#marchinmay

[uni-verse-city]

This is what Democracy looks like

[teaandanthropology]

Maybe the reason students are protesting is because we're mad, upset, and feel powerless to do anything else in this horrible situation. 

Maybe the reason we're so upset is because we will be one of the hardest hit groups in this shitty budget.

Maybe we care enough about our own education and that of future generations to stand up, speak up, and have our voices heard. 

You want to unregulate university fees and push up the HECS interest rate, potentially making it impossible for many people to have the financial means to attend uni? Go ahead and try, but we won't go down without a fight. 

In Australia, we get into university based on our academic merit, not the size of our wallets. In Australia education is accessible to everyone, no matter what their socio-economic status. We won't have that taken away from us. Not now, not ever.

Do I agree with how these protests are being staged? No. But I support the cause. There's no other way that we can have a voice, and be heard. 

Pull yourself together, Tony Abbott. Think about how this will affect students AND academics, now and in the future. 

[thesoapsuds-blog]

[ithinkimblind]

My sign from march in may. #marchinmay #auspol #fucktonyabbott #politics #protest #itsbelatediknow

[affirmedatheist]

So the Tele covered the March in May yesterday..

So, apparently the Daily Telegraph couldn't resist having a slag at the attendees of the march on Sunday. You may also have noticed the way in which it totally misrepresented the protest's tone. Instead of focusing on the peaceful march and rally, they focused instead on a very, very small group who diverged from the main body of protestors (which leads me to suspect agent provocateurs, though I have no evidence to back this up - it's pure speculation on my part, so don't quote me on that). They used this to conflate the whole group as 'ferals'. One might also note their picture selection on the online article; They definitely curated the pictures to tell the same story - that we were all a bunch of ferals (though they never use the word itself in the article, only on the front page. It's not as if it's hard to not be as terrible as the Telegraph usually is. See this article, for example. Granted, it's just a metastory of how the march was covered by the local mainstream media, but it still manages to be fairer than the DT article. They nicely reproduce the front page, and the observant will notice that even the protest wasn't enough for them - apparently it's necessary to wage war on public housing as well. After all, gotta support your developer mates who are salivating over all that land! While this is not at all surprising - the Telegraph has proven itself in the past year to have essentially no remaining journalistic integrity (and sadly, the Herald isn't much better).

It's a nice change that these things are however actually getting covered though. Before you ask, I bought the paper, yes. I do so periodically in order to get a read on the tone they're using (it is difficult to combat propaganda effectively without reading it at least sometimes I'd rather do that for this purpose, as online articles have a nasty habit of either disappearing or being moved from time to time. Call it an insurance policy). Note that I do not, in any capacity, speak for the organisers of these protests (as much as I wish them every success) in any official capacity, but I believe I am probably with them in expressing that your contempt of the populace has been noted. Writers of the Daily Telegraph: With regard to your charge of protestors being ferals - If standing up for one's democratic rights, if standing up in defense of the disadvantaged and poor, if standing up for the average person,  that ALL might have a fair go and shot at life, then with all due respect, writers of the Daily Telegraph, I will proudly wear the label. I am not ashamed in any way to say that I stand in opposition to the abrogation of fairness that this budget represents. That's right: I said it. I'd sooner be identified with those that got arrested than your snivelling sycophancy to the Liveral/National Coalition on behalf of the owner of your paper. Murdoch, I have little but contempt for you and the shit you pull.

[theblasphememe]

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