NUS conference - a chance for the left?

Submitted by Matthew on 6 April, 2011 - 2:06

The National Union of Students conference 2011, which takes place next week (12-14 April) in Newcastle, will be unpredictable.

Incumbent president Aaron Porter is standing down, following repeated embarrassment in the wave of student struggles during the winter; there are two high profile right-wing candidates standing to replace him. The whole leadership is embarrassed and discredited by recent events, and could lose some important policy votes. Certainly at NUS Women’s Conference last month the left was on the offensive, despite having only just re-established itself.

On the other hand, both NUS’s ultra-bureaucratised structure and the failures of the left, which has stitched up a not very impressive slate for the full-time national executive positions, will limit any dramatic upheaval in Newcastle.

AWL delegates and observers at the conference will combine pushing for left-wing, class struggle policies as part of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts with promoting our own distinctive ideas — such as solidarity with the Egyptian labour movement and a rational stance on Western intervention in Libya.

There will be a full report in the next issue.

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