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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume. 33, Number 7. 27 May, 1970

UK President attacks student violence

page 4

UK President attacks student violence

"Violent actions by individuals or small groups of students threaten to bring the whole of the student movement into disrepute."

Jack Straw, President of the 400,000-member National Union of Students of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, gave this warning in a recent speech at Durham University.

Mr Straw's speech followed an unprecedented wave of student unrest which affected most British universities. Rallies, demonstrations and in some cases occupations of university buildings were launched throughout February to protest the alleged keeping of secret files on students' political, religious and other activities by university administrations. In the course of these protests, British ultra-conservative Enoch Powell had described the National Union as a "dangerous vehicle of anarchy" and had attacked student participation in university management.

In his speech, Mr Straw said "the power we have is that of being an effective force and agency for securing social and educational change. One aspect of this power concerns the use of nonviolent direct action. The Union has and will continue to support local unions where it can be shown that four preconditions are fulfilled: that the issue in dispute is in line with NUSEWNI policy; that meaningful negotiations have been attempted by the local union acting in good faith, and have failed, that the action to be taken really is nonviolent and that means against property as well as persons; and that the action proposed is actively supported by the majority of students under the terms of the Union's constitution."

Mr Straw expressed his belief that "those who claim to be as radical or even more radical than we, can just as easily lead to a betrayal of our stated ideals and to the destruction of the student movement as those who attack us from the right. There are limits beyond which any action taken in pursuit of our ideals becomes wrong itself in principle, undemocratic and essentially counterproductive in effect . . . We must say very clearly that every brick that is thrown actually destroys the cause for which it was thrown. We must say very clearly that those who take action of any kind which is manifestly against the will of the majority of students are acting as autocratically and undemocratically as those whom they seek to oppose."

Mr Straw said that the dilemma students are facing today was whether to opt for a strong, organised, democratic union or to allow individuals and groups to "act out their revolutionary fantasies, so creating more violence and alienation of the majority of the students." He said that the result of the second option would be the breakup of the student movement, more ammunition for the right and more difficulty to achieve real changes.