, setting off the most violent student unrest Britain has seen in decades.”
OMG! THOSE MILITANT FAR-LEFT STUDENTS! FUCKING LIBERALS SMASHING OUR SHIT!
Honestly! Criticise the violent protesters all you like; you probably should. But please do not turn this into an attack on the political left in general. If you were interested in actually reporting the news instead of just sensationalising the actions of a tiny minority, then you would be a far better publication.
In fact, if you were a better publication, then maybe we wouldn’t have had so many idiots voting the fucking Tories in. Then shit like this wouldn’t happen. The reason it happened is that people are angry. People are angry because the politicians that charmed this country before the election are protecting the rich and crucifying those from less privileged backgrounds with brutal education cuts and crippling tuition fees.
If Cameron cared one iota about this country, then he would learn from DEMO-lition and from Millbank and sort his priorities out. A good education for all? My arse!
Related posts:
Buy my book, it’s great
Switch site
Donate
Recent Posts
- Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio…
- Children died
- The letters you never get around to sending
- Applying again
- I just sent Robin round – 2
Most Commented On
Recent Comments
- Iain on Applying again
- Roger on The letters you never get around to sending
- Dave Hodgkinson on The letters you never get around to sending
- droid on The letters you never get around to sending
- Rogue_Leader on The letters you never get around to sending
About Me
Hello. I'm a Bristol-based writer and soon-to-be-redundant journalist. You can read more about me and the Enemies site here, or follow me on Twitter. Email me if you like - antonvowl at live dot co dot uk
If you're struggling to read the site please use the drop down box below to increase the text size.
November 11th, 2010 - 13:30
Genius. So under a left leaning socialist government that of course we would have if it wasn’t for the Daily Mail, given that cuts have to come from somewhere (a fact acknowledged from both left and right) it would be OK for people who haven’t been to University and therefore will potentially not have the earning potential that graduates do, to be subsidising those graduates? Yes, because that’s fair, isn’t it?
November 11th, 2010 - 14:16
I’m very rarely ill and don’t intend to have children. Why should I pay for the NHS and other people’s child benefit? That’s not fair, is it?
November 11th, 2010 - 18:39
You sir are brilliant. :p
@Andrew: I think Tom summed it up pretty well. But at the end of the day, university is giving people the skills that they need to contribute to society and be the best that they can be.
Why shouldn’t we dip into the public pot for that?
I mean, the rest of our education is state funded. Why does that change as soon as university comes into the picture?
December 10th, 2010 - 01:14
It’s particularly strange to me as university is really the point at which you start to learn things which are directly useful. Knowing how to read and write is good but doctors, lawyers, engineers and so on need (prerequisite of occupation) to know quite a bit more before they can build anything or help anyone. Why stop state funding after secondary school?
December 10th, 2010 - 01:11
Consider it insurance. My house is very rarely on fire but I still want a fire brigade.
November 16th, 2010 - 14:22
My washing machine mechanic once told me he earned £45,000 the previous year. I’m fine with the amount he earned, he’s good, never over-charges and comes out on a Saturday. Bet he never went to university.
Is it right he should pay more in taxes than a teacher who did go to university (and took three or four years out of wage-earning to do so) who earns £35,000? Hell, yeah! Won’t his kids benefit from a good school teacher? If he or his family fall sick would they prefer a doctor who got there because his parents could afford to send him, or a doctor whose family were poor but he/she still went to uni because he was really the best? I know which I’d prefer.
November 11th, 2010 - 13:39
I just wanted to point your attention to this picture (taken from BBC website).
I think it says it all really, the outnumbering of the media to this one guy is pretty much reflective of the scale the media coverage have given to a small minority.
http://www.glowfoto.com/viewimage.php?img=11-053403L&rand=9401&t=jpg&m=11&y=2010&srv=img6
November 11th, 2010 - 14:03
W!T!F! How does that scene happen? Photographers forming a wall that blocks off a semicircle with a diameter of 4 metres-ish and exactly one protester inside, dead in the middle kicking in glass while protesters outside the circle are so tightly spaced. Is there *any* explanation that doesn’t involve the photographers deliberately letting the kid into the territory they’d marked out so they could snap him breaking the window?
November 11th, 2010 - 14:46
It’s also quite funny the BBC posted it without realising there is a placard that reads “C**T” in the background.
November 11th, 2010 - 18:41
The ITV news woman on the 6pm news tonight was stood in front of Millbank with the words “FUCK TORIES” clearly written behind her.
November 11th, 2010 - 16:25
Take a look at the police forming an orderly queue behind.
November 11th, 2010 - 17:17
They do seem to be waiting patiently for the photographers to get their shot, don’t they? I suppose it’s not impossible they are charging through and got there just too late.
November 12th, 2010 - 06:26
There was a similar photo from the last ‘demonstration that went wrong’, with about 3 hoodies ‘storming’ a bank and a semi-circle of 30-40 photographers recording the scene as a full and accurate account of the entire march. None of them thought to make a citizen’s arrest and the police were too busy elsewhere, clobbering someone for ‘walking away in a disrespectful manner’.
November 12th, 2010 - 19:44
How does one walk away in a respectful manner?
December 10th, 2010 - 01:19
Just watch people get honours from the Queen. They walk towards her in a respectful manner and they walk away in a respectful manner. It actually can be done.
However, police officers are not the Queen and should not feel entitled that sort of treatment.
November 11th, 2010 - 14:03
@Andrew – Except those with less ‘earning potential’ won’t really be subsidising students will they, because by earning less they will be paying less tax. Those who have been to university and are thus on high incomes should (and would under a truly socialist government) be paying more tax, and thus will be subsidising future generations of students.
The Quarrymen of Penrhyn seemed to have no trouble with the concept of subsidising education when they paid subscriptions in order to fund the University of Bangor back in the 1880s in order that their children should have access to higher education, so why are we told today that it’s unfair for the working classes to subsidise the future?
November 11th, 2010 - 14:46
@Andrew
Its fair if you want there to be (for example) doctors. Its not just those who go to University who benefit from it, its the whole of society. And this even applies to the arts – society is enriched by culture as well as engineering…
November 11th, 2010 - 19:08
Exactly. Subsidising university fees gives students the valuable funding to be trained into some of the most crucial professions. If fewer students can afford to go to university, then this will ultimately lead to fewer skilled professionals in roles such as medicine.
November 11th, 2010 - 14:55
Gosh, watching the protest yesterday was tremendously good entertainment. I wish I had been there.
November 11th, 2010 - 23:01
Am I the only one who keeps reading it as the ‘Millibank Tower’?
I’m getting my news crossed methinks.
November 12th, 2010 - 00:43
I wasn’t at the demonstration because I had an exam, but if I had been there, I would have been at Millbank. I don’t think it’s fair to say that this was just a vocal minority that rioted and broke in; this had to happen. The Stop the War march in 2003 was the single biggest demonstration in UK history, and it achieved nothing. It’s not enough now to just march, you have to break the rules if you want something achieved. I don’t usually condone violence but those Tory bastards’ll think twice before crossing this generation again.
November 12th, 2010 - 11:08
Haha, are you serious? If they think twice it will only be to consider how well to prepare to counter the next student protest.
November 12th, 2010 - 19:18
Breaking the rules just gave the Tories an excuse to call us thugs. All the Millbank protesters did was destroy the credibility and integrity of the entire protest.
The violence did not need to happen at all. Marching through the streets in a throng of 50,000 got the point across. We didn’t need some idiots to smash stuff up for us to be noticed.