Many congratulations to Clare Solomon of ULU and Counterfire for standing firm in the face of media pressure and remaining four square behind the student occupation of Millbank on Wednesday. While NUS president Aaron Porter exposed himself as being completely out of his depth, Clare's voice has been one of the few in the media that has dared to contest the official version of events and has quite rightly argued the violence the Tory/LibDem attack on higher education entails is an order of magnitude above a few broken windows.
In the recording below, which was broadcast on Thursday, Clare debates Tory MP Roger Gale on the Jeremy Vine Show. Gale is clearly rattled by Clare's arguments and at times sounds as though he can't believe a member of the hoi polloi has the temerity to question what passes in Tory circles for received political wisdom.
3 comments:
I [heart] Clare Solomon. I particularly liked the part where Gale said that he was expecting Clare to dissociate herself from the violent protestors - I just bet he was.
Yes, the Tory gentleman was rather flummoxed by sister Clare. Good :)
What is interesting about this protest is not so much the argy-bargy but the emergence of what could constitute an alternative leadership in the student movement. Clare at ULU and a number of NUS NEC members have distanced themselves from the chorus of official condemnation (backed as they are by Goldsmiths UCU and also a number of UCU NEC members too). Over the medium to long term hey could provide a more attractive poll of attraction to angry students than those who use the NUS as a gap year before embarking on jobs in wonkland.
She kicked his arse.
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