No Platform for Fascists ¡No pasarán! (SU Council)

SU Council.
Monday this week saw a very interesting SU Council. I put forward 2 motions to the Council to vote on and I am delighted that both of them passed!

We had "No Platform for Fascists" and a statement of support and solidarity from the SU with #Occupy Galway who I am very surprised I've not written a post here about yet. I think both of these are brilliant results and shows that the students here in NUIG are becoming more and more active in their attitudes to bettering society. It's great to see a student union taking a stance on things like this.

The motion is as follows:

That the the Students' Union and its officers be mandated to automatically oppose any invitation made to members of the listed organisations to speak at this university.

That SU Officers shall be prohibited from sharing a public platform with members of the listed organisations.

That organisations are able to be added and removed by ballot at SU council. Proposals will be submitted by class reps or executive officers.

The list of organisations under the No Platform Policy shall be reserved for organisations that are deemed to be fascist and/or racist by the SU council.

Organisations that currently fall under the No Platform policy are as follows.

BNP
Combat 18
Hizb ut-Tahrir
MPAC UK
MPAC Ireland
The National Front
Democratic Right Movement
MPAC Ireland
National Front parties from other EU countries and beyond
The Racial Volunteer Force
Blood and Honour
British Movement/British National Socialist Movement
Column 88.

What total win!
I'm delighted by this, obviously racism is something I have a slight problem with and I am really proud of this motion, I consider it a personal achievement :) After Trinity last month there is a very clear message being send out in Ireland that racism will simply not be tolerated in out universities.


I am working on a statement to send out to the media about occupy. Will post it up here when it's done. :)

There was also a vote on officer reports whether they should or should not be given.
It was decided that officers have the option to give a 2 min report. This is also flavoured of win, it's good that officers get to answer to the SU Council, I want to be accountable to people who voted for me, it's the least I can do.
This whole argument of emailling out officer reports just has no weight to it, I don't properly read half the emails I get, no one does. And at the end of the day nothing beats good old questions and answers from your reps and this should be encouraged.

End of month report, October

End of Month report                      October                               Will O’Brien Equality Officer

Successful from lobbying the City Council regarding the poor state of the pavements surrounding the University Campus, particularly Distillery road.
I received a letter from the Senior Engineer saying that the council has made an application to the Department of Transport for funding to undertake an “overall improvement project on Distillery road”. The decision for funding will be made in spring of next year.
Between now and then I will be lobbying the Department of Transport to further push the case to maximise access to the university via public infrastructure.

Equality week. Many events throughout the week, very well received. Full event schedule was available at the time.
Slutwalk – Huge media attention and money raised.
Natty Wailler gig and Jungle Boogie.  Bringing music onto campus. Also working with DJ soc and Rock to get more student/socs events on campus/ in College Bar.

I attended FEE national conference and formulated protest plan to compliment the USI’s strategy.
Organising an open education forum for students to come and give their opinions on fees and possible strategies to resist them.
Worked on increasing transparency within the SU when it comes to issues regarding USI our national representative union.

I took part in a well coordinated campaign with students from TCD and elsewhere to have an invitation to Nick Griffin to speak at TCD on the issue of immigration. Nick Griffin is head of the BNP, a far right extremist party with a long history of racially motivated violence and a clear racist agenda.
Through a massive letter writing campaign and gaining the support of many influential groups and individuals we managed to get the event cancelled, thus keepings racism out of Irish universities.
A bus was organised for NUIG students to travel up to TCD to protest by thankfully wasn’t needed.

I have been working on a no platform policy for the SU to be put to class reps with regards to far right groups who practice the politics of hate, e.g. BNP, DRM, national fronts etc.
This will allow no SU officer from engaging gin public debate with a group deemed racist or fascist by the SU Council. This will also insist that the Exec oppose any moves by societies or individuals from inviting people from fascist or racist organisations to speak at the college.

I have also been taking part in the #Occupy protests in both Dublin and Galway on a regular basis and am currently working on a statement of solidarity with the movement from the SU.

I formed part of the committee responsible for organising the 1 day festival to replace RAG week.
I hope to use all of my experience, contacts and resources to ensure that this will be the best event to take place in NUIG ever.
This is a huge commitment and project and I will have much more details in next month’s report.

I have lobbied hard in favour of SU officers having to give reports on their work at class reps council.
In the interest of democratic transparency and accountability I think that officers engaging with students is absolutely essential. I want to be held to account for everything I do and welcome criticism and suggestions so that I may represent the students of NUIG to the absolute best of my ability.  This is only possible through regular engagement with class reps and various officer have no opportunity to do this currently.

Have to the best of my ability ensured that class reps council meeting ballots are executed strictly according to the SU constitution where various other officers have attempted to do otherwise.
The SU constitution is very important and must be adhered to especially during democratic processes and cannot be allowed to be subverted for the sake of simplifying balloting.

Attended USI activist training.
At this weekend I approached every USI officer and spoke to them about changing their public stance on the registration fee in the national campaign.
The proposed slogan for their protests this year is “freeze the fees, save the grant”.
I do not believe this is representative of students as many are being forced into serious financial difficulty because of the rises of the fee in the past few years.
In demanding a freeze in the fee, the USI were accepting the level it is at currently which is already acting as a barrier to education for those from working class families.
The USI should be campaigning for a reduction in the reg fee as this is more representative of students and in the interest of students. The current stance clearly indicates that USI are supporting a €2000 reg fee which is not acceptable.
Since speaking in person to the USI officers in Dublin and emailing them repeatedly the campaign slogan has since been changed to “Stop the fees, save the grant”.
I think this is much more representative of the student body as a whole and happy that USI took on my suggestions.

