30th May 2001 SPECIAL SHORTER ISSUE ‘COZ WE CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO WRITE ANYTHING Students at Avenue Campus were The event was as polished as canvas an important part of the ordinary student’s voice, despite being on plunged amidst the travelling Prescott’s infamous Jaguar, in constituency and win student votes, but University property. Marie Heracleous, election circus, with a surprise true Millbank style, with the instead to launch his Education Union President, had a far worse run in visit from Tony Prime Minister herded manifesto, before a carefully selected with Cllr. Powers. As she was talking to a Blair last through Avenue by a swathe audience. University official, Powers approached Wednesday. of security guards and Marie saying, “The Tories wanted to policemen whilst heckled by Despite the Students’ Union being the f***ing shut student unions down, so students. Such witticisms as main representative body for the why don’t you just shut up and go away”. “Give us grant, Tony!” were students, none of your representatives She stated that she was there to represent heard to emanate from were invited to attend. Reading SU’s the students as President of the the crowd President and VP Trading & Finance Southampton Union, but as she spoke he gathered to Officer were allowed in, as well known had already turned away. He was ogle the Labour students. As SUSU Vice- arranging for both sabbatical officers to arrival of President, I asked Reading Borough be followed to ensure they did not cause such a rare Councillor Malcolm Powers, one of trouble; a valuable way for party luminary. Labour’s representatives who had been volunteers to spend their time obviously However, shipped down from Berkshire for the being to follow two young women the event, why this was, to be greeted by the around in case they barged past the purpose response that I wasn’t a party member frankly impenetrable entourage of police, of Mr and there were students inside. “How stewards and other party members. Blair’s were those students chosen?” I visit continued. “They’re all party members”, Less than a week before exams were due was he replied abruptly and walked off. to start, chaos had descended on Avenue. not to Obviously, the Labour Party showed little Students could not get down certain interest in hearing your voice, or any corridors to get to revision seminars. One Arts student commented: “We were not informed there would be any FOILED AGAIN! Highfield Hall has yet again fallen victim to the latest round of pranks, including the relocation of refectory furniture...See inside... In this issue of Oi! Students get your free issue of GAPYEAR Arab Strap, Paradox and the Magazine in the union concourse. Check this out. See features page 9 for more info. Includes backstage interviews with Coldplay and smooth Summer’s festivals previewed traveller Michael Palin. - CHRIS CREAMS - AU PRES IN CUSTARD - CHRIS CREAMS - PAGE 2 PAGE 3 All style no... CONTENTs MAYDAY MAYHEM! An Englishwoman Serbs to Occupy NATO- With the worst of the morning rush over, four men had found some pieces of wood the train from Southampton was half and were trying to break the window of a Approved Buffer Zone filled with suited workers making their clothes shop. Most of the people on the Thousands of Serb troops have way into London. Our group caught the demo, although prepared to defend begun to take control of the last PASTED eye - sprawled across the smoking car themselves when attacked by the police, in Barcelona piece of a buffer zone separating PAGE 6 and penetrating the next carriage. A few were not there to cause damage. Kosovo from the rest of Serbia. The of our fellow travellers cast suspicious Tellingly it was only when the damage area has been a base for ethnic glances in our direction and then looked was stopped that the police took any Albanian guerrillas for the past 16 back at their papers. action. They ran up and hit the men but My stomach dropped as I read adopt the ‘herding instinct’ seem daunting at first, but you can months, but Belgrade expects little could not arrest them because they “Homeless and penniless” in the and speak English all the guarantee they’ll sit you down and make resistance. Reaching Waterloo we made our way to a For a mile or two we swarmed down the slipped into the crowd who closed around ‘Farcelona’ article of the time. It also makes you a damn good cup of coffee as you number of different protests, agreeing to pavements with not a policeman in sight. them. Wessex Scene last you far more prepare for the onslaught on your Bad Losses for Railtrack rendezvous later on in Oxford Street. When we got to Oxford Circus there was December. I was just flexible in linguistic abilities. I have to speak Most of us went