Published on
February 24th 2009 in
Frontpage.
In response to several rumours that have been circulating during the past week, the Politics Society committee would like to make clear that we are politically neutral and that the Society does not affiliate itself with or support any political party, group or Union faction.
For this reason, we do not support any particular candidate for any position and we will be providing neutral coverage of the elections. All of our coverage will aim to give equal coverage to all candidates with the aim of encouraging Manchester University students to vote for the candidate they individually deem to be best suited to the job.
At no point will we be encouraging students to vote for a particular candidate or give anyone the backing of the society as a whole.
The Politics Society Committee.
On Wednesday 18th February, a group of around 40 members of the University’s Politics Society made the trip down to London for our tour, kindly organised by local MP John Leech, of Parliament.
Continue reading ‘Politics Society Trip to Parliament’
Published on
February 20th 2009 in
Frontpage.
Continue reading ‘A Socialist Solution for Gaza’
Polling dates:
Members of UMSU will be able to cast an online vote between 10th - 12th March.
Candidates’ Hustings:
The official Q&A and speeches for Executive candidates hosted by the Returning Officers - 3rd March, 5pm, Main Debating Hall.
Find the list of candidates in the About The Union section of the website.
Published on
February 19th 2009 in
Frontpage.
Due to lack of participating individuals and therefore the declaration by the Chair of no quorum, the GM was stripped of any notion of formality and instead became a forum of informal discussion. The motions that were due to be debated were: the opposition of academic activities on Wednesday afternoons; greater scrutiny of the executive officer’s role; opposition to the introduction of ID cards; whether or not to evict RBS from uni property for continuing to finance carbon intensive products; renewing Uni policy against the University’s involvement in arms trade; the issue of student direct accountability and lastly, for the union to support the Arthur Lewis declaration of free education for students.
Will Stobart
Union Reform to result in greater Student Participation
In a meeting in the Student’s Union, Jenny Martin, the Northern Representative for the NUS, held a session with various students to discuss the difficulties of reforming the Union. Issues ranging from general meeting participation to society funding were discussed and ideas were brainstormed on how to improve the activity of the Union and the way it is perceived by students. Jenny Martin argued that the Students’ Union had to move away from being seen as “just a shop, or just a bar”, to becoming an integral part in the life of every student.
In a subsequent brainstorming session on the strengths and weaknesses of the Manchester University Students’ Union the variety or societies and the many resources available were raised as positives, while the staffing structure, accountability and bureaucracy were seen as the main weaknesses. It was argued that the Union should become more flexible and relevant to students, while others such as General Secretary Rob Pinfold argued that there should be a move away from General Meetings which were too much “like the 1980s”, and towards a greater use of the internet in improving the way in which students can interact with the executive and influence policy changes. The detailed ideas are available from Robbie Gillett the Communications Secretary, to whom the resulting posters have been entrusted.
Will Stobart
The Vice President of Justice for Columbia and MP for Manchester Central, Tony Lloyd, visited the university to give a talk on the ongoing situation in Columbia. In a speech to students he outlined the fear and difficulties of Trade Unionists and other normal people in Columbia, who were being caught up in the crossfire between government paramilitary forces and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He argued that it was necessary for the British government to try to change its views on the country and accused it of training some of its government’s forces. He also argued for solidarity with the Colombian people, as it “ought to be something we all care about”.
In a subsequent Q&A session with the students, other questions such as the threat of the BNP and the Occupation were raised. Tony Lloyd blasted the European electoral system, describing it as “total insanity” and urged students to do their bit in stopping the BNP by working with their own political parties. On the subject of the Manchester occupation, he responded that he respected the right to peaceful protest, but that this should not infringe upon other peoples’ rights. Mike Joslin, the Leader of Labour students later said that the meeting had been “good. Tony was very honest and did very well”.
The second emergency General Meeting in two weeks resulted in the passing of the Gaza Crisis motion on Wednesday. The debate saw passionate speeches from those proposing and those opposed to the motion, with sixteen amendments lined up by members of the Jewish Society in an attempt to delay the vote. The Main Debating Hall and Bikos Cafe were both full, with over 500 students attending the meeting. The atmosphere at the meeting was tense, with students jeering speakers and heated arguments breaking out outside the Union building after the vote. After the vote, pro-motion members of the audience began chanting: “Viva viva Palestina” and “we are all Palestinians.”
The motion was proposed by Katan Alder and seconded by Sara Mahmoud. The amendments criticised the motion’s lack of reference to the actions of Hamas, the political party in control of Gaza. A motion to proceed direct to a vote was approved by the meeting after two amendments had been rejected. The proposal was made by Philosophy student Gabriel Hassan.
In an extraordinary move, another motion was proposed asking for the removal of Chair Jonty Pryor. However this was revealed to be a further attempt by anti-motion members of the audience to criticise the motion. After Hassan’s proposal had been accepted by over two-thirds of the students present, large numbers of pro-Israel members of the audience walked out of the meeting in protest, although quorum was maintained allowing the main vote to proceed.
Continue reading ‘Gaza Crisis Motion Passes 2nd Emergency GM’
