For it is profoundly true that the procedures of knowledge are orderly, even if the best insights which they can support are not; and this hankering for order can so easily mute the precise and determined drive to revolutionary expression, to action not just against a recognisable enemy function ideologically speaking, but towards a goal that would shift the working basis of knowledge inside social culture and social action. To attempt these tasks would be a truly historic enterprise, to seek to alter the history of pan-European servile complacency in which intellectual freedom (‘enlightenment’) has been diverted into middle-class professional careerism, hedged in by caution and hesitation and loneliness.

Our little group (perilously little) has made some progress of great value. We are now not deluded that internal factional argument about bureaucratic management of intellectual activism is the real target. The target closest to us is the clear indication of a government programme to suppress intellectual life and commitment, to even further enslave and demoralise any kind of intelligensia, by chopping back to a shattered stump the function of teaching that promotes freedom of thought in new generations to come. Every intelligent student who drifts into becoming a lawyer or an accountant has been recruited into professionalism that immobilises the drive to understand and to act on the consequences of understanding. Any active young prospective student who doesn’t already have a middle-class funding support base is confronted with a steep and complex mountain of debt as the price for his or her bid for understanding. Everywhere we can watch these things happen: and now the market-function that is set to become the dominant social template will complete this enslavement by inducing the internalisation of this slave-function: we shall pay to learn how to become enslaved, and the debts of such payment will cement the walls of our captivity. This is overt and target-driven counter-revolution, not any longer against the unions (because artisan-labour has been outpaced by technology) but against those potential sparks of revolution within the career of knowledge, teaching and learning
how this captivity has been constructed and enforced.

I do not think that we can effectively take to the streets, as in 68, or at least not yet; and the outcome of 68, which did truly shift some social boundary lines, did not result in a better, more active freedom for intelligence in social life, anywhere in Europe except perhaps in societies which were already seeking out routes towards freedom from within overtly totalitarian regimes. Thatcherism was by contrast not *overtly* totalitarian because it sought to internalise, in the minds of thinking men and women, the passive will to conform to a management control every bit as interventionist as an eastern European police state.

The analysis for us must be painful as it is also necessary. Are we involved in escalating protest, or are we inching towards revolutionary action? Must the latter at some point if we reach it, break links with the former, and diverge into a different path? Do we have any conception of revolutionary leadership and discipline that would focus an incipient democratic collectivism into a revolutionary programme? Would we strongly and truly want this, in any way potentially damaging to our bourgeois selves, faced with the extreme traditional sluggishness of British gradualism and conformism? For it is easy enough to set out the face of wanting what we intuitively know there is little risk of our attaining, of our self-bluff being called by a to us unexpected turn of events. A revolutionary commitment calls for a certain sincerity of meaning what one says.

These are questions that should twitch the intellectual conscience, but they don’t so far as I can see point to clear answers or even routes towards such answers, or not yet. If we mean business we have to work it out. In particular, since we have hitherto adopted the method of protest and the build-up of a protest-motivated social base, can this tendency be re-directed towards channels of social action, even socially transformative action, without losing the protest base? If the thinking of this base is, instinctually, conformist, how dangerous to a collective support in shared attitudes would be an attempt to move the whole argument along, well past this stage? May we have in due course to risk damage or loss to this base, in order not to be held back by it?

The White Paper, even more than the Browne Review, is a blueprint for dogmatic repression, of the free intellectual function in social life. I know that such usage of the word ‘free’ is utopian and maybe facile; but for these reasons not to use it at all is to be driven out of whatever grounds our argument might rightfully claim. The White Paper arrives at a seasonally low point in our collectivist resources, and must have been timed to take advantage of this trough-like rhythm. But it is an ugly, boring challenge to conscience and commitment, and the penalties for lassitude could be most severe. Forgive me if I try to work out a few of these thoughts on-screen: the cries of frustration that have instigated this effort are acutely painful to me, and laden with powerful meaning that at present I cannot join up to a directive for strategic future action. I think we have to mobilise our best minds to work this out collectively, as best we can. I wish also to add that I am proud to take part in this debate; it is surely a most important part of what we are for.

