Monday 4th August 2025
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Greed is nothing new in football

Ciara Garcha
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Greed is nothing new in football

News of a proposed European Super League, including the so-called ‘big six’ English Premier League teams, broke on Sunday to much shock and dismay within the football and sporting world. But, almost as quickly and suddenly as this news broke, all six English teams involved confirmed that they were pulling out of the Super League after sustained fan pressure and a grassroots campaign against the proposals.

The European Super League would have involved a selection of 20 elite men’s football teams (12 of which were publicly confirmed) competing in a season long European league competition, as opposed to the existing knock-out UEFA Champions League. Crucially, the founding 15 clubs would not have had to qualify for the Super League through domestic footballing leagues, as they do with the Champions League. Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and more were among the teams who had put their names to the Super League proposal, launching a wave of criticism and claims that the spirit of the game has been lost. Though many of the teams implicated have listened to these claims, the reality is that the spirit of football was lost long ago. The elitist and greed-driven plans for the European Super League shouldn’t surprise us.

Speaking a few hours after the news broke on Sunday 18th April, former Manchester United defender and Sky Sports pundit, Gary Neville, claimed he was “absolutely disgusted”, particularly with Manchester United and Liverpool for betraying their working class roots. In making these comments, Neville drew on the long tradition of football as ‘the people’s game’ – a game created by and for the working classes. A number of northern industrial towns were the sites of the first football teams that would later grow into Premier League giants and billion-pound conglomerates. Sheffield FC, recognised as the world’s oldest football club, was founded in 1857 by a group of men who sought to formalise the “kickabouts” that had been enjoyed by a number of locals. As Neville discussed, his own team, Manchester United, was “born out of workers”. Originally founded as Newton Heath, the club was established by railway workers in Lancashire in 1878, acting as a sort of workers club that used football to create a community. Most Premier League teams have a similar heritage centred on working class solidarity and community. And yet, in today’s game, these working class legacies have been lost.

Neville went on to criticise the teams who had joined the Super League as motivated by “pure greed”. However, it seems fair to say that greed is now embedded within every area of the modern game, from transfer fees and sponsorship deals to ticket pricing and broadcast rights. Greed has driven the profit and money involved in football to quite unbelievable heights and has corrupted what was once – but is no longer – the people’s game.

The inflation of transfer fees is just one example of such greed, which can clearly be observed through glancing back over the past few decades. Back in 1979, Trevor Francis became the first million pound transfer in English footballing history when he joined Birmingham City from Nottingham Forrest. Just weeks before, the record transfer fee had already been broken, when David Mills signed for West Bromwich Albion from Middlesbrough for £500,000. Francis’ signing smashed that record only a short while later, marking a turning point in football history. The current record signing now dramatically overshadows the £1 million paid for Francis. The most expensive player bought by a Premier League team, Paul Pogba, came to Manchester United for 89 times what Birmingham City paid for Francis, and across European football, the record for the most expensive signing is held by Neymar Jr., who joined Paris Saint Germain for €222 million.

Competition to sign players for record fees and world-firsts overshadows the fact that the game is becoming increasingly inaccessible to a number of fans. With clubs raking in ever more money through transfer fees, shirt sales and sponsorship deals, ticket prices do not seem to be decreasing. Rather, the opposite is happening. To take just one example of ticket prices, The Football Supporters Association, FSA, highlights “the acceleration in the rise in ticket prices well beyond the rate of inflation” which has meant that game has become “unaffordable to large swathes of its traditional fan base”. One Liverpool fan group estimated in 2013 that ticket prices had increased by an astonishing 716% since 1989. Similar patterns can be observed across the ticket prices of other clubs, and there is evidence that younger fans, especially, are being priced out of watching the game. So, even as clubs are splurging plainly ridiculous fees to sign and pay their players, fans have been forgotten and left behind, expected to meet ever more costly demands.

Serious and distressing concerns have also been raised around the source of money being mined into Premier League and European football clubs. Manchester City is, for example, currently owned by Sheikh Mansour, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, UAE, a state which Human Rights organisation Amnesty International describes as continuing to “restrict freedom of expression”, conducting “unfair trials” and failing to change laws which made “women…unequal with men”. More recently, during the latest international break, the German, Norwegian and Netherlands national men’s teams took a stand against the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The upcoming contest has been shrouded in distressing reports of human rights violations, exploitation and maltreatment of workers involved in constructing stadiums. Concerns over forced labour, appalling living, working conditions and exploitation have been voiced for several years and yet, as it stands the World Cup in 2022 is going ahead. Games will be played in the same stadiums where migrant workers died and footballing authorities will enrich themselves off of the suffering and abuse of others. What is more, last year’s UEFA Champion’s League finalists Paris Saint Germain are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a state-owned shareholding organisation dominated by the rulers of Qatar. This makes PSG, along with Manchester City, the only two state-owned clubs in the world, both of whom are funded and owned by states with poor records on Human Rights. Such concerns (which go well-beyond just Manchester City and PSG), coupled with the mostly tacit acceptance of the Qatar World Cup, paint a fairly terrifying picture of the state of modern football. Human Rights should not be a price we have to pay for football: they are non-negotiable. Football has become complicit in Human Rights abuse. That horrifying truth shows how far the game and its original values have been distorted. 

