Graduate Journal of Social GJSS Science Neoliberalism and Depoliticisation in the : Understanding the ‘New Rebellions’ Leon Sealey-Huggins and André Pusey

Since 2009 there has been an upsurge in political activity in and around the UK, as well as in some European and American . These ‘new student rebellions’ have displayed levels of radicalism and po- litical activism seemingly unprecedented among recent generations of . Broadly speaking, the intensification of this activity can be understood as being directly related to ongoing neoliberal reforms of education, a process intensified by the global financial crisis. In this article we seek to consider some of the detail of the emergence of these rebellions, and argue that they can be interpreted as part of resistance to the neoliberal tendencies in contemporary social life. As such, we argue that a depoliticised tendency accompanies the introduc- tion of, and resistance to, neoliberal mechanisms in Higher Education (HE). As activists in groups who have adopted more creative and ex- plicitly politically antagonistic forms of activism, we suggest that such forms might be more productive arenas for our energies if we want to challenge the neoliberal and depoliticised root causes of these con- flicts.

Keywords: Post-, Neoliberalism, Higher Education, NUS, Student , Creative Resistance.

The image of the future is chang- duced precarity (Compagna 2013; ing for the current generation of Southwood 2011; Standing 2011). young people, haunted by the spec- Young people are not the only ones tre of the ‘graduate with no future’ facing increasingly precarious fu- (Mason 2011, 2012; Gillespie and tures; current government austerity Habermehl 2012). Gone are the as- measures appear to have everyone pirational promises of post-univer- but the very wealthy in their sights. sity job security and social mobility. Recent outbreaks of rioting up and Instead, all that can be secured is down England appear to indicate a position of permanently repro- a growing disquiet (Bauman 2011; Graduate Journal of September 2013, Vol. 10, Issue 3 © 2013 by Graduate Journal of Social Science. All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 1572-3763 Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 81

Harvey 2012; Milburn 2012). In this of political economic practices that article, however, we focus mainly on proposes that human well-being the situation in and around Higher can best be advanced by liberating Education, as this is the sector in individual entrepreneurial freedoms which we work and where we have and skills within an institutional had the most experience of recent framework characterized by strong struggles. private property rights, free mar- There has been much cover- kets, and free trade’ (Harvey 2005, age of the ‘new student rebel- 3). Thus, it usually entails ‘[d]eregu- lions’ (Solomon and Palmeri 2011; lation, privatization, and a withdraw- Hancox 2011), with commentators al of the state from many areas of focussing on, variously, ‘the vio- social provision’ (Harvey 2005, 3). lence’ of some of the demonstra- We begin, therefore, by outlining tions, or the new communication some of the mechanisms through technologies being deployed by which the neoliberalisation of UK the activists coalescing around this Higher Education (HE) is occurring, struggle. In this article, we seek to a phenomenon we see as mirror- consider some of the detail of the ing a wider neoliberalisation and emergence of these rebellions, and depoliticisation of contemporary argue that they can be interpreted social life. We then discuss some as part of resistance to the neolib- of the prominent moments in the eral tendencies in contemporary aforementioned wave of struggle social life. As such, we argue that and look at the role of England’s a depoliticised tendency accompa- National Union of Students (NUS) nies the introduction of, and resist- and ‘student leaders’ in furthering ance to, neoliberal mechanisms in depoliticisation. We conclude by higher education. exploring some alternative forms of The processes of neoliberalisa- resistance than those which tend tion have been widely discussed to dominate mainstream coverage: elsewhere in relation to different those which are based on experi- spheres of social life (for instance: ments in trying to bring other forms climate change in Lohmann 2012; of education, and , into being. development in Motta and Nilsen As participants in groups who have 2011; and in terms of ‘actually exist- adopted more creative and explic- ing neoliberalism’ rather than sim- itly politically antagonistic forms of ply neoliberal ideology in Brenner activism, we argue that these might and Theodore 2002a, 2002b). For be more productive arenas for our the purposes of this article we align energies if we want to challenge ourselves with David Harvey’s defi- the neoliberal and depoliticised root nition of neoliberalism as ‘a theory causes of these conflicts. 82 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3

