Blog of an anti-racist progressive on the NUS National Executive

The forthcoming NUS Black Students Conference is a great opportunity
for Black students around the country to have a say in the policy and
direction of our campaign.  It is inspiring to come together and
debate where we want our movement to go.

I’m proposing the following motions to go to the conference – please
feel free to submit them through your students union – the deadline is
tomorrow 12 noon.  Please contact me if you need any further
information if you would like to do this aaron.kiely@nus.org.uk

1. No to Racist Scapegoating: Blame the Bankers Not the Burka!

Conference believes:
1. As Salma Yaqoob rightly points out: “racism is a weapon of mass distraction.”
2. Amidst rising anger at Tory economic policies of slash and burn,
politicians are seeking to divide and rule the 99% by scapegoating
Black communities, Muslims, immigrants and asylum seekers for the
economic crisis caused by bankers and government ‘austerity’ policies.
3. Tory PM David Cameron has led the charge against Black and migrant
communities with high profile attacks on multiculturalism and
immigration. Cameron wants to confuse and distract ordinary people
from the real causes of rising unemployment, deteriorating public
services and falling living standards to weaken opposition to his
government and its cuts agenda.
4. If the Tories’ succeed in scapegoating Black communities the
movement against the cuts will be divided.

Conference further believes:
1. Islamophobia is on the rise in Britain and across Europe.
2. In France women have been banned from wearing the Burka. Such
restrictions on women’s right to choose to wear religious dress or
religious symbols are an attack on women’s rights, and freedom of
expression. Such restrictions are opposed by: the NUS Women’s
Campaign, faith groups, feminists, trade unionists, and senior
politicians from all mainstream political parties.
3. From the daily demonisation in the media, to violent attacks on
mosques, shops and communities, the intensity of Islamophobia in
British society should cause a national outcry. Instead mainstream
politicians have created a climate where this is acceptable.
4. It is a disgrace that the police do not record Islamophobic hate
crime on a national level, like other hate crimes are.

Conference resolves to:
1. Campaign against the government’s divide and rule agenda: blame the
bankers not the Burka!
2. Work with the anti-cuts movement to oppose scapegoating of our communities.
3. Oppose attacks on civil liberties, cultural and religious freedoms.
4. Work with FOSIS to ensure our campuses have adequate Prayer room
facilities for Muslim students around the country.
5. Join the NUS Women’s Campaign in writing an open letter to the
French Embassy expressing disgust at the ban on Muslim women’s rights
to wear the veil.

Word count: 348 words

2. Operation Black Student Representation – For a Black Students’
Officer in Every Union

Conference believes:
1. One in five students are Black yet we are grossly under-represented
in students’ union decision-making bodies.
2. The work of the NUS Black Students’ Campaign has been vital in
defending and extending Black representation within our colleges and
universities.
3. Guaranteed Black representation in Students’ Unions, including
Black Students’ Officers elected by and accountable to Black students,
is crucial to our fight for equality and in overcoming the racism and
discrimination that blights our lives.

Conference further believes:
1. The NUS Black Students’ Winter Conference and the campaign for a
Black Students’ Officer in Every Union are inspiring initiatives that
have successful engaged hundreds of students in our fight for
increased Black representation at every level of the student movement
with brilliant success.
2. We should continue to develop new and innovative ways to build on
our successes and take our fight for Black representation to the next
level.

Conference resolves to:
1. To roll out a new national initiative called ‘Operation Black
Student Representation’ with the goal of getting the as many Black
students as possible to run and win elected positions in their
Students’ Unions. The initiative will include:
a)      A toolkit for Black student activists on how to run and win in SU
elections to be launched at the NUS Black Students’ Winter Conference
2012.
b)      Regional training days before SU election season to involve advice
on what makes a great manifesto; how to build support amongst all
sections of the student body; developing relationships with
influential student societies; top tips for the campaign trail; public
speaking workshops; and inspirational talks from Black students that
have become Student Union Officers themselves.
c)      A national ‘Operation Black Students’ Representation Task Force’
which will be responsible for giving case-by-case advice to Black
students running in SU elections and going to campuses across the
country to help Black students campaign on the ground in their
elections.
2. To continue to prioritise the campaign for a Black Students’
Officer in Every Union – providing briefings, model motions, practical
advice and more.
Word Count: 342 words

3. Education is our passport to the future – Let’s fight for it:
National Student Demo 2012

Conference notes:
1. Malcolm X said “education is our passport to the future, for
tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”

Conference believes:
1. A government led by white Tory millionaires are trying to take away
Black students’ passports to the future.
2. Mortgage sized student debt, soaring tuition fees, the slashing of
EMA and cuts to higher and further education, taken together are a
recipe for destroying the hopes and dreams of millions of young Black
people.
3. Government figures released in March 2012 reveal that more than
half of young black men available for work in Britain are unemployed.

