York’s political societies speak out
James Best collects campus’ political views
York students have a history of being politically active, and have been involved in national actions such as the march against the Iraq war and anti-fees rallies. We’ve spoken to these pro-active souls to find out more.
Birmingham Race Riots
Anna Liddle and Catherine Upton, the chair and secretary of Unity, campus’ anti-fascist society, seem unimpressed by the government’s policies on race relations. “This government isn’t particularly doing wonders for community cohesion. They’re bringing in some very racist anti-terror laws at the moment. Their anti-racism laws aren’t very successful” claims Anna Liddle. A view also held by Marian Fitzgerald a former senior researcher for the Home Office who claims Labour have chosen to bury mounting inter-ethnic tensions in inner cities. Catherine Upton made the point that “one of the problems is that the government tends to see making communities live in harmony as assimilation into white culture”.
When asked about what the Labour Party intends to do about this problem Labour society member Matt Balding admitted that “there are a lot of tensions that are often fuelled by the media” He pointed to the need for “the media and the government to work together to try and address the issues”. Unity said, “There is a lot to be done socially”, pointing to the need to get community leaders together. Anna Liddle was adamant that “it’s not a hopeless situation and there is light at the end of the tunnel”.
It should be pointed out how active and successful a group Unity are in improving relations. The group held a demonstration last week in Leeds against the BNP. Catherine claims “there were about a thousand anti-fascists and only 100 BNP members.” Unity was also involved in getting a BNP demo in Keighley banned last Saturday.
Tory Leadership Race
The Chair of the Liberal Democrat society, Graeme Cooke, said, “The political system doesn’t offer any real policy choice; the Tories are just saying the same things as Blair”. Unsurprisingly, Nick Reeves, Chairman of campus’ Conservative society disagrees vehemently with this opinion, saying that “Tony Blair steals Conservative policies.”
“Tony Blair is a Conservative leader” albeit “a Conservative leader of Labour party, which means he can’t get much done.” Reeves says things are going to change with new leadership. He explains that “trust has been lost in the Blairite government” and now we have the chance to “offer a credible alternative”.
When Matt Balding from the Labour party was questioned about this he agreed that “Cameron is very popular, even outside the Tory Party” and could provide effective opposition.
Nick Reeves concluded about the Tory Leadership race and the future of the Conservative Party with a bold prediction that in “the next 8 years or so; Cameron will win, there will be a cabinet of talents, Blair will probably go in a year or two’s time. Brown will take over, labour will infight for about six months trying to take the party to the left which it ultimately will do. Following elections, Brown verses Cameron, it’ll be a hung parliament. Then there will be an election about 6 months later and the conservatives will at last take power back.”
With the fickle nature of politics, only time will tell.
Smoking Ban Bill
The Tories see the proposed ban as an attack on civil liberties. Nick Reeves says “the Labour government sees us doing naughty things in our lives and just wants to go out and ban it to make sure we’re all good little workers” it is just another “example of Labour not liking something and then trying to ban it outright”.
Matt Balding believes this is unreasonable and that “as far as liberties go it’s a difficult one because occasionally we have liberties that conflict, one being that people don’t want to be in an atmosphere where there’s smoking”. When asked if it was symptomatic of divisions in the Labour party he denied it outright saying “Other parties have splits over various issues. When you have a membership of several thousand people not everyone is always going to agree, it’s natural.” He “wouldn’t say that any disagreements within the party are detrimental to it.”
Nick Reeves on the same issue believes, as do many other commentators, that it is a sign of a floundering government, saying “it’s the worst kept secret ever. Everybody can see that the labour party is imploding at the moment. Blair has become a very, very lame duck”. He went further, predicting his downfall, “Blair will be pushed before he jumps.”
James Best
Donald Johnson
And now the Lib Leader has had to stand down due to a drink problem - what a joke of a party. It’s a shame we have a Lib Dem Councillor.
I have never seen the Uni Lib Dem Councillor, have you?
Donald
Alcuin