Depoliticisation and ence’ in order to enable students, as Neoliberalism within the consumers, to choose the best uni- Academy versity (and to discipline academ- The past three years have seen ics’ teaching work). The neoliberal an upsurge in political activity in and justification for these mechanisms around UK universities, and edu- of measurement is that they will cational institutions more generally. ‘drive up standards’ and ‘improve This activity has displayed levels excellence’ (Gillespie et al. 2011). of radicalism and political activism Moreover, there are claims that seemingly unprecedented among market competition needs to be bet- recent generations of students. ter unleashed on the HE sector in Broadly speaking, the intensification order to coerce floundering institu- of this activity can be understood tions, their ‘dead weight’ faculty, and as being directly related to ongoing unpopular, or rather unprofitable, neoliberal reforms of education, a subjects. Criticisms are also being process intensified by the global -fi voiced over the commodification of nancial crisis. knowledge, especially though the Universities are currently facing various metrics systems such as the economic instability, debt and an REF, and the enclosure of research uncertain future. The once popular within exclusive and expensive in- ‘universal’ education model is in- stitutional libraries and publications, creasingly being undermined by ne- or behind electronic gateways such oliberal reforms aimed at ensuring as Ingenta or Cambridge Scientific that market values are better wed- Abstracts. ded to the working conditions and The trend towards the implemen- learning practices of the tation of neoliberal principles in HE (Molesworth et al. 2010), what some is exacerbated by proposals out- have termed ‘academic capitalism’ lined in the UK government’s 2011 (Slaughter and Leslie 1999). Here White Paper on Higher Education in the UK, one of the ways this is oc- (Department for Business Innovation curring is through the intensification and Skills 2011). It aims to force com- of metric systems aimed at measur- petition in universities, with students ing ‘value’, including research-audit- remodelled as consumers, and un- ing exercises such as the Research popular or ‘uncompetitive’ courses Excellence Framework (REF) (De and universities potentially forced Angelis and Harvie 2009; Harvie into bankruptcy. Despite being filled 2000, 2004 and 2005; Gillespie et with contradictions and inconsist- al. 2011). The REF is accompanied encies, the White Paper intends to by teaching-auditing mechanisms better entrench the neoliberal model such as the National Student Survey of the academy, and in so doing ‘is (NSS), which attempts to use met- bound to reinforce existing social in- rics to measure ‘the student experi- equalities’ (Colleni 2011). Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 83

The neoliberalisation of HE in the these ideas in relation to activism UK, and the rise of managerialism around UK Higher Education. in the public sector in general, can Evidence of the post-political or be directly linked to the wider emer- depoliticised condition is appar- gence of what has been termed the ent in the claims made by all the ‘post-political’, or ‘depoliticised’, major UK electoral parties that the condition of contemporary social life budget deficit must be reduced, for (Swyngedouw 2010; Zizek 2008). instance, with the only disagree- According to this thesis, the fall of ment centring on the technicalities the Berlin Wall, and the disintegra- of how and where the cuts fall. This tion of the Soviet Eastern Bloc, then filters through to the HE- sec have resulted in a consensus that tor where cuts play out in the cull- takes capitalist liberal democracy ing of unprofitable, and often criti- for granted as the legitimate form cal, subjects, a process presented of social and political organisation. as being driven by economic and All this is perhaps best summed administrative necessity rather than up by Francis Fukuyama’s (1993) politics. This logic is not restricted infamous ‘end of history’ claims. to the challenges to the public uni- Political and ethical questions versity discussed above, but is even about how people should live are evident in those organisations and displaced in this depoliticised con- institutions apparently charged with text by technocratic and manage- resisting the neoliberal attack, such rial decisions shorn of their political as the National Union of Students content. As sociologist Slavoj Žižek (NUS), as we explore further below. writes, post-politics ‘claims to leave behind ideological struggles and, in- The (Re)emergence of Student stead, focus on expert management Radicalism: Resisting Neoliberal and administration’ (Žižek 2008, Reforms 34). This serves to deny the exist- The squeeze on HE is, like the ence of antagonistic social relations crisis of capital itself, impacting and different political interests, re- upon a range of countries interna- sulting in a censure of dissensus. tionally. In Europe, for example, the Decisions are supposedly made on standardisation of HE, known as the the claimed universal basis of ef- Bologna process, is undermining ficiency and necessity, taking the the sector’s autonomy. Fortunately, market and liberal state for granted. however, the emerging resistance A number of authors have explored is similarly