It was great to see so many campaigners out earlier today calling for people to ‘Vote YES to No Platform.’ The policy means that Nazis and racists can’t spout their vile views on campus. Please make sure that when you visit the elections website you also vote Yes in the referendum. You can vote here.
If you want to know why i’m voting ‘Yes to No Platform’ – click here.
The day of action:
Voting has now opened for all the positions, and will remain open until Thursday 1 March!
If you like what you’ve seen of my manifesto and campaigns then please support me by voting and encouraging your friends to do the same as well…
You can vote by visiting the HUU website, click here.
Here’s some steps to help you along the way:
1. Please sign in using your 6 digit uni username and password
2. Click ‘VP Welfare’
3. Put a #1 next to my name, ‘Dominique Richards’
4. Click ‘Share’ at the bottom of this page and encourage your friends to do the same
Thanks for all the support that people have shown me so far, it has been really encouraging and please feel free to contact me with any questions etc.
As the current Chair of Women’s Committee, I understand how important liberation campaigns are. They’re vital in providing safe spaces for people, networking, confidence building, and campaigning amongst other things. This is why I want to increase the budgets for all of the liberation campaigns. I know how small the current budgets are and how hard it is to operate with such a small budget, in fact I often find I have to use some of my own money to pay for things. So as a priority I’d try and and put aside a bigger portion of the Welfare budget to help publicise all of the liberation campaigns.
Obviously all liberation campaigns at HUU are autonomous, but I would help to organise and promote events, such as a Love Music Hate Homophobia gig and get the whole zone behind them and encourage participation from other liberation campaigns.
I believe the Union needs to be more proactive in fighting Hate Crime on campus and in the local area. We need to be wary of the EDL using Pride marches and LGBT oppression to attack Muslims. We need the broadest movement in Hull and around the country to defeat them, this again includes cross-liberation to ensure fascists don’t divide and attack. We need more cross-liberation meetings and events to fight inequality and discrimination. I’d ensure that Hull becomes a Hate Cime reporting centre, and students and staff feel safe enough to report incidents of Hate Crime and receive more than adequate support.
The current wave of cuts are disproportionately affecting groups such as those who define as LGBT and young LGBT are being hit even harder. 15% of LGB and 34.8% of trans students fear losing financial support if they come out to their parents, so the union needs to make sure that LGBT students are protected financially too. Even more worryingly 34% of trans students have attempted suicide, so we have to make sure that our services such as Nightline and LINKS are secure. Young LGBT people are also more likely to experience mental health problems so support shouldn’t just be limited to one week, but provided all year round.
If you would like more info on any of the above points, or would like to offer suggestions or queries then please contact me:
d.richards@2010.hull.ac.uk
Dominique Richards, Candidate HUU VP Welfare
The United Kingdom’s Prevent Agenda, launched in 2007, is a “counter-terrorism” strategy and openly calls upon Universities, Colleges and Schools to spy on their innocent students and peers to “stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.” (UK Home Office).
But rather than supposedly protecting communities, it is an agenda that is being used to gather personal information about innocent individuals, specifically Muslim individuals, and contributes to the growing climate of Islamophobia, which portrays Muslims as being a threat. The state is obsessed with acquiring information and has access to tens of thousands of individuals’ email addresses, phone numbers etc. and has even gone as far as trying to find out intimate information such as sexual activity – what this has to do with stopping terrorism, I have no idea! This information can be stored until the person concerned is 100 years old.
Muslims are not going to feel safe, comfortable, or confident in their own community, and some have been driven out of their homes and towns, and innocent people are being targeted. In a college in the north of England, a student who attended a meeting about Gaza was reported by a lecturer as a potential extremist. He was found not to be.
The NUS and HUU need to be leading the fight against this Islamophobic strategy by the government. The EDL have tried to hold marches across the country, including here in Hull. It was down to organisations like Unite Against Fascism, of which I am a member, linking with the Muslim community to protect the Mosque in Pearson Park being targeted by the EDL.
UAF demonstration outside of Pearson Park Mosque when the EDL and BNP attempted to march in 2010
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s review highlighted the huge inequality gap many Muslims face: disproportionately high unemployment levels, poor school results and poor levels of health. As the cuts are now in full swing, there are those who seek to divide us further by scapegoating and blaming Black, Muslim, immigrant and asylum seeker groups for an economic crisis that was caused by the bankers. David Cameron, particularly with his famously vile “multiculturalism has failed” speech, has scapegoated immigrants and Muslims while implimenting his government’s austerity programmes.
