Student activism has dominated the year. The March for Choice in September, followed by the March for Education in October, and only last month the Strike 4 Repeal shut down Dublin for hours on March 8th.
Yet, as exam season begins and the summer looms, activism can often take a back seat. All of those hand-crafted placards and signs can often gather dust in House Six for much of the summer while student activism takes a four-month long break. As term finishes, the long months unfurl. Faced with possibilities for J1s, interrailing or working, students take a step back from their college engagements and focus on other activities instead.
This is a summer, however, where students cannot take a break. At a meeting in Trinity this week, student members of Strike 4 Repeal, from universities across Dublin, met to plan their next steps in the campaign for a referendum on the eighth amendment. A college-wide coalition, one of the suggestions from the meeting, will require significant work over the summer. Speaking to The University Times after the meeting, Kerry Guinan, an organiser with Strike 4 Repeal, said it was “important to keep the momentum going”. The fact there isn’t yet a referendum, she said, meant students needed to keep applying pressure.
Momentum, of course, is crucial in any campaign. Students don’t sign up to marches or join campaigns by accident. Michael Kerrigan, President-elect of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), emphasised the importance of growing the grassroots campaign in an interview with The University Times ahead of his election. The next march for education will only be successful if students return just as engaged next term.
The next few months will be crucial in the fight for free education. The Oireachtas Education and Skills Committee is currently compiling its recommendations to the Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, who will soon be deciding whether to introduce a loan scheme or not. The political system and the college administration do not operate on a student timetable. The report of the government’s higher education funding working group, one of the most significant events in higher education, was published over the summer. It is quite likely we could see the build up to an election, the consideration of a new funding model and a possible move of higher education into mainstream debate over the summer. There could be no worse time to switch off.
When we return in September, there will be new students in charge of unions around the country and Strike 4 Repeal activists will have assimilated into new organisations. But their success will not be guaranteed unless we continue to work, lobby and organise for a crucial year ahead.
