Sussex student protest gathers momentum as Peter Capaldi, Caroline Lucas and Tariq Ali offer support
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Your support makes all the difference.Students occupying a Sussex University building in protest against planned privatisation of key university services, received a boost to their campaign today after 100 leading academics, politicians and celebrities from across the globe, pledged their support for the movement.
Caroline Lucas MP, activist Tariq Ali, and BAFTA and Academy award winning actor and director Peter Capaldi, best known for his role in the BBC’s ‘The Thick of It’, are among those offering their backing to the occupation which is now into its fourth day.
Amid reports of rising tensions between students and security, the protesters have shown no sign of withdrawing from the Bramber House conference room and third floor balcony, which they have held since Thursday 7 February.
On Friday the university issued a statement saying that it is 'keeping the situation under review' and that 'the issues which [students] are protesting about are already the subject of discussion through the proper processes'. Several staff members from the University of Sussex feature amongst the signatories on the statement of support for the occupiers.
The Occupy Sussex group have organised several ‘teach-ins’ with speakers including LSE's Richard Seymour.
Students on the ground voiced their concern that the University’s privatisation drive is “reflective of the general trend in education under the coalition government”, and comes at a time when Education Secretary Michael Gove has faced criticism after a leaked memo showed he was considering the privatisation of academies and free schools.
The Occupy group have issued a set of demands which call for a “complete halting of the ongoing bidding process and end to the entire privatization program”, and “end to the intimidation that senior and middle management have used to deter students and workers for airing and acting on their concerns” and “a commission of students, staff and lecturers to be formed” to “re-evaluate procedures and channels for holding management accountable”.
