On Saturday, as with the previous week, many people marched through the streets of London again in an attempt to get David Cameron to resign. Once again, I intended to join them and didn't; I had an emergency at work (I run my own theatre company) which needed my immediate attention and unfortunately that had to take priority. So far, Cameron has obviously not resigned, but the pressure is on, and will continue to be on.
The thing that really concerns me is how little I have seen this demonstration reported in the media. Whilst last week received pretty lukewarm coverage within the mainstream media, the social media aspect was shared around quite a bit (including one rather iconic image of a pig piñata intended to represent our lovely PM). This week, however, I have seen virtually nothing, and this includes from my activism colleagues. The reasons for so little coverage on social media I cannot quite put my finger on - I'm still quite in the dark as to exactly how many people attended the protest compared to the previous week, though if anyone knows please do inform me and my readers.
As for the response from the mainstream media, that was sadly predictable. There was the odd report, but it was never front-page headlines, first item (or even third or fourth) on Radio 4. This is, quite clearly, the oldest trick in the book; when the media reports on something, it becomes a Thing with a capital T. This is fine when you're trying to frame someone like Cliff Richard, but when political activists are claiming the streets back, the state-controlled media wants it to be as low-key as possible. If it was out there, more people would become aware, more people would be inspired to keep it going - and when it's not reported on, it fizzles out.
This is why at this moment, it is as important as ever to keep this pressure on. Not only does the pressure force a reaction from the grand dignitaries, but it proves to the media that the people are passionate enough and committed enough to keep this going regardless of how much we are hindered. And it is working. Iain Duncan Smith is already out - admittedly more as a political move concerning the EU referendum than for the noble reasons he claims, but regardless it is a sign of things changing, of political structures giving way in the face of public pressure. We have continued strikes from junior doctors as a response to the frankly absurd contracts foisted upon them by Jeremy Hunt. The Government has been forced into U-turns on certain legislation, an example being the so-called 'granny flat' tax. The pressure is on, and it is working - not swiftly or securely (yet), but people are reacting to it.
I'm not sure what's happening this Saturday. I think there really needs to be another demonstration. According to social media, people are unsure because this Saturday is the London Marathon, but in my opinion this is precisely why the protest should happen. Much as I have the utmost respect for marathon-runners and would not like any sort of clash to happen between them and the protesters, I think here we have an opportunity to make a point about how important this cause is. When a valued event such as the London Marathon is disrupted because of people's anger about the general state of things, it sends a message stronger than any other that brutal and unfair regimes will not be tolerated. If the demonstration causes issues to something we all love, than that's just tough shit, because the wellbeing of each and every citizen of this country is a priority that outranks sporting events and other traditions, regardless of how many people appreciate them. No doubt the London Marathon will figure heavily in Sunday's newspapers; if its progress is hindered or halted by the demonstrations, this will also force the media to report on the demonstrations. (Admittedly, it will not report on them very favourably, but in this situation negative publicity is better than no publicity at all. It still gets the word out passionately.)
And whilst we're on the subject, I had an interesting conversation on social media today with someone who told me that I'd be better off focussing on the more troublesome options being lined up to replace Cameron. Let me be very clear, I have not forgotten the threats posed by George Osborne, Theresa May, Boris Johnson or any of David Cameron's other lackeys. I am not so naive as to think that just to get rid of David Cameron, things will magically be all right again. They won't, it will take years of hard work - it is now 26 years since Thatcher was deposed, and her legacy has still not been undone. However, I think it is fair to say that the resignation of David Cameron would very much harm the credibility of his cabinet and party generally. Just as Thatcher's successor John Major never did as much damage as her despite belonging to the same party, so too I feel that getting Cameron out would be a step in the right direction. Losing him would motivate people, just as losing Iain Duncan Smith did, despite having his own reasons for leaving. I'm also concerned about the impact for the EU referendum if we lost Cameron - much as I dislike him, he is a supporter of staying, and I worry that the campaign to Remain could be harmed without him. Regardless, the EU campaign is a completely separate issue, and one that people should judge on its merits and not on the personalities of the politicians involved. Perhaps I might do better politically to avoid attempting to depose Cameron until after the referendum, but then I am not a politician and I refuse to think tactically. Right now, I think that Cameron is the biggest and most concerning obstacle, and we may have an opportunity to force his resignation which might not come again until 2020. Whether that happens or whether it doesn't, we will deal with other problems when they come, but here, in this moment, in April 2016, I personally consider that to be the greater good.