Football clubs are no longer what they were established for. They are businesses and are not governed in the interests of the fans and of the game. Some of these businesses are complicit in awful crimes and violations across the world. Guided by profit, gain and greed, clubs act as capitalist corporations; football itself has become a secondary concern. Banners reading: ‘Created by the poor, Stolen by the rich’ were unveiled at EPL stadiums across England in protest of the plans for the Super League. This aptly captures what has happened to the game since its inception: football has been gentrified. It has been appropriated by the elite and commercialised to the point that fans, who football teams were originally set up by and for, have been left behind.

Bright green and gold scarves became the emblem of angered Manchester United fans who sought to reject the takeover of the club by the Glazer family. In purchasing the club, Malcolm Glazer unloaded £525 million of debt on the club (and the club has remained in debt since the takeover, accumulating an extra £140 million of debt in the single financial year between 2018-19). This garnered criticism for the manner in which the club has been run for personal profit and with little regard for the game. Green and gold, as the colours worn by Manchester United’s ancestor club, Newton Heath, represented the opposition of the fan base to the take over and a desire to return the club to the fans, as Newton Heath had been. The breakaway club FC United of Manchester was established to do just that, spawned in the aftermath of the Glazer takeover for Manchester United fans disillusioned by the commercialisation of football. It claims to provide “authentic, supporter-owned, community-focused football for supporters who are tired of modern football’s constant pursuit of further riches at the expense of…the fans”. Such statements clearly carry the spirit of the founding football teams and the workers who came together to carry Newton Heath, centering on community and the fans having a stake in the game.

German clubs also provide an admirable model of how the game can stay within the grasp and control of the fans. The so-called 50+1 model dictates that fans must have a 51% stake in football clubs and thus majority of voting rights and decision-making powers. The Bundesliga website explains that “this means that private investors cannot take over clubs and…prioritise profit over the wishes of supporters”. German teams were historically “not-for-profit organisations run by members associations”, given that German law forbade ownership by private organisations up until 1998. The rule has been credited with the stable and relatively affordable price of most Bundesliga tickets and keeping German clubs out of the high levels of debt that have smothered other European teams. In keeping clubs firmly in the control of fans, German teams have managed to resist the profit-driven capitalist takeovers to which English clubs have fallen prey.

The 50+1 model has been praised around the world for ensuring the sustainability and democratic ownership of football clubs and touted as a system that offers fans far more control over the game than any other place in the world. A future in which this model was adopted in England seems more remote than ever, but it is equally clear that football clubs cannot be left in the hands of greedy and unrestrained capitalists. Listening to fans involves bringing them directly into decision-making and the governance of the club, ensuring that football stays relevant and true to its roots. The German 50+1 model could be a way of effectively protecting it from the spiralling corruption increasingly engulfing the game.

Effective controls on the increasingly ridiculous levels of spending that have come to characterise the modern game are also severely lacking. UEFA Financial Fair Play rules have shown themselves to be flimsy and ineffective – indeed, one may validly question the extent to which this really promotes ‘fair play’ and a ‘fair’ level of spending given that clubs are still permitted to spend hundreds of millions, up to €5 million over their earnings. Football exists in a very unusual and yet unique echo chamber, whereby money and monetary values seem to bounce around until they increase to ludicrous levels. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and downturn, money in football seems unaffected and continues to reach ridiculous heights, underpinned – always – by greed.

If human rights and human lives can be sacrificed supposedly in the name of football, something has gone seriously wrong and the game has been warped. If the supporters who built the clubs and continue to provide their life source count for nothing, a serious reconsideration of the way football is run is desperately needed.

Greed has sadly become an integral part of the modern game, woven into its very fabric. The European Super League is an attack on football. But the groundwork for it was laid a long time ago. Football needs to heal; dismantling the Super League will not be enough to undo the corruption that has become embedded in the game. It will take more than just defeating these proposals for the game to truly heal. Decision-making needs to be more transparent, the football echo chamber needs to be smashed and the game must be returned to the fans.

Fighting the Super League was just the tip of the iceberg. The reality is, that with spiralling ticket prices, rocketing transfer fees and profit-oriented governance, the game has not belonged to the fans for some time. The Super League was merely the latest iteration of greed-driven corporate capitalist interests attempting to corrupt the game. But the principles behind the campaign against it still apply and should live on. Football fans should not wait for the next European Super League-style proposal; they should demand action and ownership of their clubs now.

Magdalen College reopens to tourists despite delayed student returns

Hope Philpott
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Magdalen College reopens to tourists despite delayed student returns

Magdalen College, Oxford has reopened to tourists, despite the fact that not all students will return to the college grounds until mid-May. Under current government guidelines, “outdoor hospitality venues” and “outdoor attractions” have been allowed to open from 12 April. Meanwhile, the government stipulates that “[higher education] providers should not ask students to return if their course can reasonably be continued online” and that students on non-practical courses “should continue to learn remotely and remain where they’re living until in-person teaching starts again, wherever possible”.