international. People the notion of the post-political in as far apart as Chile and Italy are relation to climate change activ- challenging the neoliberal model ism (see, for instance, Pusey and of the university (Do and Roggero Russell 2010 and Schelmbach et al. 2009; Aguilera 2012; Zibechi 2012), 2012), but here we seek to explore which is increasingly focused on a 84 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3 cynical notion of ‘employability’ and Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for the production of ‘skilled’ workers to further education (FE) students. be put to use for the reproduction Such changes, combined with a of capital. The double crisis of the number of key events and actions, and the university made have been crucial in the emergence some campuses once again sites of of the ‘new student rebellions’, and resistance, and it has been argued it is to a summary of these that we that the ‘new student movement can shall now turn. be seen as the main organized re- sponse to the global financial crisis’ Millbank and the Rupturing of (Caffentzis 2010). There are many Student Apathy examples globally of this resistance In anticipation of the aforemen- including militant and oc- tioned cuts and tuition fee rises, on cupations in the United States (US), 10 November 2010 the NUS, joint- and in particular California; riots, oc- ly with the University and cupations and blockades in Italy; and Union (UCU), held a national dem- strikes and protests in Puerto Rico, onstration, entitled ‘DEMOlition’. more recently involving widespread The ‘Millbank riot’, as it was later rioting (After the Fall 2009; Do and referred to by some, has been pin- Roggero 2009; Fritsch 2008). pointed by many commentators as a Here in the UK, the eruption of pivotal moment in the re-emergence dissent in and around campuses of radical within the in late 2010 was directly linked to UK (Hansen 2010). the publication of the Browne re- The demonstration had the po- view into HE funding. The Browne tential to be just another A-B march review’s publication coincided with in London, and for many, due to a the incoming Conservative and police cordon around Parliament Liberal Democratic government’s Square, it was. In the event, howev- ‘Corporate Spending Review’ of er, neither the NUS nor UCU were public finances, which was a mani- prepared for the scale of either the festo for widespread public sec- turnout or militancy on the day. Both tor cuts. This meant that Browne’s of the latter meant that the protests conclusions – that the cap on tui- received international coverage, tion fees be raised from £3,300 to a situation unlikely to have been £9,000, and market competition achieved by a student march alone. further extended into HE – were A significant number of demonstra- accompanied by substantial, and tors diverged from the official route, arguably unsustainable, cuts to uni- ignored NUS stewards and made versities’ teaching budgets. These their way to Millbank Towers, where changes were further compounded the Conservative Party headquar- by the withdrawal of the Educational ters is located. A series of iconic Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 85 images were repeated through- this, and undeterred by the crimi- out corporate and alternative me- nalisation and demonisation of stu- dia outlets, depicting young people dent protesters, 25,000 people still dancing and smashing windows, turned out on the 24 November to sometimes simultaneously. Hence participate in simultaneous protests the 10 November 2010 became in a number of cities across the infamous for the occupation and country. Of particular significance smashing up of the Millbank build- were the walkouts staged by thou- ing. Perhaps though, this event at sands of sixth form and FE college Millbank should be considered piv- students, many of whom risked di- otal not for the broken windows, but rect financial penalty for protesting for the apparent rupturing of student through the removal of their EMA for apathy, of which the broken plate that week. The participation of this glass was just a potent symbol. new wave of young people positive- Important to note is that almost as ly shifted the dynamics of struggle, soon as protesters had entered the as had happened with the anti-war Millbank building, the then president protests a decade earlier. of the NUS, Aaron Porter, had con- A demonstration was also called demned them in no uncertain terms, for 9 December 2010. It was dubbed describing the thousands that went Day X by some, as it was the day of to Millbank as ‘rogue protesters’ the parliamentary vote on increasing (NUS 2010). Although elements of university fees. Many of the twenty- the UCU leadership also criticised seven university occupations were protesters – for example, General still ongoing, and a massive dem- Secretary Sally Hunt stated that ‘the onstration in London took place. actions of a mindless and totally Despite this, a ‘yes’ vote for increas- unrepresentative minority should ing fees was returned in parliament; not distract from today’s message’ meanwhile, outside the police were (UCU 2010) – others were sup- ‘kettling’ demonstrators and charg- portive, with academics