A Call for Unity

Young People of US and UK,

I have noticed a harmful, divisive tendency to judge the merits of student and worker movements by comparing the relative conditions of countries. But to believe that citizens of a country are without grounds for protest, demonstration, or complaint simply because that unwanted direction or outcome is already the case in another country is no more than an exercise in relieving the guilt of being disconnected from real problems, occurring in real life, right now. This view is borne of cultural ignorance, brushing off the importance of cultural contextualization. The chain of "What are they complaining for, they don't have it nearly as bad as ______," when drawn to the extreme, would inevitably lead to the conclusion that no citizens of any country besides, say, the Congo, have a "right" to protest or demonstrate anything.

This letter is motivated primarily by recent demonstrations by UK students, protesting Parliament's vote to triple the university fee cap, following education spending cuts. I have found that many Americans, both students and non-students alike, when apprised of this political clash will scoff and deride UK students for complaining, because higher-education tuition has been astronomically high in the US for quite a long time already. But this view is not justified. From the fact that yearly fees for any decent US university range from $10,000 to $50,000 (and upwards in a few cases), it does not follow that UK students are unjustified in protesting the fee hikes they face, with the cap tripling from ₤3000 to ₤9000 (roughly $4,800 to $14,500). Being uncomfortable and/or reluctant to admit the dismal state of US higher education on the whole does not justify disparaging UK students for protesting fee hikes. Especially when it has much to do with the fact that these cuts are a direct result of the massive dematerialization of wealth effected by the finance and banking sector. Largely the US one at that. Now the people stuck footing the bill are the ones without lobbyists to take politicians out to lunch.

I argue here that students and others in the US should see that UK students have much to lose which Americans have already lost. There is a very strong, culturally ingrained belief in the UK that students' careers should not be limited by their parents' financial situation, obviously by no fault of the student. You cannot choose your parents. It is very surprising to me that Americans, who so proudly claim belief in the idea of a merit-based, earn-what-you've-worked-for system should deride UK students' call to action to ensure exactly that sort of system. There is no version of the "American dream" in the UK, the delusion that with "hard work" you can rise to the top, which in the US makes socioeconomically pre-screened students who might otherwise speak out reluctant to rock the proverbial boat. A moment's reflection on the staggering concentration of US wealth reveals that "dream" as complete fiction.

In the 21st century, in this new age of exponentially accelerating speed of information access, and vastly interconnected social webs, it makes no sense that young people stand on old nationalistic divides. US students should be rooting for students in the UK for carrying out things that would be impossible in the US. American students have lost the right to not graduate into a mountain of monetized debt. On top of that, the widespread use of employer-provided private health insurance has severely swayed the balance of power between employee and employer in the favor of the firm. So when faced with a distasteful or unjust policy enactment affecting them, a current or recently-graduated US university student will have to consider the immense risks posed by the possibility of getting fired for skipping work to protest or strike. Ability to pay off debt and health care are on the line. In other words: livelihood.

US students should root for the unarmed, unprotected UK students who have the courage to risk bludgeoning by riot police truncheons. Because in America, the police would draw guns instead of clubs. If the London protests I attended in December had instead taken place anywhere in America, many students would most certainly have been shot and killed. Take this from someone who was barely meters away from non-hostile females and secondary-schoolers being knocked unconscious by riot police going haywire. Just think how much more effort and intent to injure it takes to swing a club than to pull a trigger. It's a scary thought.

It is time for our young generation to dissolve generations-old traditions of nationalism. It is the first time in history workers and students have the ability to organize on a large scale and communicate amongst ourselves. It is the first time in history the voiceless have a voice, at least to communicate information amongst ourselves. The power is quite literally in our hands. This is the time to unite and root for the courageous young people everywhere, and not to preserve the crumbling establishment of old. The youth-led movements against authoritarian Arab regimes have drawn upon the power of online social networks to realize that other people feel the same way as they do, that other people want the change they do. The power to fight against being atomistically divided and conquered exists for the first time in history, and this real threat is the very reason the Egyptian regime just instructed internet and cellular providers to shut down service in the country. That is a disturbing outcome of concentration of political and corporate power, a trend that has also contaminated the economies of the US and the UK.

So I appeal to US students and citizens, root for students and workers in UK and elsewhere who are fighting for true freedom, not the freedom for the superrich to get superricher. And I appeal to UK students, especially those uncertain of the merits of this movement, to realize that this is a pivotal moment  for our generation, to join a global coalition of enlightened, informed, and impassioned young people who will not stand for the current system.

Another student demonstration against fee hikes will take place this Saturday in London. I would like ask my American friends reading this, as well as UK students unable to attend, to post here or email me with any questions you would like to ask of UK student demonstrators. I plan on conducting some short, filmed interviews with students at the protest, including (hopefully) organizers and leaders of the demonstration. I hope you will join me me in fostering a cross-continental, international understanding amongst our generation. This is our moment.

Very sincerely,
Keith Warren Binkly
k.binkly@lse.ac.uk