Nick Griffin's invitation to speak at TCD was revoked last week. This is fantastic news for Ireland who in the midst of a recession cannot afford to allow far right racist idealogies to be given any credit or lent any legitimate platforms. The group Trinity Against Fascism of whom I was a member issued the following statement. "Trinity Against Fascism opposed a platform being given to Nick Griffin and the organised racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny and other forms of hatred he represents. We did not see Nick Griffin’s invitation as a free speech issue. Nick Griffin is free to travel to Ireland and to speak whenever or wherever he wants. The invitation for him to speak in a prestigious institution goes far beyond his right to free speech. It gave him a platform to use in the spread of organised hatred in Ireland. Gaining platforms in prestigious institutions is an established tactic of the far-right. They do not do it to sway the opinion of students. Nick Griffin is on-the-record as saying that “well-directed boots and fists” are of more importance than “rational debate” in the pursuit of his ideology. The BNP try to gain these platforms for two reasons. Firstly, to gain legitimacy for their hateful ideology. They want to associate themselves with institutions of standing, like Trinity College and The Phil, and thereby gain credibility. Through their invitation to The Phil they also sought to bring their ideas into the mainstream of the Irish debate on immigration. Immigration is a serious issue – playing an important role in economic and social policy. The BNP hope to insert into the conversation demagoguery and ‘white nationalism’, thereby distorting or destroying serious debate. Their second intention was to give encouragement to hateful and potentially violent racists in Irish society. They want these racists to sow division in our communities along racial, ethnic and national lines. They also want these racists to organise, as demonstrated by their previous association with the failed Irish National Party. The consequences of encouragement to Irish racists cannot be known. Nor can the effects of their organisation. In Britain organised racism has led to hate campaigns and violence. What is certain is that these consequences and effects would be felt by the most vulnerable and marginalised in Irish society. Trinity Against Fascism also asked was the invitation worth its potential consequences. The direct consequences were that someone would get hurt on the night. Evidence from forums demonstrated that far-right groups were organising to attend. Large protests were being co-ordinated also. This posed a risk to Trinity students and staff, minority and migrant groups and any of those invovled in security. The indirect consequences are less obvious. But our call to withdraw the invitation was endorsed by leading Irish anti-racist groups and civic organisations on the grounds that it was likely to contribute to the development of hateful racism in Irish society. We should be very clear about this: the result of an organised racist element in Irish society is real thugs making real people’s lives hell. It is the firework through the letterbox, the assault outside a pub or the hate call in the middle of the night to an immigrant family. These consequences would fall to people in much more vulnerable positions than the vast majority of Trinity students. We stand by our campaign. It broke no rules and resisted any engagement in personal animosities. It stood up for Ireland’s and Trinity's migrant and minority community. It opposed the use of our college as a hub for hate. We thank The Philosophical Society for the withdrawal of their invitation. We feel that it is a responsible course of action." :) Forward the revolution Peace and progress

Reply from the council

Well, after a few months of persistance I have finally seen some progess from the city council with regard to the paths, roads and kerbs around th ecollege that are completely inaccessible to the mobility impaired. I have posted up some of my previous letters on this blog and have finally received a responce form the Senior Engineer Billy Dunne who has informed me that the council have applied for a grant to completely renovate the area surrounding Distillery road and that he expects work to commence in March of next year. While this is a long time frame this is a fantastic result and I will look forward to seeing some progress in tis area. Bit by bit I can see this campus and its surrounding environs improve when it comes to the issue of access. I consider this a small victory for myself as access was one of the main points I made for my manifesto when I ran for this position along with the promise of bringing more music to campus which I am engaging in bigtime. Forward the revolution!

RIP RAG week

So it is decided. With 95% of class reps voting in favour of the RAG week replacement deal made with the University management I have to say I feel very pleased with the maturity of class reps. I was very worried we would see a block of people running for class reps for the sole purpose of voting down the deal. I have mixed feelings on the issue and the election in general. While I am no fan of public drunkeness and disorderly conduct I do feel that there could have been a lot done by the SU and the University in previous years to prevent the problem than RAG week became. To me it is apparent that the trouble associated with RAG week was a direct result of the lack of entertainment opportunities provided during this week to occupy students. I firmly believe that is a lot more effort went into the planning of the week in previous years we would have seen a lot less trouble. I am also very excited by the possibilities presented by the RAG week replacement 1 day festival. I think this has unlimited potential and could easily become one of the biggest music event in the west of Ireland next year. As part of the organisational commitee and the only one with significant experience, contacts and resources for organising festivals and events I feel I have a heel of a lot to offer that willl make previous RAG weeks pale in significance. We are already looking at using Fisheries Field as the venue which hosted the Galway Arts festival and are considering having 2 stages set up, one live stage and one dance stage. We are hoping to recreate a mini campus Oxygen or Electric picnic type event with sponsorship and hopefull attract some big acts. I am already pressing booking agents in the UK I have worked with previously for some major acts that will be touring around the projected time of the event and am excited as to the possibilities that are before us. Unfortunately I can't give away any details until we know exactly what our budget is and what we can work on but I would be very surprised if we didn;t attract some major DJs and bands for this. We have decided to run the event on a not for profit basis so this allows us to offer very competative ticket prices, especially if we gain good sponsors. More details are the unfold and watch this space :)

