Recent Protests

Ri na hEireann

Just wondering what you all think about the recent protests regarding Gaza which have taken place every day for the past week or so?

Personally, I think it's bad form by the SU. As far as I'm concerned they should spend their time protecting and speaking out for student rights and student rights only. They do a good job at this. I don't see why they are getting so deeply involved in a situation as complex as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

To me, it seems like pure populism. They are clearly oversimplifying the facts. I understand the humanitarian implications of the blockade om Gaza, and equally the disproportionate force used by Israel in retalliation to Hamas, but I can't for the life of me understand why the SU run protests calling for boycotts on Israel etc... I haven't seen them organise any protests asking Hamas to stop the "holocaust" of Gazans.

D-Generate

I agree completely with you. An organization such as the SU should be non-partisan to such events as this. They weren't elected to preach on international political events and especially not to throw their voice in to an argument as complex as this. I saw a few pro-Hamas signs at the last protest and to carry a placard with a Hamas slogan is tantamount to anti-semetism. I would rather our SU didn't align themselves to the support of the ideals of the governments of either country and if they do continue to protest then perhaps they could also launch a campaign in opposition to Hamas too. Peace and all that ya know.

Amtmann

From what I've seen (and heard - annoyingly - inside the library every lunchtime), it's a small group of Islamic students seemingly encouraged by the usual suspect(s) from the sociology department.

quietsailor

Furet wrote: »

From what I've seen (and heard - annoyingly - inside the library every lunchtime), it's a small group of Islamic students seemingly encouraged by the usual suspect(s) from the sociology department.

If a group of students want to protest then that is their perogative and more power to them for actually doing something other than talking. But if our student union are involved - I passed the protest today and didn't see any SU banners - then they should be questioned about it.

Are they participating as an official SU rep - if so they should be given the choice = stop or else resign . The Israeli/Palestinian arguement has no bearing on UCC or the students within its walls. We are going to have enough problems in the coming years with fees being re-introduced and printing charges without the SU getting sucked into a international, non UCC debate. Are this person/persons getting involved in the SU and political protests as they intend to follow a career in politics, if so stop using my time to further your career.

Are they participating as a private individual? If so it is their right but ill advised as it gives the impression that the SU is backing the protest. Maybe he/she/they could send out a college wide email pointing out they attended in a private capacity.

Are any SU officers members of Boards - will they give us their side of the story?

postalservice

People laughed at them saying " Oh ya that'll stop what's going on"

But the truth of the matter is........ there are many people on campus that dont know theres anything going on over there and if nothing else the protest brought attention to it for the "spacers":P

I have nothing against it anyways

Amtmann

I haven't seen any indication that the SU are involved. An email which mentioned the protest was circulated to all students by the SU, but from what I recall it only described the protest. It didn't directly call for others to participate - though I might be wrong about that.

As I said, from what I've seen the protestors are a very small group that happen to be disproportionately loud. They're mostly Muslim (judging by such tell-tale signs as hijabs), and at least one college lecturer, who is in the Sociology Department, participates. In fact the SU email said that the students were from the "Development" module, which, if I'm not mistaken, is still taught by this lady - http://www.ucc.ie/en/DepartmentsCentresandUnits/Sociology/Staff/KathyGlavanis-GranthamMAPhD/ - who just happens to be the staff marcher I referred to.

D-Generate

Looks like it is being supported by the SU.

http://www.ucc.ie/en/SIN/su.ucc.ie/campaigns/Gaza/

Perhaps for this years elections we might get a RON campaign going so that we might delay the cycle of one bunch of chumps leaving the union only to be replaced by another bunch of chumps.

Amtmann

Indeed. This from an email this morning:

Dear All,



A reminder that Class Council takes place this Wednesday (14th Jan) at 6.30 in Boole 2. This is a special council as UCC President Dr. Michael Murphy will be in attendance. Dr Murphy will give students a talk on the current position of the University and where he sees it going in the next twelve months. There will be a questions & answers session afterwards so this is one of the few opportunities students will get to ask the president a question personally. Class council is also the place where students are free to question SU officers on student issues or ask any of us for information on student matters.

All class reps should be in attendance for voting matters but class council, as always, is open to all students who wish to attend.

As the Gaza situation intensifies UCC students have started a letter writing campaign to all local TDs. Any student who supports their plight is encouraged to take part in this letter writing campaign by following this link

Surely that should read: "As the Gaza situation intensifies a tiny minority of people who happen to be students at UCC have started a letter writing campaign..." rather than the misleading bilge Trotted out by the SU.

EDIT: The pedant in me just can't resist. The 'their' is ambiguous, and can refer to either the TDs or the letter writers. Since Gazans aren't explicitly mentioned in the paragraph, it doesn't refer to them. Secondly, I'm not quite sure what "support[ing] a plight" means; but I presume the author meant "support them (whoever they are) in their plight".

