UMSU Activist

It was our generation that marched out of the schools to oppose this war when it started. Our generation is being asked by the military recruiters at campuses up and down the country to pay the blood price for Tony Blair’s decisions. The military propaganda tells you that a life in the army is one were you learn a skill, pay off your education debts and have exciting experiences around the world.

Horrific Reality

The reality is different. There are 273 families in the UK today, who mourn at the graves of their sons and daughters. There are thousands more, who have lost their limbs. Who will never walk or see again. The military propaganda doesn’t remind potential recruits about this - it just tells you how exciting it is to parachute out of plane. They don’t remind you that you might have to shoot at a family, or press a button to drop a bomb on a village - but millions of Iraqis and Afghans know the other side of military recruitment.

Military recruitment is about selling a lie to young men and women, the campaign by Military Families Against the War shows that after 5 years of conflict many serving soldiers no longer want to pay the ultimate price for Bush and Blair’s lies.

We are constantly told there is no money for education. The longer this war continues, the longer the military is fed the young men and women of our university, the longer they will be able to pour precious money into the war: money that should be spent on Universities, hospitals and schools.

Motion 3 at Wednesday’s General Meeting is part of a national campaign initiated by the Stop the War Coalition, to stop military recruiters from using the resources of our Students’ Unions to seduce young people into war. The Students’ Union is our organisation, its buildings are our buildings and its resources are our resources. This motion is aimed at stopping our Union being used as a base for military recruiters. The motion does not call for the various military clubs - such as the Officers Training Corps - to be shut down, but does call for them to be banned from using Students’ Union facilities. This already happens in practice, and is based on annually renewed Union Executive decisions. We believe that as a democratic organisation, this Union should be used to both promote peace and to protect our members from exploitation.

Opposition to War and the recruitment crisis

The illegal and murderous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are overwhelmingly opposed by the British public. The vast majority of people can see that the occupations are destroying both countries, and they can also see that young people are being killed for nothing but the vulgar projection of military power.

The massive opposition to War has created a recruitment and credibility crisis for the military, and it has tried to fill the gap by targeting the young and the underprivileged. The Army’s website gushes “How would you like to learn vital life skills, face exciting challenges and make loads of new friends - while being paid for the privilege?”, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Army recruits people to fight, die and kill in massively unpopular wars. Military recruitment often targets people who are less well off and this includes students; as education costs and student debt rises, the military plays up its scholarship schemes that offer the prospect of a bursary and employment.

Propaganda, Lies and protecting our soldiers

However, it is not only for the policy of targeting the less well-off that we should oppose military recruitment. The attempts to glamourize Army life – the beer’s cheap, the friendship’s good and you get to play at being Action Man – actually mask the true horror of war. Many soldiers and soldier’s families have spoken out against the treatment of soldiers in the MoD, the terrible effects that service has had on them and the complete lack of care they receive after service. At the heart of the Army’s crisis is the fact that thousands of soldiers have left the Army since the start of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a statistic that should show just how deceitful their recruitment propaganda is.

Part of the biggest mass movement in British history

By banning military recruitment in our Union we are sending a clear message that Manchester students do not give political or material support to the illegal Wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. By passing this policy we show that we reject both the lies and deceit of this Labour Government that took us to war, and those of the military recruiters who bribe young people to fight and die for them. The overwhelming majority of people want the troops brought home now and this campaign is an important part of making that happen. We urge you to support Motion 3 and to call for an end to this War and an end to military recruitment on campus.

For more information check out:
UMSU Activist
Stop the War Coalition
Military Families Against the War

Ex-SAS soldier Ben Griffin speaks about his experiences


George Solomou speaks

Debate on Military recruitment at Stop the War AGM

Since the introduction of tuition fess in 1998, and top fees in 2003, we have seen increased student hardship and debt. Many people are put off university altogether while those who do enrol are forced to work long hours to pay for education, accomodation and food. What’s more, the standard of education they receive is also compromised and devalued in this system.

Fees turn universities into businesses, selling their commodity (education) to their customers (students). A business always asks itself two questions. The first is “How cheaply can we produce our commodity without losing customers?” This is why our contact hours are cut, why staff are pressured to prioritise lucrative research over teaching, why teaching is shiften online, why halls are sold off, and so on.

The second question businesses ask themselves is “How much can we charge without losing customers?” That is why the Labour-dominated NUS is selling us short when they refuse to fight for a Free Education, thus accepting fees, and campaign instead against increased fees. We cannot accept fees because that would mean accepting that we are just customers, that universities are businesses and education is a commodity: from that position it is difficult to deny them the “right” to lift the cap and charge whatever they like.

On Thursday we marched with lecturers and teachers as they strike against attacks on our education. The General Meeting on Wednesday will be your chance to tell the world that Manchester students believe in a Free Education. Another Education Is Possible and together we can make it reality.