Equality week

Equality week, thus far has been a huge success. What has taken me so much time planning and worrying about seems to be going very well. The final line up for the week was as follows: Monday GiG Soc film screening – Milk 1pm – 3pm Large acoustic room The Kids aren’t alright 4pm Large Acoustic room Tuesday: GiG Soc film screening – 12.30 – 14.30 Brokeback Mountain in The Space FemSoc stormabout GiG Soc film screening – 15.30 – 17.30 Philadelphia in the Space GiG Soc film screenings 13.30 – 15.30 Swap shop event all day in Aras na Macleinn – Table set up, bring stuff to leave and take stuff you want!  Wednesday: Natty Wailer, FREE gig in college bar! Natty Wailer of Bob Marley and the Wailers! 9pm- 11.30 Equality parade 12pm Slutwalk 1pm Thursday: Same sex marriages, all day in Aras Na MacLeinn Brian Arkins – Lecture on Homosexuality in Ancient Greece (Classics soc) Lecture on Atheism and persecution in Ireland (Skeptic soc) TBC Blackboard Jungle free gig in college bar. Friday: Marriage Equality Lecture – Guest speaker – GiG Soc. TBC Throughout the week there was in place an open soap box for people to use to speak on any topic they wished. I myself used it a few times for various poetry recitals that were welcomed by many. Last night's gig in the College Bar was absolutely fantastic! Natty Wailler and the Reggae Vibes were electric from beginning to the end of the performance with greata crowd interaction and kept their set very relevent to the equality theme. Myself I was providing the front of house soundsystem with Sound System Solutions, which sounded fantastic, and spent the gig behind the sound desk which is exactly where I want to be all the time. There was a great crowd and smiles all round througout the evening. I have to say, in my experience that this was the best event I have ever seen in the college bar and I have had people who have been at NUI Galway a lot longer than I who told me the same. I feel very proud to have been a part of this magical evening. FEE Galway even got a shoutout from the man himself! In other news myself and Senan MacAoide were married today bytthe GiG Soc marriages overseen by Minister Royce. I am sure that the two of us will be very happy together. Right now I have to finish up, need to meet a guy with a soundsystem and some DJs and set up another stage for Blackboard Jungle in the college bar which starts at 9pm tonight.

More bugging the council

Have had no reply thus far from the council regarding the issues I raised concerning the footpaths around the campus. have shot of this letter today to the same chap. Dear Sir, I wrote to you on the 4th of August this year expressing my concerns regarding the state of the public infrastructure servicing NUI Galway’s main campus. I highlighted some serious accessibility issues and informed you on them and I am yet to hear a reply from your office. Can you please explain to my why you feel it is appropriate to ignore my correspondence and why you see fit to disregard the issues facing students of NUIG facing adversity through reduced mobility? I would appreciate very much the standard etiquette of your actually replying and acknowledging my correspondence. I have enclosed a further copy of the previous letter I sent you and awaiting your reply and comments on the issues I raised with patience. Yours sincerely William O’Brien BSc Equality Officer. I must say, it really is pretty rude to have ignored me for so long.

Quick update and nazis in Dublin

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this, it has certainly been a very busy few weeks. So, we’re back. Summer’s well on the way out, freshers fortnight is over and it’s back to early dark, cold mornings, rain-coats and sensible shoes. Welcome back to college in Galway! First of I guess I better report on societies day, what an event that was. Propping up the Eco-Soc stall, the FEE stall and also the SU stall, I was more than a busy bee! While I’m actually not sure exactly why there was even an SU stall, we are only situated permanently in an office in the same building, it was also only really manned by a few non-exec volunteers, lovely girls but they only really seemed to be collecting people’s mobile phone numbers for some unknown purpose. FEE stall was awesome! I am over whelmed with response we got, the guys think we had around 600 people sign up to our mailing list which is unbelievable, I can only hope that 10% of those actually turn up to meetings and events, if this happens we will straightaway have a huge presence on campus at the very start of the year. Exciting times. To celebrate our success we decided to hold a good old fashioned picket for a little photo op for the website and also, just for the laugh really. We pulled out a few of the ole placards and picketed the Young Fine Gael stall for around 2-3 mins, myself holding a placard that read simply “rabble!”. While this was clearly a bit of a laugh, we managed to get told off by Riona, the societies manager and later on myself and Senan were told off by the SU Exec. Absolute non-sense in my opinion and something that I will take with a pinch of salt. Sooner or later these guys will learn the only really effective way to deal with people like me and Senan... Great fun altogether it was.  In other news it has come to my attention that one of my favourite people in the world; nick griffin, has been invited to a debate in Trinity College Dublin, hosted by the ever so respected Phil Soc... Personally I am absolutely disgusted with the Phil for this one, and the TCD Students’ Union for allowing this to happen unchallenged. This is outright offensive and amounts to nothing more than hosting a nazi rally. Nick Griffin, it is beyond any doubt is a disgusting and dangerous racist. He has been charged with the offence of inciting racial hatred, has had open links with the EDL, was a member of the English National Front and has campaigned against non-white people in the UK for most of his life. He is a holocaust denier, a homophobe and a nazi sympathiser and I find it outrageous that he has been given a legitimate platform to air his views in an Irish university. For this reason I will be travelling up to Dublin for the event and doing everything I can to disrupt the event to prevent him from speaking and also, along with AFA Ireland, LM;HR and other anti-racist organisation will take part in a hopefully massive demonstration sending out a clear and concise message that racism will simply not be accepted in any Irish school and where it exists will be met with extreme opposition. While I am and will always be a campaigner for freedom of speech and expression, I firmly believe that providing a legitimate and public platform for people to air views that are vile, counteractive and ultimately damaging to society extends far beyond our rights to freedom of speech. In my view, people like nick griffin (no caps) have every right to speak and to express their views, they do not, however, have the right to a be made legitimate by framing their arguments on a proper platform, behind a microphone and in front of hundreds of students. If this forms part of out entitlement to free speech, I want to know when it is my turn to address a debate in TCD. Another argument I made in an internet forum was that I have a friend who can put his ankles behind his head and shit his pants, should this be put up on a stage in front of a crowd or broadcast on TV? No. Of course not, it is vile, disgusting, damaging to society and sends out dangerous messages that it is ok to shit yourself in public. Does this interfere with my friend’s freedom of speech or expression? No. Of course not, people will argue that he has the right to shit his pants whenever he wants in the privacy of his own home and away from public. The same goes for airing racist and damaging views. People have fought for thousands of years, and millions have died in the fight for freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Who exactly do you think they were fighting against? Are these brave warriors wrong for silencing their enemies on the battlefield? Is this some sort of censorship? I don’ t think so. I don’t agree at all that confronting those who wish to take away freedoms such as the freedom of expression falls under the category of censorship, it is fighting for freedom and freedom of speech. These luxuries did not just fall out of the sky, they require constant fighting to keep, otherwise people like nick, nazi dick-hole griffin and his ilk will quickly take them away. I look forward to the 20th of October though I have a strong suspicion that TDC will realise just how stupid they are being for hosting this man.

