Save the Nus Trans Campaign
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student left network @ nus trans students’ conference 2019 save the nus trans campaign: vote no confidence in By natalia the cuts! cassidy The NUS UK Board has voted to abol- ish the NUS Trans Campaign’s officer, committee and campaign budget. The International Students’ Officer has also been abolished, alongside the LGBT Women’s Place, the Society and Citi- zenship Vice President and all of the Nations’ Vice Presidents. All of this was done with no chance for input from the members of those cam- paigns, nor any NUS members. NUS say that the LGBT+ Officer will cover campaigning for trans students. But we deserve better than hoping that other pus elections could be replaced by SU The student left must either rally around the cam- NUS officers, the majority of whom are execs instead choosing who they want paign to stop the gutting of NUS democracy and cis, will speak for us; that’s why trans to send. liberation, or stand by and do nothing. students spent years campaigning for It’s clear these reforms aren’t about sav- SLN is calling for a vote of no confidence in an autonomous campaign. ing money; they’re driven by the current Shakira Martin to stop the antidemocratic cuts. These cuts are being made to address leadership’s vision for NUS as a slick, We can have no confidence in a President who a £3 million deficit. The leadership say think-tank style operation unobstructed allows the Trans Campaign to be cut behind the these cutbacks are necessary in order by the student left. The reforms will make backs of its members. If the motion of no confi- for NUS to survive, but the few financial NUS even more of a conveyor belt for dence passes at 25 Student Unions, an extraor- figures available tell us that the financial careerists and even less capable of run- dinary conference will be called, where the SLN crisis has nothing to do with overspend- ning radical campaigns. will run left candidate Justine Canady for Presi- ing on democracy, campaigning or offi- We need to put forward a radically dif- dent to challenge Martin. cer pay, but on mismanagement of the ferent vision for NUS, a National Union This conference should be used as a stand by NUS Extra discount card scheme. If with real rank-and-file control which links the left to call for an alternative vision for the fu- NUS want to prune officer expenses, up and spreads the student activism hap- ture of NUS. surely a better place to start would be pening on campuses around the country, Pass the motion in your SU: the CEO’s salary of £100k. fights for students on a national scale tinyurl.com/noNUScuts It’s disgusting that trans students are alongside the labour movement, and Follow Justine’s campaign: being made to pay for the mismanage- builds campaigning student unions with www.facebook.com/JCfor- ment of NUS’ finances. full independence from management in Pres/ NUS are now consulting SUs on a every college, school and university. Join the speaker tour whole series of drastic reforms to its If the student left hopes to have any democratic structures. Proposals in- chance of defending and expanding NUS clude creating a ‘single NUS manifesto’ democracy, we must work together and in place of individual officers’ manifestos unite around a set of shared political de- to drive the NUS officer team’s work, mands. We need a culture of cooperation inside: who will serve two year terms. Instead and unity in action on the central political no platform for fascists- but should of a motions debate setting NUS policy, demands where we agree, and of open caucuses for specific topics are pro- discussion and debate where we have we no platform terfs? posed, where decisions will be made via political differences. towards a more effective trans and ‘consensus building’. Potential changes The question must be asked, as it so women’s liberation movement to how delegates to conference are often is historically: which side are you + more elected are also mentioned: cross-cam- on? no platform for fascists- but should we no platform terfs? by christie neary This article is a reponse to the amend- There are many reactionary strains of in prolonged campaigns of often quite ment submitted to the motion “No Platform thought both within society-at-large anso- personalised harassment against trans for Fascists.” ciety-at-large and within the labour move- people. There has been increasing discussion ment: the view of many in the labour Whilst these methods are contemptible on the left of using a tactic of “no-platform” movement veer into anti-Semitism, sexism, and should be roundly condemned and against particular groups. The groups racism and transphobia. How we approach opposed both through protest and con- often targeted by this question include fas- this is part of a broader question of rooting frontation as well as through the imple- cists, certain right-wingers, transphobes as out reactionary ideas within the labour mentation of existing wellbeing policies for well as some left-wing groups. This is how- movement. We cannot hope to, through the the protection of students. This does not ever, an arbitrary selection of groups that use of bureaucratic manoeuvring such as however represent the core threat that fas- represent nothing collectively other than a no-platform policy, hope to confront these cism poses to the left or to minority groups: holding views that some find distasteful. reactionary ideas effectively. All this serves that is, an immediate, physical threat to the Those pushing for a no-platform policy im- to do is push these ideas out of the imme- continued existence and ability to organ- posed on these groups don’t, for example, diate public view, offering a veneer of pro- ise. As such we should not obfuscate our call for a no-platform policy against univer- gression whilst allowing those that hold understanding of anti-fascism by extend- sity Conservative associations, despite the reactionary views to uphold themselves as ing how we relate to fascism as a political reactionary views harboured within them. victimised. This can be easily seen with the phenomenon to an arbitrary set of views There is a reason fascism is to be dealt way transphobic feminists gained traction that we find distasteful. with using every tool at our disposal. Fas- in the UK with the idea that they have been In order to fight for liberation and liberty, cism is not simply a collection of view- silenced for standing up for women. it is crucial that the left champion the right points that are reactionary enough to cross There is of course, no moral equivalence to free speech. This, by necessity, means a line of what we consider to be in good between transphobic feminists and trans fighting for the right of free speech for taste. It is not simply because of these vile people. It is not the case that trans people’s those who hold ideas we do not agree viewpoints, but also the tactics that are right to exist should be a subject of debate, with. Does this mean that we must resign used to organise. Fascism is a movement but the grim reality is the only way to effec- ourselves to sit passively and ignore reac- directly counterposed to the interests and tively side-line reactionary viewpoints to the tionary ideas as they show themselves? the existence of the labour movement and point of irrelevance is to engage with them Of course we must say, no. It is the dem- those that are marginalised due to race, squarely and democratically. If we rely on ocratic right of protest against ideas just as gender, ethnicity, disability etc. It is be- bureaucratic manoeuvring, we on the left much as it is the right of to espouse these cause of this, the way fascism seeks to vi- are ultimately self-sabotaging. Bureaucratic ideas in the first place. We should, of olently destroy marginalised groups: methods of retaining left-wing control of course, organise ourselves in opposition immediately and with physical force, that Trade Unions have historically undermined to those that espouse transphobia. We we must oppose it by any means wherever the strength of the union as a whole and should leaflet their meetings and engage it rears its head. later been used against the left by its oppo- with those in their milieu. Transphobic feminists (often referred to nents. Only through democratic rather than bu- as TERFs), those with a political worldview One line of argument contends that whilst reaucratic techniques can we hope to that could broadly be defined as feminist TERFs aren’t fascists, they should be dealt make a lasting, meaningful impact on the in its outlook, whilst at the same time hold- with in the same way due to ‘fascistic meth- values and ideas present in the wider ing reactionary and harmful views in rela- ods’. This usually refers to the abhorrent movement and in society as a whole. tion to trans people, particularly trans practices of leaking the personal informa- women, are quite simply, not fascists. tion of prominent trans activists or engaging agree? disagree? write a response for studentleftnetwork.com [email protected] facebook.com/studentleftnetwork @SL_Net towards a more effective trans and women’s liberation movement by steff farley le, our different material needs and the different ferent experiences. Material sexual char- Mainstream trans discourse combinations of obstructions, restrictions and vi- acteristics lead to social responses, for ex- seems to be dominated by either a olence by the state that we may face is not helpful.