Fees, studies and radicals

Fees, studies and radicals

Is the British Higher Education system facing a wave of student radicalisation due to the increase of tuition fees?

Prime Minister David Cameron before Christmas told the British Parliament that: "we need to de-radicalise our universities". The statement has raised some academic eyebrows in the oak panelled rooms of the Universities boards across England.

As Easter approaches, the misunderstanding remains.

Was the Prime Minister thinking of religious radicalisation with four former London alumni facing terrorist charges, or the violent stand of students demonstrating against the 200% increase in university fees?

With nearly 2.5 million “people studying in a UK Higher Education Institution”, according to the HESA[1], the political decision is considered by some observers as risky.

In November and December last year, London witnessed student riots for the first time in decades.

For XXX XXXX from Westminster University, “the fees are very unfair. As the government takes a more capitalist approach regarding higher education, the fees will inevitably keep rising in a few years’ time once the moratorium is over!” Her colleague, XXX XXXX, says that: “Uni fees in England are prohibitive. Only rich kids go to university and it will be worse from 2012.”

The 27-year old from Prague who works in the evening as a waitress confesses: “However, in my country, I was not be able to go to Faculty and get a decent Degree!”

A law student from Queen Mary University tells me: “Parliament has already passed Acts with a retroactive effect, why not pass a new law stating that the last four generations should pay for the cost of their studies?”

But the three students don't see any radicalisation amongst their fellow comrades, rather a staunch reaction to the “outrageous” fees decision from the Government.

Talking over the phone to the editor of a student’s union magazine, who wishes to remain anonymous, the tone and colour were different. “Radical elements do indeed exist in our unis. The problem is that we don’t know what they could do next! And David Cameron just poured oil on fire! I heard that disrupting the royal wedding at the end of April is on the agenda!”

Indeed, tension and anger amongst students are widespread.

Jonathan McLeish, 23 from Newcastle is studying Psychology at City University. In his Geordie accent he says: “the mutinous feelings of some is the antidote of the current political spectrum. Because politicians use the student movement to fulfil their own agenda, and not only the BNP, radicalisation becomes the only way for many.”

The PM’s wish for the de-radicalisation of UK Higher Education may have the opposite effect. Once assessments and exams are over, spring may encourage another student mutiny to blossom.

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[1] UK Higher Education Statistics Agency

Was Tunisian President Ben Ali a CIA, French and Mossad agent?

Was Tunisian President Ben Ali a CIA, French and Mossad agent?

With his fruit stall confiscated and no prospects for his future, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on 17 December 2010. Riots, violence, pro-democracy protests, revolutions, change of governments, free elections and foreign military interventions, all started because of the suicide of the 26-year old fruit seller.

Fifty years earlier, out of school, unemployed, aimless, Ben Ali was recruited by the French
elite military school, St Cyr.

After this initial training, the future kleptocrat joined the Fort Holabird Intelligence School
in Maryland, USA.

From France to his coup d’état to take the Tunisian presidency in 1987, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s career had always been connected to the French defence services, the CIA and Arab-feared Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

Nicolas Beau wrote an unauthorised biography of the dictator in 2002, “Notre Ami Ben Ali” (“Our Friend Ben Ali”). It was a best-seller in spite of the French authorities’ embarrassment.
In an interview, the former Le Monde Middle East correspondent says that: "In 1987, undoubtedly he had contacts with the CIA. But in 1991, he took the side of Saddam!” The expert in Tunisian politics takes a few puffs of his Gitane before answering my next question. “Sincerely, I do not really see him as a CIA agent. But then there are links with Mossad..."

Abu Jihad - founder of Fatah, the Palestinian secular party - alongside two top PLO executives were killed in April 1988 near the Presidential Palace in Carthage by a commando led by Ehud Barack - future Israeli Prime Minister.

The same evening, Tunisian police had evacuated residents of the neighbourhood, cut electricity and telephone lines. There was a black-out around Abu Jihad’s house while the presidential palace was functioning normally. Mossad’s commando had free hands to kill quietly the two PLO members and the Fatah’s leader in front of his wife and son.

Israeli newspaper Maariv published a report ten years later writing that Ben Ali was watching from his palace the Israeli commando disembarking and accomplishing their mission.

Another source is Ben Ali’s former best friend. Béchir Turki has just published a book about the corrupt ex-president, “Ben Ali le Ripou” (“Ben Ali, the Rotten”). In it he declares that: “for the majority of Tunisians, the relationship between Ben Ali and Mossad is an open secret.”

If the Iranian authorities had not lost credibility, the media would have paid more attention to the recent declarations of Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Khameini, on 4th February stating that: “the ex-president of Tunisia was a CIA agent.”

Another intriguing fact, the so-called “Jasmin Revolution” leaves many Tunisians aghast. “Jasmin revolution” was indeed the code name that the CIA used during Ben Ali’s coup d’état in 1987.

All these correlations between the disgraced president and the intelligence agencies are puzzling in the least.

With recent developments in Libya and across the Middle East, other dictators may share
Ben Ali’s fate, and similar facts may surface to embarrass Western governments.