Fine Gael think-in blockade

What a day! For the past week or so both the SU here in NUIG and FEE Galway have been planning a protest against the rise in registration fees, recent cuts to the grant and the proposed reintroduction of third level education fees outside the Fine Gael annual party think-in which was this year in The Radisson Hotel here in Galway.
Both student organisations agreed to work together to create the strongest impact possible and I have to say it was a complete success!
The aim was to obstruct the front entrance as best we could, as Fine Gael's policies are sure to obstruct young people from accessing the education the need to get by in the world by any means necessary.
FEE decided to make some lock ons and physically block the road at the entrance this was done the week previously.

We all convened at Aras NaMacLeinn at mid day and prepared all the placards/banners etc and marched down to the Radisson along with the cycle soundsystem which I was riding, bangin out jungle along the way.
When we got to the Radisson, there were a few people there protesting against the closure of Roscommon general hospital who were brilliant comrades and whose numbers grew over the next few hours. There were a handful of Garda there and they seemed unconcerned when we assembled across the road with banners and stood there quietly. After composing ourselves and having the concrete filled lock-ons delivers we rushed across the road and Senan, Jigs and a few other made a mad effort to lock their arms in the lockons. The Gards responded quickly to this and quickly made off with two of the 3 lock one we brought but amid a pretty mad scuffle both of the lads managed to fit themselves to either end of the same pipe and lay in the middle of the road. By this point Gards were everywhere, they had little idea what was going on and they were pulling the two lads apart and trying for forcefully remove them from the lock ons.
The FEE guys immediately surrounded the guys and I started shouting at the guards to get off them and that they would break the arms of the 2 guys on the floor if they continued to use the force that they were employing. Once they stood back and actually THOUGH about the situation and addressed what was going on, instead of mindlessly reacting violently to any sort of protest as Gards seem to be trained to do, they clearly realised that the lock one were well enough to be designed to potentially seriously damage the users should they be forcefully removed.
The Gards then formed a barrier around the guys which FEE and the students from the Union assembled round and that was it, we, the students had successfully blocked the road.
While the guards were initially quite aggressive, there was a clear change in their behavior once they actually communicated with us, the protesters.
At one stage I was grabbed by the clothes and thrown across a metal barrier by a private security/worker of the hotel who after I challenged him refused to identify himself and informed me that I was on private property.
I pointed out that I was standing on a public road and he had just assaulted me while I was protesting peacefully and that he had no right whatsoever to manhandle me in such a way.
After questioning him for some time along with one of FEE's media people armed with a notebook and a camera I spotted his name tag around his neck and will be making a complaint with the Guards later this week. No private worker has ANY authority over me on a public road, no exceptions.
We spent the next few hours parked outside the hotel, things were cooling down with regard security and Garda and shortly after one o'clock the ministers and TDs started turning up.
One by one we informed them that their conference was cancelled and that they should return home and pick on someone who can afford it. TD after TD was turned away in this manner and forced to enter the hotel through the back door or any other entrance.
I even spotted one ministerial car that was 3 months out of road tax! Another report I will be making to the Garda traffic corp later this week.
We continued blocking the road, with me cycling around with the bike sound system playing music until the Fine Gael party members stopped arriving.
During this time I must commend the Gardai on how they behaved ourselves once it was well established that it was a peaceful protest, I suspect the number of law students and graduates present and acting as legal observes recording everything that happened may have had something to do with this. Regardless, they were very co-operative after about half an hour. Especially when it came to allowing workers and residents of the hotel in and out of the road. We made it very clear that NO members of the Dail were to pass. This was done by every car trying to pass the road block being asked who they were and what their business was, this was done by a member of FEE, and a Gard stopping talking to each and every driver.
There was press everywhere! Every time i looked around the 2 guys in lock ons were being interviewed for various radio and TV stations, I can't wait to hear the full reports.

We negotiated with the gards that we would end the blockade at 3.30pm after I spoke to Spt Marie Skehill and was told we could leave without being hindered. Spt Skehill had had bottles of water delivered and had given them to the guys in lock ons and other protesters. The level to which this pleased me cannot be put into words. Throughout the protest there were many comments and remarks speculating about the next budget in which it is highly likely that there will be another public sector pay cut, including the wages of the Gards themselves.
I informed them that we are in solidarity with them on that issue and that we would support them if it comes down to it.

We broke free from the lock-ons as we agreed and made our way back to the college. Shortly after arriving I was called up by a reporter with the Irish Times and asked about the end of the protest, who I was in relation to FEE and the SU (I was listed as PR spokesperson on the press release sent out by FEE the morning before). I explained the purpose of the protest to the reporter and that I was a SU Officer as well as a key FEE campaigner and I am looking forward to seeing the outcome of the interview.

All in all I think this was a huge success. We blocked any member of Fine Gael from entering the front door, we raised a huge profile for student protests, and the FEE movement and I'm sure will have students talking about it for the next few weeks. Thankfully also no one got arrested! :)
I am so proud of FEE Galway today, we are proving to everyone that we, and students in general are a serious force to be reckoned with.

