Various UK student and trade union groups, including Dundee’s Students Against Cuts, will join a Europe-wide ‘youth strike’ this month to protest Western governments’ ‘militarisation’.
However, the online ‘Youth Strike manifesto’ echoes Russian and the European far-right’s demands against NATO.
Britain’s University and College Union (UCU), Unison, and the National Union of Students (NUS) have announced they are joining this movement, in addition to the Stop the War Coalition and socialist groups.
This follows weeks of youth protests across France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Greece, and other European countries, some of which broke into looting and riots.
The YouthStrike.org website follows the Russian regime’s rhetoric against NATO expansion and calls for the military alliance to be dissolved, based on the unsubstantiated premise that re-armament ‘escalates conflicts’.
Far-right leaders in France and Germany, who are in reach of taking power in elections following the youth riots, have also said their countries should leave NATO and abandon Ukraine to Russia.
The Stop the War Coalition’s mobilisation callout even accused the UK Government of fuelling the war in Ukraine.
This is despite Russia’s rejections of ceasefires in its imperialist war against Ukraine and sabotage of NATO members, including Britain. US President Donald Trump has also been withdrawing American support for Ukraine and other European countries, instead focusing on Israel’s interventions in West Asia.
Meanwhile, China continues conducting the largest military build-up since World War II and leading strategic collaborations with other authoritarian regimes like Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
The EU’s Readiness 2030 defence initiative and UK Government’s pledge to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030, as well as other initiatives such as the National Security Act and Defence Universities Alliance, are responses adapting to geopolitical instability.
However, the Youth Strike manifesto takes aim at these, arguing that public funds should be redirected towards education and that voluntary military service should be ‘abolished’.
The manifesto also demands ‘the end of racism‘ and for ‘all ties with genocidal states (such as Israel)’ to be cut. The Israeli government, whose bloc lost seats to opposition parties in its parliamentary election, has rejected claims that it has been committing genocide against Palestinians.
Aside from YouthStrike.org, the NUS are calling for UK students to take part in November’s youth strike. Most student unions in the UK are affiliated with the NUS, with DUSA at Dundee among those unaffiliated.
The NUS’ callout for the international youth strike blamed the UK Government’s ‘delay’ of proposed increases to minimum wage for 18-to-20-year-olds. Chancellor John Healey’s Budget sets out a requirement for employers, starting from April, to pay 18-to-20-year-olds at least £11.27 per hour and pay over-20s at least £13.21 per hour. Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves had said all adults should be entitled to the same minimum wage, meaning Healey is indeed not following this plan.
Despite the minimum wage rising by 3.9%, the NUS said Healey ‘delivered absolutely nothing for students’.
NUS Scotland’s callout further mentions taking inspiration from Serbian students’ victory in their country’s election.
Serbia’s student movement have defeated Aleksandar Vučić after 14 years in power. Like Viktor Orbán in Hungary before its opposition took power at this year’s election, Vučić his party have been developing close strategic ties with Russia, China, and Israel. The EU had halted Serbia’s accession process over concerns about an eroding rule of law and civil liberties under their government.
The Jute Journal has reached out to the NUS for comment.
Minutes of a Dundee Students Against Cuts meeting seen by TJJ also reveal that the group will call a demonstration in Dundee on the morning of 20th November and then potentially travel to Glasgow for a national Scottish demonstration against ‘ongoing cuts, war, imperialism and climate change.’
As for UCU and Unison, their callout for UK-wide protests on every campus on that day emphasise opposing staffing cuts and demanding more public funding for education. UCU general secretary Jo Grady also criticised the UK Government for committing to increasing defence spending.
The government have however been under significant political pressure, having changed their Prime Minister in July after John Healey broke ranks to urge his government to increase defence funding. The Conservatives are now criticising Healey’s Budget for not setting out a clear plan to bolster Britain’s defences. First Minister John Swinney likewise claimed that Scottish waters are lacking defences against Russian activity.
With clear pressure for the UK and fellow European NATO countries to improve their defences, requests to fund education and relieve cost-of-living pressures seem to be bundled with contradictory demands that are ironically in tune with Russian imperialism and division of Western societies. This ‘youth strike’ may give an indication as to where our country is headed.