It seems that UCL Union has found itself in the spotlight in the last couple of days. As reported in the national press, it has passed a motion proposed by Sham Rajyaguru to ban the Officer Training Corps (OTC) from Union events such as the Freshers’ Fair:
“This union believes that because the British military under the Labour Government is currently engaged in an aggressive war overseas, for the union to use its resources to encourage students to join the military or participate in military recruitment activities at this time would give political and material support to the war.”
Coupled at a time when our servicemen in the RAF are advised not to wear their uniforms in public for fear of abuse, this has unsurprisingly made the headlines. While most, thankfully including UCL representatives to MPs, have condemned the ban, I would like to speak up for those students who also vehemently disagree with the motion passed by ‘our’ Union.
I know that students have a reputation of being largely liberal pacifists, but whatever your opinion on whether it was right or not to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, we should honour and respect those who put their life on the line to protect these freedoms which allow us to express such views.
Aside from showing respect for the armed forces, how about showing enough respect for your fellow students that you allow them the choice of joining the OTC if they wish? They do not brainwash students into joining before packing them off to the front lines – they set up a stall with details for the new intake on joining. The presence of this stall does not imply “support to the war”, but support of freedom of choice.
As we could tell by the prayer break just before the AGM commenced, aside from the white liberals, the rest of those at the AGM were mainly Muslims. This was almost certainly because of the other issue debated, about our position with Palestinian universities. However, it demonstrated how alienated much of the Muslim youth has become. Just over a year ago, The Telegraph reported how a Muslim threatened an injured paratrooper in hospital, saying “You have been killing my Muslim brothers in Afghanistan” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/02/ntroops02.xml).
This wording surely demonstrates the problem – if a Muslim in this country feels more aligned to a stranger in a foreign land because of his faith than he does to those who fight to protect the country he lives in, then this is indeed a very sorry state of affairs, and proof that ‘multiculturalism’ has failed. It may be naïve of me to think so, but I would have hoped all Muslims in this country would be proud of those who fight the terrorists that shame Islam. After 7/7, we heard of decent Muslims in positions of authority publicly denouncing the terrorists who indiscriminately murdered the Londoners for whom they evidently harboured so much hatred. Now, we have this dangerous racial and cultural divide opening within the Union, over issues which we should never have debated.
Only 130 students voted on this issue (out of 27,000 staff and students at UCL), so a less than 0.5 p.c. turnout can hardly be representative. Since the AGM there have been many groups formed determined to reverse the decision, including the facebook groups “UCL Students Against Banning Military Recruitment” (268 members as of 9th March) and “Condemn the Banning of the Military by UCL Union” (795 members), and I urge you all to do your utmost to ensure this farcical outcome is overturned.