Viva la revolution and long live FEE Galway!

Love Music; Hate Racism

I was up in Dublin this weekend meeting the organisers of LM;HR here in Ireland.
I've been speaking to Kurt the founder for a while now and he knows I've done a lot of music promotion and organising in the past and was invited up to help run a fundraiser event across 3 floors near Temple Bar.
Was a great night, I managed to waylay myself messing around in Galway for half the afternoon fixing bike punctures and what not but managed to get up there for about 8.30-9pm or thereabouts.
It was a free entry gig, which is very important for awarenness events such as the LMHR movement but a little difficult to make money. Seemed to be all bands and live music, which was quite a change for me because these days I only seem to be involved in DJ and various other means of electronic music. Back to my musical roots of guitars and drums for the night. There were some amazing bands I must say, though I cannot remember any of the names, I will look them up and possibly get in touch!
The guys were raising money in order to get a stage sorted out for Electric Picnic, Irelands biggest alternative (and not-so-alternative) music festival.
They were doing this by selling raffel tickets with some pretty good prises.
There were 2 pairs of EP tickets going, at around €250 per ticket that's a pretty good deal. There was also an electric guitar given by one of their sponsors.
It was a mad night altogether with a serious amount of cash being raised, it looks like LMHR will more than likelyt be going to the picnic. I only hope I get invited along! (Hoping also that having access to one of the best soundsystems in the West of Ireland will help also!)
I spoke with Kurt about a few ideas I have for LM;HR. I want to look at organising nationwide university tours, something that doesn't happen very much in Ireland. I am hoping to do this through the USI, (Union of Students in Ireland) and have 3,4 or 5 legs for an Irish Universities tour for bigger bands that may come from the UK or further. It is so much easier to bring over an band or and act of if there are a few gigs, not to mention cheaper for individual promoters!
I need to discuss this at length with the USI Equality officer to see how possible this is. It really would be fantastic to set up a partnership between Irish university student unions and an organisation such as LMHR. Especially with this recession and the fact that everyone is looking for someone to blame for them losing their jobs or their houses being reposessed. Its such a shame that there are still, in this day and ages, where we know full well how much big finance, governments and global corporation have been raping us all for so long, that people STILL look for the easy targets such as blaming immigrants, Islam and all sorts of other retarded accusations.
It saddens me that such labels still actually mean much to most people. I wonder how long will it be until we see eachother for who we are, not what we appear to be.
I am very happy to be working with LMHR, music is very important to me, I cannot think of anything on Earth that does more to bring people together. We all dance, we all bang drums, we all sing and we all enjoy it, no matter what religion, skin colour, eye colour or any other trivial factor. I believe that music is the key to understanding these issues, or at the very least, the best distraction we have to avoid focussing on such silly differences.
Next step is to start making gigs happen here in Galway to spread the message, Love Music; Hate Racism!

Much Love. :)



LMHR Ireland's Blog

A message to you Ruairi

Well now, it seems like a bit of Labour liars pants on fires this year. We have MInister of Education Ruairi Quinn signing a pledge last years with the USI stating that there would be no rise in registrations fees (already a stealth tax on students) and a rule out of the re-introduction of third level tuition fees.
Here we are only a few months down the line and he has already made a completel U-turn on this pledge, (after being elected of course) and announced a further rise in the registration fee, which was bumped up by €500 already last year.
This worries me greatly, it will put a lot of young people off the political system here, if for the first time the voted, it was on a single issue and were blatently lied to, who can blame the youth of today from becoming alienated from politics?
This is a dangerous precedent, if politicians think they can lie to our faces with such audacity and think they can get away with it they are very, very wrong.
I can see a huge surge in student activism and protests this year, we need it.
We cannot allow our governments to target our futures and out educations to pay off private bank debts that out generations never benefitted from in the first place!
It's disgusting. The Labout Party have earned a large portion of my attention for this year, pity for them.
Have fired of a letter to Ruairi Quinn today and another similar one to Derek Nolan, local Labour TD who won a lot of votes here in NUIG for his pro-free education statements republished in the form of election information posters made by FEE Galway.

Let the games begin.

Dear Sir
It is with great regret that I write to you to express my extreme dissatisfaction with your recent announcement on the imminent rise in the third level registration fee.
This is highly unfair to young people and targets those self financing their studies and those from lower income families and is a disgraceful action for a supposed Labour minister who very publically signed a pledge with the USI promising not to bring in any hikes in either registration fee or the reintroduction of fees in any way.
This move, I can promise you will be one that you yourself and your party will deeply regret. Young people, particularly students are becoming more and more alienated and radicalised and this unfair stealth tax targeting students may very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
I highly recommend you reconsider this plan to increase student fees of any kind.
Young people are the last people who are responsible for the economic crisis facing this country and should be the last people to be penalised.
It is also clear that new ideas, methods and technologies are out best bet to bring Ireland to becoming a profitable and sustainable country once again and it is only through Education and investment in education that we will progress.
Put shortly, yours and the Labour party’s barefaced lies to the youth of Ireland will not go unpunished and unchallenged. Already across the country student unions and the USI are mounting a defensive over this issue and I can promise you it will not be forgotten any time soon.
Yours sincerely
Will O'Brien BSc


Hopes that puts the shits up em :)