publishing ing them on horses.3 letters in national newspapers sup- In considering the prospects and porting the students.1 potential for the development of Previous to the DEMOlition dem- these rebellions against the further onstration, left-led groups, such as entrenchment of neoliberalism, it is National Campaign Against Fees crucial to consider the institutions and Cuts (NCAFC)2, had already that surround them, and in some called for a follow up day of action instances, the attempts to contain on 24 November 2010 in order to them. Among those who might stand maintain momentum. Post-Millbank, to benefit from the image of the stu- however, the NUS refused to en- dent movement as a phenomenon dorse this demonstration. Despite limited to struggles about fees and 86 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3 cuts, rather than about concerns able number of students who do not with the form of education more want to be represented by such an generally, and whose actions partly institution, or who merely see the serve to try and restrict it to such, NUS as largely irrelevant. are the NUS. Failure to realise the capacity of one’s own membership could be The NUS as a Depoliticised perceived as the NUS simply failing Institution as an organisation in its relationship As we have already discussed to the . However, there is above, Aaron Porter and the NUS a more deep rooted problem, with leadership condemned the protest- the NUS having been criticised from ers at Millbank voraciously and this some quarters as being too close was met with a barrage of person- to the Labour party, and hence re- al criticism of Porter, and the NUS luctant to organise any demonstra- more generally. The slogan ‘Aaron tions against the implementation of Porter you don’t represent me’ be- fees when Labour were in office. gan to circulate, and a campaign to Indeed, the ‘DEMOlition’ march was remove him as the head of the NUS the first protest the NUS had organ- was begun. Porter made things ised against fees at any point in its worse when he made the statement history. Moreover, no national dem- in a Guardian newspaper interview onstrations were organised by the that ‘while I disagree with tuition NUS after DEMOlition, showing a fees, they are not the biggest evil failure to build on the momentum of in society’ (Aitkenhead 2011), thus numbers and the energy of the day. showing a distinct lack of empathy Apparently, then, the NUS aims with the student struggle, a struggle to mobilise students to be political- that he was supposed to be head- ly active only up to a certain point, ing as president of the NUS! It is but not beyond that. Standing for hard to imagine the head of another student executive positions in elec- making a similar state- tions and taking part in debates ment about redundancies or a de- about issues affecting students and cline in working conditions within its the world at large are to be encour- sector at any time during their lead- aged. Hot topics on campus can ership, let alone at a high point in range from whether bottled water / struggle. The Sun / Nestle products should The NUS leadership seemed to be sold in Union shops, through have miscalculated the levels of an- to more self-interested concerns ger and militancy among the con- such as access to cheap laptops stituent they supposedly represent. and cheaper drinks. However, as Perhaps this is itself suggestive of has been demonstrated by Aaron the fact that there are a consider- Porter’s condemnation of militant Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 87 students, the NUS power structure ‘Education First’, which encouraged is undermined if a self-organised, students to email their tutors to ap- mobilised and militant student body ply pressure on them not to strike. is willing, able and empowered to This was all done with the aim of de- take action outside of its limited and fending a narrowly defined ‘student limiting parameters. experience’, which appeared to In an analysis echoing the afore- limit the interests of students to the mentioned account of the depoliti- largely exaggerated effects of strike cised dimensions of neoliberal capi- action on students undergoing as- talist society, a Dublin-based group, sessments that year, rather than the the Provisional University (2010), wider effects of cuts and restructur- have described students’ unions as ing on the long-term ‘student expe- part of the university ‘depoliticisa- rience’ (for a contemporary report tion machine’: on this campaign from activists, see Eastman 2010). The Students’ Unions monopo- The Trade Union Council (TUC) lise politics within the universi- ‘March for the Alternative’ demon- ties leading to a general disgust stration in March 2011, which includ- with politics among students. The ed a large constituent of protesters election campaigns for the unions who had been involved in the ‘new are parodies of general elections; student rebellions’, was arguably the candidates present the most another example of this depolitici- depoliticised, technocratic image sation. Reacting against the steri- of politics possible. This admin- lised, anti-antagonistic imagery of istrative vision of politics reduces the