We must challenge the government’s mentality that Muslim students who are studying at University are susceptible to being ‘brainwashed’ or ‘radicalised’ and made into extremists. Islamic society’s around the country do a lot of positive things on campus. They arrange charity events, socials that are an alternative to the drinking-led ones, set up worship facilities on campus etc. The Islamic Society here at Hull recently put on a brilliant exhibition showcasing the faith that they are committed to, which unfortunately, is the same faith that the Government uses as a scapegoat.
The recent Islamic Society exhibition in HUU.
This is why, if elected, I will ensure that Hull University Union does not spy on it’s students, and instead offer a great deal of support for those who have suffered discrimination, such as that being enforced by the Prevent agenda.
Dominique Richards, Candidate for HUU VP Welfare
The Unite Against Fascism conference takes place this Saturday (25 February) with discounted tickets for students. The NUS Black Students Campaign has also further subsidised entry for any black students wishing to go. Click here for more info.
Stickers and Manifestos now back from the printers – can’t wait to start getting them out to people! #Dom4Welfare
After the ‘great poster rush’ mine are now up, check them out the next time you’re in HUU or Sanc…
Our students’ Union should not be a place of hate.
Staff, students, officers and volunteers such as myself have worked hard to make sure that the Union is a comfortable and non-threatening place for all those who use it. The lapse of the No Platform Policy would make the Union a seriously dangerous place. Fascist groups such as the EDL, BNP, National Front, Combat 18, and other groups, who pose a serious threat to everyone at HUU would be allowed to spread their hate.
It is the responsibility of the Union to ensure that it’s students and staff can study and operate free from fear, and allowing fascists into the Union building and to stand in elections denies people of this basic right.
EDL members attack mosques and women wearing hijabs and burkas, as well as previously trying to hijack Pride marches. They have previously put out calls to their members to attack student protesters and striking workers. Allowing groups like the EDL to organise here at Hull would bring the possibility of these events happening on our own campus.
Permitting these disgusting groups to hold meetings and events legitimises their argument. It sends out a message saying the the Union is not interested in the safety of its students and that these groups are free to spread their vile, racist rhetoric. When these groups resort to violent tactics, it is clear that rational debate is no longer an option. For example, Combat 18, an organisation of neo-nazis, have had explosives and ammunition seized from members. How are our members going to debate in a space where they feel uncomfortable and the threat of violence against them is severely high?
The government cuts have allowed these fascist groups to mobilise and exploit the anger that a lot of the working class are feeling. Muslims and immigrants have been used as scapegoats, and this was only more emphasised when David Cameron attacked multiculturalism, on the same day as a Unite Against Fascism protest in Luton, which I was taking part in.
We need to oppose the government’s Islamophobic counter-terrorism ‘Prevent’ agenda, and say that we won’t spy on our fellow students. This often leads to innocent students being accused of terrorism, further integrating racism and Islamophobia into our institutions.
Those who define themselves as Women, BME, disabled and LGBT are disproportionately affected by the cuts. We, as a union, need to support the most vulnerable in society and ensure that they receive all the financial help they are entitled to, prevent the closure of vital support services that are needed, and fight to make sure that our international students will not succumb to this country’s racist immigration laws.
Whilst at Hull, I have been on many counter-demonstrations against groups like the BNP and EDL, even as nearby to the University as Pearson Park.
If elected, I will actively mobilise students to act if fascists and nazis decided to march in Hull. We need to defend our communities from these horrendous people and ensure that the safety of staff and students is our main priority.
To get involved with the campaign to renew ‘No Platform’ check out this page.
Dominique Richards, candidate for HUU VP Welfare
I’ll be updating this blog as much as I can over the next few weeks of the election, so please keep checking back to see my latest videos, photos and posts from my campaign. In the mean time check out my Facebook and Twitter sites for up to the minute information.
Use the tags above to find out more about me, my campaign and politics. I have uploaded my full manifesto and will constantly add more resources up as and when I produce them.
Thanks for your support and don’t forget to vote from 24/02/2012 – 01/03/2012.