Ri na hEireann

The SU as far as I could see and as far as the emails suggest are officially involved, and, in a partisan manner. I saw two SU reps wearing their SU clothing leading the chanting the other day.

They should either protest against both Hamas and Israel or mind their own business.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Furet wrote: »

In fact the SU email said that the students were from the "Development" module, which, if I'm not mistaken, is still taught by this lady - http://www.ucc.ie/en/DepartmentsCentresandUnits/Sociology/Staff/KathyGlavanis-GranthamMAPhD/ - who just happens to be the staff marcher I referred to.

Christ, I remember her. I'd consider myself fairly liberal but I sat through several of her lectures muttering "leftist commie propaganda" over and over to my myself. The course was so infuriatingly one sided in its approach.

As for the protests, I don't think the SU should be actively encouraging students to take part, this has what to do with student welfare exactly? While raising awareness about the whole situation would be great, most people seem to automatically take the Palestinian side with little or no consideration of the complexity of the situation, which seems to be the SU is doing. Personally I'd consider the Israeli response completely disproportionate, and would have attended the protest if I were able, but hey, I'm not in any type of political office,

settopbox

nice to see that there is some open minded people who have enough about them to speak up and realise the agendas that some people in this university have got.
this gaza protest is being run by a handful of students who do not represent the majority of the students in UCC.
in fact i find it almost intimadating to hear chants calling for the boycott of Israel the only true democracy in the mid east.
Hamas are a horrendous, terrorist organisation whom the people of Gaza in particular voted for as thier government.
effectively hamas rocket attacks on israel are an act of war.
what else would/could israel do only defend herself.
and i do have sympathy for the innocent victims but i dont for a second believe that the israeli army deliberately targets civilians.
those protesting the gaza attacks should be grateful that they live in a society where they can legitimately protest and shout as much as they like, unlike in radical islam controlled Gaza,

Ri na hEireann

settopbox wrote: »

nice to see that there is some open minded people who have enough about them to speak up and realise the agendas that some people in this university have got.
this gaza protest is being run by a handful of students who do not represent the majority of the students in UCC.
in fact i find it almost intimadating to hear chants calling for the boycott of Israel the only true democracy in the mid east.
Hamas are a horrendous, terrorist organisation whom the people of Gaza in particular voted for as thier government.
effectively hamas rocket attacks on israel are an act of war.
what else would/could israel do only defend herself.
and i do have sympathy for the innocent victims but i dont for a second believe that the israeli army deliberately targets civilians.
those protesting the gaza attacks should be grateful that they live in a society where they can legitimately protest and shout as much as they like, unlike in radical islam controlled Gaza,

Well, whilst I agree with you that a military response was necessary by Israel, I do think it was disproportionate. I know that word has become the buzzword of the reporting on the conflict but it doesn't change the fact that Israel have acted in a grossly negligent way.

I do not believe they are intentionally bombing UN schools but at the same time it's not in any way excusable. Civilian casulties have been way too high and alot of Israel's tactics need to be attacked. They are clearly an awesome force to be reckoned with and that's why I think their operation should be a bit more restrained. In saying that, Hamas must shoulder the bulk of the responsibility here and Gazans need to collectively take responsibility for supporting Hamas. If they are going to allow the fundamentalists to do as they please then they will face the consequences, as they are. The difference between Hamas and IDF is the IDF are trying to destroy Hamas,not the Gazan people, where as Hamas are intentionally targeting Israeli citizens.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

When a country with such a powerful military launches an all out offensive on a country with no navy, no airforce, and basically no army, it is disproportionate. When heavily built up and populated areas are bombed, it does rather seem that Israel does not give a crap about how many Palestinan civilians have to die in the process of fighting Hamas.
Of course wanting to wipe Israel off the map is unacceptable, of course attacks aimed at its citizens cannot be tolerated. However, Hamas rocket attacks have killed what? Twenty Israeli civilians in the past...ever? And the Israeli tanks and machine guns and shells killed what was it again-near enough to 1000 Palestinian civilians in the past month or so? (I can't be bothered looking up statistics atm, but I believe I'm in the ballpark with those figures, someone correct me if I'm not.)
People automatically taking the lefty liberal party line and supporting Palestine-or even suggesting that Hamas is justified in its attacks-is incredibly irritating, but much of this stems from a) Israel's continuously disproportionate reactions to every threat from every two bit little terrorist gang who are obviously TERRIBLE at what they do and not at all deterred by the might of Israel's military and b) Israel's arrogance over the whole affair, her assumption that we all share the opinion that one Israeli civilian's life is worth hundreds of Palestinian or Lebanese lives, and more or less pretending the UN doesn't exist (must be how they managed to get that school).