Yesterday Politics Society hosted their first session of mini-debates. These debates are an informal chance for any students interested in political issues to practice their debating skills or just to exchange opinions on current affairs.
The motions discussed yesterday were: This House believes that Sarah Palin is a good role model for women and This House believes that America’s global hegemony is coming to an end. The first motion provoked discussion on why Palin was chosen to be McCain’s running mate in the recent US elections and the role of women in politics. Then the second motion raised questions over how to define hegemony - whether economic or military might is the most significant factor and whether their cultural influence has become a more important feature of America’s hegemonic power.
Everyone had the chance to speak and share their opinions in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere at the mini-debates yesterday. Many thanks to everyone who came and especially to Lech, Amy and Jonathan who helped to organise the session and prepared some points to get the debates started. If you have any ideas for topics of the next round of debates – please email Naomi: naomi@manchesterpolitics.co.uk.
The Socialist Worker Student Societies from the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University hosted their first meeting of the year on Wednesday in the Biko Builiding, where they presented their opinions on why we should all be socialists.
The meeting started with speeches from their guest speakers, Colin Smith, a member of the Socialist Worker Party and Judith Orr, editor of the magazine Socialist Review and author of Sexism and the System. Colin Smith exclaimed that we are living through an historic week and expressed his surprise that commentators from each side of the political spectrum all agreed that we are living through the worst crisis of the system since 1929 and that it is probably only going to get worse. He said that at times of crisis, you can see to the heart of the system and that the so-called free markets are not actually separated from the intervention of the state as we saw with the passing of the bail-out bill to rescue Wall Street in the Senate. He claimed that the governments of capitalist countries intervene to bail out the rich but leave the poor to suffer. Moreover, with rising rates of unemployment, thousands of home repossessions and energy and food prices going through the roof, millions of people are being pushed over the poverty line. He presented some persuasive arguments for the socialist revolution and finally urged the meeting not to sit back and watch but to resist and fight back.
Continue reading ‘Why You Should Be a Socialist’
On Monday evening, the Marxist Radical Forum in conjunction with Manchester UMSU Women’s Rights Collective - The Riveters - hosted an event ‘Sex and the Revolution’ in the Student Union to discuss whether sex work and the revolution can go hand in hand, whether prostitution is just another form of work and whether prostitution should be decriminalised or even legalised.
UMSU Women’s Officer, Jennie Killip, got the meeting underway by introducing the four speakers; Vicky, a Religions and Theology student from the Marxist Radical Forum, and other speakers from the International Union of Sex Workers and the English Collective of Prostitutes.
Continue reading ‘Sex and the Revolution’
Thousands of protesters from all over the UK descended on Manchester and gathered at All Saints Park on Saturday for the Stop the War demonstration with the aim of sending a message to the Labour Party, who are hosting their annual conference in Manchester this week.
The Stop the War Coalition marched with an aim to persuade the government to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to stop the spread of War. They urged the people to “March with us and become part of the worldwide movement for peace”.
Continue reading ‘Stop the War Demonstration’
This afternoon, some members of the Riveters (the UMSU Women’s Rights Group) dressed up as suffragettes for a women-led climate change protest. They marched to publicise the Climate Rush event being held in London in October which will present the Government with demands such as no airport expansion and no new coal –fire power stations. The small group of activists who all looked very peculiar in their suffragette costumes, walked into the Energy Question Time headed by the Minsiter of Energy, Malcolm Wickes and put their views across to panel of high profile climate change experts.
If you are a UK or EU student living in halls at the University of Manchester, you will automatically have been registered to vote in the local elections that are taking place this Thursday (1st May 2008). The ward in which you can vote depends on the hall in which you live.
If you have not been given your polling card, you can still vote without it - you just need to take proof of ID with you to the polling station. Continue reading ‘A students’ guide to the local elections’
On Tuesday afternoon hundreds of students demonstrated about the slipping standards in teaching and cut backs at Manchester University. The protest, which took over roads, holding up traffic in the Oxford Road area around the campus as angry and frustrated students marched with drumbeats, chants and a sound-system strapped on to the back of a bicycle, was organised by the grass-roots group Reclaim the Uni. The group was set up in February 2008 to express a growing dissatisfaction with the move towards a business model at universities and the effect this has had in reducing teaching hours, increasing staff cuts and the lack of resources and access to facilities available to students.
Continue reading ‘Reclaim the Uni Demonstration’