If we're talking about who will replace Cameron though, some people may find this link to a Canary article interesting. I found it quite insightful about the whole situation, and actually gave me some optimism. Let's keep the revolution coming. If a demonstration is planned for this weekend, I will write about it. Hope so!
Monday, 18 April 2016
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Lack of student support on campus
I was going to write about the Panama papers today, but I've had to postpone that until my next blog in favour of an individual case that I came across on social media today. Whilst the Panama papers and David Cameron's association with offshore funds is of course of major importance, something lesser-known struck a personal chord with me and is relevant to a campaign I've been sitting on and quietly talking to a couple of people about for a while.
I was reading an article today concerning a student at London School of Economics who suffers from mental illness having been evicted from their lodgings. This was published on Beaver Online, the web edition of the college's newspaper, the Beaver (the full article is here, and I highly recommend it). Essentially, the unnamed student's studies were interrupted due to hospital admissions, and LSE has seen fit to evict them from Halls as a result. LSE apparently considered that for one reason or other its facilities would not cater to this individual, and it would not be able to give the support they required. This is despite the NHS recommending that the student stays in Halls, and the fact that having been evicted the student would be homeless, which needless to say would not be beneficial for their mental health.
I'm not going to re-write the article, but it is linked above for anyone who would like to read about the case in more detail. The reason I'm bringing it up is because it is sadly so consistent with things that I have both heard about and with my own personal experience. When it comes to pastoral care and social support on campus, many universities would appear to be strangely lacking. I cannot really give any clear examples of this other than the one linked as much of my evidence is anecdotal. From what I have heard though, it would seem that Universities put their own business needs ahead of everything else. Some do a better job than others of coming across as though student welfare is important to them, but for the most part it doesn't seem to be. For a few months now I have been talking to people I have worked with about launching some kind of campaign to tackle this problem. Uni life is such a fundamental part of making up who we are - I myself certainly never anticipated how much going into higher education would change me emotionally. It can be a time when one finds great strength in themselves, and it can also be where one's most concerning vulnerabilities come out more than ever before. In this instance, students need to have someone in authority with their best interests at heart, and I am very concerned that this is not happening. In this case, quite clearly, the extenuating circumstances for the student's absence was not considered to be important by the University. How many more students have suffered in a similar way?
I have my own experiences of feeling as though support for my mental and emotional wellbeing could be a lot better. I used to live in a flat of six, and in my first term at University, following arguments with a flatmate, I found myself in a state of almost total isolation from everyone I lived with. I would get home, go to my room and not come out again for six hours or so until everyone had gone to bed, before I would come out and heat myself some food, which I'd eat in my room. Occasionally those of my flatmates who I hadn't fallen out with would come to check that I was okay - I may not have seen them for several weeks, despite living together. The people involved were on my course, which meant that I felt unable to socialise with anyone and I became extremely depressed as a result. Looking back now, I cannot believe I ever let things get to such a ridiculous situation, but sometimes when living in a new environment it is possible to find yourself doing things you never thought you'd do. I never thought I'd be isolated for such a long time - at the beginning, I just tried to stay out of someone's way for a couple of days until things had calmed down, but frankly I had reckoned without how useless everyone in charge would turn out to be. I had been led to believe that what we called a 'Residents' Support Network' would help to arbitrate the situation, but save for talking to us and finding out what was going on, they did virtually nothing. Ultimately, the situation just burned itself out - the people involved moved out of my flat, and I was left to deal with things on my own. I'm proud of how I got through it, but having been locked in a room for two months impacted on my mental health for quite a long time, and I can't help feeling like if someone with some degree of authority had bothered to get properly involved, it would have saved everyone a lot of grief.
