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Political issues a step too far for OUSU?

Ian Bhullar

Keble

 

OUSU should not take a stance on political issues and go beyond its purely representative role. This is a common view that has been repeated in opposition to the motion condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza, and it is a view that is simply wrong. I exclude stances on political issues like top-up fees, which aim to improve our lot as students, but this is about students expressing views on things that do not directly affect them. This is what we do when taking issue with the University’s investment policies-a stance that is generally accepted because it relates closely to us as students. Yes, we speak out partly because it affects us, as the University uses the name of our community in support of companies with which we might disagree. But our justification is that we seek to change something bad which is happening because of this body’s actions.
In a similar vein, it is our seeking to change a horrific situation that motivates us to take a stance on Gaza: the starting point is our desire to take action on an external problem, not just the fact that it affects us personally. Issues like Gaza may not have this same direct link to us, but if we have the tools at our disposal to make the slightest difference, then perhaps we are obliged to use them.
Of course, OUSU should represent all its members’ views, and this is difficult when it is engaging in the political arena. One problem we face is of letting a minority feel threatened by the majority’s position.
To this end, especially in a partly identity-based argument like that of Gaza, we need to get facts right and accept that no motion will ever get a consensual response. Even if we think that the issue of Gaza is too complex to bring to OUSU, there are many political issues which will not cause a similar perception of alienation. In the early 1960s the NUS was a major component in the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
The capacity of the combined SUs to motivate a body of concerned citizens is extremely powerful: talk of a students-for-students policy is selfish when there are people who may benefit immeasurably by our collective speaking-out. We have at our disposal a body with the power to make people think about human rights abuses and unethical actions perpetrated by our leaders-and we have a responsibility to use it.

 

Tom Greene

Worchester


Lewis Iwu has voiced his frustration that the majority of students are ignorant of what OUSU does. Whilst some strides have been made to rectify this, OUSU will do itself no favours if it continues to persist with wasting everybody’s time by entertaining political motions. The defeat of the motion to condemn Gaza last Thursday is significant for OUSU’s wider role in student life. The idea that OUSU can act as a mouthpiece for the political opinion of the students of Oxford is absurd.
On an issue as complex as the crisis in the Middle East, a body as diverse as a university will never have a coherent opinion on the issue. If this motion had passed, it is inconceivable that it would have done so unanimously, or in reaching an anywhere near consensual status.
The motion is also practically useless. For all Iwu’s achievements as president of OUSU, solving the crisis in the Middle East will never be one. The obvious counter to this is that there still remains a moral duty to express condemnation of despicable acts-such as those in Gaza. Yet, this moral expression is not- and has never been – OUSU’s role. For instance, the reason that no motion was put forward to condemn September 11th is presumably because it would be inappropriate and high-handed. That St. John’s JCR should be able to make any progress with a problem that fifty years of international diplomacy has failed to master seems to me to be patently ridiculous. However, that judgement aside, there are a plethora of atrocities that OUSU pays no attention to and this is exactly how it should be. If it really is OUSU’s responsibility to condemn every unjust act in the world then Iwu is surely wrong to condemn our confusion on this particular controversial issue-it certainly wasn’t in his manifesto.
My belief that politics has no place in OUSU is not because of the accusation that those opposed are politically apathetic. Organisations exist in Oxford within which debates about Gaza should take place. OUSU should make sure they are not one of them. By ruling out any political aspect to their existence, they could both clarify their role and improve their image. The motion was defeated on Thursday only after 41 different votes on moves to vote; I cannot think of a more pointless way to spend an afternoon.

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