Signatories to the message of support
1. Kelly McBride - President, University of Sussex Students Union
2. Owen Jones - Independent Columnist and Campaigner
3. Satish Kumar - Editor of Resurgence Magazine, Founder of Schumacher College
4. Vandana Shiva - Academic and Author
5. Peter Capaldi - BAFTA and Academy Award Winner
6. Vicki Baars - Vice President, NUS
7. Professor Alan Simpson - City University
8. Charlie Masquelier - Fellow in Sociology, University of Exeter
9. Lawrence Upton - Fellow in Music, Goldsmiths
10. Dr Jennifer Cooke - Lecturer in English, Loughborough University
11. Dr Richard Parker - University of Gaziantep
12. Davy Jones - Green Party Candidate, Brighton and Kemp Town Constituency
13. Dr Stephen Brown - Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Brighton
14. Paul Philo - Brighton and Hove Green Party
15. Professor Bob Brecher - University of Brighton
16. Rebecca Anderson - President, Gateshead College Students Union
17. Dr Peter. D. Thomas - Brunel University
18. Leander Jones - Vice President, University of Birmingham Guild of Students
19. Professor Dave Hill - Anglia Ruskin University
20. Caroline Lucas - MP for Brighton Pavilion
21. Jon Rogers - National Executive Committee, Unison
22. Nathan Bolton - President, University of Essex Student’s Union
23. Dr Alberto Toscano - Goldsmiths University
24. Louis Goddard - Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
25. Steven Ellis - Birkbeck Unison
26. Phélim Mac Cafferty - Deputy Leader, Brighton and Hove City Council
27. Soren Goard - Vice President, Goldsmiths Students Union
28. Ross Speer - Vice President, LSE Students Union
29. Jamie Lewis - Vice President, University of Manchester Students Union
30. Dr Mark Erickson - University of Brighton
31. Dr Chris Cocking - University of Brighton
32. Dr Robbie Shilliam - Queen Mary, University of London
33. Dr Alison Phipps- Director of Gender Studies at Sussex University
34. Professor Gurminder K Bhambra - University of Warwick, Co-Founder of Campaign of the Public University
35. Cllr Ben Duncan - Brighton and Hove City Council
36. Professor William Outhwaite - Newcastle University
37. Professor Andrea Cornwall - University of Sussex
38. Taher Abdalla - President of Students Union, American University in Cairo
39. Jessica Pujol Duran - UCL
40. Tariq Ali - Editor New Left Review
41. Laurence Clennett-Sirois - Lecturer at Universite du Quebec en Outaouais
42. Dr. Daniel Kane - University of Sussex
43. Godfrey Atuahene Jnr - Preseident, University of Portsmouth Students Union
44. Professor Paul Leduc Browne - Université du Québec en Outaouais
45. Aaron Kiely - NUS Black Students' Officer
46. Mark Steel - Comedian and Author of….
47. Marjorie Welish - Brooklyn College, New York
48. Maureen Szulczewski - Instructor at Dubai Women’s College, UAE
49. John McDonnell - MP for Hayes and Harlington
50. James McAsh - President, University of Edinburgh Students Union
51. Professor Ted Benton - University of Essex
52. Professor John Holmwood - University of Nottingham, former Dean of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Sussex. Co-Founder of Campaign of the Public University, President of the British Sociological Association
53. Professor Geoffrey G. O'Brien -, UC-Berkeley
54. Kati Whitaker- Journalist at BBC Radio 4
55. Andy Richards - Chair, Brighton and Hove Unison
56. Louis-Georges Schwartz - Assistant Professor, University of Ohio
57. DAVID GORIN - Yale University
58. Cai Wilkinson - Lecturer in International Relations, Deakin University, Australia
59. Sir Jonathan Miller - Public intellectual and former Fellow of Neuropsychology at University of Sussex
60. Matt Stanley - President, Mid Kent College students Union
61. Dr Joyce Canaan - Professor of Sociology, Birmingham City University
62. Steffan Wyn-Jones - UCU Sussex University
63. Dr. Rebecca Searle - University of Sussex
64. Ioana Cerasella Chis - Senator, University of Birmingham
65. David Rudling - Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex
66. Jason Weidner - Faculty Member at Virginia Tech University
67. Nathalie Batraville - Yale University
68. Xavier Cohen - current Sussex Applicant
69. Richard Seymour - Author and Lecturer at LSE
70. Dr. Anna Stavrianakis - University of Sussex
71. Peter Hain - MP for Neath
72. Luke Beale - Sussex University Staff
73. Claire Lyall - Unison Glasgow
74. Dr Joel Lazarus - University of Oxford
75. Professor Ben Rogaly - University of Sussex
76. Charity Schmidt -Co-President, University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistants' Association
77. Orlando Reade - Princeton University
78. Dr. Eunice Goes - Associate Professor, Richmond University
79. Michael Edwards - Faculty Member, University College London
80. Dr Michael Lawrence - Lecturer, University of Sussex
81. Bernard Sufrin - Emeritus Fellow, Worcester College, Oxford
82. Dr Sarah Amsler - University of Lincoln
83. Professor Anthony O’Brien - Queens College, City University of New York
84. Sean Pryor - Lecturer, University of New South Wales
85. Professor Julian Murphet - Director, Centre for Modernism Studies in Australia, University of New South Wales
86. Laura Salisbury - Lecturer, Birkbeck, University of London
87. Dr Patricia McManus - University of Brighton
88. Dr Ian Patterson - Director of Studies in English, Queen’s College, Cambridge
89. Dr David Archibald - University of Glasgow.
90. Lucas Klein - Assistant Professor, City University of Hong Kong
91. Dr. Doug Haynes - University of Sussex
92. Dr. Alexandra M. Kokoli - Robert Gordon University
93. Dr. Louiza Odysseos - University of Sussex
94. Dr Annie Ring - Fellow, University of Cambridge
95. Kerem Nisancioglu - Associate Tutor, University of Susssex
96. Charlie Kimber - SWP national secretary
97. Dr Kamran Matin - University of Sussex
98. Josiah Mortimer - Univeristy of York Green Party
99. Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert - University of Sussex
100. Elizabeth Pettersen - Undergraduate, University of Sussex
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