Obviously my own situation is entirely different from that faced by the student in this case - I was fortunately never at risk of being homeless, nor did I ever get to a point that I needed to be admitted to hospital. I feel that in the end though, it comes down to the same fact about Universities (save for a few individuals) being reluctant to get involved to help any student with any situation that might be slightly unusual. I don't know if this is because these days Universities are considered more as businesses than as educational establishments, but even if we are looking at it in that way it makes no difference. Customer satisfaction should be a key part of any business' list of priorities, and this should be especially the case if one's clientele consists mainly of young people starting to get a grasp on the real world. The one part of the article that really made me smile sympathetically was when the LSESU Welfare Officer said that all of the people she had communicated with had referred her to one another. This was exactly my experience as well - no one seemed to know whose responsibility it was to help me. My residents' assistant told me to speak to my course leaders, who in turn told me to go back to the people running Halls. I don't know why it is so disorganised, but I feel strongly that this has to stop.
When I finish University, I intend to run some sort of campaign to promote a better understanding of student security on campus. I haven't thought hugely far ahead with this yet, but I'm hoping that some of the people I have worked with on campaigns in the past will be willing to help me - some of them I've already spoken to, and anyone else who is willing and passionate about this cause, please feel free to contact me. In the meantime, if anyone else has had the experience of being overlooked unfairly at University, I strongly encourage them to come forward about it. This seems to be a consistent issue that not enough people talk about, and I hope to shine a light on it!
In other news, I just came across an interesting Facebook event. People are gathering outside Downing Street this weekend to demand David Cameron's resignation in light of recent revelations. I'm not sure whether or not I will be able to go, but I may do. If I do, I'll write about it. Hope to see you there!
I was reading an article today concerning a student at London School of Economics who suffers from mental illness having been evicted from their lodgings. This was published on Beaver Online, the web edition of the college's newspaper, the Beaver (the full article is here, and I highly recommend it). Essentially, the unnamed student's studies were interrupted due to hospital admissions, and LSE has seen fit to evict them from Halls as a result. LSE apparently considered that for one reason or other its facilities would not cater to this individual, and it would not be able to give the support they required. This is despite the NHS recommending that the student stays in Halls, and the fact that having been evicted the student would be homeless, which needless to say would not be beneficial for their mental health.
I'm not going to re-write the article, but it is linked above for anyone who would like to read about the case in more detail. The reason I'm bringing it up is because it is sadly so consistent with things that I have both heard about and with my own personal experience. When it comes to pastoral care and social support on campus, many universities would appear to be strangely lacking. I cannot really give any clear examples of this other than the one linked as much of my evidence is anecdotal. From what I have heard though, it would seem that Universities put their own business needs ahead of everything else. Some do a better job than others of coming across as though student welfare is important to them, but for the most part it doesn't seem to be. For a few months now I have been talking to people I have worked with about launching some kind of campaign to tackle this problem. Uni life is such a fundamental part of making up who we are - I myself certainly never anticipated how much going into higher education would change me emotionally. It can be a time when one finds great strength in themselves, and it can also be where one's most concerning vulnerabilities come out more than ever before. In this instance, students need to have someone in authority with their best interests at heart, and I am very concerned that this is not happening. In this case, quite clearly, the extenuating circumstances for the student's absence was not considered to be important by the University. How many more students have suffered in a similar way?