Magdalen College advertised that they were “open to visitors” on 12 April,  while their students on non-practical courses were not informed of return dates until the following day. Writing on Facebook, Magdalen college advertised that the first 20 visitors would receive a “free Magdalen calendar”. 

Visitors can explore the grounds of the college, including its deer park, for a reduced price of £6 for adults and £5 for Over 65s, children and students from other institutions. Oxford students can visit for free. 

Magdalen is currently the only Oxford college to reopen to the public. Christ Church remains closed to visitors “at least until the end of the academic year”, although they have advertised the opening of their new takeaway café on 1 May, as well as their shop which is currently open. 

King’s College, Cambridge, is also accepting visitors during timed slots. Writing on their website, the College said they were “delighted” to open parts of their grounds from 13 April. For a reduced price of £5, members of the public can visit the wildflower meadow and the Xu Zhimo garden. The College also plans to open their Chapel to tourists from 17 May.

On 13 April, the government announced that in-person teaching for students on non-practical courses would resume “no earlier than 17 May” giving universities just over a month to prepare for this change. Meanwhile, the government’s original roadmap out of lockdown, detailing provisional “unlocking” dates for other sectors, including 12 April for outdoor hospitality and attractions, was announced on 22 February, giving such sectors more time to prepare. 

Students and university leaders have previously expressed frustration at higher education’s omission from the original roadmap. Many were further disheartened by the 17 May date. In response to the announcement that Magdalen would reopen to tourists, Abigail Howe, a Second Year English Literature student at the college, told The Telegraph: “The roadmap has been done in such a way that university students’ return has been prioritised below people having a walk in the college grounds.” 

In relation to Magdalen’s policy under the new University guidance, Ms Howe told Cherwell: “Magdalen’s returns policy has been really sympathetic and considerate to my knowledge. However, the fact they are legally able to take in tourists before all students can return does highlight the absurdity of the government’s roadmap and the way students have been consistently disregarded by the government.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education told Cherwell: “All university students who have not yet returned to campus and in-person teaching will be able to do so alongside 17 May, at the earliest. The timing aligns with Step 3 of the Government’s roadmap, where restrictions on social contact and indoor mixing will be further eased and aims to limit potential public health risks associated with student populations moving across the country.”

The Department did not provide comment on the specific reopening of colleges to the public.

Magdalen College has been contacted for comment.

Image Credit: Ed Webster / CC-BY-2.0

Everyone’s Invited: Oxford University mentioned 57 times

Beth Ranasinghe
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Everyone’s Invited: Oxford University mentioned 57 times

CW: Sexual assualt and rape

More than 80 UK universities have been named on Everyone’s Invited ‘rape culture’ website where students have been reporting accounts of sexual harassment, abuse, misogyny and assault. The website has collated nearly 15,000 anonymous accounts thus far and claims are now being extended to testimonies from university students. The data was released both to highlight the problem on campuses and expose sexual abuse in further education.

Receiving over 1000 new testimonies related to universities within a week, Everyone’s Invited has so far mentioned eighty-four institutions in total. Some universities are mentioned dozens of times, including around 50 mentions each for some elite universities. Oxford University (57 times) along with University of Exeter (65) and University College London (48) fall into this category. Seventeen UK universities have more than five mentions and 15 of these qualify as Russell Group universities – traditionally among the most prestigious in the country.

When asked to explain the correlation between elite universities and the increased number of mentions, Soma Sara, founder of the Everyone’s Invited website, said: “There are logical reasons for this bias. The platform is still new, and it has grown through word of mouth, with friends sharing it with friends. I went to a private school and then a university in London. As a result, we received an abundance of testimonies from certain areas and groups.”

A Russell Group spokesperson said “No student should feel unsafe or have to tolerate harassment or sexual misconduct in any circumstance. Our universities take this issue incredibly seriously and provide a range of support to help students feel supported and safe. Where a crime has been committed it should be reported to the police. The testimonies highlighted via the Everyone’s Invited website show the need for us all to take this issue seriously.”

A University of Exeter spokesperson has said: “The safety, security and wellbeing of our students is, and always will be, our primary concern”, adding that it had a “zero tolerance for sexual harassment, abuse or assault”. Similarly, a Leeds University spokesperson also spoke of a zero-tolerance approach. A University of Edinburgh statement said all complaints would be treated seriously and with sensitivity. Oxford University are yet to provide a statement in response to the institution’s several mentions on the website.

Image Credit: Janeb13/pixabay.com

Climate change makes repaying COVID-19 debt harder

Angela Eichhorst
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Climate change makes repaying COVID-19 debt harder

In an article for Nature, the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme (OSLP) warned that 77% of sovereign-bonds in 2020 did not adequately disclose climate risk. As global temperatures and sea levels rise, OSLP predicts that countries might face lower production, as well as be at increased risk of one-off weather disasters. As sovereign-bonds issued during the Covid-19 pandemic mature over the next 30 or even 100 years, governments will “either have to invest to mitigate climate change as part of their commitments under the Paris climate agreement — or face the costs of global warming directly”, according to the report. 

