Cops welcomed with smoke bombs and flares Dublin Pride 19:57 Jul 14 0 comments Gemma O'Doherty: The speech you never heard. I wonder why? 05:28 Jan 15 0 comments A Decade of Evidence Demonstrates The Dramatic Failure Of Globalisation 15:39 Aug 23 1 comments Thatcher's " blind eye" to paedophilia 15:27 Mar 12 0 comments Total Revolution. A new philosophy for the 21st century. 15:55 Nov 17 0 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Anti-EmpireUS Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović That Time Blackwater and US Army Shot Ea... Sun Apr 28, 2024 12:54 | Marko Marjanović Rheinmetall Plans to Make 700,000 Artill... Thu Apr 25, 2024 04:03 | Anti-Empire America’s Shell Production Is Leaping,... Wed Apr 24, 2024 05:29 | Anti-Empire
Human Rights in IrelandA Blog About Human RightsUN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights
Lockdown Skeptics
News Round-Up Sun May 05, 2024 01:14 | Will Jones
U.S. Government Mandates Preferred Pronouns in All Workplaces Sat May 04, 2024 15:00 | Will Jones
Have Left-Wing Protesters Moved On From Climate Change? Sat May 04, 2024 13:00 | Will Jones
Scientists Tried to Reinfect People With Covid ? and Failed Sat May 04, 2024 11:00 | Will Jones
Chris Packham Packs on the Pseudoscience to Promote Climate Collapse ?Terror? Sat May 04, 2024 09:00 | Chris Morrison
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionVoltaire, International Newsletter N°85 Fri May 03, 2024 14:25 | en The Kastner case resurfaces Fri May 03, 2024 14:06 | en Non-Semite (sic) Khazar Netanyahu calls US anti-genocidal academics "anti-Semite... Fri May 03, 2024 07:13 | en Paris 2024 and Berlin 1936 in the service of an impossible imperial dream, by Th... Tue Apr 30, 2024 07:07 | en Georgia and the financing of political organizations from abroad Sat Apr 27, 2024 05:37 | en |
Search words: health Healthcare, UCD Students’ Union Breaks Students' Trust
dublin |
miscellaneous |
news report
Wednesday August 26, 2009 12:26 by Brian - SF
Only a few days in the job. Article on RTE.ie
Email sent to students. |
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (19 of 19)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19I don't have a medical card yet i only have €70 a week to live on. If i get sick i'll have to skip a meal to go see the Doctor. I feel let down by my students Union.
I thought nothing could be any worse than IBEC representing the TCD students union in a certain Industrial relations dispute but this shows how the UCD student Union has reached a right wing all time low. Demand there resignations and refuse to be affialiated with them-set up an alternative union-do NOT let them away with this.
This would be hard, but it would be amazing.
USI - FAILED
ISU - Independent Students Union would be amazing.
How does one even go about setting up alternative union??
Any ideas on building a campaign against the charges? They were successfully opposed and defeated when the Brady Bunch tried to bring them in a couple of years ago. I'd say it'd be worthwhile to set up a meeting on the issue sometime in the first week.
Wasn't all that surprised to see Redmond's signature in the email, lets not forget tghe political allegiances of this years sabbatical team..
Gary Redmond-FF
Donncha O' Suilleabhan-FF
Mike Pat O' Donohue- FF
Paddy Ryan-FG
Scott Ahearn-FG
Actually if anyone wants to email Redmond to voice their opinions i'll give you a hand..
president@ucdsu.ie
seriously, its important to keep the pressure on
I would be happy to give you advice how to do this if you wish to email me at wayneflanagantobin@live.ie.
It is very simple to do but obviously you will be at a disadvantage in terms of finance. But you start it with basic leaflets and posters and build up a group hold meetings and elect people who will speak out on the real issues-overtake the so called "Union" as they are now irrelevant as they have failed the Students miserably.
Maybe a name like " Students for Change" -it is a democracy so you cannot be stopped from doing this. It is in the wider democratic and social interest.
At least those are the steps you can take to try dissolve the current set-up. You can also use a referendum to oust the sitting president. If you want to ACT sooner rather than later a referendum could be held alongside the class rep elections, usually held close to or more likely in October.
The self-declared 'lefties' will obstruct ANYTHING that does not advance their own electoral prospects - you have been warned. (see related link)
Forming a new union is going to difficult. Remember the existing officers, useles and traitors though they be, were actualy elected by the students. They were not imposed on the students by the college administration.
It might be better to launch a campaign to recall the officers or even a specific referendum to commit the SU to oppose these charges.
