European Students' Union confronts democratic deficit

By Anne Corbett. A few weeks ago the European Students' Union (ESU) celebrated its 30th anniversary. It has been an exciting history for an organisation that started in 1982 as a European information bureau for Western students: a reaction to Soviet domination of the international student movement. In 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, it opened its doors to student movements from across Europe. Judging by the tales of some of the early heroes and heroines, there were plenty of special moments. In the early days, one of them was steering Norwegians away from saving whales to saving a nascent student movement.Read more...