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INKYTEXT SUBSCRIBER LEADING EURO PARLIAMENT CANDIDATE
LATEST STRIKE NEWS
Issue No 296 Thursday 20 May 1999
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Editorial correspondence should be sent to InkyText@lancaster.ac.uk
Subscription requests to Inkytext-distribution-request@lists.lancaster.ac.uk
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AGENDA
Minutes, Amendments, Matters arising
1. Editorial: Recapitulation
2. News: John Whitelegg, Strike, UMAG, Library, Student Welfare, UMAG,
Finance, APC.
3. Small Ads: Oz dollars, Houses for sale and to let, Accommodation to let
and wanted, Car, Room for teenage Italian wanted, New roots dance music.
4. Glienicker Declaration against the war
5. Readers' Letters: Bogdan Costea, Sol Picciotto, Nick Bardsley, Maurice
Kirby, Tom Cheesewright, Paul Mullineaux, Steve Benner, Craig Graham
MINUTES, AMENDMENTS, MATTERS ARISING
------------------------------------
The date of the national AUT strike is Tuesday 25th May.
A typo inflated interest costs of the new bridge by an embarrassing factor.
1. EDITORIAL: THE BELGRADE BLITZ REVISITED
------------------------------------------
Let us recapitulate. Always better than capitulating though clearly
less agreeable than copulating. A pity we don't have a Talleyrand,
Palmerston or Bismarck negotiating instead of Robin Cook and Tony B.
Europe would be a happier little continent today and we could all get
back to copulating. Or better still, recopulating.
Shakespeare set his comedy Twelfth Night in Illyria - the name by
which Albania was known in former times. Some bitter and black irony to
be found there if you have the time, as in the fact that Albania's only
really famous citizen was Mother Teresa. Lord Byron, who visited
southern Albania in 1810, wrote some stirring lines about her landscape
in his poem Childe Harold:
Morn dawns: and with it stern Albania's hills...
Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills.
This fledgling democracy, until recently, under Enver Hoxha, the last
bastion of Stalinism outside student unions, is indisputably the
poorest and most lawless in Europe. BBC correspondents' accounts of
daily life in the provinces there make them sound like the Wild West,
but less sophisticated and more violent.
Enriching it with aid a few years back would have gone a long way to
eradicating some causes of the present evils, and to stifling the
growth of the KLA. Instead we'll have to spend even more on it later.
Only a few years ago our own wonderful Joe Medhurst, first director of
the Indoor Rec (sports centre), collected van loads of goods from
Lancaster to deliver to the hard-pressed people of Europe's youngest
'free' nation.
In the eyes of commentators from lands able to see things more
objectively, we appear to be siding with the KLA, a decidedly
non-governmental body of the type that our governments would call
'terrorist' in Ireland or the Basque country, and which wishes either
Kosovan secession from Serbia, or its annexation to Albania.
Neither of these outcomes is remotely feasible, or perhaps even
desirable, as they stand. Even our own diplomats made that point before
the present adventure began. Durable alternatives can only be uncovered
by diplomacy sooner or later. Diplomacy means talk. Bombs make it
harder to make yourself heard.
2. NEWS
-------
EURO ELECTIONS - JUNE 6 1999: Inkytext subscriber John Whitelegg,
ex-head of Geography, is the first placed candidate on the Green party
list for NW England. Under the PR system in use this means he will be
elected if 9.1% or more of the vote goes to the Green party.
The highlights of the Green Euromanifesto are:
An end to the bombing and (in their view) illegal NATO war in
Kosovo/Serbia.
An end to GM food. They consider that these foods not necessary, do
not help global problems of food scarcity, concentrate power in the
hands of unaccountable multinationals and run risks of damaging human
health and other species.
Traffic reduction through measures to make alternatives to the car and
lorry more attractive.
Regeneration of local economies through investment in energy
technology, energy efficiency of homes, public transport and small
labour intensive enterprises.
John Whitlegg's 'candidate statement' reads as follows:
"The European elections represent an opportunity to inject a strong
green voice into European politics. This means an emphasis on real
environmental improvements, more job opportunities, better health
experiences and social justice for everyone.
The European Union has a fundamental role in delivering these
objectives. Only the European Union (especially a more democratic and
accountable Union) can fight the global menace of multinational
companies and the constant drive to reduce public expenditure on health
and education, drive down wages, increase working hours and create a
wasteland of pollution.
Only the Green Party in the European Parliament has the policies to
deliver uncompromisingly high standards for every European citizen and
to protect those who currently suffer the most: the poor, those from
non-European ethnic groups, the long term sick, refugees, children and
those taking the brunt of our polluting industrial systems. I welcome
the opportunity to join my colleagues in the Green Group in the
European Parliament and to fight for a just society."
STRIKE NEWS: All students scheduled to have an exam on Tuesday are to
receive a letter from the VC informing them that their exams will
proceed as time-tabled and that they should attend them. [Hope those LUSI
lists are accurate.]
