Breaking NEWS: SU President Hopes and Dreams shattered by 'absolute joke' of a successful politician
Our Warwick Students' Union President, Hope Worsdale has been embroiled in an open feud with the President of the National Union of Students (NUS), Shakira Martin, since 22nd September.
'Abuse of power' and 'undemocratic political manoeuvr[ing]' were among some of the many accusations made against Shakira Martin. In the same public Facebook post, Worsdale accused Martin of being 'reactionary and hostile' against free education - calling her 'disgraceful', 'shameful', and 'dishonest'...
So, what actually warranted this torrent of personal attacks on Shakira Martin?
Well, this all started way back at the NUS National Conference in April 2017, when Shakira Martin trounced Malia Bouattia to become the current NUS President, winning 56% of the votes. (Eyes passim ad nauseam, Article 1, Article 2)
To give some context, moderate candidate Martin was backed by Labour Students and the Organised Independents; whereas Bouattia was the staunch left candidate backed by NCAFC, the so-called National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts.
Bouattia's loss was not a surprise, as her record was muddied by her own support of CAGE (widely considered a front for terror apologists), as well as multiple accusations of anti-Semitism. This led to several Student Unions holding disaffiliation referendums in protest.
However, this didn't stop a few Warwick Delegates Luke Pilot, Uma Ajit Kotwal and President Hope Worsdale, all members of NCAFC and WFFE (NCAFC's Warwick affiliate) from voting for Malia Bouattia. In fact, Bouattia's defeat was described as a 'shift to the right' by NCAFC, with former Warwick SU President Pilot to 'question [Shakira's] political integrity' in his Delegate Report.
The 2017 Conference saw delegates voting to reject the undebated motions at Conference, such that these remaining motions would not be decided after the Conference by the NEC - in the absence of all ~700 delegates.
This was a widely commended move, since it would have been odd for the 40-member executive to decide new national policy positions, representing 7 million students on issues that the student-elected, Conference Delegates had not debated.
Among the rejected motions by Conference was Motion HE216 calling for 'A National Demo as part of a strategy to stop the HE (Higher Education) reforms'. This included a 'launch for a sustained and escalating campaign... including protests, strikes and occupation'. The latter of the actions is understood to be illegal in its context.
Subsequent to the NUS Conference, NCAFC submitted a motion 'Support the Free Education Now - National Demo' to the NEC. The motion asked the NUS for approximately £11,000 of funding towards the National Demo, including collaboration with Momentum and to work 'with the [demo] organisers'.
NUS President Martin removed the motion from discussion at the NEC. In a statement, Martin ruled the motion 'out of order', justifying that NEC should not 'go against the wishes of National Conference'.
This resulted in a social media fire-storm of criticism from NCAFC activists against Shakira Martin.
Shakira Martin responded on Twitter this Tuesday, informing students that '[I] will be writing a blog to explain my reasons. In short, I do not believe forty people on the National Executive Committee should have the decision to spend approximately £11,000 on a demonstration'.
Hope Worsdale responded to Martin, calling her an 'absolute joke'. Worsdale then re-tweeted an accusation from NUS Postgraduate Rep and self-styled 'sparkling water communist' Amelia Horgan that Martin was 're-legitimising politicians who presided over disastrous changes to FE and HE'...
So, who were Hope Worsdale and Amelia Horgan referring to?
Sir Vince Cable.
Whilst the media enjoyed (and still enjoys) focussing on the Higher Education tuition fee rises and the associated 'debt' - effectively a progressive graduate tax/contributions - it is often overlooked that Cable as Business Secretary in the Coalition Government, had protected Further Education (FE) from cuts, despite civil servants telling him that 'nobody will really notice'. Evidently, Worsdale and Horgan hadn't - we live in hope that they eventually will...
FE student, President Martin had in fact been working together with Vince Cable to produce the Student Shaping Post-16 Skills Plan - a report with 'a range of policy recommendations' for the FE Sector, drawing from consultations 'with students and sector experts'. This was launched on the 5th September and presented in Parliament.
In light of some context, the Eye wonders if Hope has actually read the Student Shaping Post-16 Skills Plan, fore-worded by her own president? #mypresident or #notmypresident, Eye suspects we will never know!
The Eye will be following any further developments closely. In the meantime, the nominations to stand as a Warwick Delegate and attend NUS Conference 2018 is now open, here!
If you need persuading to get involved in the fun, Chairman Rose recounts his own experiences at the 2017 Conference in the next Eye article, describing Christmas for Student Journalism!
By Warwick Eye
'Abuse of power' and 'undemocratic political manoeuvr[ing]' were among some of the many accusations made against Shakira Martin. In the same public Facebook post, Worsdale accused Martin of being 'reactionary and hostile' against free education - calling her 'disgraceful', 'shameful', and 'dishonest'...
