Organise Differently.
The Syndicalist Education Union is a small group of activists attempting develop an anti-authoritarian activist movement in the education sector. While we are aware that there are already organisations in existance whose goal is to defend the interests of students and education staff (at least in theory), we are also of the opinion that the current moribund state of student and worker unionism and struggle generally speaking in this country demands that new approaches be taken.
Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel and to replace old heirachies with new ones (much less to say those who control them), we propose the development of a form of unionism which takes into account the need not only to deal with the current attacks on the education sector in the most practical sense possible, but to also address the root causes of those attacks, which is to say the capitalist system itself.
We are firmly convinced that a vital part of any revitalised movement capable of resisting the current attacks on education is to begin to develop alternatives to the system which 1) creates the imperatives which drive the attacks on free education, which is obviously the impetus to generate profit, and which 2) creates the class divides and the monopoly over resources which makes the withdrawl of free access to education so threatening for anyone unlucky enough to be born without a silver spoon in their mouth.
While there are groups of independent, autonomous activists whose work on campus in second to none (and arguably better in many cases than our own), we are of the opinion that these groupings are hamstrung by their lack of cooperation and coordination on a larger scale. We feel that if we have anything particularly obvious to contribute, it is the possibility of uniting independent activists in a way that allows them to cooperate with others elsewhere without becoming subject to the dictates of either a union bureaucracy or party heireachy�in other words, to retain autonomy in thought and action, and to develop individual skills and abilities instead of leaving everything to be decided on by a political or bureaucratic elite.
If independence of thought and action is vital to the development of a proactive, lively, effective student movement, as we would argue, then organisation and cooperation is no less so. This is particularly true given that the current issues affecting the education sector, the development of the university as money-making corporation, the attacks on equal access for all, the erosion of quality in the name of streamlining the degree factory and so on, are all part of the general attack on the rights of ordinary people everywhere, in every aspect of life and in every sector across the board, from the development of the border regime to the harassment of the unemployed to the steady and sharp decline in working conditions to casualisation, to name but a few. If this is the case, then cooperation and struggle by means of an anti-authoritarian, liberatory, revolutionary unionism is not only necessary within the education sector, but across all sectors and industries here and around the world. Obviously, however, this is something which needs to be dealt with if and when we can manage to organise ourselves where we are to begin with.
In practical terms, what we propose is a means or a forum for activists and unionists to come together on a regular basis in order to share information and offer mutual support on campaigns, projects, fundraisers, workshops, social events or what ever you might be currently working on. This network will provide activists a space to share ideas and collaborate on campaigns and allow activists to broaden out their campaigns whilst maintaining autonomy. As stated above, we believe that a space is needed in which activists can come together outside of bureaucratic organisations that are hierarchal and oppressive.
We propose that the concept of the network can be developed from the following principles:
Autonomous organising: we believe in the right to autonomous organising that respects different views and ideas on how to achieve social change.
Participatory democracy: we believe that representation encourages Passive citizenship that does not lead to real change. We recognise that for meaningful change to occur, people must be empowered to participate in the process through action. We believe in democracy in the true sense of the word; �rule of the people�.
Flat structure: we seek to challenge dominant ways of organising that are hirarchical and oppressive by operating within a flat structure that encourages empowerment as the fundamental ingredient to facilitating real change.
In order to guarantee �the rule of the people�, we want a libertarian structure which retains ultimate decision-making power in the hands of a local face-to-face assembly (say, of a particular university or workplace). We want coordination of activities on local, regional and national levels through delegation of individuals to carry specific mandates, as directed by collectives in their local assemblies, and regular rotation and immediate recallability of those in postions of responsibility.
Our vision is a proactive, decentralised, grassroots democratic activist network, whose practise is, for a change, consistent with its rhetoric.
If any of these ideas interest you at all, please contact us.