Conference further believes:
1. The fight for our future – for an end to student debt, poverty,
mass unemployment and cuts – is not over.
2. The student movement must resist the Tories’ ongoing attacks. If we
give up now we will simply give the government a green light to attack
us even more.
3. The NUS must play a leading role in the fight-back and organise a
first term national demonstration against student debt, cuts, fees and
privatisation. The NUS has a responsibility to actively defend its
members and future members against the government’s vicious attacks.
4. If the NUS fail to lead the fight-back the NUS Black Students’
Campaign must unite with other Liberation campaigns, Students’ Unions
and anti-cuts groups to organise a national demonstration in the first
term of 2012/13 instead.

Conference resolves:
1. To not give up the fight to defend students and education: the
Tories’ will not take away our passports to the future.
2. To prioritise mobilising Black students to the NUS demonstration
autumn 2012, working alongside sections of NUS, Students’ Unions and
anti-cuts groups on campuses (if NUS National Conference votes for a
national demo).
3. If NUS fails to call this national demo, the NUS Black Students
Campaign will work with all other Liberation Campaigns, anti-cuts
groups and students’ unions committed to fighting back against the
government’s assault on education, and organise a national demo with
these groups in the autumn of 2012 instead.

Word Count: 344

4. Justice for Palestine

Conference notes:
1. South African anti-Apartheid activist Desmond Tutu said: “If you
are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of
the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and
you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your
neutrality.”
2. The British Prime Minister David Cameron stated that the “people in
Gaza are living under constant attacks and pressure in an open-air
prison” in July 2010.
3. Leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband said in September 2010: “The
Gaza blockade must be lifted and we must strain every sinew to work to
make that happen”.
4. The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office states that Israel’s
ongoing settlement expansions are “not only illegal under
international law” but also “a major barrier to our pursuit of a
lasting peace agreement in the Middle East”.
5. The Trade Union Congress and many individual Trade Unions have
taken the decision to actively campaign for a end to Israel’s illegal
occupation and for an end to the siege of Gaza.
6. NUS is encouraging Students’ Union to boycott two companies that
are directly involved in maintaining the illegal occupation of
Palestine: Eden Springs and Veolia.

Conference believes:
1. International law, including UN resolutions should be fully applied
and the human rights of all should be equally respected.
2. All forms of racism, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, are
completely unacceptable and should be opposed.
3. Whilst NUS has made some positive steps forward, it is a disgrace
that the NUS NEC recently voted down a motion calling upon NUS to
oppose the illegal occupation of Palestine and siege of Gaza.

Conference resolves:
1. To reaffirm our opposition to the illegal occupation of Palestine
in line with UN resolutions and to call for an end to the siege on
Gaza and call upon NUS follow our lead.
2. To mark ‘International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People’ which is called by the UN by publishing a statement on our
section of the NUS website calling for the full implementation of UN
resolutions.

Word count: 350

 5. Support FE students – Bring Back EMA
Conference believes:
1. The majority of Black students study in Further Education
2. Further education provides a gateway to greater participation in
higher education and to better opportunities in employment.
3. The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was an invaluable
resource which encouraged greater participation in education for
low-income students. Its removal has seen a drop in the poorest
students from 49% of colleges.
4. The NUS Black Students Campaign has played an invaluable role in
providing free or subsidised events in order to encourage
participation from FE students.

Conference resolves:
1. To ensure optimum participation of FE students by continuing to
provide subsidised places for FE students at NUS Black Students
Campaign.
2. To campaign for the reinstatement of the Educational Maintenance
Allowance, working with Save EMA and UCU.
3. To work with the FE representatives on the NUS Black Students
Committee to ensure the work of our campaign is fully inclusive of FE
students’ needs.
4. Oppose government proposals to charge fees in Further education – a measure that will only cause further disadvantage to FE students and price students out of education
5. Work with the NUS LGBT, Womens and Disabled students campaigns to build on the ‘Liberation in FE’ initiative to ensure liberation campaigns have a high profile for the student they represent in FE.

Word Count: 218

6. Fight inequality everywhere – liberation for all!

Conference believes:
1. Martin Luther King correctly recognised that “injustice anywhere is
a threat to justice everywhere”.
2. The student movement must always empower Women, Disabled, Black and
LGBT students to self—organise and fight oppression.
3. Oppressed communities are facing consistent vilification by the
media and many politicians who privilege from such continued
injustice.

