For the Sake of Unity...

Today Joe Oliver, a man whom I have a great deal of respect for; announced that he had decided to leave Labour Students over the selection of Thomas Graham by the organisation to stand against the current VPHE Usman Ali. I fully admire, respect and understand his decision on this issue, it is not an easy one to make and by sticking to his principles on this it only makes me respect him more than I already did :-).

This being said; I feel that the direction Joe Oliver has gone on this is not for me, being a (relatively new) member of Labour Students it feels too paradoxical for me to leave the organisation; one of the reasons I joined in the first place was for the sake of unity. (Luckily for me my decision is not as difficult as Joe's as I have not nearly been involved as much as he has and nor am I in as influential position but I felt it important to make my positioning on this clear)

'Unity' has become one of the biggest struggles of the student movement in recent months: the result of a severe set of divisions. Activist groups calling Aaron Porter a 'traitor', the NUS distancing itself from direct action and others who don't want to be lumped in with either and just want to get their voice heard. They all have valid points, but to me it's all started sounding a bit too much like the Judean Peoples front (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE).

Whilst I'm not a big fan of Aaron Porter (I feel his leadership has had too great a top-down approach) I'm not going to go around saying he's a 'traitor' and start calling for a vote of no confidence. All parts of the students movement have got to accept that direct action, lobbying and talking to the public do not and cannot work in isolation; a balance has to be found between the three, something the entire movement has to work on together.

                So where to stand in regard to Thomas Graham being selected as the Labour Students candidate for NUS Vice President for Higher Education? In my opinion the selection of Thomas was done in an absurdly top-down manner which, on it's own, makes me very reluctant to support him as a candidate the idea that, despite not having been involved with the process of putting him up as a candidate on behalf of Labour Students; delegates are expected to not just vote for him but campaign for him as well is one that I'm not happy with.

As Joe suggested in his note many will suggest that there is a collective responsibility but I also agree with Joe that this decision was made in an unhealthily top-down manner. If this practice continues it will isolate members from the organisation core and will only contribute to the divisions of the student movement.

                For the sake of unity I will not be leaving Labour Students over this, but nor will I be supporting Thomas’ campaign; I will NOT be campaigning for, supporting or openly endorsing ANY candidate for the position of VPHE.

Many will probably consider this as a cop-out, in a very “sitting-on-the-fence” way, but in my opinion the student movement polarises so frequently on so many issues that I feel that a compromise must be made here: for the sake of unity.

Cheers,

Alan x