It is with great sadness that we inform readers of the death of our friend Patrick Rolfe. Patrick died in hospital on Friday evening. Although he had been ill for a few months, his death came very suddenly and was a shock to all of us. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

He will be missed by a lot of people. As well as being a contributor to this blog, Patrick was an activist at universities in Cambridge, Sussex, and most recently Leeds, where he was studying for a PhD. He was part of the occupation of the Law Faculty in Cambridge in 2009 over the war in Gaza, and helped instigate the Vestas factory occupation on the Isle of Wight that summer. In Brighton he was one of the “Sussex Six” – students suspended for organising a campus occupation then successfully reinstated. More recently he was involved in the Really Open University in Leeds.

We will remember him not only as an activist but also as a great friend, a kind and intelligent person of whom no-one had a bad word to say.

We will be building a more substantial memorial page for Patrick. If readers want to share their thoughts and memories of Pat, please get in touch via the blog’s email address: thegreatunrestblog@gmail.com

Edd, Liam, and Luke

Sign the pledge online

On the same afternoon, the Registrar told the High Court that students had taken him and other members of staff hostage. This was not true.

The next day, the Vice-Chancellor suspended six students. This was an attempt to stifle protest. It did not work and we went on to occupy the Arts A2 lecture theatre in our hundreds, defying the High Court Injunction against ‘occupational forms of protest’.

Later on, the ‘Sussex Six’ were dragged before a disciplinary Panel. This was unfair. (Caroline Lucas MP expressed doubts about the proceedings in the national press and UCU gave the Six £1,000 towards the payment of their fines).

The University’s persistent refusal to set up an independent inquiry looking into what happened appears like an attempt to cover up its own disgraceful actions. But, in the long run, it will not work.

We will remember. We will tell the story. We will ask questions.

A number of Freedom of Information requests have already been made. Questions have been asked about the High Court Injunction and the summary suspension of six students. No doubt others will follow.

A motion was passed unanimously by UCU Sussex on 16 February 2011 which returns to the issue of the independent inquiry.

The Badger is publishing this very week an article recounting the events of last year.

We thank USSU, UCU, and Senate for their efforts in attempting to hold senior management to account – for both their actions and their inactions. However long it takes, together, for the sake of past, current and future students, we will ensure that the truth comes out and that justice prevails.

Apparently, the ‘offences’ committed by students were ‘relatively minor’ – minor enough to merit suspension for six students, disciplinary hearings and a High Court Injunction. It seems that holes are beginning to appear in the university management’s story.

It is very easy to make an FoI request to the university. You can do so by following this link.

SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY
*NATIONAL DEMO*
Coaches leaving from Brighton 9am, tickets £8.50 from Stop the Cuts, Union Box Office in Falmer House and sussexstudent.com. Group train tickets also a cheap option.
9AM – COACHES LEAVING BRIGHTON
12PM – ASSEMBLE MALET STREET, LONDON

SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY
*NATIONAL STUDENT ASSEMBLY*
Called for by several occupying universities last term this is an opportunity for all university/college/school students to come together with workers to discuss the way forward
LONDON

MONDAY 31ST JANUARY
*BRIGHTON STOP THE CUTS COALITION ACTIVISTS MEETING *
A meeting of the local Brighton-based anti-cuts group which has organised several demonstrations of thousands in Brighton. Open to all.
7.30PM, CAXTON ARMS PUB, BRIGHTON

From www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

Details and a statement can be found at http://brightonresistance.wordpress.com

A chronological account of Wednesday’s demo in Brighton can be found here.

We are still occupying!

We do need people to come down, though, and have designated the morning as a quiet study space until 1. Feel free to bring your laptops, reading etc and study in the occupied lecture theatre!
…
TIME TABLE FOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON:

1PM: “10.11.10: 1 WEEK ON- AN OPEN DISCUSSION” – A forum for reflection on last week’s demonstration, where we can collectively discuss the events of last week, how we feel about them, and where to go next.

4PM: “BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS” with speakers, hosted by the Palestine Society

5.30PM: “COPENHAGEN: THE MUSICAL” – A short film made by Sussex students who visited the Copenhagen climate change summit. Well worth a watch. Hosted by the Environmental society

6PM: DAILY ORGANISATIONAL MEETING – All welcome. An opportunity to discuss where we go from here, and voice any ideas and plans for the future of this occupation

7PM: “WORKERS FIGHTING BACK – CONNECTING OUR STRUGGLES” – A meeting with workers fighting the cuts locally

8.30PM DINNER – Hot food for donation- bring what you like!

Followed by evening activities.