OSLP calls a scenario where countries fail to understand the economic risks concurrent with climate change a “climate crash.” 

The news comes as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank convene their spring meetings where environmental issues are featured on the agenda. OSLP has some solutions of its own to propose. In their three-step framework, OSLP’s report first recommends that researchers create better tools for funds to understand climate risk as they take on investors. 

Secondly, governments should use credit from their Covid-19 funds to prioritise greening their economies by increasing spending on clean energy which will create jobs in the process. 

Thirdly, richer countries (and their finance development institutions) should buy back debt from poorer countries on the condition that poorer countries use the money to invest in their climate resilience, as seen in the debt-for-nature swap in the Seychelles.

Out of all the countries OSLP looked at, only three (Bermuda, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador) acknowledged a risk of more frequent natural disasters in their sovereign-bond prospectuses. Only two (Bulgaria and United Arab Emirates) identified risks in their transition to greener economies. 

Despite Boris Johnson’s initial promise to “plan a green recovery,” OSLP reports that the UK has so far failed to capitalise on the opportunity to utilise Covid-19 credit to build a more environmentally resilient economy.   

Image Credit: Marcus Spiske via unsplash.com

Cyclists and Liberal Democrats protest against closure of cycle route on Parks Road

Matthew Schaffel
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Cyclists and Liberal Democrats protest against closure of cycle route on Parks Road

A protest was held on Tuesday, 20th April by a group of local cyclists and Liberal Democrat activists to oppose the temporary closure of a cycle path outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The group feel that the closure of the path adds a greater element of risk to their journey along the road and wished to convey their opinion on this to the University and Oxford County Council.

The cycle path has been closed to allow for repair works on the two-storey basement under the Museum Lawn, along Parks Road. Temporary cycle barriers have been installed so that cyclists do not mix with pedestrians on the narrow path. Instead they are asked to dismount or divert onto the carriageway.

The organiser of the protest, James Cox, the Liberal Democrat candidate for University Parks told Cherwell: “We’ve had weeks if not months of this barrier being up on Parks Road…this was an active cycle path up to this point on a really dangerous road. We quite often just up the road see flowers and memorials for incidents that have happened here in the past.

“For the University and the County Council to be passing the blame to each other, not coming to a constructive solution, meaning that cyclists are having to drive straight into quite busy traffic a lot of the time, putting their safety and concerns at the bottom of the pile – it’s just unacceptable.” 

In response to how he wanted the County Council to respond to the issues cyclists face in the city more generally, Mr Cox commented:

“It’s about ensuring there are facilities that make people feel cycling is safe and accessible to them, so having those cycle lanes separated from busy roads so that people don’t feel they’re taking their life into their hands every time they go out on their bikes

“It’s for us about improving cycling facilities, promoting cycling and active travel as a real alternative for getting around Oxford, and to protect cyclists when they’re out on the road or in segregated cycle lanes and putting the concerns and safety of cyclists much higher up the agenda than it has been”

Local cyclist Joanne Bowlt also added: “My biggest concern is the lack of priority given to cyclists and pedestrians…I feel this is the wrong way round and we ought to be looking at the priorities of road users the correct way – the way of the future: pedestrians, cyclists and then cars. That’s not what’s being demonstrated by a decision like this and on other junctions further up the same national cycle route

“Cyclists are just being pushed straight onto the road in front of traffic, plenty of children use this route to cycle to school and I think it’s incredibly dangerous. This was already a dangerous junction.

“The University is limited in what it can do, but there are options like opening a route through University Parks as a temporary trial option, given that they can’t keep this cycle route open. I appreciate this is a courtesy cycle route, but it is a national cycle route.”

Benjamin Nicholson, another local cyclist said:

“I have never really liked this part of the road here, it’s so much worse when you have to go onto the road because drivers don’t look…a lot of people just assume that it’s safe and they won’t look, and that’s when accidents happen.”

In response, a spokesperson for the University told Cherwell: “The change in the bike lanes is due to the redevelopment but it was done for cyclists’ safety and it is temporary and only live until December 2021.
 
“There has been a lot of communication about the changes – there are boards up to the north and south of the cycle way diversion that indicates the diversion as a temporary condition to enable the essential maintenance works.”
 
A spokesperson for the County Council also added: “Due to the nature of the work by Oxford University to repair and waterproof the two-storey basement beneath the Museum Lawn along Parks Road, it has not been possible to do anything other than stop cyclists from using this section of the footway/cycleway. It is too narrow to be safely shared by the high volume of cyclists and pedestrians that use it.
 

“The section is owned by Oxford University and leased by Oxfordshire County Council, but both parties have been working closely together to find a solution for cyclists who have to use the road while the work takes place.

“The suggestion to use University Parks as an alternative cycle route during this period would be a matter for Oxford University, as would the possibility of encouraging cyclists travelling from Parks Road to South Parks Road to follow the internal site access routes through the Science area campus. These options though do not cater for people wanting to cycle along Parks Road into the city centre.”

