Today saw the launch of the government’s controversial ID card scheme, with all foreign students who apply for a visa extension now being required to apply for an ID card.
To coincide with the launch, protests were were held outside Home Office immigration centres across the country, including Reliance House in Liverpool, the closest centre to the University of Manchester. Many Manchester students who are opposed to the scheme made the trip to Liverpool to take part in the protest.
Continue reading ‘Manchester Students Protest at Launch of ID Cards’
In the first General Meeting on the year to reach quorum, University of Manchester students voted to reform the Students’ Union Council and ban members of the British National Party (and others deemed to be “fascists”) from speaking at the Union.
The first motion to pass, entitled “The Change We Need”, replaces school representatives on Council with General Members. Instead of having a single representative on Council for each school, each school will be allocated a set number of General Members proportional to the number of students in that school. Many Secretaries on Council will also be removed in favour of the new General Members.
This was opposed by many who disagree with the loss of positions such as the Anti-Racism Secretary, although Chris Jenkinson (Proposer of the Motion) and Rob Pinfold (Seconder of the Motion) pointed out that any Council member who states in their manifesto that they would like to campaign on specific issues will be allowed to do so. The motion gained its required two-thirds majority to pass.
Continue reading ‘UMSU GM Reforms Council and Bans the BNP’
On Wednesday the NUS held an Extradordinary Conference (called by 36 students unions back in October) to discuss reform and the new proposed NUS constitution. At the conference, the proposed new constitution was passed by 614 votes to 142. There is however a condition that the constitution must be ratified by a further conference - either another Extraordinary Conference or the Annual Conference next April. UMSU held its election for delegates before reading week. A list of our delegates is available online on the UMSU website.
Union hacks will have probably been suffering from deja vu - the proposed reforms are very similar to those proposed and defeated at this year’s Annual Conference in Blackpool. Those in favour of the reforms claim that they will modernise the NUS for the 21st century (its constitution has barely changed since the organisation was founded in the 1920s) whilst those against argue that it is an attack on the democratic elements of NUS.
More information is available over at Officer Online. We’ll bring you more updates nearer the Annual Conference next year or when another Extradordinary Conference takes place (if called).
UMSU Womens’ Officer Jennie Killip today helped to lead a small protest in Piccadilly Gardens as part of a Riveters and Feminist Fightback campaign to get abortion rights for women in Northern Ireland. Some protesters tied themselves to railings, a reference to the suffragette protests that took place in Britain 100 years ago, whilst others held up signs with slogans such as “Defend Our Rights”, and “Abortion Rights for Northern Ireland”.
Abortion is currently largely illegal in Northern Ireland (except where the mother’s life is in danger) as The Abortion Art 1967 applies only to England, Scotland and Wales. Each year between seventy and eighty abortions are carried out legally in Northern Ireland (comparatively low when compared with the rest of the UK) and as many as 2000 Northern Irish women pay up to £900 to travel and have an abortion in England and Wales (source).
Continue reading ‘Abortion Rights for Northern Ireland Protest’
The Students’ Union launched its new Education Assembly in an event in the Council Chambers today. The Assembly, created by Academic Affairs Officer Chris Jenkinson, aims to get students involved in improving the quality of education delivered at the University of Manchester.
Continue reading ‘Launch of the Education Assembly’
In another protest timed to coincide with the Labour Party conference in Manchester this week, about 100 protesters from the group “Stop Airport Expansion Now” took part in a flashmob of the town hall in Albert Square.
The group, which included three UMSU Executive Officers (Robbie Gillett, Dan Lee and Jennie Killip), converged on Albert Square at 12.45PM and revealed hidden red t-shirts with the words “Stop Airport Expansion” on the front. In particular, the group was protesting against plans to expand Manchester Airport, citing the negative impact that the aviation industry has on the environment with its high carbon emissions.
Continue reading ‘Climate Change Flash-Mob’
As we head towards the end of this academic year, we are experimenting with a new feature on the Politics Society website, known as “Guest Articles”. Our aim is to give students a platform on which they can express their opinions and give others the ability to debate the views expressed in the article. As a society, we do not support any political group or alignment and will aim to give fair representation to all groups. If successful, guest articles will feature prominently on our new website (to be built over the summer) and become a regular feature (hopefully weekly) in the next academic year.
The first article to be published is written by Rob Tidy and is entitled “Why won’t our Union campaign for LGBT rights?“. Rob has proposed the “Love Without Borders” LGBT rights motion at several General Meetings and the motion has never been passed - potentially because quorum was never met or was lost when the motion was up on the agenda. Rob outlines some of his frustrations in this article.
The second article is entitled “Winning a Free Education“, written by Chris Jenkinson. Chris has been elected for the role of UMSU Academic Affairs Officer for next year and states in the article why he opposed the free education motion at last week’s General Meeting and some of his views on how we should be campaigning for a free education.
If you are interested in writing articles for the society, drop me an email at james@manchesterpolitics.co.uk.
