Get Involved 2013

Organising for 2013

In early December, 2012, a group of Cambridge Defend Education (CDE) activists met to discuss the future of the group’s activism in Cambridge. The following points were agreed:

1. CDE is to remain focused on education as its core ‘issue’. As before, CDE will campaign and organise against fees and cuts to higher education.

2. CDE will act as a research organisation, publicising ‘behind-the-scenes’ information on the government’s higher education policy, exposing the national agenda while focusing on Cambridge University in particular. This will range from highlighting the direction of cuts and privatisation to information on Cambridge’s investments and other university policy (e.g. relating to student protest, freedom of expression, and disciplinary measures).

3. CDE will function as an educational space. Our mission is not merely to defend the status quo in education but to redefine it and push it in a more radical direction. This will involve two dimensions:

• Raising political awareness through education by actively engaging with other causes that might or might not intersect with our campaigns. This may involve the anti-cuts movement more broadly, or more specific issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (e.g. the recent teach-in for Gaza), anti-fascist protest, Scottish independence etc.
• New creative, self-reflexive methods of education, in which we create alternative political and educational spaces. We will aim to create new structures of educational practice, where we examine questions of hierarchy, responsibility and the empowering/disempowering dynamics of our own organisation.

Getting involved

Our activities will be coordinated through roughly three working groups:

1. Organisation: arranging regular meetings for all who are interested to make key decisions on CDE , organising events including education and demonstrations, and socials
2. Research: finding out what’s going on in relation to our core campaigning issues and making it known to activists
3. Publicity: publicising the above via our website, social media and a bulletin which will be distributed around the university. This will aim to engage the wider student body and those beyond it, involving more people in our activities by drawing attention to important issues.

If you would like to be involved with any of the above and are in Cambridge for next term (Lent 2013) please sign up for the Organise-2013 email list: https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/organise2013 (you don’t need to enter a password) and post to us, particularly if you are interested in getting involved in one of the above working groups.

The working groups are arranged in a horizontal, non-hierarchical way and all areas are open to everyone. Unlike traditional university committees, they are fluid and people are free to come and go.

We will continue to keep the organise and announce lists updated.

To contact us:

• E-mail camdefendeducation@gmail.com
• Visit our Facebook page

If you would like a message or shout-out included in a Cambridge Defend Education email bulletin, let us know by getting in touch via email.