Donate to the chalk fund: http://tinyurl.com/ksm9u8n
(pic Oscar Webb)
The University of London Union (ULU) and the 3 Cosas Campaign will be helping to pay the prosecution and damage costs of the student convicted on 25 February of chalking slogans at the University last July.
It is a principle of the labour movement that an injury to one is an injury to all. Koshka is part of our movement and it is only natural that we collectively bear the prosecution costs of one of our own.
Koshka Duff wrote a slogan, in chalk, in support of the 3 Cosas Campaign for equal sick pay, holiday pay and pensions for all University of London workers. She has received three months conditional discharge and has been ordered her to pay £810 to cover the cost of repairs and £200 towards prosecution costs by the end of June.
Koshka was found not guilty of assaulting two police officers, after the judge found that the evidence given by police constable Paula O’Grady was “exaggerated” and the evidence of two further police officers was disputed by video footage.
According one officer, the University of London’s then deputy director of property, Paul Nicholson-Lewis, was “very keen to press charges”. Underscoring how this was a conscious and vindictive attack on our movement, the University initially blamed a prominent staff member and trade union rep for the damage and made no attempt to settle the matter internally.
This whole trial has been an absolute disgrace both to the police, who were consistently found to be lying, and to the University of London, which has been exposed once against as a petty and authoritarian institution.
Koshka should have been congratulated, not prosecuted, for her actions in support of low-paid and mistreated workers. It is a measure of our justice system that it was her in the dock and not the callous exploiters of the University of London.
You can donate to the chalk fund here: