Camp Against Cuts established 21st May 2009

History of the Camp so far:

Camp Against Cuts was set up on Thursday the 21st if May 2009 in response to a series of greivances against the University of Sussex management.

Background:
In 2006 a new Vice-Chancellors Executive group were appointed at Sussex, and in 2007, a new Vice-Chancellor, Michael Farthing came into office. This administration, since Farthing came in, has been dedicated to a complete restructuring of the university along pro-market, pro-militarist lines. They have used underhanded methods to subvert the long established democratic proceedures at the university, and have put the future of the institution at serious risk.
Sussex has long been known for its reputation for ground breaking research and critical analysis, and the politically and socially engaged culture that this generates amongst the student body.
But all these features of our university are under threat from a management team that cares nothing for university democracy, and only for the interests of corporate power.
2007-8 saw the Sussex Not For Sale campaign, an explicitly anti-marketisation campaign that held the largest demonstrations and mass meetings on campus for twenty years. Though the campaign did a lot to educate students as to what was happening to their university, and to lobby members of university Senate to stop the restructuring proposals from being adopted, this campaign was not backed up by any form of direct action, and failed to present a serious challange to the management.
The restructuring proposal was adopted at the end of the 2007/8 academic year, and the 2008/9 year has seen many of the fears of the Sussex not for Sale campaign realised. Support Staff have had their pension schemes altered, Associate tutors have had their labour contracts downgraded and made much less secure, and whole departments are facing closure, such as Linguistics, one of the best such departments in the world.
There have been many demonstrations throughout the year in response to each of these crises. But no mass movement on the scale of Sussex not for Sale in 2007/8 has emerged to tackle all these issues head on.

Why Camp?

The 2008/9 Academic year is now drawing to a close. The exam period has begun and it is no longer realistic to expect the tactics of mass demonstrations, occupations or petitions to be effective in this context. Hopefully in the 2009/10 year there will be more oppertunity to re-build a large scale movement on campus, but in part this depends on the preparations that are made now. The Camp provides a physical location for politically active students, and any others concerned with the direction the university is headed to come together and communicate on. Unfortunate as it may be, this year has been marked by a sectarian feuding between different political tendencies which has seriously weakened the anti-capitalist movement on campus. We hope that the camp enable communication between all activists and their coming together behind clear objectives.
It is also vital that activists reach out beyond their normal support bases to new students whom they can engage with and allow them to help shape the struggle as it evolves. Therefore the camp is also being used as a space for creative, recreational and educational activities. After all - if we believe in free education, why not start educating people (and ourselves) for free? Since the camp is being held throughout the exam period, it provides a useful space for students to use to help each other with their revision, in a much more pleasant environment than the Library.
The main purpose of the camp though, regardless of how well it performs in the tasks outlined above, is to provide a visible show of opposition to the management. It is set up outside Sussex house, where the management offices are located. The camp is to last the entire length of the exam period, a time when management usually are free from the attention of protesters. Thus, the widespread opposition to management, that is expressed so often in political discussions, private grumblings and unspoken thoughts by so many at our university, will at least have some form of tangible expression.
So whether you are an experianced activist, a recently concerned student, or member of staff worried about the future of you job here, come and play a part in the Camp Against Cuts and help build a new movement to reclaim our univerisity.