In 1972, students at Essex University occupied campus buidings in order to provide the miners with a hase from which to operate their flying pickets. This week, miners in South Wales sent messages of solidarity and support to the Essex students who are occupying the administration block in an effort to resist the erosion of studeet living standards. The local labour movement is also giving its support.
Esax students have shown what worker-student solidarity means in practice. Now Esser is pointing tie wan forward once aman in the frat to roverso the defeats suffered in last year's national rents and grants campaigne The weakness of the national campaigns led by the NUS Executive has been that they attempted to project an alliance between students and college authorities against the Government. This meant that local struggles, involving occupations of campuses and demands on all aspects of students' standard of living, were never deseloped as part of the campuigns. UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX The Essex occupation provides an opportunity to start to change all that. The students are demanding 15% off food prices with no staff redundancies: parity of accommodation tates on and off campus: firm guarantees that expansion of catering and accommodation will match the expansion of stadent numbers- full discussion of University finances! and no victimisation of the students involved in the struggle, either by the courts or by college author iles Repeating the sort of struggle seen at Essex elsewhere will create the best conditions in which to fight effectively for the national demands of students this winter.
This week, the Occupation General Meeting mandated a committee to contact student bodies at all poly tech nics, universities, and teacher training colleges in the country, with a view to organising a natial conference to be held at Exes in January. The conference would examine, and seck to generalise, the lessons of direct action, and discuss how to conduct the grants campaign, It is hoped that this proposed will be raiified by a genural meeting of the student anion, and Chat student worker solidarity in the struggle against Phase 3 would also be on the agenda of the conference.
Essex needs support. The Administration again made it clear this week that it still intends to go ahead with victimsatio. As the best means of defence, the stidents are trying to encourage other universalies lo follow their example. Already Fast Anglia has occu plod in solidarity with Essex and in support of the NUS Grants Campaign.
CORRECTION: We wrangly reported last week that students at wannester Cauvers ty noo occa pisa l solidarity with the struggle at Essex, la fact the call for an occupation was made, but the student general meeting was not quorate. However, the Student Council is writing to the Exscx Vico Chancellor calling On hin to withdraw the waits vahich hair boon issued against students there. forced into a confrontation with big business. So the Council has necused the saccessfu! squatiers of 'jumping the queue' in the housing tist, hoping thereby to turn other homeless people aprinst the squalters.
The squarters roply is that if the Couneil won't solve the homeless problem by taking over all such properties, the squatters will help everybody on the housing ist to squat in empty luxury properties throughout the Borough until the Council inds a sojution at the expense of capital.
The group of capitalist taking up the courteroffensive most vigorously at the moment are the Church Commissioners. The Maida Hill Squatters and Tenants Association adopted a tactic of defending one squat against the Commissioners' attempts at eviction, hy occupying otber good Chirch property. But the Commissioners decided that the day bad still not come for the meek to inherit any of their £200 million property asels in Maida Vale, It wasn't long before the squatters found themselves evicted by 30 angelic bailiffs, while sure 40 cherubs in blee watched on with plee as the interiors od the properties were smasbed to pieces by the bailiffs.
These new squatting tactice are gaining wide spread support. Already social workers who are members of Carden Case Con have sec up, in conjunction with the squatters. a centre