Conference further believes:
1. Women are under attack by the Tory-led government that cuts
essential services, are facing attacks on a Woman’s right to choose
and face pay inequality, objectification and ultimately violence.
2. Disabled people are seeing vital support services cut, such as
benefits, access to healthcare, workfare schemes and a society that
excludes Disabled people through inaccessibility and forced
invisibility.
3. LGBT communities are witnessing funding cuts to health services,
violence against LGBT communities is on the rise and an education
funding system that relies on parental support often stops students
from coming out.

Conference resolves:
1. To always champion the autonomous self-organisation of all
oppressed communities.
2. To strengthen and enhance our work with the NUS LGBT Campaign, NUS
Disabled Students’ Campaign and the NUS Women’s Campaign.
3. To ensure that the Black Students’ Campaign is always present at
the other NUS Liberation Conferences.
4. To host specific initiatives and events to support, inspire and
involve Black Women, Disabled and LGBT students.

Word count: 220 words

7. No Justice No Peace

Conference Believes:
1. Institutional racism continues to impact on the life chances of the
Black community.
2. It took 18 years for the Lawrence family to receive some justice
following the racist murder of their son Stephen.  Unfortunately,
there are many other families who continue to campaign for justice
following racist attacks not dealt with properly by the police.
3. Our campaign has been at the forefront of working with campaigns
for justice.  The full time position of Black Students Officer was
created as our contribution to challenging racism in education.
4. There have been over 300 deaths in custody in the last 15 years,
with not one police officer conviction.  The deaths of Smiley Culture,
Mikey Powell and Sean Rigg in recent years are amongst the victims.
5. Stop and Search continues to disproportionately impact on Black
communities; Asian people are 42 times more likely to be stopped and
searched than their white counterparts under counter-terror laws, and
African Caribbean people are 27 times more likely to be stopped and
searched.
6. The last decade we have seen the removal of ‘stop and account’
forms for the police, the dismantling of the Commission for racial
equality and the Lawrence Report Steering group being disbanded.
7. The deaths of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old African American
unarmed man who was shot dead after he was reported to be ‘black’ and
‘wearing a hoody’, and Shaima Alawadi, a Muslim woman who wore hijab,
shows that even when a Black president is elected in the US, wearing a
hoody or hijab diminishes the life chances of members of the Black
community.

Conference resolves:
1. Work with Justice for Smiley Culture, The Sean Rigg Justice and
Change Campaign, The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and family
campaigns fighting for justice against institutional racism.
2. To work with Stopwatch and the Black Police Association to ensure
Black students know their rights on stop and search.
3. Support the Defend the Right to Protest campaign to stand up for
students who have been wrongly arrested and imprisoned.

Word count: 342

8. All Black Communities Uniting Against the English Defence League

Conference believes:
1. The English Defence League (EDL) has been organising violent,
racist demonstrations in towns and cities across England.
2. The EDL wants to divide multicultural Britain. Their goal is to
stir up racism, Islamophobia and hatred of Muslims and other Black
communities.
3. The EDL have strong links with fascism. EDL leader ‘Tommy Robinson’
is a former member of the fascist British National Party (BNP).
4. EDL supporters have frequently been photographed giving Hitler’s
‘sieg heil’ salute.
5. The EDL have a devastating record of violence and intimidation.
They have been filmed chanting ‘Burn a mosque down’; arson and other
physical attacks on mosques and community centres have been committed
in areas where the EDL is active.
6. In Stoke-on-Trent and Dudley EDL supporters rampaged through the
town – attacking Black people, smashing windows, homes, shops, cars
and mosques.
7. In Wales and Scotland we have seen a similar phenomenon with the
Welsh and Scottish Defence Leagues also mobilising.

Conference further believes:
1. The EDL are a danger to us all. Increasingly EDL violence is aimed
at not only Muslims but also other traditional targets of fascism
including: attacking trade union demonstrations, anti-racist and
anti-cuts protesters as well as all Black communities.
2. Mosques are not the only places of worship that have been targeted.
In one instance a Hindu temple was attacked.
3. Jewish, Sikh and Hindu organisations have all spoken out publicly
to condemn the EDL and have refused to be used by the racists and
fascists.
4. All Black communities, Jewish people, women, LGBT, disabled and
anti-racists must unite together to oppose the division and hatred of
the fascist EDL.

Conference resolves:
1. Commend the work of Sikhs Against the EDL, Unite Against Fascism
and Love Music Hate Racism for consistently defending communities
under attack from violent, racist EDL mobilisations.
2. Continue to mobilise Black students to defend communities against
the EDL alongside Unite Against Fascism and others.
3. Call for the EDL to be banned from marching in multicultural areas:
fascists must not be allowed to physically attack and intimidate our
communities.

Word Count: 347