A nw SU could be set up and it might have a couple of hunderd radical members but that would not represent the student body as a whole. Nor would it get any recognition.
So: throw the bums out! Dont leave them in control of the SU.
If Julian and co where in power where would they expect the funding to come from UCD has seen its budget cutback dramaticaly. Student services are not isolated in a bubble away from the recession.
Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...5332957&ref=nf
Boards.ie Thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=...60617
See you on Friday.
"How does one even go about setting up alternative union??"
Old Irish Proverb:
In Ireland what is the first item on the agenda?......."When is the split?"
.
ha ha ha
wise indeed...
"Without debates, conflicts, without a war between opinion, no movement, including the workers’ movement is possible at all. But without a merciless fight against the degeneration of conflicts into quarrels and squabbles any organisation is impossible."
- Vladimir Ulyanov
When the Campaign for Free Education formed in 2002 it was a group formed from all parts of what's popularly called the left-wing political spectrum and members of the Labour Youth shower hitched a ride. They had meetings in lecture theatres, faced criticism for being too 'Arts centric' as many other courses do not allow students to devote as much time at they'd like to political activites but they one a referendum campaign that would have split UCDSU from USI. No bad thing I'm sure some of you are thinking but a very public split like that would have encouraged the then minister of Education, Noel Dempsey, to press on with the introduction of full fees. This was one of three challenges made to the full-time SU officers. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/19668
In terms of the 'local' student movement within UCD, the CFE were often viewed as a monolithic collection of smoked-salmon socialists. Certainly this was the view after they attempted to blockade the minister into the Veterinary building ( http://www.indymedia.ie/article/14873 ) and took their protest all the way to the office of the then SU president Aonghus Hourihane. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/15559
However, their participatory membership was larger than the then Students' Union Council and what did these members of CFE participate in? The Student Union elections! It was at this stage, January-February 2003 that the CFE split between those supporting a Labour Youth careerist and a Socialist Party careerist. The Labour guy won. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/32720
This is all history now but I post it up to point out the pitfalls that might be encountered by those starting in UCD this year and that you shouldn't pay any attention to the begrudgers. At the same time don't let yourself degenerate into a parody of your movement: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/71564
There are plans amongst students in the UCC to set up an anti-authoritarian and anti capitalist alternative Students union. Our union is also run by paid "representatives" who don;t give a fuck about the students and share a similar apathy towards the damaging effects of privatisation policies. An alternative union between colleges would be brilliant especially in offering an alternative from the current USI after their actions of clear censorship as they ordered for the words free education to be banned from the Ant-Fees demo in dublin last February.
That is the most retarded idea ever, you'll get about 5 members, there are people in students unions who disagree with you so what, the fight fees cause is more important than your petty idelogical squabbles over the use of the word free. Such attitude is Union wrecking nonsense
Basically I woud suggest that if you haven't been involved in your Students' Union before this year that you get involved. This usually involves running for Class Rep. In terms of UCDSU this involves getting yourself nominated by ten of your classmates by Friday the 18th of September with the election being held two weeks later.
The overwhelming majority of class reps I've encountered in UCD (ESPECIALLY the self-declared 'left') usually take the attitude of 'compliance-comes-from-the-bottom-up' and never bother getting a single second of responsibility taking out of the PAID sabbatical officers. Become a class rep as part of an organised group then hang the sabbatical officers balls over the fire.
There is absolutely no point in setting up alternative unions, most SUs are based on direct/delegate democracy. It's not like there are tens of thousands of radical anti-capitalist students being held back by the unions - a radical student movement can only exist were there are radical students.
The problem is that student unions are seen as apolitical service providers which work in partnership with the college authorites. They end up as apologists for the shit that rolls downhill, like in this case.
It sounds like someone is bitter over their failure to ensure the cfe lasted for more than 18 months!
Direct democracy in an SU context usually means a referendum of all members. Most of the self-declared-left in UCDSU history have not liked that, especially when it would bring meaningful change. It was my mistake not to acknowledge and correctly handle the short-sighted immaturity of most UCD 'lefties' but the past is the past and the most important thing now is that mistakes are not repeated.
Delegates do not exist in UCDSU, not in any practical sense. That's why once elected as clas rep you are in a position to MAKE THE EFFORT to get the shit to roll back up the hill.
"There was no ‘science’ over and above the activity of men, independent of political commitments; ‘objectivity’ was often only a pretension to conceal implicit commitment to the status quo, and Marxists must argue in full awareness of their prior commitment, must behave responsibly, not as if they were idle dilettante by-, slanders." - Nigel Harris