Image Credit: Matt Schaffel

 

Police and Crime Commissioner candidates share views on ‘Kill the Bill’

Flora Dyson
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Police and Crime Commissioner candidates share views on ‘Kill the Bill’

Police and Crime Commissioner candidates for Thames Valley have published their manifestos for elections on 6 May. Cherwell asked them for their views on the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and ‘Kill the Bill’ protests.

The bill seeks to place greater restrictions on protests and gives police the power to place constraints on demonstrations, including their time span and noise levels. It seeks to increase sentences for serious criminals and sexual offenders.

Since it passed its second reading there have been ‘Kill the Bill’ protests across England which demand the government drop the bill. Protestors argue the bill targets Black Lives Matter activists, the Gypsy Roma Traveller community, and activists for women’s rights.

Clashes with police at a peaceful vigil for the murdered Sarah Everard has sparked opposition to increased police powers by the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. No Labour MPs voted in favour of the bill at its second reading. Labour party leader, Kier Starmer, has said the bill would have a severe impact on Black communities which is “real cause for concern.”

Matthew Barber, the current Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley and Conservative Party candidate, welcomes the bill. He believes the “new legislation will be a big step towards ensuring punishments fit the severity of the crime.”

Barber is “particularly pleased to see the introduction of long awaited measures to help the police deal with illegal encampments that can cause harm, disruption and distress to our local communities.”

Laetisia Carter, the Labour Party candidate, states she is “wholeheartedly [opposed] the police bill” and is “against it for so many reasons. It takes the country in a worrying anti democracy direction”. Carter urges the electorate to “remember this is not the police’s bill” in a Facebook statement.

John Howson, candidate for the Liberal Democrats, has voiced opposition to the bill. He believes new protests restrictions “are part of the Conservative Government’s anti-democratic attempts to silence any opposition to its policies, and the Liberal Democrats will fiercely resist them.”

Howson states the policing of ‘Kill the Bill’ protests “should not be to raise tensions. Police forces should debrief to learn from outcomes for management of future protests.”

Alan Robinson, an Independent candidate, states that his “concern is with the brave officers who were trying to police a very difficult situation” following violent ‘Kill the Bill’ protests.

“It is long overdue for people to realise that officers are people [too], and deserve exactly the same courtesy as everyone else. Just because they are in uniform doesn’t give anyone the right to be abusive towards another person.”

The election for the Police and Crime Commissioner takes place on 6 May. You must register to vote to take part.

Image Credit: Lawrence OP / CC BY-NC 2.0

“Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”: Freedom Fighting, Queen Jezebel and India

Jaimini Patel
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“Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”: Freedom Fighting, Queen Jezebel and India

Christina Rossetti’s poetry is often coloured with feminist insights, as she handles conditions ranging from that of the unmarried Victorian women to so-called ‘fallen women’ with remarkable sensitivity. Yet there is one fallen woman who even under Rossetti’s pen cannot escape traditional sexist and racist narratives: Rani (Queen) Lakshmibai of Jhansi, hailed by British colonialists, such as Thomas Lowe, as the “Jezebel of India”. 

Rani Lakshmibai’s infamy in British narratives is closely linked to her involvement in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 against colonial rule by the British East India Company. The mutiny began with rebels from the 12th Bengal Native Infantry, who were enraged after 85 Hindu and Muslim soldiers were sentenced to 10 years of hard labour and imprisonment for refusing to fire rifle cartridges they believed to be contaminated with pork and beef (offensive to both religions). Rossetti’s portrayal of the mutiny in her poem In the Round Tower at Jhansi reflects typical British contemporary narratives of the rebellion in numerous Indian cities. She focuses on two lovers forced to kill themselves before they are slaughtered by the rebels: 

‘A hundred, a thousand to one; even so;

Not a hope in the world remained,

The swarming, howling wretches below

Gained and gained and gained’

Indeed, the rebellion was a brutal affair, as rebels killed many wives and children of officers in the city of Meerut. When the rebels approached Lakshmibai’s city of Jhansi, however, the Rani assured the British that no harm would befall them under her watch. Nonetheless, a violent massacre of the British at Jhansi did ensue, as portrayed in Rossetti’s poem. Despite the Rani assuring the British that these rebel sepoys did not answer to her, and writing to two British officials that she hoped they would ‘go straight to hell for their deeds’, her title as Jezebel of India was confirmed. The Rani and the sepoy rebels were homogenised as the animalistic other: Rossetti’s ‘swarming, howling, wretches’.  

History has not been kind to Rani Laskhmibai of Jhansi, yet it is a serious disservice to conflate her story with the violence of one group of sepoys. The Rani was not born into royalty, but married Maharaja Gandaghar Rao, ruler of Jhansi. 

She was ahead of her times in more than one way, having learned to ride and fight by her teenage years and refusing to abide by norms of purdah, in which women were veiled from public view. Instead, she spoke to British and Indian advisers alike face to face.

The Maharaja and Rani gave birth to one child, who died in infancy. Still keen for an heir, they adopted a 5-year-old son. When the Maharaja died, it seemed as though the kingdom of Jhansi was in good hands as the Rani was more than capable of ruling due to her progressive, self-styled education, and she had an heir to pass her skills onto. 

