from Bob Turpin The Radical Student Alliance is dead. Long live the RSA. In other words, a serious and commendable attempt is being mede to resuscitate wheat was, at ite inception, a worthy effort to 'pressurise’ the NUS into being more representative of British students. But Auntie NUS just wouldn't be pressurised. The RSA,apart from the famovs LSE dispute failed to make any impact. It had fallen victim to the apathy it had been formed to fight and destroy. Possibly one of the reasons why it never got off its fect was that it concentrated, or at any rate seemed to concentrate, its efforts in the London area alone. An effort now, however, is being mde to remedy this. At the recent National Council meeting of the RSA it was decided to reorganise the Alliance into cight regions. And accordingly, the first regional convention was held in London last weekend (10th and 11th Feb). The convention deplored the relinquishing of the Grants campaign by the NUS and deternned to organise the campaign in its place. It decided to support the lobby called by the art colleges for the 28 February and to hold a mass lobby and demonstration on 1 May. The most surprising thing about the convention was the revolutionary nature of its theme. The other subjects on the agenda were the guerilla struggle in Southern Africa, solidarity with the Vietnamese people against US imperialist aggression and student power. It seemed as if the leaders of the RSA hac suddenly realised not only the true nature of the student in society, but of society itself, and that students are an oppressed section of the community. In short, the RSA has had a political awakening.
As a result of this the RSA has now pledged to support the Solidarity Demonstration of 17 March and the Berlin International Demonstration this coming weekend (17 and 18 Februrry) to which it is sending a delegation. A day of activity for Vietnam will take place on 21 February. Photographic displays and exhibitions on Vietnam will take place in several universities and colleges. After an enlightening talk by a representative of the African National Congress, the convention declared its support for the guerilla fighters of Southern Africa and to express solidarity in a variety of ways wherever and whenever relevant. This change of line of the RSA is certainly encouraging, but wflects a gensral movement towards a solidarity position regarding the struggle of the Third World ageinst imperialism.