Sheffield Hallam University computer science student Richard O’Dwyer faces extradition to the United States on copyright infringement charges, where he faces five to ten years imprisonment in a US federal jail.
O’Dwyer established the TVShack.net web site nearly four years ago. The web site did not utilise any US-based web servers, nor did it host any files whatsoever. His web site acted only as a conduit and did not breach existing UK copyright laws. The only previous charge of a similar nature, the suit against TVlinks, was thrown out of court last year.
January 22, 2012 by International Students for Social Equality (UK)
The International Students for Social Equality is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, February 7 to discuss the Richard O’Dwyer case and other attacks on democratic rights. Meeting details follow this statement.
The International Students for Social Equality calls on all students, young people, academics and workers to oppose the extradition of Richard O’Dwyer to the United States on copyright infringement charges.
If found guilty, the 23-year-old Sheffield Hallam University computer science student faces from five to ten years imprisonment in an US federal jail.
Judge Quentin Purdy at Westminster Magistrates Court ruled that, despite breaking no British laws, O’Dwyer can be extradited to the US to face trial for merely running a web site posting links to other sites where people could download copyrighted content, including movies and TV programmes.
November 27, 2011 by International Students for Social Equality
This statement is available as a pdf for distribution.
The attack by UC Davis police against peaceful protesters has shocked and revolted millions of people throughout the world. The use of pepper spray against the students has shown the hostility of the ruling elite to democracy, and the ruthlessness with which it deals with any opposition.
There is much more at stake in this attack than the misdeeds of one chancellor or a few police officers. The actions at Davis are part of a coordinated effort by mayors of major US cities—working with the FBI and the Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security—to shut down Occupy protests through violence. This crackdown has so far resulted in more than 4,600 arrests. Only three days after the violence in Davis, police assaulted and arrested students protesting tuition hikes in New York City.
November 20, 2011 by Statement International Students for Social Equality
Friday’s assault by University of California Davis police on a peaceful protest is an outrageous act of violence and intimidation. It is part of a nationwide wave of police repression against the Occupy movement, and a byproduct of the drive by university officials and big business politicians to enforce attacks on public education over the opposition of workers and students.
On Friday afternoon, A UC Davis police officer—later identified as Lt. John Pike—pepper sprayed the faces of a dozen protesters sitting on the ground with arms linked, sending two the hospital. Horrified onlookers pleaded with the officer to stop attacking the students, and chanted “shame on you” as the officer carried out the attack.
The eruption of global protests, sparked by the Wall Street occupation in New York, has given voice to the mass opposition to social inequality, unemployment, war and the corporate domination of political life.
The Occupy movement heralds the emergence of a much broader movement of working people internationally. But the emergence of open social conflict, for the first time in several decades, raises historical and political questions that need to be answered.
This includes above all the nature and role of those arguing for “no politics” and a ban on political demands and programmes. It is through such means that various individuals and organisations seek to conceal their own political agenda, generally involving opposition to the development of an independent, socialist movement in the working class. Their aim is to direct the movement behind the trade union bureaucracy and, ultimately, the Labour Party.
November 8, 2011 by International Students for Social Equality (UK)
Students and young people are protesting today against the ongoing attacks on public education by the Conservative/Liberal-Democrat government. These include last year’s tripling of tuition fees to £9,000, major cuts at universities and colleges, including the slashing of teaching budgets, and the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance of £30 per week for young people from low-income families in post-16 education.
There is justified and widespread anger among working people against the government’s austerity measures, which are hitting young people hard. Unemployment has risen to almost 1 million amongst those aged 24 and under. Denied decent jobs, many young people are now being priced out of higher education. Proposals in the Education White Paper will vastly expand this assault, with plans to privatise universities and reduce the numbers of places on courses.
A crowd of at least 200 gathered on the central square of the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus Thursday evening to support the growing protests against Wall Street. The event was held as a planning meeting, or general assembly, in preparation for upcoming demonstrations in Detroit and Lansing.
Students and young people aired grievances of unemployment and inequality. Residents spoke out against the running of the university as a business and the attack on nurses employed by the UM hospital system, which is currently in a dispute over health insurance and overtime pay.
Many participants who spoke to WSWS supporters said they had come alone or with friends and had no political affiliation to any groups. The event drew students and teachers from neighboring schools, including Wayne State University in Detroit and Saline High School.
Current American student loan debt is just under $950 billion. But only slightly more than a third of young people taking out student loans, 37 percent, are now actually able to repay them on schedule. This dismal statistic, from a recent study by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, speaks to the crisis facing a generation being systematically squeezed economically and denied decent job prospects.
The study—entitled Delinquency, The Untold Story—looked at students who began repayment between October 2004 and September 2009 and was designed to take a critical look at the typical government measurement of student loans, the default numbers.
Universities across New Zealand are carrying out drastic restructuring, cutting hundreds of jobs and eliminating courses. Jobs are being axed at the University of Canterbury and Victoria University of Wellington. At Auckland University, Wellington Institute of Technology and Christchurch Polytechnic, staff have taken part in protests and strikes against proposals to significantly increase workloads.
These cutbacks are a result of the National Party government’s austerity measures over the past three years, and are a part of the global assault on workers and youth in response to the international economic crisis. The government’s 2011 budget increased funding for universities by less than half the inflation rate. Universities have increased fees and levies, restricted entry criteria and turned away thousands of students, as well as eliminated programs and sacked staff.
A measure of the historical viability of a social system is the future it holds for the younger generation. From this standpoint, the conditions facing youth at the beginning of the new academic year are an indictment of the capitalist system.
More than two years after the supposed onset of the economic “recovery," mass unemployment continues unabated, particularly among youth. On an international scale, falling growth rates and rising joblessness make clear there is no real recovery. Austerity measures being imposed in the US, Europe and Japan are compounding the social disaster. Students have no reason to believe they will have a chance of finding a decent job after graduation.
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