Dissident speaker argues current economic crisis due to corruption

The arrival of Nicholas Hildyard at the University of Warwick coincided fortuitously with the student protest taking place at the time.

The Warwick Solidarity sit-in took place as a protest whose organisers called for “our University to suspend dealings with businesses which support Israel’s illegal occupation, such as BAE Systems, and to support our fellow students in Palestine who are being denied their right to education”.

Hildyard, one of the founders of The Corner House, a campaigning and research NGO, provided his professional insight on student activism, mobilising the public and the current crash, in front of the SO.21 audience of students who are no strangers to the spirit of revolution and activism. Hildyard spoke on his experiences and views, amassed over a career spanning over thirty years.

The talk was organised by Dissident Speakers, a group of students dedicated to challenging mainstream values and striving for radical social change.

Thus the ideology of the hosts, not unsurprisingly, set the tone with the question and answers session, firmly embarking the forum discussion on route to methods of student activism and ways in which the mass public could be mobilised.

Calling the series of 1968 Parisian protests by French university students, an “inspirational moment” in the 12 year old Nick Hildyard’s life, it was clear Hildyard believed overcoming power structures required activists to be driven by a sense that progress that would not be met unless one challenged the decision-making process and through an analysis that saw and put power at the centre of all activity.

When asked “how could the mass public help in achieving such a quest?” Hildyard responded by saying “small everyday active resistance,” a tactic employed commonly by ordinary people in repressive regimes.

Hildyard also spoke on corruption and how it was one of the sole reasons the financial world is in crisis today.

The founder of The Corner House, spoke with a look of distaste as he spouted the statistic “20 billion estimated for the top lot after the financial crisis,” explaining it was the culture of a bank that designed people to transform themselves from people who had a sense of society into sociopaths.

He went on to say, however, that all is not lost for the people yet, since the current weak nature of banks leaves more power now with customers than ever before, leaving it open for customers to demand change of the system.

With students across the country mobilising and actively engaging in protests about the recent fighting in Gaza, Nick Hildyard concluded that “one will never win by one moment of organising. The struggle to change is a constant and daily struggle.”