By Lucy Auden, News Reporter
Bristol Socialist Worker Student Society (SWSS) has scheduled a walkout at 11 AM, November 20, outside Senate House as part of the International Youth Strike calling for direct action across educational institutions in opposition to ‘wars, rearmament and imperialist oppression’.
The SWSS demanded ‘more from our university’ to help them fight ‘against austerity, the war drive, and the far right.’
They will join students across over 100 colleges and universities in solidarity with wider European protests in France, Germany, and Italy.
The global call to action gained momentum after a newfound political shift in Serbia.
The Student List, an electoral directory of 250 academics, professionals, and public figures selected by student plenums, won an outright majority in the Serbian parliament in October - ending the 14-year rule by the Serbian Progressive Party.
The Student List’s campaign advocates various support measures for young people, including free education, affordable flats for young couples, tax relief, and a drastic cut in medicine prices and practitioners.
UK-based organisation Socialist Students said the victory in Serbia was ‘evidence of what student activism can achieve through sustained pressure and consistent democratic organisation’.
Adam Powell-Davies, National Chair of Socialist Students, cited historic youth-led movements in Nepal and Madagascar as evidence that students ‘have no trust that their governments will give us a future, so we are fighting for one ourselves.’
Lenny Osler
Nyx Osborne Sandford
The National Education Union (NEU) voted unanimously in October in support of the movement, affirming the youth’s right to ‘peacefully organise, protest, and make their voices heard’, while opposing any related disciplinary action against students.
Featured image: Epigram / Sophie Maclaren