I have my own experiences of feeling as though support for my mental and emotional wellbeing could be a lot better. I used to live in a flat of six, and in my first term at University, following arguments with a flatmate, I found myself in a state of almost total isolation from everyone I lived with. I would get home, go to my room and not come out again for six hours or so until everyone had gone to bed, before I would come out and heat myself some food, which I'd eat in my room. Occasionally those of my flatmates who I hadn't fallen out with would come to check that I was okay - I may not have seen them for several weeks, despite living together. The people involved were on my course, which meant that I felt unable to socialise with anyone and I became extremely depressed as a result. Looking back now, I cannot believe I ever let things get to such a ridiculous situation, but sometimes when living in a new environment it is possible to find yourself doing things you never thought you'd do. I never thought I'd be isolated for such a long time - at the beginning, I just tried to stay out of someone's way for a couple of days until things had calmed down, but frankly I had reckoned without how useless everyone in charge would turn out to be. I had been led to believe that what we called a 'Residents' Support Network' would help to arbitrate the situation, but save for talking to us and finding out what was going on, they did virtually nothing. Ultimately, the situation just burned itself out - the people involved moved out of my flat, and I was left to deal with things on my own. I'm proud of how I got through it, but having been locked in a room for two months impacted on my mental health for quite a long time, and I can't help feeling like if someone with some degree of authority had bothered to get properly involved, it would have saved everyone a lot of grief.
Obviously my own situation is entirely different from that faced by the student in this case - I was fortunately never at risk of being homeless, nor did I ever get to a point that I needed to be admitted to hospital. I feel that in the end though, it comes down to the same fact about Universities (save for a few individuals) being reluctant to get involved to help any student with any situation that might be slightly unusual. I don't know if this is because these days Universities are considered more as businesses than as educational establishments, but even if we are looking at it in that way it makes no difference. Customer satisfaction should be a key part of any business' list of priorities, and this should be especially the case if one's clientele consists mainly of young people starting to get a grasp on the real world. The one part of the article that really made me smile sympathetically was when the LSESU Welfare Officer said that all of the people she had communicated with had referred her to one another. This was exactly my experience as well - no one seemed to know whose responsibility it was to help me. My residents' assistant told me to speak to my course leaders, who in turn told me to go back to the people running Halls. I don't know why it is so disorganised, but I feel strongly that this has to stop.
When I finish University, I intend to run some sort of campaign to promote a better understanding of student security on campus. I haven't thought hugely far ahead with this yet, but I'm hoping that some of the people I have worked with on campaigns in the past will be willing to help me - some of them I've already spoken to, and anyone else who is willing and passionate about this cause, please feel free to contact me. In the meantime, if anyone else has had the experience of being overlooked unfairly at University, I strongly encourage them to come forward about it. This seems to be a consistent issue that not enough people talk about, and I hope to shine a light on it!
In other news, I just came across an interesting Facebook event. People are gathering outside Downing Street this weekend to demand David Cameron's resignation in light of recent revelations. I'm not sure whether or not I will be able to go, but I may do. If I do, I'll write about it. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Rest in peace
When I was 18, I decided to spend a full day not saying a word to anyone. It was the day after Troy Davis was killed, and somehow I felt bound to show my respects in some way. But somehow, just showing respect to one person was not enough. There were so many people killing and being killed that I felt completely bewildered, and those were just the ones the media found it necessary to report on. I spent a full day at sixth form reflecting on this, not saying a word to anyone. I think my teachers found it quite frustrating (sorry Danny if you're reading this!)
I'm not sure if I'd ever do that again. I feel that silences and reflections on death are only worthwhile if they are done for the right reasons - the sole intent being personal reflection. If they are done to show the world that you know how to care, or for political reasons, they are utterly worthless. It is for this reason that I normally refuse to wear poppies on Remembrance Day, take part in silences or adapt my profile picture on Facebook to display the colours of a certain country. It may make someone feel part of something in the moment, but it is generally disempowering and does nothing to change anything. The only part that may be productive is personal reflection, and this must be done when the mood takes you. This is generally not at the same time as anyone else.
