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OUSU Gaza motion splits JCRs

A divisive OUSU motion to condemn Israel’s recent attack on Gaza has continued to split JCRs this week, despite the fact that they will have to vote on it this Friday.

The motion would require the Student Union to condemn the Israeli attack and write letters in support of the ceasefire to Foreign Secretary David Milliband and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni.

OUSU reps must get a mandate from their colleges before voting on the issue at this Friday’s Council.

Fierce debate broke out at JCR meetings across Oxford, many only settling the issue after lengthy and heated discussion.

Although St John’s College voted to endorse the motion, it met widespread opposition elsewhere, as St Anne’s, Magdalen and St Peter’s all voted it down.

St Catherine’s even mandated its reps to vote against any political motion raised by OUSU. Balliol remains undecided, and has instigated an online poll to settle the issue.

St John’s students argued through a long and sometimes bitter debate, passing the motion only with amendments which criticised Israel for breaking a ceasefire with Hamas. They also called for an international war crimes investigation into the conflict.

A St John’s undergraduate said that the meeting had been “thoughtful, positive and very well-attended.”

The JCR also decided to donate £500 to the Disasters and Emergencies Committee’s aid work in Gaza and to ask the University for a scholarship for Palestinian students.

OUSU’s right to take a stance on international issues was challenged by students opposed to the motion.

JCR members at St Anne’s voted against it after speeches urging the Student Union to focus on student welfare rather than political issues.

One St Anne’s student raised concerns that steps had not been taken to ensure that representatives would know how the JCR wanted them to act if new amendments or motions on the topic were brought up. They said “it’s about how the OUSU rep interprets it, and I’m not sure that’s fair.”

At St Peter’s many also opposed the substance of the motion. One remarked, “we all agreed that the OUSU motion as it stands is very unbalanced and even with all the amendments it doesn’t send a clear balanced call to Hamas and Israel to both cease aggression.”

Like St Anne’s, many students at Peter’s felt it was not appropriate for a student union to pass political motions. Peter’s reps were instructed to make any motion at council as fair and balanced as possible at the amendment stage, but to ultimately vote against it.

An especially long and divisive struggle in Balliol JCR ended without any firm conclusion. Students voted to leave the choice of which way to vote this Friday to their OUSU reps. But the reps shrugged off the responsibility, subsequently deciding to poll the JCR by email to decide the matter.

Balliol affiliates rep Yuan Yang said, “the fairest way to deal with controversial issues is to publicise them in some way at a JCR.” She agreed with Balliol’s JCR President Iain Large that “1 hour 40 minutes of often misled debating at a GM was not a useful way forward.”

She defended the email poll saying, “it extends the effective franchise to everyone in Balliol, including those who couldn’t attend the GM, gives them several days to consider their opinions, and also has options for people to add on additional comments or criteria for their vote.”

The poll gave a choice of four responses allowing Balliol students to vote for opposing the motion, abstaining, passing the motion but apportioning equal blame to Hamas, or condeming Israel outright. Yang said that there had been 70 responses in the first day of voting.

Not everyone appears to be taking the issue with complete seriousness, however. One suggested JCR amendment to the motion mocked OUSU President Lewis Iwu, who was recently criticised for giving advice to Barack Obama in an online BBC video.

It suggested he “write to the President of the United States of America, Barak Obama, outlining his advice upon the conflict in Gaza and any other matters that might be troubling the United States at present.”

This week’s JCR uproar followed similar debate last week in which Wadham passed the motion last week, but Jesus College decided to abstain, and Hertford foreshadowed St Catz’s move against all politcal motions.

 

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