Students at the University of London in United Kingdom wrote a letter to express their unity with the students protesting against high fees in South Africa.
The letter was written by students of the School of Oriental and African Studies on Tuesday. They addressed the letter to the protesting student, staff and their supporters at the Witwaterstrand University‚ the University of Cape Town‚ Stellenbosch University and Rhodes University.
The students of SOAS stated on the letter that they have had similar experiences and have reclaimed their university. They said although they were backing up the protests and shutdowns, they insisted that the violence must stop.
The letter was posted on their Tumblr account.
The letter reads:
To the protesting students, staff and their supporters at the Witswaterstrand University, the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the university currently known as Rhodes
Yesterday and again today, our Twitter and Facebook feeds have been awash with protesting students from Wits, the UCT, and the university currently known as Rhodes.
After mass protests at Wits led to the still unfulfilled promise of the suspension of fee hikes, UCT, Stellenbosch and Rhodes students took to the streets and likewise demanded that #FeesMustFall. We watched in awe at this mass expression of outrage at the austerity being meted out on South African university students.
Yet it is when police were called in by UCT management and given free reign to shoot students with rubber bullets, that we decided to write this statement of solidarity.
We therefore want to express our full solidarity towards the continued protests and shutdowns by the students and staff of Wits, UCT, Stellenbosch and Rhodes as well as other South African universities that are planning mass protests
The #FeesMustFall and the University must be decolonised and de-corporatised.
Aluta Continua…
The SOAS Student Occupation
Source: connect.citizen
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