TSDSU supports Undoing Borders
Category: National Issues
From Europe’s failure to prevent the deaths of thousands of refugees and the imprisonment of migrant children in the United States, to stoked up racial hatred in the wake of Brexit and the Windrush scandal, the movement of people across borders continues to dominate political conversations at every level. The media is key in framing these conversations. However, mainstream media narratives are not neutral. They systematically exclude certain voices – the voices of those who migrate. They also deliberately ignore the root causes of why people, particularly from the Global South, are forced to migrate. Environmental chaos, imperial wars and global capitalism – disproportionately driven by the Global North – create a perpetual condition of precarity and displacement. Instead of recognising our historical responsibility for the uprooting of communities, the British media continues to demonise those most oppressed by our economic and foreign policies. This is not just moral failure. It it is a key tool in maintaining an exploitative global system. It is wrong to criminalise the movement of vulnerable people. Especially when their displacement is the result of our global political and economic system.
The Union resolves to:
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Resist the Home Offices Hostile Environment Policy
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Support People & Planets Undoing Borders campaign on campus
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Support refugees
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Support migrants
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Sign the Charter for Ethical Reporting on Migration (which can be found here) which is intended as a set of guiding principles to use when reporting on migration, and contains practical advice for everyone committed to promoting richer, more accurate stories of migration. It aims to outline the structural and cultural problems with how the media reports migration, with a particular emphasis on the real-life impact on migrant communities, to promote fair, informative, and contextualised coverage on migration, and to encourage journalists to proactively provide alternative stories of migration
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Lobby the University and local newspapers to also sign the Charter for Ethical Reporting on Migration
- Boycott internet advertisements on Breitbart Media (a far-right news website that fuels racist views and provides a platform for fascist opinion) and lobby the University to do the same
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Comments
This is so important, and so needed
This is just the Stansted 15 motion reworded to remove the parts about the Stansted 15. The rest of it is completely copied and pasted (from a different student account, it must be noted). That motion was voted against because of the overwhelming identity politics that flooded the notion, which goes against the entire purpose of a Student's Union. You are voted into a union, not a parliament, so the whole concept of identity politics cannot go through on the grounds that if one, just one, person disagrees with the politics put forward, then we are not working as a union for that student, and we are not working as a competent Student's Union. Actually, if I recall, you (Ella) posted quite a lengthy status saying how the five students who voted against this motion the last time it was presented did not support refugees, migrants, etcetera, etcetera. This was explicitly told at the time that that was not the reason we voted against it (I was one of the five). The motions are irrelevant if they're put in any form of identity politics. I do find it strangely coincidental that this was posted not three hours after your status went up, with the motion having the exact same wording as before. I find it incredibly disingenuous for this to be put forward again under a new name. A Student's Union is there for those elected to vote on ideas and motions that benefit the students of that university. It is not there to use as a platform for your personal politics.
Yes that's correct, we are there to vote on ideas and motions that benefit the students of UWTSD - including those students who are from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Okay, so let's run this over point by point: • Resist the Home Office's Policy - How do you propose we do that? There's no details here. • Support the P&PUB campaign - Something that can be done anyway, I believe. Nobody is stopping you from doing that off your own back. We don't need that to be a policy. • Support refugees/migrants - Okay. I support them. What now? • Sign the Charter - Something that can be asked of people to do without making it the policy of a non-political entity. • Lobby the University and local media to sign the Charter - Lobbying the university to do something is actually something worthwhile! Credit where credit is due! The media, not so much. • Boycott Breitbart - Yeah, okay, Breitbart is bad, but what does that have to do with this motion, especially considering as TSDSU, as far as I'm aware, has no affiliation with Breitbart or any other particular media source? This one feels tacked on. The whole thing just feels like someone is grandstanding for their own ends, and that is not what TSDSU should represent.
All the while, this is still copied and pasted from a motion that was previously voted against, which really isn't a good look. A worse look would be this being uploaded shortly after a post on social media about how those who voted against it are clearly against migrants and refugees, wherein it must be stated again was told to *not* be the reason it was shot down.
Lovely points, what amendments would you like to suggest to make this motion acceptable to you?
Amendment One - Admit this was previously voted against.
Hi, well spotted that this is copied from the Stanstead 15 motion that was previously debated, I felt those that voted against the motion did so without understanding what it was and so have no reason to reword every aspect of the motion. In the original motion, those that voted against said they did so because they felt it was "too political", to that I say that makes no sense as the SU has voted in favor of supporting a People's Vote on Brexit and on boycotting Prevent, both of which are very political so this argument is invalid, likewise, a Student's Union is political by nature and their existence would be irrelevant if it avoided political motions. Running through this point by point, the Home Office's Hostile Environment policy is designed to make staying in the UK as difficult as possible for migrants and is part of a larger strategy to massively reduce UK immigration, it included the Immigration Act which made a requirement for institutions, including universities, to carry out ID checks to check the immigration status of those involved in the institutions, in this case, that means our students. It is incredibly important that our SU and our university resist this for the sake of our migrant student, our university is not the border police. Supporting the Undoing Borders campaign is in the same form as supporting the People's Vote, this would require the SU to aid in the facilitation of actions and policy-making related to the campaign that students wish to run (for example the SU organised transport to the People's Vote marches). Making the statement that our SU supports migrants and refugees would be a huge show of solidarity for migrants and refugees, including those that are students at our university and shows we will take an active stance in supporting migrant and refugee rights. Signing the Charter follows on from this, it ensures any publication produced by the SU actively avoids perpetrating a false negative narrative around migrants and is strongly connected to the rest of the motion. If you feel the Breitbart portion is tacked on, it would be great to hear any suggestions on a potential amendment for this, I would suggest it be changed to boycotting all media outlets that present a harmful narrative in their reporting of migrants, this would ensure there would be no future dealings with such outlets, even if none currently exist. In regard to the status that was posted following the original motion, the motion as a whole was very clear in its intention of showing active solidarity with migrants and supporting the rights of migrants and refugees. When this was up for debate at the council the five students that voted against it did not ask for clarification on any part of it nor did they attempt to suggest amendments to the motion, instead they chose vote against it, this was even when the option to abstain from the vote was available, i.e. the students that voted against the motion took an active approach to stand against supporting migrants and refugees. If you would like to discuss this further feel free to send me a message on facebook. I'd also be happy to share some materials with you that offer more detail.
Our University has rolling contracts with G4S and Capita - companies which directly profit from the exploitation of refugees and migrants by running Immigration Removal Centres (IRC’s). IRC's are notorious for their human rights abuses and inadequate living conditions, and many people are deported without a trial. By supporting the Undoing Borders campaign the SU would be pledging to help students convince the University to stop using these companies. Do you have any helpful amendments which would make this motion acceptable to you?
James Barrow, I have to say i completely agree with both Conor and Ella. You say this motion has nothing to do with students at our University but that couldn't be further from the truth. Our student base is a wonderful tapestry of diversity, with many coming from, as previously pointed out, migrant and refugee families. Now more than ever it is important for us as a Union to show our solidarity with these people. In the wake of the Brexit referendum many of these people not only fear for their futures in the UK but also for their safety with the boldness of far right fascists growing with each day. We need to show that this is not us, that we support and fight for all students of this SU now and in the future.