That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
Doubtless there are those who feel strongly about the whole situation, but what about the others? Are all of the protesters as strongly opinionated as they make out, or is it all part of the student experience, a component of the grand checklist of this life-stage; be educated, party like it’s your last chance, and publicly demonstrate in the name of an opinion?
Is it all part of the student experience, a component of the grand checklist of this life-stage; be educated, party like it’s your last chance, and publicly demonstrate in the name of an opinion?
As cynical as this will sound, it is worth noting; people will rarely publicise their support for a cause that is unpopular or unfashionable. Take for example the case of Obama, as pointed out by a number of my blogging brethren, where during the US election many people donated their Facebook status to Barack, whereas very few people openly supported McCain because the stereotype was that it was narrow-minded, unintelligent and vaguely racist to do so.
That’s not to say I think the wrong candidate won. Obama clearly had overwhelming support from many educated people, as well as those that came out to vote for him purely based on his ethnicity and political allegiances. However, it was only really the popular opinion that was spoken about, perfectly demonstrating the phenomena of ‘jumping on the bandwagon’.
Jumping on the bandwagon happens when people think they will be missing out on something big, or fun, or potentially historical. That is not to make the blanket statement ‘all of the protesters were doing for selfish reasons or to be seen as doing the right thing’ but rather to say that a core of people genuinely felt that our university should not be making those investments, while others would have been there simply for the pretty coloured banners, amusingly loud noises and catchy slogans.
The protest experienced on campus seemed like a throwback to the days when being loud and colourful was what you did as a student; the days when protesters relied on their numbers and volume, instead of the convincing points of their arguments and creative ways to get their points across. To some people, such as the opposition group to the disarm protest on Facebook, the classic noise, colours and more noise technique is incredibly annoying.
There are many ways to protest, publicise or fight for a cause. Running across campus with banners, megaphones and drums seems like the type of activity that will encourage the participation of those who only join in ‘for a laugh’. Sadly it was the stereotypical effort here that also reduced support for their cause by being brash, annoying, and confused about its own reasons (especially after it was rumoured that a number of people left after it became less about the university's investment in the arms trade, and more of an anti-war demo).
I will never consider this kind of peaceful protest to be wrong, no matter how annoying. Freedom of speech is a right integral to a country such as this and a higher education institution such as ours. However, the fact that it was carried out so much like an imitation of the archetypal demonstrations of the 1960s does nothing for its credibility, and more seriously the fact that many perceived it to be about a different issue than the pre-publicised investment issue suggests confusion amongst those recruited, particularly those who went for the experience of protesting as a student rather than to genuinely support the cause, whatever they perceived that to be.
Ultimately I feel most sorry for the people who are genuinely against the university's investment in BAE systems, because the protest, despite their best efforts, has in some ways done their cause more damage than good. Having said that, although the protest was disliked by many people it has given their cause a lot of publicity, and rekindled genuine interest in the subject, so you could not call it a complete loss by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps though this has supplied one major thing that organisers of future student protests should consider - be careful in how you go about what you are doing, because while you are fighting for a cause, the last thing you want to do is irritate a group into opposing you, as happened with the group on Facebook against the disarm protests.
"The protest experienced on campus seemed like a throwback to the days when being loud and colourful was what you did as a student; the days when protesters relied on their numbers and volume, instead of the convincing points of their arguments and creative ways to get their points across."
Really now? How can you make such an offensive assumption without justifying it? Did you attend the York Union debate that we helped organise? Did you read the streams of comments on every article that appeared on Nouse or the Yorker? It is, in fact, the opposition that lacked the sound argumentation that we had, which is exactly why the Council admitted a few of us to speak with them, heard our concerns, and decided we were right.
"Ultimately I feel most sorry for the people who are genuinely against the university's investment in BAE systems, because the protest, despite their best efforts, has in some ways done their cause more damage than good."
You are aware of the fact that we now have an ethical investment policy, right?
"the last thing you want to do is irritate a group into opposing you, as happened with the group on Facebook against the disarm protests."
The creators of this group were not 'annoyed into opposing us', the were the same old reactionists who would oppose rainbows and sunshine if they had the power to. They gathered support (if joining a facebook group is called support) through lies and propaganda - their group's description has so many factual inaccuracies that they have refused to correct.
Anyway, I am sorry but this was not very well-researched at all. Poor job.
I largely agree with #1, though I'm sure we can all agree that protests on their own are not nearly enough and should always be combined with other ways of supporting a cause.
On an unrelated note, I think you're mistaken to suggest that a large part of Obama's support was due to people "jumping on the bandwagon". He was the better and more popular candidate and it's entirely unsurprising that more people chose to support him with facebook statuses etc. The race was tight in the USA but in pretty much every other country in the world, with or without facebook, Obama was overwhelmingly more popular. Even in the US many more voters were genuinely excited by and committed to the Obama campaign whereas McCain was rarely, if ever, seen as exciting even among Republican voters.
The campaign consisted of far, FAR more than just this one protest march, with an astonishing amount of effort going into contacting relevant people to personally convince them to support the cause.
There was also a UGM supporting the motion, and a petition with over a thousand signatures on it, which both presented clear, cogent, concrete arguments for the adoption of an ethical investment policy, part of which involved the disarm campaign.
I fail to see how the campaigners can control who comes to their protest, and whether they are truly convinced of their cause or not. But they hardly hid the reasons behind it from the attendees, and they also provided opportunity for people to support the cause without going on the protest.
I don't see how their campaign was any more annoying than anything trying to change people's minds is, and it certainly wasn't based solely on a couple of hours of vague, noisy, marching.
Just because people similar-looking protests in the past may have been unfounded and based on vague student reactionism, it doesn't for a second mean this one is.
over 2500 signatures you mean..
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