Gaz Hughes - Review of the Presidential Year

Johnny P · Black Bloc

Anyway, this is all becoming rather infuriating. Im quite happy to start an 'i believe groups like NOLS are destroying student activism thread' and resurect all the old lefty alliance arguments against centrist / right wing factions (http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_oneill/2007/01/beware_the_young_authoritarian.htm has some interesting discussion on student activism even though the article is an appaling opinion piece by a pseudo-marxist cultist figure from a bio-tech lobby group) but my initial purpose for posting here was to inspire for an 'alternative' set of aligned candidates drawn from the ranks of people like some on this messageboard who want to end the progression of union politicos. I dont think ive suceeded, for which ill happily take responsibility, but then judging the strength of my own language (wayback at the beginning) was never a personal strength itself. My reason for believing these people exist is that there seems to me to be a general consensus that currently the manner in which the guild conducts itself is quite secretive and not very transparent ... hence not very representative, the reason(s) for this could be covered in threads like that suggested above, but the important thing for me is that i personally concentrate on this opinion that i hold and which i thought was shared by others and hence could be the basis for supporting an alternative set of candidates. That is one side of the coin, the other is that, for similar reasons, in my opinion, the guild's ability to represent the interests of students has been restricted.

So how about it, who wants another choice?
(Im sure if there was an admin my posts would have been bumped long ago as this wasnt ever really relevant to the subjecct of the thread - although an exposition of my opinion s on that matter is no longer really neccesary eh! )
_________________
"...a society that believes in nothing is particularly frightened by people who believe in anything." Bill Durodle, Director International Centre for Security Analysis, Kings College London

steven · Black Bloc

There is sort of an admin, in the sense that there is someone with the password, but I've only ever messed around with one post, and that was clearly spam.

And I'm up for another choice, obviously.

pmqs · Street Demonstrator

I think a lot of people want a change - but there are big variations in who that alternative should be. However, there will be a credible non-labour (and no party) candidate in march, who I am sure will make much discussion on these fora.

JulienP · Black Bloc

Johnny P · Black Bloc

Yeah, i meant a real alternative as well. If the opinions on the conservative future blog are anything to go by then, and it does make me feel a bit sick to say it, i would prefer gary. But this isnt mainstream politics, a credible alternative could be fielded with a chance of success e.g. last years elections.
_________________
"...a society that believes in nothing is particularly frightened by people who believe in anything." Bill Durodle, Director International Centre for Security Analysis, Kings College London

higuy · Black Bloc

JulienP · Black Bloc

Pushy Penguin · Black Bloc

I personally would think that membership of a political party /grouping may make your decisions privileged and restrict how receptive you are to ideas and hence would agree that there would be little difference between party presidents in the sense that i see them as quite closed minded and secretive. Politics basically! I would prefer an alternative to this, either an independent as president or a good group on the exec (which i actually think we have this year outside of the top 3 positions) who i would trust to pursue not only good management but also representation and outreach

As for NOLS/AWL etc i dont really know much about that, that's the kind of student politics i wish would dissapear, although i think issues such as the new latin america and israel/palestine should be dealt with as the NUS is a union and surely is therefore philosophically aligned with acting in solidarity with others struggling around the world, especially students. But then i guess the attitude against this is reflected in the NUS's move towards service provision. I would predict that if this isnt arrested we wont have a national campaigning body in a couple of years, indeed the effectiveness of the NUS seems to be diminishing all the time. Their response to the next tuition fees event will be v. interesting . This all may not be important because....

Grassroots activism rocks! It is for this reason that i have been involved in the setting up of the radical students network [rsn], a grassroots student activist network created with the purpose of supporting and connecting up radical student activism across the country. We have placed the emphasis on the fact that it is to be a network of individuals rather than a top down organisation like the factions in NUS say. We are going to have our first network meeting this term and their is an introductory session timetabled for the ENS conference in london on saturday (i know i know ENS - NUS faction...but if someone gives you access to so many people with no conditions you cant say no). There will also prob. be a fringe event at the NUS conference. The network will, for example, provide workshops, facilitate communication and provide information repositories as opposed to sitting in union bars discussing who is going to be the next NUS president! So its very much action focussed rather than anything else.

If anyone wants to start networking then just join the list at : http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/rsn

Also, see my post on ubuntu linux here, it would be good to expand this to a student tech collective!:
http://www.createphpbb.com/radish/viewtopic.php?t=750&mforum=radish

btw they have changed the url fitering since i was last year and you now dont need to bracket your url's with phpbb preprocessing language.

Pushy Penguin aka Ben Aylott (now posting URLs with the best of them)

Pushy Penguin · Black Bloc

Julien P: I agree that student issues are global, but i think this is compatible with grassroots activism. I believe bottom up organisation will facilitate less factionalism and more actual action on issues which people consider to be important. Both wheely bins and national boycotts. I think we need to revise the way we organise in the student movement, move away from the centralised bueracracy of organisations like the NUS (see above post if you agree).

higuy · Black Bloc

higuy · Black Bloc

JulienP · Black Bloc

Pushy Penguin · Black Bloc

higuy: It certainly is vacuous, mainly due to its usage in the student movement! I dont think it has anything to do with the labour party line, its just that i detect a shared ideology behind opinions and decisons, and i dont agree with it or like the fact that i think its there. Thats just what i see! Maybe i see something that isnt there, but its quite a strong conviction and i find it difficult to see it otherwise. So when i say independent i guess i mean the absence of this. I consider the top 3 good managers but not good on the other two things i mentioned, which i personally consider to be equally important.

Are you tom marley btw?

Julien P: I recognise that organisations are considered as important, but the idea of rsn is simply to network smaller organisations so they can gain similar recognition in a way which is as or more effective and joined up without the top down control. That is the advantage which i see of a network of small groups and individuals over a large organisation. Ideally i would have the nus this way, but it just seems like such a lumbering buerecratic monster that i think we should create the alternative and hope that it inspires change in other places. The NUS is worth saving only as a brand in my opinion, we can achiece much more without it.

higuy · Black Bloc

Pushy Penguin · Black Bloc

But i have!!! Im ben aylott! That is how i knew you were tom marley. You should go and check out 'pushy penguins proposal' thread for confirmation!