Student Broad Left

Check out below Aaron Kiely's election speech for Vice President Society and Citizenship from NUS National Conference 2011.

Aaron was successfully elected to the NUS Block of 15 and stood as a proud candidate of the Student Broad Left. Other left voices elected to the NUS NEC include Ruby Hirsch, Mark Bergfeld and Michael Chessum.

Here we share Aaron Kiely’s speech for NUS Vice President Society Citizenship from NUS Conference 2011. Aaron was Student Broad Left's candidate, standing to fight for liberation and against cuts, racism and war.

By Kanja Sesay, NUS Black Students' Officer

Economic crises are times when racism thrives even more as politicians seek to scapegoat communities.

In France this week the ban on the Niqab came into full force. This illiberal policy shamefully denies Muslims women their right to choose what they want to wear and their freedom of religion.

In Britain the English Defence League have targeted Muslim communities, claiming Britain is in danger of ‘Islamification.’ This false argument is used as a justification for generalised hatred and violence towards Muslims. The EDL group has been terrorising Muslims up and down the country and have been caught on camera at its demonstration in Preston chanting ‘Burn down the mosque.’

The West’s war on Libya is morally wrong and must end immediately.

Len McCluskey, General Secretary of the biggest trade union in Britain, Unite, hit the nail on the head last week when he said: “The war risks killing Libyan civilians while doing nothing to end hostilities on the ground. Indeed, prolonging the conflict will surely lead to more civilian deaths at the hands of troops on both sides.”

The West claims that they are bombing the Libyan people in order to save lives. The reality is, David Cameron and William Hague have no intention of defending human rights. With every bomb that is dropped and with every innocent civilian killed, the true motivations of the West are becoming clearer: this is a war about self-interest, oil and colonial control of a strategically important region. Read more

Aaron Kiely is standing for the NUS NEC at NUS Conference this April. He is standing to take on the Tory assault on education and the public sector, to challenge racism and all forms of bigotry and to speak up for international peace and justice – no to war and climate change. VOTE AARON #1 for NUS! See Aaron's full manifesto

Rima Amin student at City University and member of the NUS Black Students' Campaign speaks out against NUS' silence on war in her article below. The motion opposing Britain's war on Libya was not even discussed at this year's NUS Conference last week.

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By Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Students' Committee

The Tories have unleashed the biggest assault on ordinary people for generations. Students are in the firing line alongside public sector workers, the vulnerable, women, Black people, LGBT communities, disabled people, the unemployed and the majority of society.

Whilst we have already seen inspiring resistance to their attacks, it is crucial that we take the fight back on to the next level. We must continue to lead the way, joining with trade unions and the wider anti-cuts movement.

We need to be mobilising tens of thousands of students on the streets, occupying our campuses, walking out of our schools and colleges and supporting the wider labour movement in their strikes and industrial action to defend jobs and public services. We need to raise the banner ‘investment not cuts’ – making the moral, social and economic arguments for jobs, growth and social justice. Read more

By Vicki Baars, NUS LGBT Officer (Open Place) - guest article

The rise of the fascist British National Party is a threat to all oppressed communities in the UK, and LGBT people are no exception.

Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, may gloat that he has made his party more “gay friendly”, but this is nonsense: he has used BBC platforms to state that he finds gay couples “creepy”, and the BNP’s former director of publicity stated that “AIDS is a friendly disease because blacks and gays have it”. This quote perfectly highlights the importance of uniting the LGBT and Black communities in opposing fascism. Read more

The Young Greens, the youth branch of the Green Party, have announced that they are endorsing the united left slate - For a Fighting NUS - in the upcoming NUS Full-time Officer elections during NUS conference 2011. Read more