Last year, following a big upsurge in student struggle at Westminter University, activists from the Fight Cuts campaign took over and began the process of transforming their previously moribund student union.
Now that process will be thrown into reverse, after left activists at Westminster narrowly lost this year’s elections to people who we believe to be supporters of the radical right-wing Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). The incumbent VP Education, AWL member Jade Baker, was very narrowly defeated.
To activists at most other universities, where even more moderate Islamist groups remain on the fringes, this probably sounds a bit bizarre. But Westminster has a huge, possibly even majority Muslim student population, and HT have been building a base there for years, long before the reappearance of the student left in the anti-cuts struggles of 2009-10. The Global Ideas society, which believe is a front organisation for HT (itself banned by the university), gets a big turn out for its events.
In this election, the "3 Brothers" candidates did not run honestly and openly on the programme of HT — misogyny, homophobia, anti-semitism and religious sectarianism, and working towards a global caliphate in which all elements of self-organisation and democracy are suppressed — or anything like it, but on a communalist appeal for Muslim students to “Vote for Da 3 Brothers”.
Consequently left-wing Muslims who supported left candidates felt intimidated out of taking an active role in the left campaigns.
Throughout two election campaigns (the first election was cancelled after numerous election complaints), there were all kinds of minor factors that combined to create a perfect storm for the Islamists. For instance, in the second election the ballot paper was for no obvious reason rearranged so that hundreds of students voted for Jade for NUS delegate while voting for no one for VP Education (which Jade lost by about 80 votes out of 2,250). But we should not downplay the fact that this is a victory for HT: despite recent struggles, the left simply did not build a base fast enough to make up for their communal appeals and their longstanding roots at the university.
When supporters of Global Ideas had sabbaticals previously, UWSU essentially collapsed, with the officers pocketing their wages but not bother to come into work (and presumably working full-time for the Islamist cause instead). That must be a real risk next year, since HT supporters or sympathisers hold President as well as VP Education. If they do work hard, it will be to make the student union an inhospitable place for liberated women, gay people, secularists, Muslims who oppose Islamism, and the left.
The left at Westminster needs to use the next couple of months to build up our activist networks so they can survive in more difficult conditions next year, and to launch an open political campaign to challenge Hizb ut-Tahrir and their periphery on campus.
Jade's platform
This is the text of the leaflet Jade campaigned with - both in the first election, when she stood as part of "Westminster Fights Back", and the second, when she stood as part of "The 4 Sisters Fight Back".
JADE BAKER FOR VP EDUCATION
"I'm standing for re-elect as Vice President Education because I want to continue the passion-filled work I've done this year to turn the students' union around. We've begun the process of transforming UWSU from a dead duck into a union which engages with students and actively campaigns around cuts, free education and broader issues.
"I am a Journalism graduate, a co-founder of the Fight Cuts at Westminster campaign and the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, and a member of the socialist organisation Workers' Liberty. I stand for equality and liberation for all in the university and society.
"We need a union that organises and campaigns. This year I have been working tirelessly to mobilise students, linking up with staff trade unions, to campaign on the biggest issue facing us: cuts to education. We will need every bit of experience, determination and fight we've got in the coming months, as the government slashes budgets and the university sacks lecturers and wipes out modules and courses."
My record this year
This year, as VP Education, I have:
* Rebuilt the course representative community by holding a team building trip and introducing "Education Assemblies" where students' issues are aired in an informal environment, voices are head and actions are taken;
* Pushed the Deans of Electronics and Computer Science into holding student forums where they have no option but to listen to what students want and think, rather than sitting behind a desk all day, making decisions for, but being totally detached from their students;
* Helped train the new Part Time Officers and particularly working closely with the Women's Officer to set up a new university community "Westminster Women";
* Represented students on IT, Library Services and Blackboard by holding focus groups;
* Helped in the review of Blackboard to ensure students have a much more reliable system next year;
* Celebrated our diversity by holding events such as anti-fascist meetings and discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
* Started a campaign for the London Living Wage, all members of staff should be paid a decent salary as they contribute to our educational experience.
* Involved large numbers of Westminster students in national demonstrations, actions and conferences, putting us on the activist map again.
My priorities for next year:
* Democracy inside UWSU: maximum student involvement and democratic control. More regular General Meetings, only students on the Trustee Board (the governing body of the union, currently with non-student representation). It should be much easier to get involved in and have a say in your union.
* To continue the fight against fees, and to raise awareness of why free education is a right. Full support for UCU and other staff unions' fight against cuts. Fight for BIGGER BURSARIES! Many of our students are from working-class background. A measly £300 is not enough. To fight for more scholarships for those of poorer backgrounds and for internationals who are currently in the midst of wars and revolutions in the Middle East. The university prides itself on its international students; let's give something genuine back to the international community. We should oppose everything that prevents people from coming to live and study in the UK, financial disincentives as well as immigration controls.
* To tackle the negative culture in some areas of the university. Students are the heart and soul of Westminster, let's treat them with some respect!
FOR A DEMOCRATIC, CAMPAIGNING UWSU.