Firstly I want to express my disappointment with the Liberal Democrat party; I voted for the lib dems largely for the fact that the majority of the party pledged to vote against any rises in tuition fees and University cuts (especially Nick Clegg). I now feel that my vote was wasted and I will hesitate to believe any pledges or promises made by the party in the future and will be reluctant to waste my vote on them next time.
Secondly I want to talk about the march. I was there at the march and feel it was a great success. I am disappointed with the violent end but even more so at the media's biased coverage of it; too much attention has been focussed on the select few who caused the clashes and fails in the police - what about the success of the other 49, 800 people protesting peacefully? Also I feel that the media have made it look worse than it was. I was an observer for a part of the "violence" and I saw no threats to police officers or to the staff of the building. It was mostly vandalism with the select few people acting out violently which is regrettable, but inevitable in such a clash. I feel that, although I wish it hadn't ended as such, it is a small price in comparison to the damage the cuts will cause to the country.
Finally I want to talk about the focus on the raise in tuition fees. Little has been noted on the actual cuts which I think are despicable. If the cuts go ahead there is a likelihood that my University, Roehampton, will close down which is devastating. The Government have no right to judge what they think is "useful" or "not useful" to study at University. I study Drama, which many people would snuff at but few people know that it is the second most employable degree with a huge range of skills at the end: communication, team work, philosophy, history, geography, psychology, presentation skills to mention the least. I think it is disgusting that the Government feel that they have the right to discredit these degrees which are actually, at the end of the day, very useful to society.
I hope that people will stand up and listen to the student voices because the actions which took place yesterday prove the anger that students and lecturers feel and the desperation to be heard.