New Engineering building tour

Just back from a guided tour of the new engineering building on the North side of campus.
This is part of my intention to inspect all new buildings on campus and my first inspection yet.
I have to say I am very impressed with the level of attention paid to access and disability requirements in the design and construction of the building.
I was met by Greg Power and Kevin Sullivan of the buildings office who were to be my tour guides. Both are clearly very experienced and learned on the subject of disabled access and also very pleasant and friendly chaps.
Straight away I noticed that the reception desk featured a dropped section, suitable for people in wheelchairs etc, this was a good first impression.
On the ground floor I inspected the lifts and washrooms which appeared to be satisfactory. There no steps on the way in from any entrance which greatly helps accessibility.
I was shown the main large lecture theatre on the ground floor, the Dr Higgins theatre which I had already heard horror stories about. I can see why in a sense, the lecture rows are stacked very steeply though I have to say I found the theatre to be very comfortable and possess an amazing panorama of the teaching area, the rows are stacked high with very good reason, engineering students will not be looking at the back of each other’s heads they way most science and arts students have to in many theatres.
This theatre was accessible from the front and the back with seat less rows at both suitable for wheelchair users. There was ample electricity within reach of these areas for recharging etc. It was also pointed out to me that all the doors in the building were black with light grey or white panelling which is essential for either colour blind people or those who are otherwise visually impaired. I was also informed that the entire building was fitted with induction loops for hearing aids.
All of the corridors are comfortable wide enough to allow two wheelchairs to pass each other and there are breakout areas on every floor that are suitably designed. The canteen area shows no potential access problems. Greg and Kevin mentioned to me that they had looked into having a dropped service counter but were advised against it due to the increased change of hot food or drinks being spilled which I completely understand. I noticed also that all of the lights are motion activated, eliminating the need for switches and the electrical switches that I did see, that controlled blinds, the lifts and various other things, were low down and comfortable reachable from a standing or sitting position
Throughout the building there are lots of examples of fitted furnishing with plenty of flat floor area surrounding I can envisage very few access problems when it comes to any of the fitting furniture. There are unfitted tables and chairs that have already found their way to obstructing few offices and rooms but this is inevitable. I imagine of anyone who starts working there or studying there will very quickly be catered for. From an access point of view I have to say once again that I am very impressed with the level of attention that has clearly been paid to this building.
From a student’s point of view the building is a working display model of modern engineering. Throughout the building there are cut away sections so that the structure of the building can be observed, from piping and wiring in some areas to viable concrete and rebar sections. In some areas the main supports can be viewed and the many parts of the building are digitally monitored and readouts of the various stresses and strains put on the supporting structures can be read and monitored. This way engineering students can solve problems and observe the structure of the very building they are studying. It’s fantastic. I’m only gutted I’m studying science this year.
One thing I did notice was that the computer suites currently had no larger monitors, needed for people who are visually impaired. I was told this was the responsibility of ISS department and that any needs would be catered for within a matter of hours. I will take it upon myself to notify ISS that it may be a good idea to have a few extra large monitors and workstations set up for high contrast as well as a few roller ball mouses and larger keyboards should they be required. This is a minor issue that can be solved very quickly. One thing that did concern me a little was that the emergency alarms in the toilets are not linked to any external sources and only set off a local alarm on the one floor. Also the elevators, while very accessible and well designed, had emergency phones in them that linked directly to a call center in the UK. I do not know which call center and I do not know what hours they are reachable by. This is something to look into, I assume this building is open until around 10pm at night like most of the rest of campus, I only hope the answer to the call for help is open these hours also or someone is bound to spend a very unpleasant night in an elevator.

I will return and have a look around the place on my own in the next few week so that I can avoid what I call “tour guide blindness” and have a fresh look.

I found Greg and Kevin very amicable and approachable people, I look forward to meeting with them in the future and working with them to quickly solve any problems that might occur throughout the year regarding access.
That’s all for now, I have a further meeting this afternoon with the commercial services managers concerning some gigs I want to organise in the College bar for Equality week . Watch this space ;)

Peace and love bros

The Great Gas Giveaway, the sale of Irelands natural resources

Working on a draft statement on the sovereignty Ireland's natural resources to present to the SU. It was decided at the last Exec meeting that the SU would be happy to make a public statement regarding the ownership of our resources. This is a very contraversial issue that is tied in with the shell2sea campaign. Though falling short or issuing a solidarity statement with shell2sea, this is a huge step for student politics in Galway to take a stance on a political issue such as this.
It is understandable that many of the exec are hesitant to be seen in solidarity with shel2sea, their actions and tactics ARE contraversial.
What is important to me is that this Student Unions is not afraid to stand up and fight for a cause that represents and is in the interest of all young people in the country.
Previous Fianna Fail governments have given this country a terrible deal in the selling off of our oil and gas reserves, Ireland has among the lowest rate of tax for gas extraction in the world and is estimated to have significant deposits.

"Dick Spring - 20th October 1987 – then leader of the Labour Party on the introduction of the giveaway terms introduced by Ray Burke which were subsequently improved (for the oil companies) 5 years later by Bertie Ahern.
“We will now, as a result of the changes this Government have made, get absolutely no return whatever from the development of any foreseeable oil find .....
What is most serious about this development is that there has been, up to now, a certain level of national consensus about how we should view our natural resources — even parties that did not really believe it were prepared to pay lip service to the notion that the natural resources of Ireland belonged to the people of Ireland. In the breaking of that consensus, and in their cold-blooded decision to give those resources away, Fianna Fáil have committed what I have already described as an act of economic treason, one for which I believe they should not be forgiven by the young people and by the people at large.”"

From S2S website.

Ray Burke was since charged with and convicted for corruption.

The changes made to legislation were further amended in favour of BIG OIL by the lovable Bertie Aherne, a picture of honesty and intergrity in Irish politics...

Known as the Great Gas Giveaway the changes in Irish Law on 1987 (Burke) and 1992 (Aherne) allow multinational oil companies to;

-Own 100% of the oil and gas they find under Irish waters
-Pay no royalties on it
-Be allowed to write off 100% of costs against tax, including costs incurred outside of Ireland
-Have profits taxed at only 25% (International average is 68%)
-Export oil and gas ouside of Ireland
-Sell to Bord Gais at full market price, the same as imported gas

To me it is quite evident that these conditions while hugely favourable to the oil companies granted exploration and extractin licences, is not very beneficial to the people of Ireland.
OUR natural resources are being exploited here, being taken out from under our feet and we are getting barely anything in return while the multinationals involved are open to making billions of euros in profits.

