Picket Line Poem

 Goldsmiths Picket Line Poem

(read on Goldsmiths Picket Line and at yesterday's UCU rally in Tavistock Square)

In the boring bad old days

universities were run by

people who had taught

people who had researched

people who had lectured.

We trusted them

that they would run universities

in the interests of students

in the interests of staff

in the interests of education.

That was in the boring bad old days.

Now in the exciting modern days

universities can be run by bankers

people who screwed up the world

economic system in 2008

people who invented the idea that

you could borrow money in order to buy debt

people who gambled with the livelihoods

of millions

And our university has done it.

Our university has rolled over

like a puppy waiting for a tickle

and invited the bankers in

to run our university.

And what a surprise:

the first thing they’ve come up with

is to get rid of staff.

The first thing they’ve come up with

is get rid of the very thing

that universities are here for:

get rid of the people who make education.

This tells us

that they’re trying to make Goldsmiths

a place where education

is not first and foremost

a place designed

to educate

to train

to enlighten

It’s place designed

to make a profit.

We are now the means

by which bankers can extract

interest payments from education.

The work of staff

and the fees of students

are there to produce profits:

profits for the bankers

profits for the shareholders of the banks

profits for the people who screwed up the world

economic system in 2008

profits for the people who invented the idea that

you could borrow money in order to buy debt

profits for the people who gambled with the livelihoods

of millions.

That’s what this fight is all about.

What do we want

Education for bankers?

Or education for all?

Michael Rosen