On October 4th several hundred third-level students took to the streets with the Union of Students Ireland (USI) to march against the rising cost of living and education. The demands were clear: abolish all student fees, build affordable housing for students, break the barriers to education. But beyond these demands, there was a strong message coming from the speakers, the various student union leaders, the placards and chants of ordinary students: we need more than demands alone – we need a fighting, radical student movement that is able to organise direct action to achieve its goals. We need a movement with clear left-wing politics that will stand in solidarity with workers, with migrants and minority ethnicities, with LGBTQ+ people.
There is a growing left-wing radicalisation happening amongst the student population, who increasingly identify with socialist politics. Over two-thirds of students work part-time or full-time jobs alongside full-time, and often very demanding college work in order to pay for fees, rent, transport, food and other necessities. Many students are LGBTQ+ and from ethnic minority or migrant backgrounds. Students are not a separate entity in society – they are workers, they are migrants, they are queer people, and the left-wing politics of People Before Profit can help them unite under the banner of anti-capitalism and ecosocialism.
Student unions in TCD and NUIG have both illustrated in recent weeks that direct action is not only feasible but necessary, however there is still a need to consistently argue for the anti-capitalist, anti-fascist politics that can transform the student movement from a series of small direct actions to a mass movement of left-wing radicals. Solidarity with workers struggles in colleges is an essential part of this: whether it is the PWO marching for PhD candidates to be recognized as workers, or UCU members in the north striking for fair pay and conditions, or students working part-time in minimum-wage jobs trying to organise their workplaces through trade unions – we must stand with them and student unions must stand with them. Similarly for marginalized groups like trans and minority ethnicity students, the wider student movement must never falter on its support for their rights, and never falter on opposition to the right-wing politics that try to divide us.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett spoke at the protest and echoed these points, along with TCDSU president Lázsló Molnarfi. Both called on students to join the Cost of Living & Housing Coalition demonstration this Saturday 7th October at 1pm, Parnell Square.