I've felt like this again recently. It is in part because of what has happened in Brussels lately, but it is not limited to that. Gaza, Iraq, Syria, parts of the USA... the list goes on. This is not limited to terrorism within Western countries, or even to countries at war generally. This is my general bewilderment at world leaders not being able to sort things out in a way that does not result in people being frightened to leave their homes. I don't think I'm alone in sitting at home and feeling as though things are just hopeless sometimes, that maybe I just don't understand what society is all about.
This is not a particularly productive blog, I'll grant any reader that. It is not intended to make any political point at all, merely to express my own discomfort with the situation in which the nations of this world find themselves. It causes me a lot of anxiety. Perhaps this is the reason why there seems to be more depression and mental illness around these days than there once was - with the technology boom, news reaches people faster and the horrific state of the world is more evident to its citizens.
There is one point I'll make before I sign off though, which is that no matter how non-productive bewilderment can be, it is a thousand times more useful than the political point-scoring that is an inevitable consequence of tragedy. There is a reason that I've avoided blogging about Brussels up until now, and it is that it was obvious that Donald Trump was going to use it to continue his campaign of Islamophobia or that the reality TV contestant whose name I'm not even going to besmirch my blog with would hold anyone who said that Britain's borders should stay open as being personally responsible. A significant event can obviously be used as a benchmark for a policy change, but using one erroneously to promote one's own prejudice is something altogether different.
Depression and reflection can be used for productive purposes. One can take some time on that, remind oneself of one's own humanity and later use that to create a change. Sometimes there are no political points to make concerning multiple deaths, there are no policy changes to recommend or preachy claptrap to spout. Sometimes the only relevant words are 'rest in peace'.
And I shall try to write something a little more coherent next time.
I'm not sure if I'd ever do that again. I feel that silences and reflections on death are only worthwhile if they are done for the right reasons - the sole intent being personal reflection. If they are done to show the world that you know how to care, or for political reasons, they are utterly worthless. It is for this reason that I normally refuse to wear poppies on Remembrance Day, take part in silences or adapt my profile picture on Facebook to display the colours of a certain country. It may make someone feel part of something in the moment, but it is generally disempowering and does nothing to change anything. The only part that may be productive is personal reflection, and this must be done when the mood takes you. This is generally not at the same time as anyone else.
I've felt like this again recently. It is in part because of what has happened in Brussels lately, but it is not limited to that. Gaza, Iraq, Syria, parts of the USA... the list goes on. This is not limited to terrorism within Western countries, or even to countries at war generally. This is my general bewilderment at world leaders not being able to sort things out in a way that does not result in people being frightened to leave their homes. I don't think I'm alone in sitting at home and feeling as though things are just hopeless sometimes, that maybe I just don't understand what society is all about.
This is not a particularly productive blog, I'll grant any reader that. It is not intended to make any political point at all, merely to express my own discomfort with the situation in which the nations of this world find themselves. It causes me a lot of anxiety. Perhaps this is the reason why there seems to be more depression and mental illness around these days than there once was - with the technology boom, news reaches people faster and the horrific state of the world is more evident to its citizens.
There is one point I'll make before I sign off though, which is that no matter how non-productive bewilderment can be, it is a thousand times more useful than the political point-scoring that is an inevitable consequence of tragedy. There is a reason that I've avoided blogging about Brussels up until now, and it is that it was obvious that Donald Trump was going to use it to continue his campaign of Islamophobia or that the reality TV contestant whose name I'm not even going to besmirch my blog with would hold anyone who said that Britain's borders should stay open as being personally responsible. A significant event can obviously be used as a benchmark for a policy change, but using one erroneously to promote one's own prejudice is something altogether different.
Depression and reflection can be used for productive purposes. One can take some time on that, remind oneself of one's own humanity and later use that to create a change. Sometimes there are no political points to make concerning multiple deaths, there are no policy changes to recommend or preachy claptrap to spout. Sometimes the only relevant words are 'rest in peace'.
And I shall try to write something a little more coherent next time.
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