In a time is economic recession, where all public sectors are facing severe cuts, we are seeing welfare lines through the doors and students are being denied a quality educations, haveing grants cut and reg fees increased, I fiond it hard to believe that the deals made by politican known to be corrupt, with the worlds largest oil companies are not being re-examined.
It is high time that the Great Gas Giveaway was re-looked at and a better deal was negotiated for the people of Ireland for our natural resources.
This is why I am pushing the Union to issue a statement on the ownership of natural resources, because they belong to ALL of us, not some few corrupt politicos to sell off quickly to multinationals to make a bit of short term profit.

Bugging the City Council

Today I have been inspecting access around the university focussing on public infrastructure around campus.
I have found that access via Distillery road is almost impossible to wheelchair users and have written to Ciarán Hayes who is the City Council Director of Services for Transport and Infrastructure recommending that the problem is rectified.
Here is a transcript of the letter:

Dear Sir

As Equality Officer of the Student Union this year I am writing to you to bring to your attention some rather major problems regarding public infrastructure and pedestrian access around the University.
In particular I am referring to the footpaths leading to the University on Distillery road.
There are quite obvious problems regarding access here, in particular for wheelchair users. Neither sides of the road here have acceptable footpaths and access for wheelchair users is simply not catered for, forcing wheelchair users to use the road for the entire stretch. This is very dangerous, especially in the winter when there is no light in the mornings and evenings.
The corner of to the right causes severe problems as the path completely disappears forcing all pedestrians to walk on the road which again I find unacceptable and dangerous as thousands of students access the University from here every day. This corner is also prone to flooding every time it rains and is inaccessible even via foot for most of the winter.
Further past the corner, on both sides of the road the footpath is also unacceptable. On the left it is obstructed by bollards and the path actually disappears and becomes a gravel track which again, is not possibly to access in a wheelchair. On the right there are either no drops, or insufficient drops in the footpath to be wheelchair accessible.
I have included photographs of the areas which I have observed as being problematic and I hope and trust that you will agree that some changes must be made to accommodate for students with impaired mobility here at NUIG. It is clear that NUIG brings a lot to Galway City, we have around 15,000 students here who are clearly a huge asset to the city, it would be great if they were all able to gain access to the campus easily and those studying, working or teaching who are wheelchair users not feel persecuted against.

I await your reply

Yours sincerely

William O’Brien BSc
Equality Officer

Why I'm here

I stood for this position because I wanted to represent aspects of equality on the SU that I do not think have been represented very well in the past. It seems to me that past Equality Officers have focused on the more obvious aspects such as LGBT issues, black/white racism and issues regarding people with various disablilities. To me Equality is far more encompassing.
I hope to look out for the interests of mature students, students who have children and families, those who's first language is not English (or Irish for that matter), students practicing different faiths and religions and very importantly political affiliation.
I think it is very important that no one is judged by their political association and this is the sort of inequality that is very commonly accepted, especially in colleges and other similar institutions.
Socio-economic inequality concerns me greatly. I am an active member of FEE Galway (Free Education for Everyone) I believe tha this is a very important movement that to me, represents an idea that all education and access to information should be available to everyone regardless of socio-economic or any other factor.
I believe very strongly in the freedom of access to information and education and I have fought long and hard on many fronts over many years to protect it.
My main weapon is music. I believe very srtongly that there is nothing on this planet that unites people more than music, it permeates out social cultues and does so across the world in many manifestations.
I aim to promote a diversity of music on campus to celebrate Equality and am aiming to have lots of live music on campus for Equality week which starts in October.
I also plan, in a way, to radicalise the union somewhat.
I believe that as an organisation representing students there are many local, national and international issues that greatly affect young people that both the SU her ein Galway and the USI really should at the very least have a stance on. At the moment both institutions seem to shy away from allignment with any cause but I plan to do a lot to change this.

Hello

Yo, it's been a month since I started the job as Equality Officer here in NUI Galway. I feel I have got quite a lot done in only a month. A transcript of my end of month report is here:

In this month as my role in the Student Union I have;

·         Met with the campus crèche to inspect how it is run and to see if there is anything that can be done by the SU to improve the facilities available to students with children.
I have made recommendations to the Buildings office to repair 2 of the outside play areas which has been done, I also requested to maintain a large grassy area behind the building sop that it is safe and suitable for young children to play in outside. This will increase the amount of time the children in the care of the crèche can play outside.
I have organised a meeting with 2 of the buildings office managers responsible for new developments and have been granted a tour of the new gym and engineering building to inspect for potential access problems. I intend to inspect every new building on campus throughout the year with access in mind so that any possible problems can be dealt with before the building is opened.

·         I attended and co-orchestrated a small protest at the opening of the new engineering building by Taoiseach Enda Kenny over the recent hike in registration fees. Was met briefly by Kenny amidst excessive Garda presence and some unnecessary harassment.

·         I have been very busy organising Equality week for the first week of October which will feature live music from top acts in the College bar along with many other activities.

·         Began plans for a Free Language Academy as part of the SU. This will consist of a variety of conversational and basic language courses administered by volunteers wishing to hone their teaching skills. This will be freely available to everyone and I hope to incorporate many European languages as well as Irish and International Sign language.
It is the aim of this project to become self sustainable and provide experience and references for anyone currently studying a language who wishes to take part in tutorials as tutor. This has potential to be an excellent c.v. building project for students.

·         I am currently negotiating an agreement with West Ireland cycles so that all students may receive a substantial discount on presentation of a student card.
There are other companies I will soon be approaching for similar discounts.

