Snimka govora s okupacije SOAS, 1. 12. 2010.

Donosimo snimku govora Tariqa Alija od 1. prosinca 2010. s okupacije fakulteta SOAS (UK). Objašnjava zašto je lažna tvrdnja da nema novca za javni sektor, dotičući se i laburističkog uvođenja školarina, povijesti disenzusa u Britaniji i potrebe borbe za ostvarenje zahtjeva, te utjecaja i povezivanja s drugim sektorima društva umjesto ostajanja na simboličkim protestima i partikularnoj borbi.

Odlično je da blokirate, jer je zaista važno da, kad se vlade ponašaju kako se ponašaju, ne sjedimo i prekriženih ruku prihvaćamo njihove grozote. A ono što se danas događa, ne samo u Britaniji, toga moramo biti svjesni, nego ono što se danas događa u Grčkoj, što se događa u Irskoj, što se događa u Španjolskoj, što će se dogoditi u drugim zemljama, je da se žrtve krize dodatno žrtvuju, a oni koji su uzrokovali krizu bivaju nagrađeni. Kad kažu da nema novca za obrazovanje, za zdravstvo, za javne stanove – lažu. I znaju da lažu. Jer im ne nedostaje novca za iskupljivanje bankovnih dugova, ne nedostaje im novca za pomaganje bogatima, ne nedostaje im novca za započinjanje ratova, ne nedostaje im novca za financiranje tih ratova, milijardi koje troše u Iraku i Afganistanu; pronaći novac za to nikad nije problem. I za to ga nalaze. Ali kad treba naći novca za obrazovanje – novca nema. To je laž koju moramo razotkriti i to je laž koja ne smije biti prihvaćena.
Neprihvatljiva je. Sad, studenti dugo vremena nisu bili aktivni. To je činjenica. Jer nikad ne smijemo smetnuti s uma da su školarine uveli laburisti. Ne torijevci. Tony Blair je bio taj koji je uveo školarine u prvoj laburističkoj vladi Gordona Browna.

Dopustite mi da vam ispričam anegdotu iz tog vremena. Upravo sam tog tjedna sreo Kena Livingstona, koji tada nije bio gradonačelnik Londona nego zastupnik lijeve struje u Parlamentu. I Ken Livingston mi je rekao da ga je u hodniku parlamenta zaustavio umirovljeni premijer John Major, predstavnik konzervativne struje. Kako je poznavao Kena, zgrabio ga je i rekao “Ken, što to tvoja vlada pobogu radi? Jer dok sam ja bio britanski premijer, svake bi godine došao kakav idiot iz Ministarstva financija, stavio mi na stol komad papira i rekao – školarine za studente, pogledajte koliko bismo s njima zaradili“, i Major je rekao „Zgužvao bih taj papir i bacio ga u smeće jer ja nikad nisam dobio priliku za visoko obrazovanje jer mi ga otac i majka nisu mogli priuštiti i uvijek sam vjerovao da nijedan student ne bi smio plaćati visoko obrazovanje.“ Dakle to bivši konzervativni premijer spočitava ljevičarskom zastupniku zato što je njegova vlada uvela školarine.

I mislim da je tada propuštena velika prilika, jer studenti te generacije i tadašnji studentski predstavnici nisu protestirali protiv školarina. Da jesu, borba bi sada bila mnogo lakša, ako bi se uopće i pojavila potreba za njom. Dakle, to je prvi argument, da se ne radi samo o ovoj vladi, nego su odgovorne i prošle, laburističke vlade. I nismo čuli da laburistički zastupnici, koji bi trebali predstavljati opoziciju sadašnjoj vlasti, obećaju da će ukinuti školarine dođu li ponovo na vlast. Oni pričaju o porezu za diplomirane, tj. ako uspiješ diplomirati, morat ćeš plaćati ako… takve stvari, što nas tjera da se zapitamo. Dakle, oni u biti ne nude ništa. I tako, jedna je stvar ako želiš biti predsjednik Nacionalnog udruženja studenata, jer onda zapravo iznad sebe vidiš zlatne ljestve. I misliš da jednom kad si to postao možeš ići dalje, po jednima od dvaju ljestava koje su ti dostupne, jedne konzervativne, druge laburističke…

S engleskog prevela Ruža Lukšić

It’s great that you’re occupying, it’s extremely important when governments behave in the way they are behaving, not to sit down and accept their atrocities. And what is taking place now not just in Britain, it’s important to be aware of th…is, but what is taking place in Greece, what is taking place in Ireland, what is taking place in Spain, what will take place in other countries is that the victims of the crisis are being further victimized and those who created the crisis are being rewarded. When they say that they have no money for education, for health, for public housing, they are lying. And they know that they are lying. Because they have no shortage of money to bail-out the banks, they have no shortage of money to help the rich, they have no shortage of money to go and fight wars, to pay for those wars, the billions it’s costing them in Iraq and Afghanistan; that is never a problem, finding money for that. And they find it. But when it comes to finding money for education – the money isn’t available. And this is a lie which we have to expose and it’s a lie which should not be accepted. It’s unacceptable. Now, for a long time students in this country have not been active. That’s a fact. Because we should never forget that tuition fees were imposed by a Labour government. It wasn’t the Tories. It was Tony Blair in Gordon Brown’s first Labour government, which imposed tuition fees.

And let me tell you of an episode that happened at that time.That very week I ran into Ken Livingston, who was a left-wing member of Parliament at the time, not mayor of London. And Ken Livingston said that he had been stopped in the corridors of the House of Commons by John Major, the retiring conservative Prime Minister, the previous conservative Prime Minister. And because he knew Ken, he grabbed him and said “Ken, what on Earth is your government up to? Because the years I was Prime Minister of Britain, every year some idiot from the Treasury would come and put a piece of paper on my desk and when I would look at it – tuition fees for students, this is how much money we would get”, and Major said “I would crumple it up and throw it in the waste bin because I never got the opportunity to go to university because my father and mother couldn’t afford it and I always felt that no student should pay for higher education. That is a former conservative Prime Minister telling off a Labour MP because his government has just pushed through tuition fees.

And I think a big opportunity was missed at the time, when the NUS and the students of that generation did not protest the introduction of tuition fees. Had they done so, the struggle would have been much easier now, if at all we needed it on that particular question. So, that’s the first argument, that it’s not just this government, it’s previous governments, Labour governments that are responsible. And we haven’t heard the Labour front bench as presently constituted and supposedly the opposition in this country, getting up and saying if they are elected back into power, they are going to abolish tuition fees. They talk about a graduate tax, i.e. if you manage to graduate, you’ll have to pay if you get… all this sort of stuff, which begs the question. So they are not essentially offering anything. And so, it’s one thing if you want to be president of the NUS, because really in front of you you see a glittering ladder. And you feel that once you’ve become president of the NUS, then you can climb up one of the two ladders available to you. One is Conservative, one is Labour…