demo, the ‘Deterritorial Support politics to a series of petty goals Group’, who produce propaganda (open the library for 5 min longer around anti-cuts themes, remarked etc). When they’re finished trivial- that ‘when creating their images for ising politics through these petty the march, the TUC chose to use demands, they organise (again imagery that was non-confrontation- U.S. style) discounts for students al, apolitical and middle-of-the-road. with ‘leading brands’ like Topman The result was painful – two hands, and Burger King. palms outstretched in cynical, politi- cally neutral colours, looking like a This ‘depoliticisation machine’ mugging victim desperately trying to can go further and actively under- defend their face’ (Nesbit 2010). In mine struggles on campus. Here at response, the DSG produced their our own institution, the University own amended imagery with much of Leeds, the Leeds University more confrontational slogans in- Students’ Union ran a campaign cluding ‘strike for the alternative’, in early 2010 erroneously titled ‘ for the alternative’, and 88 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3

‘kick off for the alternative’. These Facebook and other social network- images went viral as people began ing sites. to use them as profile pictures on

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:March_For_The_Alternative_logo.png

Source: http://deterritorialsupportgroup.wordpress.com/page/4/ Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 89

All of this is indicative of what we elsewhere. The aforementioned think is a broader, more widespread TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ con- disillusionment with the depoliticis- tained a sizeable student contin- ing effects of neoliberalism on those gent, for instance. It is also hard to organisations and institutions which imagine the actions of the popular claim to represent people. It can anti-cuts group UK Uncut as hav- be argued that this sense of disil- ing such a high resonance among lusionment goes beyond reform- wider publics had the skirmishes of ist organisations such as the NUS the ‘student movement’ not taken and extends to self-proclaimed radi- place previously. Indeed, outside cal and revolutionary organisations of the confines of depoliticised in- on the left. Commentator Laurie stitutions, many students and other Penny hints at this in her comments activists are taking part in creative, that ‘the old organisational struc- self-directed activities, both widen- tures of – far-left parties, ing the parameters of the political unions and splinter groups – are debate and engaging in the co-cre- increasingly irrelevant to the move- ation of alternatives which attempt ment that is building across Europe’ to bring other forms of education, (Penny quoted in Nesbit 2010). So and society, into being. It is to these too does BBC’s Newsnight econom- experiments that we shall now turn ics editor, Paul Mason (2011), who our attention, considering whether states that ‘horizontalism has be- their more explicitly political char- come endemic because technology acter might serve as an antidote to makes it easy: it kills vertical hier- the depoliticised, depoliticising and archies spontaneously, whereas be- disconnected institutions mentioned fore – and the quintessential experi- previously. ence of the 20th century – was the killing of dissent within movements, Creative Resistance and the channelling of movements and Experiments in Alternatives their bureaucratisation’. Building on the rich history of Candidates for the student left radical pedagogical perspectives, did not fare well in union elections, experiments and practices (Freire yet students are taking part in poli- 1996; Giroux 2011; Haworth 2012; tics though demonstrations on hooks 1994; Illich 1995; Ranciere wider issues. All of this suggests 1991; Rose 2010; Suisa 2010), and that there is indeed a disconnect in contrast to the depoliticised ap- between the political sentiments proaches taken by the NUS, there of many students, and the depo- are an increasing number of pro- liticised form which student unions jects which display quite different can take. Indeed, this resurgence ambitions. These are often aimed in has had impacts at challenging the underlying logics 90 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3 of neoliberalism themselves (for ex- but to act within the crisis to trans- ample, Meyerhoff 2011; Motta 2011; form the existent (for a fuller analy- Shantz 2009, 2011). In Leeds, for ex- sis see Noterman and Pusey 2012; ample, we have both been involved Pusey and Sealey-Huggins, forth- in a project called the ‘Really Open coming), to experiment with alterna- University’ (or ROU). The ROU both tive educational forms to transform partly pre-empted, and emerged in the ways in which education is con- response to, the attacks on public ducted. One of the ways it did this education outlined above. Hence was through the organisation of a the ROU was established simulta- three-day event entitled ‘Reimagine neously to resist cuts, critique the the University’, which combined a neoliberal model of education and range of workshops and seminars engage in experiments in critical held across