Rabid Rumours

V · Indymedia Hound

An occasional column featuring outrageous tittle-tattle and sundry gossip from The Radish, Redbrick and around campus.

Spinning in his grave

Withdrawn as a matter of honour.

So Damn Insane

Under the leadership of David Cameron the Conservative Party has begun a rigorous modernisation program. No surprise then that the University of Birmingham’s own Cameroons (aka Conservative Future) have started a blog. Unfortunately these young guns seem determined to shock most Tories into an early grave, they think Saddam Hussein shouldn’t be executed. Quite how the Cameroons are going to win over the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and The Sun with this kind of weak liberalism is beyond comprehension. Perhaps someone should ring Conservative Central Office and tell them to whip the young guns into line?

It’s all a far cry from the days when the Young Conservatives called for the hanging of that well known terrorist Nelson Mandela. Perhaps one day the Tories will call for the right person to executed, but don’t hold your breath.

(S)hell

Visit the BUGS website this week at you’ll be greeted by a banner inviting students to sign up for a pleasant chat about career opportunities with multinational oil giant Shell. But how many students are being told about Shell’s appalling human rights record, especially in resource rich Nigeria?

Back in 1995 the Nigerian military government executed 9 people after a show trial, including the award winning novelist Ken Saro-Wiwa, for organising peaceful protests against Shell activities in the Niger Delta. Officially Shell called for clemency, but a 2001 Greenpeace report revealed that:

‘Two witnesses that accused them later admitted that Shell and the military had bribed them with promises of money and jobs at Shell. Shell admitted having given money to the Nigerian military...’

Shell Nigeria subsequently promised to clean up their act, but according to a 2004 BBC report Shell admits indirectly fuelling corruption in Nigeria. Does such ancient history bother our sabbatical team? Perhaps. Hell, maybe the sabbs think the Shell presentation will include a little talk on the life a Ken Saro-Wiwa, after all this is a terribly sceptical blog.

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s last public statement before he was hanged noted the following:

‘I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief.

The Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that the Company has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the Company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.’

Apparently Shell will be punished by receiving free publicity on the piss poor BUGS website. Another brave step forward in the fight for human rights.

[I can't be bothered to include the urls that should be in this post. If you want to see them visit the blog. And will someone get my G&T? - Ed]
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www.dorothyhell.blogspot.com

steven · Black Bloc

Genius, as always.

JulienP · Black Bloc

V's a legend!
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Big Brother is watching YOU!

scruffy · Black Bloc

I don't suppose you've checked/raised this issue with your Executive Officers/Guild Councillors/anybody that could make the change you want?

Is that an over ambitious thought?
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"the hardest thing to do in politics is nothing"
President of the Guild of Students

Teapotboy · Black Bloc

This is the most stupidest thing about the Radish - without it people would have written to you and you could have had that banner removed in under an hour...

steven · Black Bloc

He probably thought he'd be ignored if he brought it up with the Guild. He's only a student after all.

Teapotboy · Black Bloc

That's an inane thing to say which leaves you looking like an idiot. How can you say that they are ignoring you if you can't even be arsed to send an email? f**k Radishers, more interested in feeling oppressed than changing things.

gorky · Black Bloc

Will Teapotboy or scruffy address the issue at hand? So V raised the point on a public forum not in a letter or an e-mail. Big deal, it reached scruffy almost immediately anyway. Does it matter if you raise an issue through a letter to a newspaper or a letter to your MP or through a local newsreport so long as it is discussed?

What do Teapotboy and scruffy think about the Shell ad itself? Why was it there in the first place? Why is it still there if, as scruffy's post seems to hint, he wouldn't mind it being changed?
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“But you are a thin-blooded lot! Ere you have grown up you are already overgrown and withered. You live like an old radish." - Maxim Gorky, The Man Who Was Afraid, Chapter 10.

Teapotboy · Black Bloc

It will be gone by sundown tomorrow if scruffy has any moral fibre.

JulienP · Black Bloc

scruffy · Black Bloc

Teapotboy · Black Bloc

Yeah but you know who I am, I'm a student, I say the banner goes. End of.

JulienP · Black Bloc

steven · Black Bloc

I apologise for the 'ignoring' comment, I was having one of my cynical moments. I was going to write a motion about Shell, but didn't get round to it in time for the deadline, and submitting it as an emergency motion never occured to me (it's not really an emergency, after all).

scruffy · Black Bloc