<p>UK</a> student protests: Fight not over despite a Coalition win</p>
<p>Do you think American students will ever revolt against raising education costs in such a manner? In America, costs are much worse.
Europeans---especially the French---sure do love to protest...American youth dont really do that.....</p>
<p>I hope not. Europeans call Americans spoiled idiots? </p>
<p>They should think twice after the UK student protests and the rioting in France a while back. The simple truth is that governments can’t be expected to pay for most of your educational costs.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to boycotts? Instead, they demand that college be more affordable? Please…</p>
<p>I admire them a lot. Thank god Europe isn’t complacent yet.</p>
<p>“As Mounier said, the person is not something one can study an provide for; he is something one struggles for. But unless he also struggles for himself, unless he knows that there is a struggle, he is going to be just what the planners think he is.”
–Walker Percy, The Loss of the Creature</p>
<p>I wish tuition was only $14000 here. My instate college tuition is roughly $20,000 and my current high school tuition is $12000… which is extremely low for a private school.</p>
<p>I like how the the opinions of America and the UK have sort of reversed. Back in the day, England was the definition of conservative and the US was this exciting, revolutionary new nation. Now the UK is this amazingly cosmopolitan place where 14 and 15 year old kids are willing to protest overnight in the cold while America is this backwards, socially conservative country of overly complacent citizens.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that this all begun as a peaceful protest. Then mounted police began charging students, kids were kettled overnight in the cold, more than a few people were knocked down and almost trampled, and more and more protesters are being hospitalized after encounters with the police. Let’s look at a recent article written today: [Student</a> protests - “Someone is going to get killed” / Britain / Home - Morning Star](<a href=“http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/98689]Student”>http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/98689) </p>
<p>If you ask me, the US student population is overwhelmingly indifferent about politics. The majority of non-students in the UK and people in the US (those who have heard about the riots, at any rate, seeing as I very rarely see any news about it over here) are of the opinion that we are dealing with a bunch of self-entitled college kids who are rioting just for the hell of it. </p>
<p>Here’s how it went down:</p>
<ul>
<li>Prior to the May 2010 general election, Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, pledges that he will vote against any proposed increase in tuition if elected to Parliament. He receives a fairly substantial vote from the student population.</li>
<li>Following the election, he forms a coalition government with Conservatives</li>
<li><p>The Browne Review is published, suggesting that the government increases the max tuition from £3000 to £9000.</p></li>
<li><p>Demo 2010, a police approved student march past the Houses of Parliament, begins.</p></li>
<li><p>The march turns ugly as a faction of about 200 students storm the Millbank Tower. They are criticized by the majority of those attending, even as it escalates into a riot.</p></li>
<li><p>Riot police are called in.</p></li>
<li><p>Two weeks later, the Whitehall March begins. </p></li>
<li><p>A police car is left among the students, presumably to entice students to vandalize it and thus provide justified cause of arrest. A group of students encircle the van and prevent protesters from vandalizing it.</p></li>
<li><p>The protest is still peaceful, just very noisy.</p></li>
<li><p>Police begin to kettle the crowd. Mounted police charge students.</p></li>
<li><p>About 200 students remain kettled for the next 9-10 hours.</p></li>
<li><p>More protests at Trafalgar Square.</p></li>
<li><p>More kettling.</p></li>
<li><p>Dec 9: Parliament votes on the tuition fees. Students are charged once again by mounted officers, many being beaten by batons while trying to flee Trafalgar Square.</p></li>
<li><p>The car in which Prince Charles and co. are riding in are attacked.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>TL;DR? We’re dealing with two-faced politicians and multiple accounts of police violence on school-aged children. Max tuition is significantly raised. Prince Charles gets a glimpse of reality. What began as peaceful protests turn violent. </p>
<p>I have friends in London who were part of the riots. They are adamant in stating that only a very small group of people wanted to riot, and that the majority were there with peaceful intentions. Tension escalated when police began using physical force to intimidate them. Take from this what you will, but I certainly understand why things are going as badly as they are.</p>
<p>I just don’t understand why the Prince’s car would be attacked. I mean aren’t the royalty just figureheads in England? I didn’t think that they had any real power anymore.</p>
<p>And what is kettling?</p>
<p>The Queen talks to the Prime Minister for at least an hour every day. She has a pretty large effect on politics due to her experience and connex.</p>
<p>Europe makes me lol</p>
<p>^^^ Wrong place, wrong time. Their entourage just happened to be there, which is fairly stupid.
Kettling is when the police cordon people off outside and don’t let them leave (even to go to the bathroom), basically.</p>
<p>If the Prince is a figurehead of the current government, and the current government has made itself an enemy of the student protesters, then it follows that they would attack him, even if it makes no logical sense to do so (and no real legitimate sense to even associate him with those specific decisions). Plus, it might also be that he also presumably enjoys the entitlement of being royalty, which would be cause for anger/envy among those who are being adversely affected by the increases in tuition. I feel pretty bad for him though. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.</p>
<p>Kettling is a tactic used to fizzle out a riot by subjecting rioters to physical and mental stress. Police encircle a group of students and then close in until they are uncomfortably trapped in a small enclosure. They then keep them there for however long they deem it necessary. In this scenario, rioters remain in cramped conditions and are not allowed to leave. By intimidating them, police hope to send the message that the riots aren’t worth it, and that they should not bother with protests in the future.</p>
<p>Ah… Hung parliament. UK’s blown.</p>
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<p>Yes it can.</p>
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<p>This isn’t true. The Queen has a weekly briefing with the PM, but she has no power over him or the government.</p>
<p>Just because she doesn’t have any executive power doesn’t mean her advice has no effect. What I said is very true.</p>
<p>Do you have any proof to support that assertion? She has no effect on politics at all. I know this, I live here.</p>
<p>[London</a> tuition fee protest - The Big Picture - Boston.com](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/london_tuition_fee_protest.html]London”>http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/london_tuition_fee_protest.html)</p>
<p>There are some fantastic pictures of the more violent events occurring during the riots. Don’t let these photos sway you, however, as media outlets will naturally want to use the more extreme pictures when depicting current events. For the most part, the student protests are kept very peaceful.</p>
<p>To assert the idea that the Queen has no effect on politics at all is absurd.</p>
<p>Certainly she makes no government decisions and is a royal figurehead, but just by nature of human interaction, she can influence the PM. It’s not a totally sizable influence that’s game-changing, but it does exist.</p>
<p>I think a major thing is population distribution in general - a great deal of students go to university very close or near to London, close enough to join in on protests. Plus, London is the center of government, so symbolically this would be the place to protest for the UK.
In the USA, colleges are distributed with a much lower density. Even if the situation was exactly switched, protests wouldn’t be nearly as intense. There would be some sporadically across the country and all, but barely any of the students can get to the Federal capital to make a march. The current situation is a victim of the times, the place, and politics, as protestable issues usually are.</p>
<p>^very good point.
I sometimes forget how big and diverse the US really is.
France is like the size of Texas lol</p>
<p>Lol. The UK iirc from what my comparative gov’t teacher told me is roughly the size of Oregon.</p>