both Leeds Metropolitan and participatory education (ROU University and Leeds University on 2010). One of the central aims of topics as diverse as ‘gainful unem- the ROU when it was established ployment’, academic metrics sys- was to make the university a site of tems and student struggles in Italy. political antagonism once again. All Another example was the Space of these aims expand well beyond Project, a six-month long project to those of institutional actors such as take the pedagogical aims of the the NUS. group outside the university, sup- In addition to campaigning on ported by funding gained by some- campus, the ROU distributed critical one involved with the ROU to es- analyses in the form of a newsletter tablish an educational space close entitled the Sausage Factory, kept to the city centre. The project incor- a blog which drew together infor- porated a radical library; a collabo- mation about education struggles ration with the Leeds International alongside analysis and critique, and Film Festival running a fringe event facilitated events where participants showing radical films; and a wide were invited to critically question the range of talks and workshops, in- forms education takes. The ROU cluding the Marxist theorist John was an attempt to break with the in- Holloway discussing his book Crack sularity of the university and student Capitalism (2010), an Egyptian an- politics more generally. In asking archist journalist, Jano Charbell, ‘what can a university do?’, it there- talking about the Arab Spring, and fore involved a more creative poli- Dave Douglass, a National Union of tics than the mere reactive position Minors delegate and participant in of being ‘anti-cuts’. The group’s by- the 1984–5 miners’ strike reflecting line ‘strike, occupy, transform!’ rep- on his experiences of that struggle. resented the desire for There were also several on-going taken not to preserve the existent, study and reading groups on eco- Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 91 nomic crises, radical pedagogy and ing within the University of Lincoln. A a number of activists groups using project called ‘Student as Producer’ the space for their own meetings, is being rolled out across the whole including Leeds Occupy. institution. The project transforms Elsewhere, there are an encour- the undergraduate curriculum to be agingly wide range of similar and modelled on research-based and related experiments with alterna- ‘research-like’ teaching, engaging tive forms of protest and educa- students in collaborative learning tion. These can be seen to coa- with other students and academ- lesce around a deeper critique over ics (Neary and Winn 2009; Neary the role and form universities and 2011b). In addition, the Occupy Wall Higher Education take. This is ap- Street protests that spread beyond parent in the radical street theatre the US included a strong pedagogi- and reclaiming of space, or ‘dé- cal element, which was perhaps tournement’, of the University of most explicit with the development Strategic Optimism (USO), who of the ‘Tent City University’ at the have held lectures decrying the St Pauls Cathedral camp in London marketisation of Higher Education (Occupy LSX). This temporary au- in places as diverse as banks and tonomous ‘university’ included talks supermarkets. It was also apparent from both activists and scholars, in the occupied spaces of the Really including Doreen Massey, John Free Skool in London, who gained Holloway and Massimo De Angelis. notoriety in the right-wing press for Indeed, some commentators have some high profile empty suggested that this aspect of the pro- exclusive properties – most notably test was ‘one of the most remarkable one of film director Guy Ritchie’s aspects of ’ (Walker houses – turning them over to self- 2012). After the camp was evicted, organised pedagogical projects this project continued to take new (BBC 2011). Meanwhile, in Dublin forms through projects such as the the Provisional University have be- ‘Bank of Ideas’, involving the occu- gun a campaign to have disused pation of an empty Union Banks of property, which is under govern- Switzerland (UBS) office complex ment ownership, turned over for in the London borough of Hackney, use in a common educational pro- and its transformation into an auton- ject. Elsewhere, in Lincoln, a group omous educational space. have established a Social Science Much of the frenetic activity tak- Centre, to be run along co-oper- ing place around university strug- ative lines, describing it as ‘a new gles in 2010 and Occupy protests of model for higher and co-operative 2011 has subsided to some extent, education’ (Neary 2010; 2011a). at least within the UK. However, Interesting things are also happen- there has been a resurgence of 92 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3 activity at the time of writing, with that the same neoliberal ‘logics’ an eight-week occupation at the which demand that education serve University of Sussex over privatisa- the needs of markets are fuelling tion and outsourcing. The occupa- socio-ecological degradation, pre- tion was evicted by a combination cipitating global financial crises and of over 100 police officers, private