Warwick must keep fighting

At times, it almost seems like God is on our side.

That’s not to be overly pious: it could apply to any deity or, indeed, if you are an atheist, you could say that the forces of nature seem to be with the students. Just as in London in October, sunny conditions greeted marching students despite the previous days having been marked with rain and freezing cold.

On Wednesday the march was on a smaller scale. Not tens of thousands in the capital but a few hundred on the Piazza gathered with banners and a sense of righteous anger. Fees were the issue again, and this time students were set on occupation.

It was pretty rousing as chanting protesters swarmed into the ACCR. However, unlike the eight-day S0.21 sit-in of last year, the small group of occupiers who remained in the lecture theatre until the end left early the next morning, around 20 hours into the whole thing.

While organiserz claim they are proud of the turnout, surely to achieve the aim of having a true impact a more sustained and more populous occupation would be necessary. It certainly is not true that everyone with strong feelings on the issue were in that lecture theatre.

Could it be that even now, amidst one of the most unifying debates among students, those at Warwick are still unconvinced by the effectiveness of protest?

The main reason cited for not attending the protest was, “What’s the use?” It’s not so much apathy – people clearly care about this issue. Students seem simply to be doubtful that any difference can be made, apparently preferring to accept the inevitability of their collective fate.

Let this not be seen as a criticism of those who chose to march and occupy on Wednesday – the Boar supports this cause. Nevertheless those who want to fight and make their voices heard need to find new ways of engaging what is often considered the least activist student generation since before the sixties.

How to do this is a trickier issue. Perhaps it will simply be a case of persistence. Those who organised the national day of action last week are already organising another for the day this issue goes out; perhaps over time people will become convinced that the wave of protest is not a mere flash in the pan but a lasting campaign by people who are unwilling to give up.

For now, though, the Boar encourages you to do whatever you feel is appropriate to support the fight against sky-rocketing fees. If you read this on Tuesday, then today is apparently the day. A teach-in is planned – a form of protest that really emphasises our desire for free education. Attending is sure to be informative as well as being a constructive way to join or continue the battle against these unjust attacks on the future of education in Britain.

Maybe, given the opening of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in nearby Stratford last week, it is appropriate to cry: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!”