Laura-Marie Töpfer on why the hyping up of Obama’s triumph needs to be treated with caution
‘Historic Victory!”, “New Dawn!”, “Record!” – powerful headlines were emblazoned in big letters on newspaper covers around the world at the beginning of this month, when America voted in the most eagerly anticipated US election for half a century. Ecstatic crowds all over the globe celebrated the spectacular win by the Democrats. The American people have given their mandate to Barack Obama, the young senator from Illinois with mixed-race ancestry. He is going to light a fire under the Washington establishment and he is going to get things done. Change has come. But has it? We would certainly answer this question with ‘yes’ if we see ‘change’ as being the end of the Bush era and the hope for a new president who will end the war in Iraq. However, if we look at the policy aspect, our answer is less clear. With the impact of the current financial crisis, it is not looking good for America’s economy. And inequalities of income and wealth are wider than they have been in a century. All true. But this is not enough to say that the US will necessarily move to the left. The belief that Obama can offer a package of attractive new policies to resolve America’s political and social dilemmas couldn’t be further from the truth. He is against Iraq, but has avoided much detail about how and when he would extract US troops. He talks openly about the need to reduce inequality but has not been specific on whether, or to what extent, he would raise taxes on the super-rich to pay for social programmes. He won’t support a ‘single-payer’ plan like Britain’s NHS to improve US healthcare, which would be the best way to control medical costs. In other words, Obama has produced a lot of lofty talk so far. What is missing, are specific policy proposals on his agenda which do indicate considerable change. Continue reading ‘Obamamania and its flaws’
On Thursday night, the Challenging Orthodoxies Society (COS) welcomed Kenyan expert Kiruja Micheni and Dr Sarah Bracking from Manchester University’s Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) to address the pressing question of democratization in African countries. With last year’s electoral dilemma, overshadowing Kenya and Zimbabwe, the shakiness of African democracy has come to its fore. The controversial issue of colonial interference by the West to build stable democracies attracted considerable interest; about 70 people attended the event in Lime Grove next to UMSU. Students engaged in a lively 60-minute Q&A session and reached a general consensus that there is still much to be done to achieve substantive democracy at the grassroots level.
Continue reading ‘Colonialism in Africa Debate’
Yesterday’s Union General Meeting was cancelled as a result of dismal turnout. Following last year’s trend of low turnouts which has consistently dogged UMSU, the first meeting of the new academic year did not reach quorum and the motions were not voted on. Those who came to vote on the proposed student policies were trying to make last-minute calls to friends or course mates to get the venue filled. However, despite persistent demands for a time extension to wait for more people to turn up, the meeting was cancelled at 2pm as fewer than 300 students attended. (According to GM rules, meetings start at 1.30pm and need a minimum number of 300 students to conduct business.)
Continue reading ‘First GM of the year fails to meet quorum’
The Palestinian human rights campaigner Musheir El-Farra and Ramy Abdu, one of the university students trapped in Gaza visited the university on Wednesday evening to raise awareness about the Gaza crisis in the Middle East. In a two-hour session, El-Farra and Abdu talked about their personal experiences of the Israeli occupation and called for more justice and freedom to ‘put an end to the horrible human suffering of the Palestinian people.’
Since the closing of Rafah crossing last year, 722 Palestinian university students studying abroad were trapped in Gaza. They are part of the 7,500 Gazans who need permission to continue their work, education or medical treatment outside of Gaza. There certainly is a consensus that the blockade of the Gaza Strip has worsened levels of poverty and unemployment and deteriorated education and health services. Musheir El-Farra started off his talk by criticising the inaction of the West despite those facts and declared that ‘selfish economic interests’ should not take priority over basic human rights including freedom of movement. The human rights campaigner said that ‘we must get rid of such hypocrisy.’
Continue reading ‘A feel of Gazan despair in Manchester’
Last night, Manchester Young Greens played host to Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP for London, and Peter Cranie, the Party’s candidate of the North West region for next year’s European election. In the one-hour discussion, about 30 young people grabbed the opportunity to gain first-hand insights into the internal running of the European Parliament from a politician who has been working for the European powerhouse in Brussels since 1999. Students asked questions and discussed issues ranging from EU and Green policies to local politics and learned how each one of us can make a difference here in the North West.
After a short introduction by Young Greens’ Co-ordinator Justine Hall in the Student’s Union, Jean Lambert started off by giving the students a short overview of how the European Parliament is structured. As she talked about her active membership of several committees including that for Employment & Social Affairs, Civil Liberties and Human Rights, it became clear that working as a member of parliament at European levels goes far beyond the usual policy debates. She emphasised the role of the EU as “central” in promoting good education and raising people’s awareness, particularly in the case of climate change. ‘It’s all very well having your targets, but if you haven’t actually got the skilled and trained workforce, you haven’t got a hope in meeting them.” With a critical eye on the Conservatives she explained that eventually “we will have to say no to business” to achieve something in climate change.
Continue reading ‘Turning green with Jean Lambert’
On Tuesday, in another event coinciding with the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Manchester, Ed Miliband MP (and also Minister in the Cabinet Office and Labour’s Manifesto Coordinator), along with Lucy Powell, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Withington, came to Manchester University’s Students’ Union to discuss the future for the Labour Party and for Britain; he reminded people of the ‘big causes’ in society and why apathy is the biggest peril for political progress. During the one-hour discussion, more than a hundred students seized the opportunity to get answers from a politician at the heart of Labour’s campaign for a fourth-term. The event was hosted by Manchester Labour Students and the Politics Society.
Following an opening speech from Mike Joslin, the current Chair of Manchester Labour Students, Miliband began to explain why he is a member of the Labour party (and specifically not the Conservatives), saying that he believes “we do things better together than alone.” Miliband attempted to stick to his principles of making politics less distant by devoting most of his time to a Q&A session rather than a long winded speech. He claimed that “unfortunately, these days we tend to have ‘talk-not-listen’ politics. But not tonight” and claimed that politics really matters as only by getting involved we can genuinely change the things in society that we don’t like. Lucy Powell addressed the audience, saying that “this [event] is in a way more important than the Conference platform because you are Manchester’s future; you are the ones who help shape this city.”
Continue reading ‘An Evening with Ed Miliband’
The room fell silent immediately. Some 60 heads turned to the front now, eagerly listening, as the man in the dark suit with the shiny head raises his voice, ?Politics is never tedious, never boring?. William Hague claims his words are not those of empty promises or preaching, but those of an approachable politician with the ambition to politically mobilise young people. An anecdote here and there and the crowd bursts into a gale of laughter. The Shadow Foreign Secretary knows exactly how to catch the attention of his young audience. And he has a clear message to deliver.
A rare afternoon of active political involvement amongst Manchester?s students. Those who have secretly been craving for an opportunity to welcome some of Britain?s most renowned political figures to the University took a sigh of relief, when the political spotlight turned to ?Kro Bar? on Tuesday, 15th April. William Hague MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, came to campus to speak to students about democracy, how it affects them and why voting makes all the difference. The event was hosted by Rob Ardlard, Conservative candidate for the city centre.
Continue reading ‘William Hague Speaks to Manchester Students’
He was itching to have his say on it. The man in the dark suit with well-groomed and greying hair breathes in and raises his voice, ?Utterly, utterly ridiculous?. Continue reading ‘Express Yourself’