Tom Skinner

UMSU General Secretary

“How would you like to learn vital life skills, face exciting challenges and make loads of new friends - while being paid for the privilege?” This is how the Army advertise life in the military. Adverts glamorise Army life as a way to go and see the world and have a pint with your friends on a Friday night.

It completely ignores the fact that young people are being recurited to fight and die in massively unpopular wars. The British military, under this Labour government, has occupied Afghanistan since 2001 and Iraq since 2003, and has seen hundreds of British soldiers killed (not to mention the millions of ordinary Iraqis and Afghanis). The UN has called Iraq “the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.” The deepening crisis in the Middle East and the strength of the opposition to the illegal Occupations at home has meant that the military have found it much harder to recruit. As the military face credibility and recruitment crises, they have turned to targeting students much more heavily.

The MoD has been producing lesson plans for children at school and offers grants and scholarships to students in both Further and Higher Education. Disgustingly, the military targets people who may have economic difficulties in carrying on their education with the prospect of well paid employment, while neglecting to mention the harsh realities of military life and the wars they will be fighting. They should have no place on our campus.

About half of all British Army Officers are recruited on university campuses, and denying them access to our campuses is an effective tool in countering military recruitment. Anti-recruitment campaigns should be used as part of the wider effort to end the Occupations in the Middle East, where the military’s role has been disastorous, and is opposed internationally, including by students.

We should not allow our Union’s resources to be used to encourage students to join the military or facilitate military recruitment campaigns. By banning military recruitment on our campus we send out the clear message that we do not give political or material support to the murderous Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by the British military. The military of any country should not be allowed to have a presence at our Fresher’s Fair, any other Union sponsored activities, on our Union premises or in our media.

We call for the troops to be brought home now and banning the military from our campus is part of the fight to achieve this.

Sundara Jerome

Stop the War activist

On Tuesday over 200 people faced down police and made a circuit of our campus before finishing with the occupation of the Arthur Lewis building. The event, organised by the Reclaim the Uni group, was designed to show the University just how we students feel about the direction Manchester is taking. In a University that is fast becoming a business, where students are being downgraded to distant customers and where lecturers are forced to do more and more research for the sake of profit, the demonstration and temporary occupation offered a different vision of education: one where students and lecturers can join together in a democratically controlled, socially useful institution that is open to all – one that benefits the whole of society.

Once inside, a mass meeting of students debated and decided on a set of demands to issue to the University (printed at the end of this report). The demands encompass a wide-range of concerns that students at Manchester have with regards to our University and the direction of education generally. They include demands for more face-to-face teaching and pastoral care, alongside a commitment to divesting from the Arms Trade and for a Free Education.

At the mass meeting, SWSS members and others argued that we should collectively stay in the building until we had a public commitment from the University to meet our demands – with so many students finally taking control of their education and their Uni, we could have acted as a beacon of resistance for the majority of students across the country who share our vision that Another Education Is Possible. An Occupation at Manchester should have been the spark for actions on campuses across the country that could challenge right-wing Vice-Chancellors like Gilbert and build the national movement that we need to force the government to change its education policies. An ongoing Occupation would have undoubtedly allowed many more students to get involved with the action over the following days, it would have made the national press, it could have been the catalyst for a French or Greek style student movement and it would certainly have forced the University to immediately take notice of our demands. Unfortunately, the disempowering and tightly controlled debate meant that many students drifted off home and a real occupation never materialised.

We have, however, put down a marker. On the 15th October we occupied the Martin Harris centre during the University’s Foundation lecture and on the 22nd April we gave Arthur Lewis the same treatment. The movement against the commercialisation of our Universities – demanding an Education for People not Profit – is going from strength to strength in Manchester: this is our chance to drive home our victories here and to build a movement in campuses across the country. Another Education Is Possible!

Andy Cunningham
Manchester SWSS

Our group is entirely new on campus. It aims to be an organisation that brings together those of us who oppose society’s status quo and believe that students should work towards a better world. It has become clear in these times - which are full of challenges for our generation - a strong leftwing grouping that works collectively is long overdue…

Our manifesto consists of five points and anyone who agrees to these can join in and participate:

1) Opposing the ‘War on Terror’: No to war, occupation and draconian laws!

2)Education Not Profit: Lets put forward another vision of education - socialised and free!

3) Campaigning against Climate Change and environmental destruction: the environment must come before profit!

4) Opposing all forms of oppression: no to racism, Islamophobia, sexism and homophobia!

5) Building a democratic and campaigning Union: we need a Union that doesn’t shy away from hard topics and fighting for our rights!

I invite everyone who reads this to join in and help us make a better world - the struggle begins here and your contribution is certainly needed! Finally, I wish to remind you that we’ve come to a point in history where we’ll either change things radically or face severe consequences. So let’s do it!

Alex Castro

UMSU Communications Officer

UMSU International Students Officer elect

email: umsuleft@gmail.com