excluding the majority of the world’s security and baliffs (Jamieson and population from participation in how Malik 2012). the world is run. This kind of sub- The key point to take from this stantive analysis contrasts starkly is that there are people who recog- with the depoliticised and top-down nise that the current institutionalised approaches of the NUS and others. forms of education are severely It is worth pointing out that we are limited by their competitiveness, not suggesting that taking part in or- and the individualisation, elitism, ganising demonstrations and strikes and inequality they reproduce. With and resistance in the workplace is the recent increase of fees here in not important, but we do feel that the UK, the neoliberal model of the critical questions must be asked university, which produces at once of the role played by organisations ‘skilled’ and proletarianized workers such as students’ unions, and the to be employed in the reproduction modes of struggle advocated by of capital, needs to be challenged them. We would argue that tactics more than ever. For some of the developed in industrial contexts reasons outlined above, organisa- need to be carefully re-examined in tions such as the NUS both seem the context of post-industrial work- too limited in their capacity and places if they are going to be met scope to be able to respond to these with success (see ROU 2011). challenges. Importantly, what many of the at- Towards New Institutions? tempts at creative resistance and In sum, we have seen how deci- the creation of alternative peda- sions and statements made by the gogical spaces have in common NUS have perhaps aided the disil- is their recognition of the systemic lusionment of students with existing nature of the crises facing not just institutions that supposedly act in students, universities or the pub- their favour. We therefore contend lic sector in general, but the very that the NUS has acted to delimit ‘commons’ upon which life de- the possibilities for escalating the pends, and the failure of existing, struggle in such a way as to consti- depoliticised, institutions to combat tute genuine challenges to both the this (see Springer 2011 for more more immediate issues of the intro- on these kinds of activities). There duction of fees and the removal of is, therefore, a growing recognition the EMA, and a wider struggle over Sealey-Huggins and Pusey: The ‘New Student Rebellions’ 93 austerity measures, let alone a more searching the politics of responses anti-systemic challenge to the neo- to climate change in the Caribbean. liberal university. We also saw how André Pusey is a PhD student this delimitation of struggle by stu- in the of Geography at the dents’ unions is part of the university University of Leeds researching the ‘depoliticisation machine’, reflecting (re)production of the common(s) a wider depoliticised context where within social movements and a part- politics is stripped of antagonism. time lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan Our exploration of some of the University. groups seeking to experiment with Both were actively involved with alternative forms of education dis- the Really Open University from its cussed some of the ways the cri- inception in January 2010 until its tiques implicit within these groups disbandment in February 2012. The are manifested though their prac- authors wish to thank those whom tice. Moreover, many of these pro- we have struggled alongside, for in- jects are engaging not just in a cri- spiring and informing our ideas and tique of the existing institutions we critique. The authors would also like have, in particular the university, but to thank the reviewers are, arguably, engaged in the be- for their helpful comments on earlier ginnings of the co-creation of new drafts of this article. forms of institution, what some have labelled an ‘institution of the com- Endnotes mon’ (Neary 2012; Roggero 2011). 1 See http://teneleventen.wordpress. This project is fragmented, but com/2010/11/11/sign-the-unity-state- ment/. it seems that the current crisis of 2 See http://anticuts.com/. education is producing movements 3 For more on police tactic of ‘kettling’ in against education cuts and increas- this context, see Rowan (2010). For a ing fees, and a desire to move be- fuller overview and analysis of these yond the current neoliberal model of events, see Ibrahim (2011). the university; indeed Swain (2013) has gone as far as asking ‘could the References free university movement be the After The Fall. 2009. Communiqués from Occupied California. Avail- great new hope for education?’, be- able at: http://afterthefallcommu- cause, as the Provisional University niques.info/. [Accessed 26 August (2010) state, ‘we’re not at the uni- 2012]. versity, we are the university’. Aguilera, N. 2012. Chilean Students Are Not Afraid of the Police. Avail- Leon Sealey-Huggins is a PhD able at: http://www.edu-factory. student and Teaching Assistant in org/wp/chilean-students-are-not- the School of Sociology and Social afraid-of-the-police/. [Accessed 4 Policy at the University of Leeds re- April 2013]. 94 GJSS Vol 10, Issue 3

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