We won a victory last week in beating the vote of no confidence in me. It was a hard won victory but one that does not, unfortunately, signal the end of the fight. The work against racism at Staffs will go on.
This victory was won on grounds that probably don't exist at any other University in the country. Here, racist graffiti appeared on the campus in the middle of the vote. Union and University buildings were daubed in nazi symbols and calls to "keep Stoke Paki and Nigger clean". You can probably think of many responses that such an incident would generate, but I for one didn't expect what we saw here. Firstly the University tried to clean away the graffiti before the police could turn up as they had an open day coming up. Members of the "no" campaign tried to say that I or one of my supporters had painted the graffiti, and even tried to explain away the nazi swastika as a Hindu "peace sign". The Union did not think that the incident was serious enough to warrant them telling students about it – all that they thought needed to happen was put up a ridiculous article entitled "graffiti incident".
But maybe the reactions of some students to this incident were not actually so surprising. The BNP themselves jumped on the "no" campaign's bandwagon and they did nothing to distance themselves. This didn't provoke disgust and outrage amongst the "no" campaigners though. They carried on with their campaign without any kind of shame just as they did when swastika appeared on the Union doors. They hated being called racists or Islamaphobic, but their campaigners claimed that I only represented "ethnics" and "foreigners" and my presidency was the "first step to illegal Shariah law in Britain". The "no" campaign undoubtedly tapped into a layer of racism that is prevalent at Staffs, and in doing so gave racists and Islamaphobes on campus and beyond the confidence to come out of the woodwork and spit their poison openly without fear of reproach.
On the Stafford campus, students spoke of the 'Islamic' marches I had organised in Hanley, Islamic? Really? Since when has an anti-racist demonstration been called an Islamic march? If a Muslim is at head of a demonstration, does that make it an Islamic march?
I'm not saying that everyone who voted "no" is a racist Islamaphobe – that would be ludicrous. What I'm saying is that elements within the "no" campaign were racist and Islamaphobic and they were not stood up to.
In Europe they have banned minarets and are talking about banning headscarves, when I look at Britain, I'm glad and still have hope that we haven't fallen into such madness, however this view has somewhat been dented looking at some of the students on campus.
The Germans, at the time of Hitler, did not invent anti-Semitism, they only allowed it to ferment and remained silent without standing up to it. The "no" campaign did not invent Islamaphobia, they only stayed silent as it took over their campaign, and some of them used it as a tool to further their cause.
So the fight is still on. There is still a battle to be fought at Staffs to make sure that racists and Islamaphobes do not have the confidence to raise their heads. There is still work to done to be make sure that the Union and the University actually take racism on their campus seriously, not literally sweep it under the carpet. There is a movement to build among students who are ready to take on racism and fascism (and don't think that it's too extreme to hate racism!).
This victory should be seen for what it is – a win for anti-racists and anti-fascists everywhere, but the fight goes on.
In solidarity
Assed Baig
Assed Baig
President
Staffordshire University Students' Union
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