However, the East India Company, hoping to consolidate their grip on Jhansi and expel traditional rulers (however effective Lakshmibai was) in favour of British officials, hailed the obscure Doctrine of Lapse, giving them the right to control any territory without a natural born male heir. They offered the Rani a generous sum of 60,000 rupees to give up her kingdom, but she remained resolute in the face of their political manoeuvring, speaking words which have become immortalised as poetic resonances of freedom in Indian history: Meri Jhansi nahi doongi (I will not give up my kingdom). 

Soon after Lakshmibai refused to give up her kingdom under the Doctrine of Lapse, the violence of the Sepoy Mutiny began to sweep through her kingdom. Grouping her with the rebels, the British laid siege to her fortress at Jhansi and she was left with no choice but to fight back and eventually escape with her son. The British spared nobody over 16 in Jhansi, and the beloved Indian Rani was forced out. 

Lakshmibai, realising she had no British allies and would be blamed for the mutiny at Jhansi, decided to take up the cause of freedom against the British empire from the neighbouring town of Gwalior. During the failed siege before this, the Rani had already demonstrated her commitment to egalitarianism; according to Rejected Princesses (2016) she had coats made for a thousand of the poorest soldiers and enlisted both men and women for the fight. When she escaped the siege with her son and fought in a number of battles against the British in Gwalior, she fought her last battle dressed like a man in a turban, and her fatal adversary, General Rose, paid tribute to her, saying that ‘the Indian mutiny produced one man, and that man was a woman’. 

Rani Lakshmibai and her words ‘Meri Jhansi nahi doongi’, have become integral in teaching about her in modern-day India, as she is hailed as one of the country’s first and most courageous freedom fighters. If Rossetti is to be on the A-level English British curriculum, it is high time that narratives such as Lakshmibai’s begin to appear on the History syllabus. The implications of her narrative about working against institutional power and gender structures are vast: Rani Lakshmibai may not have been able to save Jhansi from the British East India Company, but her actions can still help save us from failing to engage with a complex imperial past where there are always two sides to a story too often portrayed as one dimensional.  

Labelling her as Jezebel, homogenising her as one of a number of ‘wretches’ or, worst of all, forgetting her entirely, robs, not only Lakshimbai but, history of its richness. The Rani must be recognised as someone engaged in violence yet not for violence’s sake, a freedom fighter championing local over colonial power structures and a woman who often had to assume the guise of a man to do as she wished. 

Artwork by Emma Hewlett

 

 

C’est La Vie: the importance of multilingual representations in art and literature

Emily Rosindell
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C’est La Vie: the importance of multilingual representations in art and literature

Some hidden gems of the artistic world lay in works that employ multiple languages in a purposeful manner. Algerian singer-songwriter Khaled intertwines both Arabic and French into his hit song, ‘C’est la vie’. The song begins with a French intro, leading us through a journey of subsequent Arabic verses and back to a French chorus. He brings energy, excitement, and pure joy to this 2012 pop-dance anthem. 

The title, translating into English as “this is life”, perfectly demonstrates what Khaled is attempting to create. His art is a direct reflection of his worldview: multilingual in nature. The song exists in both French-speaking and Arabic-speaking spaces, as does its author. Art that holds a cross-cultural value, such as Khaled’s, is becoming increasingly pertinent in our rapidly evolving world, where inter-continental exchange is an essential part of daily life for many. The vast majority of the world operates in a multitude of spaces; over half of humans proficiently speak at least two languages. 

Inspired by Khaled, up and coming singer-songwriter Bahjat performs in Arabic, English, and Swedish. Born in Libya but now based in Sweden for music school, Bahjat adapts his writing to reside within his multiple identities. His song ‘Istanbul’ in particular uses both English and Arabic to convey the overall message that no matter where he is geographically located, his heart remains in the same position. 

What is special about these artists is not their ability to utilise multiple languages, but their boldness to employ them in the same piece of art. Both ‘C’est la vie’ and ‘Istanbul’ integrate the seemingly separate worlds into one in a way that allows for an expression of multilingualism as a facet of everyday life. A person who speaks multiple languages does not exist in multiple worlds, they exist in one; art and literature deserve to exist in this same multifaceted world as well. 

Some artworks have been modified after their initial release to become multilingual. João Gilberto’s ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ – or ‘Garota de Ipanema’ in Portuguese – was originally written in Gilberto’s native Portuguese by Vinícius de Moraes in 1964. The English version was written later by Norman Gimbel, an American whose love of Portuguese drew him to Brazilian bossa nova composers. Artists like Gimbel utilise language in a way that is perhaps different to artists who sing in their native tongues, as he fell in love with Portuguese later in life. It was not his mother tongue, but he was able to appreciate its beauty anyways. Art and literature are often a point of access for linguistic and cultural appreciation for foreign language learners.

‘Girl from Ipanema’ also makes an important point in its use as a trope for background or ‘elevator’ music in the world of cinema. This highlights the relegation of multilingual music to the background of the artistic world. While arguably a more creative use of language, multilingual music is very rarely given the forefront. 