up to the planned student a large crowd congregating in the middle. They eventually started to release people starting to terms of Spanish all the time at home and I can Railtrack, the company that demo at the University of London Union Walking to the edge I could see groups of at about half past nine, seven hours after arrange now sprinkle my sentences with the maintains and owns the UK train where about two hundred students had police forming lines across each exit so I the start. General impressions were that accommodation choicest Spanish curses that reverberate tracks and stations, has reported a gathered. headed for them immediately. I watched there had been very little damage to for what was around the flat on some days. Above all, worse-than-expected loss for the from a distance for a couple of minutes as PACK UP hopefully to be a Barcelona has given us the opportunity last year of £534m, mainly due to a It wasn’t long before there was trouble. a few protestors argued to be let out. second semester of finding to hear Sean Connery dubbed into £733m payment for a rail renewal YOUR The police insisted that one masked More out of hope than expectation I Spanish sun in the accommodation Spanish! Having relieved my conscience programme in the wake of the TROUBLES protestor remove his scarf. Refusing, he walked briskly at a slight gap between Catalonian capital of and therefore more I can now get back to “Los Simpson” and Hatfield crash in October which was bundled into the back of a police van two policemen. I gave up my debate Barcelona. The article detailed an likely to end up in a good, central, my sangrìa.... claimed four lives. PAGE 9 and driven away. People started to move about civil liberties with the accommodation fiasco that left location. Turning up to find yourself away but lines of policeman blocked the monosyllabic PC after a few minutes and Southampton Socrates students in surrounded by Italians, for example, may Emily Johnston McDonald’s way, insisting that the march could go no went to investigate a side street that lay Barcelona without accommodation and Deceives Veggies further. At this point I got a call from apparently unguarded. It was. A few forced into either paying for expensive Southampton students who were outside minutes later the police lines pushed in a temporary accommodation or returning Fast food giant McDonald’s has the World Bank offices saying that there little further trapping those in the circus. home disillusioned. Having yesterday expressed regret for not giving the were a lot of people congregating. I eventually met one of the others from completed my courses at the University public what it calls “complete” There were a lot more people at this Southampton but the rest of the groups I of Barcelona, after nearly four months in information about the way its potato demo and the pavements were packed had travelled with were stuck. this fantastic city, I feel the need to throw chips are cooked. MALE with demonstrators. Neighbouring property but it was agreed that this was my own perspective into the ring. Trafalgar Square was scattered with The rest of the afternoon involved the due to the protestor’s good nature rather With a multi-million dollar court CANCER case on the way, McDonald’s has several hundred other campaigners. At police trying to contain those than the policing on the day. They failed My friend Clare and I have been studying conceded that it may have confused around two o’clock everyone from the demonstrators not in Oxford Circus. The in their main duty - upholding the law English here on the Erasmus Exchange PAGE 10 customers over whether its fries World Bank began walking to Oxford people who had avoided getting trapped and liberty. The people who were and have had a remarkably smooth ride. were vegetarian, and so acceptable Circus. were those who had been on demos detained were being punished for daring With about two weeks to go before to Hindus. before and knew what to expect. Every to have a mind of their own. A civil case leaving Southampton, and following time a group of police formed across a is now being brought against the some problems with an Internet road everyone would hurry down a side Metropolitan Police for illegal detention. accommodation agency, we approached Bayern’s Other Winner street and appear on the other side of the Southampton’s Catalan Assistant, Esteve, police line. The only success went to the protestors. for help. He checked out other flats on A Staffordshire man has won Generally those attending ignored the the Internet and then rang the owners £500,000 thanks to a 30p bet and Numbers continued to swell until about extremely provocative tactics of the personally to ask about rooms on our Bayern Munich’s nerve-wracking six o’clock.