Although I disagree with some of this leaflet, it is included here in the interests of providing the views on campus about the occupation.

CELEBRATION OF THE OCCUPATION
produced by the Socialist Worker Student Club

For the first time in ten years the Melbourne University administration building was seriously occupied.

On Thursday May 8 over 400 students entered the building and around 200 stayed over night, barricading themselves in to the second floor. For a day admin was shut down as students took control in the fight against up-front fees.

The windows of the admin building were decorated with protest slogans, No Fees For Degrees, Immediate Pay Rise For Staff, Education For All Not Just The Rich...

Why Melb Uni Admin?

Melbourne Uni was first off the mark to charge up-front fees (of up to $110,000 next year for dentistry), because it sees itself as the most elite uni and therefore the most marketable.

Melbourne Uni is one of the richest institutions in the country. It made an `operating surplus' of $44 million last year, it has $416 million currently tied up in corporate shares, banks and government securities. Melbourne Uni does not need the money from up-front fees, it is simply trying to get the best place in the Liberals' education marketplace.

Why occupy?

Students were told all last year to lobby the Senate to stop the cuts to education. Relying on the Senate (including figures such as Mal Colston) got us nowhere. Yet in one day students occupying showed how a fighting student movement can be built.

Students can't go on strike in the same way that workers can to halt business as usual. If possible we should always unite with campus workers to shut the uni down, but we should never forget that much of the power we can wield lies in our ability to collectively disrupt the running of the university. Melbourne Uni is a billion dollar corporation, that hopes to attract fee paying students on its elite reputation. The occupation was a severe embarrassment to the university. We shut down admin. We showed that the university managers can't control their own institution.

What did the occupation achieve?

* The occupation forced the issue of up-front fees into headline news. There were also occupations around the country in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. Reports of `Australian student revolt' made it on to CNN and were seen internationally.

* The occupation was a spark for underlying student anger. Occupiers called a support rally for 1.00 pm Friday May 9 and over 1000 people turned up during the course of the day. Police cut power to the admin building and stole food that the occupiers tried to bring up in buckets on ropes. Supporters played a cat and mouse game with police all day, throwing food up to the occupiers. People at the rally had turned up at literally a moments notice, activists built the rally by going round from lecture to lecture, and frantically making phone calls. Students and staff from Melb Uni, other universities and workplaces turned up in support. The occupation has generated a new layer of activists and awakened hundreds of new people to political activity. We are now in a position to build a student movement that is a force to be reckoned with. The strength of student numbers meant we got away with no arrests, and are in a position to spread the struggle.

Where to now?

We need to call another rally at Melbourne Uni before semester ends to build on the momentum of the occupation. We need more occupations that can plan to stay for longer periods of time. The speed of student response shows how quickly a movement can be built. Occupations across a series of campuses can become a possibility. Out goal has to be to shut down the university, before user pays and privatisation shut us out of education.

Build on the anger join the socialists

The occupation showed the anger that exists among students. There is a mood inside society, that while the Liberals look after corporations, pastoralists and the rich, we should fight for more. The strike wave in Western Australia against the Liberals' attacks on workers has been inspiring. The anti-racist demonstrations against Hanson have been tremendous. A branch of her support movement was shut down by a demonstration in Geelong. At least 6000 people stopped Hanson from speaking in Hobart with hundreds of demonstrations.

There is an urgent need to build an organisation that can link these struggles. If we do not build a real fight against fees, against unemployment, there is a real danger that people's anger can be turned to racist scapegoating, as Hanson and Howard want. Socialists are trying to build an organisation that can fight for change, but we need more members on every campus and in every workplace. Why not join us.

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