STUDENTS’ UNIONS WILL ALWAYS BE POLITICAL

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged anonymity, anti-apartheid, anti-war, BDS, boycott, class, climate change, decolonising the curriculum, democracy, featured, harassment, international students, israel, malia bouattia, marketisation, NUS, office for students, palestine, privilege, racism, social media, student activism, student history, student movement, student politics, student societies, Tories, tuition fees, UEA, UEA SU, UEA Union Council.

By Robyn Banks

Over the last few weeks, UEA Students’ Union has received a number of comments from certain students on social media, complaining about it being ‘political’ and choosing to take political actions such as organising boycotts and funding students to travel to rallies. The SU is also being accused of acting undemocratically for taking these actions. Whilst these accusations are nothing new, in these recent cases the accusers are creating an obscure binary on what the SU can and can’t be seen doing, with a particular focus on only serving certain students’ needs.

“A VERY DIFFERENT TYPE OF POLITICS” – RESPONSE TO NUS CONFERENCE DAY 1

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NUSNC17, access, anti racism, anti-sexism, attainment gap, Brighton, campaigning, deportation, direct action, far right, Free Education, HE bill, international students, Liber8 Education, liberated curriculum, liberation, malia bouattia, marketisation, migrant rights, nss, NSS Boycott, NUS, NUS conference, nus elections, NUS Trans Officer, oppression, politics, racism, Sally Hunt, sexism, Sorana Vieru, student activism, student debt, student mental health, student politics, students, suicide, trade unions, trans students, tuition fees, UCU, women's rights.

by Cherry Somersby

Content warning: Article mentions suicide.

The political transition we have seen in NUS over the last 12 months would have been unthinkable this time last year. The student movement has risen to the growing need for radical action this year, building groundbreaking, vital campaigns, presenting a powerful response to the many crises modern students face.

SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING – WHY THE NUS DISAFFILIATION ARGUMENT FAILS TO CONVINCE

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged activism, activists, alternative, Brexit, controversy, direct action, disaffiliation, EU, EU referendum, HE bill, Leave Campaign, legal support, malia bouattia, nss, NSS Boycott, NUS, nus elections, organisation, protests, referendum, rent strike, representation, Richard Brooks, rights, solidarity, student activism, student politics, student services, students, students' unions, tef, Tom Harwood, tuition fees, UCL.

by Alex Powell

Recent years, have seen a spate of referenda within students’ unions on whether they should continue their affiliation to NUS. One of the union’s most prominent critics, Tom Harwood, is running for NUS president this year. With all this going on, I feel like it’s a good time to throw my hat into the ring.

NUS WOMEN’S CONFERENCE, STUDENT DEPORTATION AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged abortion, abuse, BME, chartered flight, chennan fei, conference, deportation, disabled students campaigns, gendered islamaphobia, ghana, Hareem Ghani, kelechi, LGSM, malia bouattia, marginalisation, MFJ, migrant rights, Movement for Justice, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, NUS, nus black students, nus womens conference, organise, prevent, prevent strategy, racism, reproductive justice, self organisation, solidarity, stanstead, student, student movement, women, xenophobia, yarls wood detention centre.

by Cherry Somersby

Content warning: article mentions physical and emotional abuse, abortion, xenophobia, gendered Islamophobia, deportation

Last week, over a hundred women+ students travelled from student unions all over the country to NUS Women’s Conference to elect a new NUS Women’s Officer, and set the direction for the NUS Women’s Campaign for the incoming year. I attended conference as a delegate from UEASU, and sat down with NUS President Malia Bouattia, and NUS Women’s Officer Hareem Ghani after having won her re-election.

This article provides an account of key events at Women’s conference, including motions passed and issues raised at plenaries and workshops throughout conference. I have also published comments given by both Malia and Hareem in response to the questions I asked about NUS, Women’s Conference, and the Women’s Campaign in the context of student deportations and migrants’ rights campaigns.Continue Reading

THE NORWICH RADICAL YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community, Inter|national, Perspectives, Student and tagged #noDAPL, #readwomen, #shakespeare400, #standwithJNU, 2016, academies, Amelia Womack, articles, arts, Australia, BDS, Beyonce, biomass, black lives matter, BLM, Brazil, Brexit, canada, caroline lucas, Chris Jarvis, Colombia, comics, Community, conference, cricket, cuba, david bowie, divestment, easter rising, editorial, education, empire, Ende Gelände, energy, erik petersen, EU ref, feminism, football, fossil free, France, gender, Green Party, hate crime, HE, Heathtrow 13, housing, India, international, iraq, israel, Italy, IWD, JNU, Jonathan Bartley, journalism, Leave, LEMONADE, LGBTQIA+, malia bouattia, Marina Prentoulis, meantal health, media, mental health, migration, mischief brew, music, national, Nigeria, norfolk, Norway, norwich, Norwich Radical, NUS, owl sanctuary, Panama Papers, people and planet, Perspectives, Peter Tatchell, poetry, PokemonGO, politics, punk, queer, racism, radical, reclaim the power, refuge, refugee, refugees, Remain, representation, resist, review, round up, SAAC, sadiq khan, school, sexuality, Standing Rock, student, student movement, Syria, the gambia, the Philippines, trans, translation, UEA, UEA SU, uk, university, US, US presidential election, violence, visibility, War of Words, whitewashing, wrestlemania, writing, year in review, Zambia.

by The Norwich Radical

2016 was a bleak year for many. Across the world, the forces of liberty, of social progress, and of environmental justice lost time and again in the face of rising fascism, increased alienation, and intensifying conflict. That notwithstanding, there have been moments of light. In the Austrian Presidential election, the electorate confirmed the independently Green candidate Alexander van der Bellen; the #noDAPL water protectors gained a soft victory in early December; in fact, there is a full list of positives from the past year, if you want cheering up.