·         Various casework involving students

·         Begun  formulating my plan for world domination.

i tI think this is quite a lot to have achieved on only a month and I am looking forward to the start of semester one in September.  
In other news FEE held a small protest on campus the other week when Enda Kenny came to the university to open the new engineering building. This was met by myself and Irish Officer Senan MacAoide who formulated a very small protest at the recent rise in registration fees and cuts to the grant for mature students.
We also mentioned the recent removal of Special Needs Assistants in secondary school and language assistants. The point was that while the Taoiseach was opening a multimillion building, the students meant to use it are being attacked when it comes to their ability to pay for their education.
While I say the protest was small, there was heavy Garda presence who I must say were very poorly behaved.
As soon as the gards spotted myself and Senan they immediately rushed us as far from the building as the possibly could, asking us who we were and to present our identies.
Not happy with this as we were clearly just attending the event I refused to cooperate, as is my right. It is not well known to people in Ireland that no Garda officer has any right to demand indentification unless they can suggest that you either have recently or are about to commit a crime. I asked what their probably cause was for their suspicion and was told that they didn't need one. As a seasoned activist, I knew this to be completley untrue.
Being someone who knows well his rights when it comes to matters like this I challenged this and asked under what legislation are they making such demands.
This question was not answered and I was simply told to give my ID, address, DOB and what course I was studying or I will be arrested. I was very unhappy with this as there was absolutely nothing to suggest that I was involved in ANY criminal behaviour and to issue such a threat to a peaceful, innocent civilian is tantamount to harassment.
I eventually gave in to the very real threat of (illegal) arrest and showed my student card, my address and let them, know that I am an elected representative of the students of the campus and had more right to be there than any of the other attendees present.
We were then told that our details were demanded under section 24 of the public order act. I questioned this strongly but was ignored.
There resulted in a remarkable change in their behaviour and we were once again allowed to wait outside the door of the new building to await the Taoiseach. We spent the next 10 minutes talking with various members of the press, explaining why we were protest and what the issues facing students are at the moment. After numerous interviews with local and international press and politicians including many local T.D.s Enda finally arrived with his escort.
At this point the two of us were rushed at by a team of Garda who forced us into a corner away from the door and away from Enda. This was amid a crowd of journalists, politicians and various other suits.
I persistently asked why I was being detained? And was told I wasn't. After trying to walk past the Gards I was forcefully shoved back into the corner repeatedly. I protested this greatly as I was unhappy being censored and assaulted for simply standing outside a university building in an orderly manner holding a poster.
I tried to bypass the Gards repeatedly and was repeatedly shoved back into the corner. I constantly asked why I was being detained and what reason do they have to assault me and I was not answered.
Enda himself had spotted what was going on and I noticed him keeping an eye on the ruckus. As the struggle with the gards began to escalate in volume he turned from who he was talking to got and came right over to us. It was clear that he had spotted a situation and was coming to rectify it, for which I am very grateful as these Gards were beginning to become a little too forceful.
Pushing his way through the barricade of gards stood shoulder to shoulder cornering us he addressed us, asked who we were and talked to us for a short time, shook our hands and listened to the grievances we had regarding student FEEs and other educational issues. The man was very curtious and genial.
When he turned around to walk off, the Garda who appeared in charge of the situation actually congratulated us on a dignified protest. I replied saying that "It's a shame I can't say the same for your boys".
I further questioned him and asked what was the probable cause for my mistreatment and was reffered to two articles of the public order act, articles 24 in reference for them demanding my details and section 9 for my seemingly illegal temporary detention and repeated assault.

I    I immediately went to my office and looked up these sections, printed them off and returned them knowing full well that no Gard has any right to interfere with any aspect of my life without being able to state a probable cause, which was never stated, in fact I was told repeatedly that there was no requirement for such a cause for suspicion. Seeing as this is neither nazi germany or soviet Russia, I refused to listen to this.

Public order act
9.—Any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, wilfully prevents or interrupts the free passage of any person or vehicle in any public place shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

24.—(1) Where a member of the Garda Síochána finds any person committing an offence under a relevant provision, the member may arrest such person without warrant.
		(2) Where a member of the Garda Síochána is of the opinion that an offence has been committed under a relevant provision, the member may—
		(a) demand the name and address of any person whom the member suspects, with reasonable cause, has committed, or whom the member finds committing, such an offence, and
		(b) arrest without warrant any such person who fails or refuses to give his name and address when demanded, or gives a name or address which the member has reasonable grounds for believing is false or misleading.
		(3) Any person who fails or refuses to give his name and address when demanded by virtue of subsection (2), or gives a name or address when so demanded which is false or misleading, shall be guilty of an offence.
		(4) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (3) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 6 months or to both.

It is quite clear from the wording of these articles that I was completely correct in my assertations. I printed this off and returned to the Gards and read out in front of them the legislation they used to threaten me with arrest, temporarily detain and assault me. I also pointed out that the arguments I put forward during this was completly backed up by the very legislation that they were using against me.
I have since written to the Superintendent if Galway Garda station and the Garda Ombudsman with a formal complaint.
This may seem excessive but I take the actions practiced by the gards in this peaceful, non-obstructive protest situation very seriously.
It is simply not acceptable for any representative of the state the demand indentification papers using the threat of arrest unless there is a demonstrable reason to suspect that a crime is underfoot or has recently been committed. We are supposed to live in a free state, these police acted similar to Russian KGB agents from spy movies, "give me your ID card or you WILL be arrested."
Hardly gives you confidence in our supposed keepers of the peace does it?

I will update on this story as it unfolds.


Anyway, that was a hell of a long first post! Will have to keep them brief and regular in future! :)

Much love.

Will

(Also must learn to format in this siully HTML textbox.)