DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
YOUR FRONT-PAGE headline “Hard Left Suffer Crushing Defeat” was misleading and sensationalist.
You used the sweeping statement "Hard Left" to refer to a broad coalition of people united around the idea of a Union that fights for Peace, Justice and Free Education.
It’s a phrase often used in student politics to imply that anyone wanting to campaign on such issues is an extremist that an "ordinary student" should never vote for. Misrepresentation of opposition usually just betrays the weakness of an argument.
Tom Skinner
UMSU General Secretary
DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
REGARDING THE Students’ Union Election Coverage. I'm sorry, but who cares?
I'm by no means politically illiterate but after having spent three years at The University of Manchester I can tell you that no elected Students’ Union member has ever done anything that has influenced my student life beyond the trivial.
Perhaps students need to look at what a Union is supposed to do, and stop campaigning for issues so far beyond their jurisdiction.
Such behaviour reduces what should be a forum for students to represent their opinions on student issues, to an embarrassing ‘Hyde Park Corner’ where the few pragmatic relevant voices are out-shouted by irrelevant campaigns to ‘ban the bomb’, ‘free Palestine’ or ‘legalise weed’. If the TUC or UNISON tried to call for a ‘Free Tibet’ they would be laughed out into the political wilderness. That's exactly where Students' Unions are right now. There are plenty of relevant student issues to be debated, so why not stick to them?
So if I felt this way why didn't I vote against such candidates? Or even try to run myself? Because the reality of these elections, cynical as it may sound, is that they are decided by the ability of a candidate to get their mates to vote. I would be intrigued to know how many of those voting knew the candidate personally.
As a silver lining at least the next year of students won't have to put up with every message from the Communications Officer referring to the "Manchester massive"...painful...
Big up yourself and One love x
Anon
DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
I’M GUTTED by the result of the elections! We had a campaigning Union in the tradition of UMSU that stood up against apartheid when Mandela was labelled a terrorist by the Westminster crooks.
Now, we will get a Zionist lobby that also works as a springboard for a career in the big, established parties. Damn!
Anyway, I’m sure the “Hard Left” won’t be crushed until you send them to a concentration camp – and even then – those guys are mad. They will be back!
No Fear
DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
My argument on election night re “The Week That Was,” was over whether or not Vicky Thompson has a right to stand against another left-wing candidate.
There were no real "fisticuffs."
Chris Strafford
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