2016 saw our team expand to more than 25 writers, editors, and artists as well as host our first ever progressive media conference, War of Words. Our readership has grown from 5,000 per month to more than 6,500 per month. In total, nearly 80,000 people have read content on The Norwich Radical website this year.

In 2017, The Norwich Radical will turn three years old, with plans to grow our team and publication more than ever before. We’ll also be returning to Norwich to bring debate and discussion on the future of the media, with War of Words back for a second year. Continue Reading

BLACK STUDENTS’ CONFERENCE 2016

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NUSBlack16, aadam muse, Africans, Afro Caribbeans, black activism, black history month, black student, black student conference, blackness, BME, BSC, delegates, disabled, malia bouattia, mental health, NUS, NUS BSC, oppression, political blackness, racism, representation, safe spaces, student unions, twitter, UUEAS, working class.

by Julian Ignacio Canlas

On May 28-29^th, the Black Students Conference happened in Bradford, where black student delegates across the country congregated together in the conference hall of Bradford Hotel.

We listened to BME activists and journalists discuss about their own experience of oppression, institutional racism, and the hard, arduous path that led to Malia Bouattia’s victory as the first black female president-elect of the NUS. This included renowned journalist Gary Younge, who delved upon the progression of black activism and condemned the forms of racism existing in right and leftwing media. Younge later received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

We went through rounds of motions and amendments. We voted for our new committee members, including the Black Students Officer, now Aadam Muse. Most contentiously, we debated about political blackness and its relevancy or outdatedness within the movement’s campaign structure.Continue Reading

THE INHERENTLY RADICAL IDENTITY OF MULTICULTURALISM

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged arts, assimilation, BAME, barack obama, Beyonce, BME, daily mail, discourse, discrimination, Donald Trump, ethnic, fetish, identity, Ijeoma Umebinyuo, institutional racism, integration, Islam, israel, JayZ, Labour, malia bouattia, Mayor of London, minorities, multiulturalism, Muslims for Trump, NUS, oppression, palestine, Piers Morgan, politics, prevent, race, racism, radical, religion, sadiq khan, sensationalism, student politics, students, West, white privilege, Zac Goldsmith.

by Julian Canlas

‘You are not alive to please the aesthetic of colonized eyes’
– Ijeoma Umebinyuo

An interesting thing happens when fully-assimilated BME in the West engage in politics, whilst retaining and proudly displaying their multicultural and racial identities as minorities—they become characterised as ‘radical’ and disruptive to the everyday function of society. Here are examples of how various politicking non-white figures have been portrayed:

Prior to Sadiq Khan becoming mayor of London on May 2016, Khan suffered from smear attacks by Zac Goldsmith. Goldsmith’s attacks included ‘Sadiq Khan won’t stand up for London’s Tamil community’ and ‘his party supports a wealth tax on family jewellery,’ with the latter based upon the uncomfortable, racist assumption that this taxation is a defining political issue for South Asians. Goldsmith also branded Khan as a ‘radical,’ belonging to ‘a Labour party that thinks terrorists is its friends’.
The newly-elected first Black Muslim president of the NUS, Malia Bouattia, depicted as an ISIS supporter for having been against a 2011 motion condemning ISIS, because of its apparent wording that demonises all Muslims, despite later supporting a revised version condemning ISIS and Islamophobia. She has also been criticised as anti-Semitic despite publicly declaring her stance as anti-Zionist due to Israel’s continued violation of human rights by its continued military occupation of Palestine.

MALIA BOUATTIA – RADICALISM AND OPTIMISM

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged anti-semitism, ISIS, Islam, malia bouattia, media, Muslim, NUS, NUS conference, nus elections, nusnc16, reporting, student, student election, student politics.

by Cherry Somersby

On the 20^th April, at this year’s NUS Conference, Malia Bouattia was elected as the new president of The National Union of Students, making her the first black, female NUS president, and the first Muslim to ever hold the position. NUS has not seen an incumbent president lose their election since 1969, and this year we feared would be no exception.Continue Reading

malia bouattia

“A VERY DIFFERENT TYPE OF POLITICS” – RESPONSE TO NUS CONFERENCE DAY 1

SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING – WHY THE NUS DISAFFILIATION ARGUMENT FAILS TO CONVINCE

NUS WOMEN’S CONFERENCE, STUDENT DEPORTATION AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS

THE NORWICH RADICAL YEAR IN REVIEW 2016

BLACK STUDENTS’ CONFERENCE 2016

THE INHERENTLY RADICAL IDENTITY OF MULTICULTURALISM

MALIA BOUATTIA – RADICALISM AND OPTIMISM

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