An important facet of multilingual approach is the ‘macaronic verse’ – a primarily poetic device that utilises multilingual puns or sayings that work in multiple languages. Hybrid words are commonly used, and single sentences can switch between two or more languages – a common facet of decolonised communities that use their native language and the language of an ex-colonising power. The lack of support multilingual art receives speaks to the Western-centric nature of much of the artistic world, as English-speaking countries – mainly the United Kingdom and the United States – have a significantly lower percent of the population that consider themselves multilingual. 

Early examples of the macaronic verse within the scholar and clergy incorporate both Latin, the conventional language of the learned, and newly arising vernacular languages, such as in the Gospel book of Munsterbilzen, which mixes Latin and Old Dutch. Rumi, a widely known 13th century Persian poet and Islamic theologian, utilises Arabic and Persian blends as well as occasional Greek and Turkish languages to represent the varying experiences in his view of the world through the lenses of these different languages. A more modern example of macaronic verse is employed in the Beatles’ ‘Michelle’ from their Rubber Soul album. The song employs both French and English, inspired by a French teacher that McCartney knew well; he was fascinated by her deliberate use of French phrases that she felt did not translate well into English. The macaronic verse holds power in the journey to understand that languages do not exist in separate spheres for the majority of the world; some expressions don’t have the ability to be translated from a mother tongue to the same effect. 

Children’s books rarely use a multilingual approach to provide authenticity to the storylines set in the non-English speaking world. A prominent example of this approach includes the Chalet Girls series, set partially in Austria and Switzerland, which utilises German throughout the series. Encouraging children to see and read about people switching between various languages as a facet of everyday life allows for their development as learners, ready to partake in a world where linguistic ability is increasingly valued and necessary.

An estimated 60% of the world’s population speaks two or more languages – so why does the majority of the art world feel the need to comply with one language instead of representing their own multilingual view of the world? The platform for creating art and literature in several languages needs to grow; the majority of the world operates in multiple languages, and so too should the creative world. 

Image credit: Michael Gaida via Pixabay.

Meet the students running for the Green Party in Oxford

Matilda Gettins
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Meet the students running for the Green Party in Oxford
Image of Rosie Rawle infront of brick building.
Image of Rosie Rawle, candidate for Green Party, in front of brick building.

Rosie Rawle

Rosie Rawle is a PhD student on worker’s rights at Queen Mary University of London. Rosie is Co-Chair of the Young Green Party and is standing for election in both Donnington City ward* and St. Clement’s country division.

MG: Which political issues motivated you to run for election in Oxford whist obtaining a PhD?

RR: I think there are a number of issues that led me towards this…. The thing about Oxford is [that] it’s an amazing city, but you can’t walk down a street without recognising and noticing the scale of rough sleeping, the scale of inequality and the scale of injustice in the city.

MG: From your studies of International development and on Social Movements, you seem to be quite a big picture person. Is running for office part of the classic slogan “think global, act local?”

RR: Yes, in short. 

The interesting thing about the current political landscape is that there is so much unharnessed power and potential of local government to transform our communities and start building an alternative society; one which is much more democratic, socially just, and environmentally just. 

MG: The first point in the Green’s manifesto is #qualityhomes. What would you do to ensure affordable accommodation for students who cannot stay in university accommodation?

RR: It is shocking that, outside of London, Oxford is the most expensive city to live in. It is a disgrace quite frankly that the private rental sector is allowed to charge sky high prices for what is, basically, poor quality accommodation. 

The kind of actions that we’re hoping to push forward if elected include making sure we have a living rent, that means affordable living for all students and young people, and trying to start up a lettings agency run by the Council … stop these astronomical random fees and charges that students face. 

MG: In a speech during the Greens’ spring conference you spoke about “Students packed into campuses to protect the bottom line of increasingly privatised universities”. Do you think students on non-practical courses should not be allowed back for trinity term?

RR: I think this is a really tricky one. 

The reality is that in September, university campuses weren’t ready to manage students travelling from across the country, forced and packed into accommodation, and that did cause a load of outbreaks. But there has been nine months of learning. I think we ought to be listening to the students, the unions and the Student Union.

MG: Many people think that voting for the Green party is a lost vote – how would you respond to this? 

RR: I’d say we have won in Oxford, we can win at Oxford, and, hopefully, we will win in Oxford. The truth is that greens have had seats on the city council and on the county council for over 20 years back and forth … In the one ward where we have two greens elected, we’ve held those seats year on year on year on year. I don’t think we’ll see [that ward] go anytime soon.

Image of Kelsey Trevett, candidate for Green Party, in front of brick building.
Image of Kelsey Trevett, candidate for Green Party, in front of brick building.

Kelsey Trevett

Profile: Kelsey Trevett is a first year PPE student at Trinity College, co-chair of the young greens disability group and running as candidate for the Green Party in the coming elections. 

MG: What does Green Socialism and grassroots organising look like at a local, Oxford level? 

KT: Grassroots organising is making sure that what was actually wanted by people is achieved, and that there’s full representation, and not a disconnect that is patched up – or pretended to be patched up – every couple of years when there’s an election and people want to win votes. 