So, what actually warranted this torrent of personal attacks on Shakira Martin?
 |
| Feud between Warwick SU President Hope Worsdale and NUS President Shakira Martin |
Well, this all started way back at the NUS National Conference in April 2017, when Shakira Martin trounced Malia Bouattia to become the current NUS President, winning 56% of the votes. (Eyes passim ad nauseam, Article 1, Article 2)
To give some context, moderate candidate Martin was backed by Labour Students and the Organised Independents; whereas Bouattia was the staunch left candidate backed by NCAFC, the so-called National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts.
Bouattia's loss was not a surprise, as her record was muddied by her own support of CAGE (widely considered a front for terror apologists), as well as multiple accusations of anti-Semitism. This led to several Student Unions holding disaffiliation referendums in protest.
However, this didn't stop a few Warwick Delegates Luke Pilot, Uma Ajit Kotwal and President Hope Worsdale, all members of NCAFC and WFFE (NCAFC's Warwick affiliate) from voting for Malia Bouattia. In fact, Bouattia's defeat was described as a 'shift to the right' by NCAFC, with former Warwick SU President Pilot to 'question [Shakira's] political integrity' in his Delegate Report.
 |
| Warwick Delegates and NCAFC Members, Luke Pilot (2nd left - back row) and Uma Ajit Kotwal (3rd left - back row) |
The 2017 Conference saw delegates voting to reject the undebated motions at Conference, such that these remaining motions would not be decided after the Conference by the NEC - in the absence of all ~700 delegates.
This was a widely commended move, since it would have been odd for the 40-member executive to decide new national policy positions, representing 7 million students on issues that the student-elected, Conference Delegates had not debated.
Among the rejected motions by Conference was Motion HE216 calling for 'A National Demo as part of a strategy to stop the HE (Higher Education) reforms'. This included a 'launch for a sustained and escalating campaign... including protests, strikes and occupation'. The latter of the actions is understood to be illegal in its context.
Subsequent to the NUS Conference, NCAFC submitted a motion 'Support the Free Education Now - National Demo' to the NEC. The motion asked the NUS for approximately £11,000 of funding towards the National Demo, including collaboration with Momentum and to work 'with the [demo] organisers'.
NUS President Martin removed the motion from discussion at the NEC. In a statement, Martin ruled the motion 'out of order', justifying that NEC should not 'go against the wishes of National Conference'.
 |
| Email Statement from Shakira Martin, NUS President re. rejecting National Demo Motion. |
This resulted in a social media fire-storm of criticism from NCAFC activists against Shakira Martin.
Shakira Martin responded on Twitter this Tuesday, informing students that '[I] will be writing a blog to explain my reasons. In short, I do not believe forty people on the National Executive Committee should have the decision to spend approximately £11,000 on a demonstration'.
 |
| Warwick SU President Hope Worsdale calls NUS President Shakira Martin an 'absolute joke'. |
Hope Worsdale responded to Martin, calling her an 'absolute joke'. Worsdale then re-tweeted an accusation from NUS Postgraduate Rep and self-styled 'sparkling water communist' Amelia Horgan that Martin was 're-legitimising politicians who presided over disastrous changes to FE and HE'...
 |
| Warwick SU President Hope Worsdale re-tweets Horgan's attack on Shakira for working with a certain politician! |
So, who were Hope Worsdale and Amelia Horgan referring to?
Sir Vince Cable.
Whilst the media enjoyed (and still enjoys) focussing on the Higher Education tuition fee rises and the associated 'debt' - effectively a progressive graduate tax/contributions - it is often overlooked that Cable as Business Secretary in the Coalition Government, had protected Further Education (FE) from cuts, despite civil servants telling him that 'nobody will really notice'. Evidently, Worsdale and Horgan hadn't - we live in hope that they eventually will...
FE student, President Martin had in fact been working together with Vince Cable to produce the Student Shaping Post-16 Skills Plan - a report with 'a range of policy recommendations' for the FE Sector, drawing from consultations 'with students and sector experts'. This was launched on the 5th September and presented in Parliament.
In light of some context, the Eye wonders if Hope has actually read the Student Shaping Post-16 Skills Plan, fore-worded by her own president? #mypresident or #notmypresident, Eye suspects we will never know!
The Eye will be following any further developments closely. In the meantime, the nominations to stand as a Warwick Delegate and attend NUS Conference 2018 is now open, here!
If you need persuading to get involved in the fun, Chairman Rose recounts his own experiences at the 2017 Conference in the next Eye article, describing Christmas for Student Journalism!
By Warwick Eye
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