Has the NUS finally jumped the shark

[likesfish]

new nus president apprantly wants to fight for the palestinian cause.
Her problem is she only had 400 odd people out of 7 million members actually vote for her.
Then theirs the fact its the nus a union for students not the UN maybe if she had a proper democratic mandate she could have a point.
But activists electing an activist and trying to claim she speaks for the membership on anything is a bit meh.

You can have your factions and cliques and vanguardism but eventually people will just walk away and leave you in your echo box.

 

[chilango]

Happened years and years and years ago.

I'm actually a member of the NUS at the moment and this is absolutely nothing to do with me.

 

[Pickman's model]

new nus president apprantly wants to fight for the palestinian cause.
Her problem is she only had 400 odd people out of 7 million members actually vote for her.
Then theirs the fact its the nus a union for students not the UN maybe if she had a proper democratic mandate she could have a point.
But activists electing an activist and trying to claim she speaks for the membership on anything is a bit meh.

You can have your factions and cliques and vanguardism but eventually people will just walk away and leave you in your echo box.

The 400 people are delegates representing a larger number

 

[chilango]

The 400 people are delegates representing a larger number

...but only barely in many cases.

 

[8115]

As far as I have been able to tell, the only (non) issue is that she is a Muslim.

 

[a_chap]

...out of 7 million members...

The NUS has 7 million members?

 

[kebabking]

The NUS has 7 million members?

i was still getting cheap Burger Kings in my 30's.

the NUS was a joke when this grey-haired old fart was a student, even then it was only populated by the obsessives, the weird, the desperate to not leave uni and get a job, and those who saw it as a stepping stone - note that those were only people who used it because their natural talents wouldn't get them a job at ToysRus - no one with any actual talent or wit needed to use the NUS as a stepping stone...

bunch of completely ignored laughable obsessives elect a completely ignored laughable obsessive as their head completely ignored laughable obsessive. in truth i'm having trouble getting a reaction on my giveafuckometer.

 

[DrRingDing]

new nus president apprantly wants to fight for the palestinian cause.
Her problem is she only had 400 odd people out of 7 million members actually vote for her.
Then theirs the fact its the nus a union for students not the UN maybe if she had a proper democratic mandate she could have a point.
But activists electing an activist and trying to claim she speaks for the membership on anything is a bit meh.

You can have your factions and cliques and vanguardism but eventually people will just walk away and leave you in your echo box.

You're actually wrong. The UN is a limp dick in the Palestinian struggle. The US has a veto at the security council so, you can have as many resolutions as yer like, nothing will happen.

Conversly the real fight is with BDS movement. That fight is taking place in many institutions around the world including universities.

Im a member of the NUS. For the discounts.

 

[DotCommunist]

It was reading up on rwanda that made me realise the UN was maybe a bit crap. I knew the massacres happened as it was all over the news but I was in full 15 YO mode so outside events were so much noise. But later reading.

 

[twentythreedom]

What shark

 

[Pickman's model]

1) back in the 60s David widgery described the nus as the students' muffler; in the 1990s I regularly heard it described as no use to students, while nus hq on Holloway Rd was described as the bunker on hollowegstrasse.
2) all students at he and fe institutions are members, unless they opt out. Staff at many he institutions eg ucl can get nus cards too.

 

[brogdale]

i was still getting cheap Burger Kings in my 30's.

Top work that man!
Leans into microphone and intones the famous call......WHAaaaBBBaaaburgahrghhhhhh!

 

[likesfish]

It was reading up on rwanda that made me realise the UN was maybe a bit crap. I knew the massacres happened as it was all over the news but I was in full 15 YO mode so outside events were so much noise. But later reading.

The UN is very good at what it does but what it can do is limited to what the security council allows as the security council members have nukes and the military capability to enforce them.

 

[Pickman's model]

The UN is very good at what it does but what it can do is limited to what the security council allows as the security council members have nukes and the military capability to enforce them.

No, the UN security council permanent members have vetoes. They don't stop things going through on the basis of possession of nuclear weapons. Most security council members do not have and never have had nuclear weapons or nuclear ambitions.

 

[likesfish]

“Big Five” Crushes “Small Five” Over Veto Powers | Inter Press Service

But the big five do and they have veto's

 

[nino_savatte]

Someone declares support for Palestinians and every other cunt loses their shit over it. FFS.

 

[stuff_it]

...but only barely in many cases.

So it's a bit like the political system then?

 

[chilango]

So it's a bit like the political system then?

It apes it.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Yawn-o-fucking-rama.

 

[ViolentPanda]

It apes it.

No need to make a monkey out of stuffit!

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Got a NUS card at 15 by enrolling in a college that was never attended. You filled the card out yourself and they laminated it. My pen slipped and 1969 appeared in the year of birth rather than 1972. Didn't want to cause a fuss so left it at that...

 

[gosub]

I do find it weird that given how comprehensively the youth have been fucked over with devalued qualifications, student debt, attempts to block them from social housing, an ever faster taking of paradise to put up a parking lot... What you hear from the activists of that age is trans rights, and Palestinian

 

[brogdale]

I do find it weird that given how comprehensively the youth have been fucked over with devalued qualifications, student debt, attempts to block them from social housing, an ever faster taking of paradise to put up a parking lot... What you hear from the activists of that age is trans rights, and Palestinian

Don't think Gramsci would have found it weird.

 

[nino_savatte]

What you hear from the activists of that age is trans rights, and Palestinian

What? Just one Palestinian? Which one?

 

[gosub]

What? Just one Palestinian? Which one?

the one that sorts out swiftkey you fucker -Amir

 

[Celyn]

...
2) all students at he and fe institutions are members, unless they opt out. Staff at many he institutions eg ucl can get nus cards too.

Not all universities have any connection to the N.U.S. In my day (ooh, that is SO oldie), I think half of the universities in Scotland were not affiliated to it.

 

[J Ed]

I do find it weird that given how comprehensively the youth have been fucked over with devalued qualifications, student debt, attempts to block them from social housing, an ever faster taking of paradise to put up a parking lot... What you hear from the activists of that age is trans rights, and Palestinian

It's not like caring about trans issues or Palestine means that you don't care about the neoliberal assault on young people although sadly that is the case for a lot of stoodent politicians.

 

[SaskiaJayne]

Former nulabour politician Jack Straw was NUS president at one time.

 

[stethoscope]

I do find it weird that given how comprehensively the youth have been fucked over with devalued qualifications, student debt, attempts to block them from social housing, an ever faster taking of paradise to put up a parking lot... What you hear from the activists of that age is trans rights, and Palestinian

Really? the young activists I've encountered the last few years seem to have pretty strong opinions on all manner of anti-capitalism, issues such as fees, housing issues, environmental, as well as feminist/queer/LGBT, and international politics.

Possibly not those that get elevated to positions in the NUS - but then that's always been a bit of a 'careerist' path for our next generation of politicians.

 

[chilango]

NUS at s national level has been ridiculous for as long as I can remember - I first attended conference back in the early 90s and it was the same utterly bubbled mixture of careerism and egocentric posturing back then. I returned a decade later and nothing had changed (except the balance of power amongst the trotlets) so to expect anything better now would be the wrong side of optimism imho.

None of it matters in the least though.