MG: How will the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill affect green grassroots activism? 

KT: It’s a really scary time. [Protesting] has been a fundamental part of how grassroots organising has taken place for so long. Historically, but also more recently, massive, massive things have relied on protest. It’s important to highlight that that bill basically criminalises Roma and traveller communities as well, which is just awful. … It’s really important that we stand up for those rights which the bill aims to squash.

MG: You talk about the importance of equality for the LGBTQIA+ on your own blog. What would you change to make Oxford more inclusive for members of the community?

KT: I think I feel like a broken record: again, it’s about representation and about listening to the communities. We have this national debate about trans rights. It’s about listening to trans people, it’s about looking at things like gender neutral toilets, and public toilets, all sorts of sorts of small things.

It’s hugely about listening to those communities, making sure that they’re safe and that they’re comfortable, and that they have exactly the same rights as everyone else,…  [and] that they aren’t spoken over by people who don’t have those lived experiences. I think that’s really important.

MG: You have been part of the BBC Children in Need’s Rickshaw Challenge and even advised the local council on how to work with disabled children aged 8. What measures would you implement in Oxford to make the town more open to disabled people?

KT: There’s so much discourse about some of the decarbonisation measures …  there’s a lot of concern that they might not be accessible to all disabled people. And I think, a), that’s not true, and they can be completely accessible, and they will be, but b) that really highlights the need to engage in dialogue with disabled communities and making sure that their concerns are raised and listened to. Because they are genuine concerns…. [We need] representation, but dialogue and communication over time as well.

MG: How could the measures to pedestrianise Oxford City be made more inclusive ?

KT: Speaking from my own experience – someone with no sight –  pedestrianisation removes the risk, to put it kind of extremely, of being hit by silent electric cars. That’s always a good start. 

I think it’s about making sure …  that there is space for people who are using wheelchairs, people with assistance dogs. … I think it’s [about] looking at things like that and making sure that everyone has been consulted and that concerns have been raised properly. It’s not just a tick box exercise.

MG: On your blog, you also argue that “apolitical climate movements” are counterproductive, failing to address the problem at the “root” which you identify with “capitalism”. Given the climate emergency, why shouldn’t we get support from as many groups in the political spectrum as possible? 

KT: The root of the climate crisis isn’t individuals. It’s the system under which we live, it’s capitalism. The exploitative nature of capitalist systems causes a huge part of the climate crisis. I completely agree that getting as many people on site as possible from across the political spectrum is hugely important. But if we also have to simultaneously address the fact that capitalism isn’t compatible with preserving the biosphere and preventing the climate crisis.

*a ward is a city district, used for electoral purposes

Oxford Brookes Union organises Black Students Careers Week

Matilda Gettins
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Oxford Brookes Union organises Black Students Careers Week

Oxford Brookes Student Union is currently running a Black Students Careers Week. It is part of the Brookes Student Union’s commitment to “tackling racial inequality on campus as a matter of emergency”. Black Students Careers Week offers online networking events with successful individuals in the finance, law, music and technology industry, as well as recruitment and interview coaching. The events have been curated by Brookes Union Black Officer Iman Tadu, but are open to all.

Brookes students are invited to join the talk with Amanda Mapanda about her experiences as a lawyer at Freshfields, or to register for a talk with chartered accountant Thelma Matsaira on the financial sector. They can also sign up to listen to Radha Medar share her experiences co-managing Skepta or popstar Mabel, or listen to Andrew Osamyemi outline his successful launch of the Netflix series ‘Meet the Adebanjos’. Events to improve recruitment skills include “Write Job Applications That Work”, “Ace Your Assessment Centre” and “How to level-up your LinkedIn bio in 1 hour”. 

Black Students’ Officer of Brookes Student Union, Iman Tadu, says: “My vision for the Black Students Careers Week was to bring a light to the faces of individuals that are from the backgrounds of students who are not always given a platform to share the story of their career journeys … visibility can empower someone and help them believe in themselves where they were not able to before.”  The event series is a collaboration between Brookes Union, ACS, Brookes Enterprise Support, Oxford Brookes University Careers, and Oxford Brookes University Alumni office. 

Oxford Student Union (OSU) runs a permanent Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) dedicated to “creating a more just and inclusive student experience at the University”, though the last report uploaded on the CRAE webpage is over 5 years old. OSU also supports the University-wide Race Equality Taskforce, launched November 2020. The taskforce is “in the process of establishing our own equality, diversity and inclusion action plan” which will be presented in September 2021. In the past, OSU has run BAME Leadership in Oxford conferences.

Oxford University Careers Service told Cherwell: “Our research strongly indicates that there is statistically minimal difference in the graduate level employment outcomes of our students of different ethnicities, but we are working hard to speed up the pace of change outside the University.”

On its website, it provides resources on BME recruitment schemes as well as on the Equality Act (2010). It “[offers] a number of more target activities to support Black students” including the “10000BlackInterns initiatives” and “delivering careers sessions for Black Boys Cant”. 

Image credit: Jpbowen / CC BY-SA 3.0

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