Students and workers protest John Key, Friday 5 August, Dunedin

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot sorry but very few students actually care/participate in this "voice" of student associations. Those that do wish to have a voice will find their way without ridiculous fees. In tertiary education, user pays is something that is happening, minus the interest on their loans, and it is something there should be more of. We are overeducated, too many people hold degrees they never use because everyone attends uni, not just exceptional students.

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh The "ridiculous" fees you talk about come from the Government taxing young people to learn while giving fat cats like Key massive tax cuts. Instead of thinking about number one, how about being original?

Your comment that we are "over educated" is imbecilic (look that up in the dictionary.) Most developed nations are churning out highly qualified scientists and professionals. What planet are you on? (No doubt you think you are one of the exceptional ones. What a laugh!)

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot when i say overeducated, I don't mean to say we have too many scientists, I mean we have people with years of tertiary education working in minimum wage jobs just because everybody has a degree nowadays and so it doesn't guarantee them the job they want. If people actually used the education that they are being provided with the way they should, then we would be much better off. Please do not resort to personal insults.

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh Your outlook on education is depressing. You obviously seem to think the only point of education is to make money. The need for informed citizens who understand their history and culture obviously is not important. It's all about greed, ie loading yourself up with pointless material possessions to fill the empty void of your life.

[victorbillot]

What user pays does is GIVE A HEAD START to the offspring of the rich. No doubt you would like to go back to the nineteenth century when the great unwashed stuck to the factories rather than getting ideas above their station. The system you support is grossly unfair, benefits the few at the expense of the many. How about a socialist society where we take care of each other rather than trying to stand on each other to make it "to the top". You're a wash out mate.

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot take a first year economics paper. Socialism is an ideology that only works if the whole nation contributes to it, which never happens in practice. You don't need to look back to the 19th century to see that, just look at China under Mao Zedong.

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh Obviously you did take a first year economics paper, that's your problem. You have already been brainwashed by a bogus ideology posing as a science. Actually I did take first year economics, but learnt more about these things from observing reality as opposed to graphs. Have you considered that capitalism used to have children working in factories, slave trading, etc? What stopped this? Oh yes, unions and socialists, who fought for human rights against the money men.

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot your image of capitalism is a bit exaggerated. It's all about incentives. Why should John get all the same opportunities as Bill when he only puts in 1/10 of the effort? Why should Bill work 10 times as hard if he's going to be treated the same anyway. You put social help in place and people ABUSE it. To some extent we need to have these to cater for the truly needy. However it needs to be kept minimal so we don't have too many free-riders.

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh Unfortunately your view of capitalism is unrealistic. In reality, because of the pressure to drive down the wages and conditions of workers, and the fact that the system cannot provide work for all in a rational way, a large proportion of the population do not receive the same opportunities. It is totally ridiculous to talk about "free riders" when the unemployment level shoots up and down due to the irrational market (profit) driven system, rather than people's willingness to work.

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot Slavery is not capitalism, because slaves are not given any reward for exceptional performance, they are still slaves. Capitalism is as much to blame for slavery as Socialism is to blame for World War 2.

[IamMuldeh]

voluntary student membership has nothing to do with commercialism of education. Student associations have nothing to do with education. All they really do is provide student jobs. Why should we have to employ people to give us what we already have?

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh You must be quite naive, of course it has to do with the commercialization of education, student associations provide a collective voice for students and fight to keep good quality public education. Who do you think was fighting for no user pays in education? That is why they are under attack from the millionaires club, because National/ACT want to destroy any resistance to their plan for a society of totally selfish, apathetic and powerless worker bees.

[IamMuldeh]

I am so, so ashamed of my fellow students. Not only was this protest very immature, many of those involved do not know what they are really fighting for.

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh It appears you don't know what you're not fighting for. Democracy in action friend, nothing to be ashamed of there. These are the ones who have got some spine and some social conscience.

[victorbillot]

The only immature person at this protest was the Prime Imposter John Key. This clown spends his time organizing party central, rugby games, TV shows with US celebrities, while his country collapses around him.

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot compared to most countries in the world right now, New Zealand is FAR from collapsing. Being out in public is his main role as prime minister, the decision making is the responsibility of the government as a whole, he is mostly a figurehead.

[United4Education]

We need to get organised and unite internationally to fight against the symptoms of the currently dominating economic system.

People worldwide struggle against the increasing commercialisation of education, cuts, privatisation and for free emancipatory education.

The independent communication platform International Student Movement might be quite useful to connect worldwide.

Search for it on facebook or on the net.

~ one world - one struggle ~

in solidarity from marburg (germany).

[victorbillot]

@sjhill87ish No, if the right wing succeed in the "compulsory" (oooohh!) forcing on us of their nut agenda to drive us back into the nineteenth century, it will result in a massive backlash and you will probably see bigger, better protests and the rebirth of a culture of solidarity and community – as opposed to an atomized swarm of miserable, self-obsessed greed heads who worship power and money. Did I say ACT Party?

[IamMuldeh]

@victorbillot "bigger" "better" protests tend to end in the burning and looting of the city the protesters were fighting for. Disliking the act party is one thing and you are free to vote for who you wish, but disrupting public functions is selfish and immature.

[IamMuldeh]

What good did the riots in Greece do? They got a lot of people injured/killed, and the country's economy was still in a shambles..

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh God, what a joke. Using the same brilliant logic you would also write off the American and French Revolutions as a waste of time. It's actually about the ordinary people taking control of their lives and refusing to be beaten down by the system. The real "violence" comes from the ruling class desperate to protect their privileges but stealing some crummy pensions off the workers to prop up the fantastic and grotesque lifestyles of the mega rich.

[victorbillot]

@IamMuldeh Sorry, wrong again. No disruption took place, merely the free and peaceful expression of democratic views in a free and democratic society. Funny how right wingers make such a big noise about liberty and free speech, but actually really are conformists at heart who would like everyone to meekly sit down and be told what to do by the rich and powerful.