Yesterday's UMAG heard that the possibility of re-timing Tuesday's
exams, even using evening and Sunday sessions, had been considered but
deemed impossible within the required time-scale. (Institutions with
more integrated degree schemes find it easier.)
The University approach is being described as 'low key' and no
pressure is being put on staff. It is not known whether any striking
invigilators or administrators will announce their intentions in
advance.
YESTERDAY'S UMAG also discussed further (lengthy!) sections of the
Corporate Plan, including the Human Resource section. (MEMO to Equal
Opps: can't you do something to eradicate that obscene expression,
vastly more hurtful, offensive and exclusive than the words that seem
to worry you?) It is still hoped that Senate will have a chance to
consider the plan next week.... but only if they don't have to read
it.... Surely the thing can be cut in 6 before it's sent to poor HEFCE
next year.
LIBRARY AND ASSISTANT STAFF: The Library is concerned that assistant
staff (and pace Equal Opps but that's the term they use and I don't
know the alternative) may not be aware of their relationship with the
Library. The matter was raised at a recent Library Forum. The official
position is as follows:
"All Assistant staff can join the Library. They need to complete a
registration form, available from the Library's Enquiry Desk, or one
can be sent through the mail on request. We also need a passport-size
photograph. The Library card will normally be ready for collection from
the Enquiry Desk the next working day.
Assistant staff can borrow up to 10 books from the main collections.
Additionally, they can borrow from Short Loan (normally one book at a
time; two on Fridays, but they need to be aware of the short time-scale
of the loan) and kits and cassettes etc.
Assistant staff can use inter-library loan for work-related requests.
However requests for leisure-related ILL items are not accepted from
any members of staff because of the cost of the service.
If anyone has further queries, contact Winnie Clark (Sub-librarian
(user services) on 92538 or w.clark@lancaster.ac.uk)"
If any assistant staff have any issues they want raising with regard
to the library, they should address them to Dave Boyle, Assistant Staff
rep on the forum, who can be contacted on 92200 (d.boyle@lancaster)
FINANCE COMMITEE: Can't be bothered. Exam marking is more urgent.
APC MEETS TOMORROW: As above.
3. SMALL ADS
------------
RELIABLE CLEANER REQUIRES PRIVATE HOUSES TO CLEAN. Rates negotiable.
Tel. 0374 288658.'
---------------
FOR SALE: $540 AUSTRALIAN, in notes. Selling because our trip to
Australia is postponed. You can buy them from us at a better rate than
you will get from the banks (and no commission to pay). Part sale
considered. Lancaster 846878. Beat the banks if you need some Oz
dollars.
--------------
FOR SALE: Detached family house, five bedrooms, two reception, study,
etc. Located in Scotforth within easy reach of the University, schools
and city. 144,550 GBP - NEGOTIABLE FOR QUICK SALE. For details contact
EJ Dunn on 01524 63668, OR Susan Bridges Estate Agent, tel 01524 68811
(Fax: 01524 844277).
-----------
COLOUR TV Matsui, 14" with Remote Control. Few months of use, with
original guarantee. Just for 59 pounds. Phone: ext. 93796. E-mail:
leiva@comp.lancs.ac.uk
--------------
ROOM TO LET IN COMFORTABLE FAMILY HOUSE in Bowerham. 35 pounds per
week plus bills. Suit mature student/postgrad. Available from 1st June
1999. Contact 01524-382384 or email bookshop@staff.ehche.ac.uk
----------------
COTTAGE FOR RENT IN CATON: Sunny two bedroom unfurnished cottage
available from June: quiet end of close location backing onto Lune
Valley. Two dedicated parking spaces good size back garden with shed.
Gas c.h. and stove, double glazing and alarm system. Minutes to village
pubs, bus, shops, health centre, 15 minutes from the university by car
great bike lane to City centre. 420 pounds p.c.m Contact Mrs S. Mason
015242 61382
-----------------
WANTED: room in a family house, in town, for a 15-year-old Italian
girl, coming over to extend her, already good, English. 1-2 weeks in
July/August. Chance to forge an Anglo-Florentine friendship? Phone:
593970 or 63728. r.mackenzie@lancaster.ac.uk
-----------------
Saturday 29 May 8.30-Late
DEEP ROOTS GREEN SHOOTS 2
An evening of new roots dance music from around the world
Reggae, Asian, Dub, Latin, Worldbeat
With Dr Robert and Phil
All profits to the Green Party
3.50/2.50 at the Gregson Centre, Moor Lane, Lancaster
Info: r.poole@ucsm.ac.uk
---------------------
ROOMS TO LET: 32 St George's Quay,Lancaster. Two rooms available in
shared house. Rent 170 GBP and 150 GBP pcm . Central heating, excellent
view of river, 5 mins walk to bus station. Please contact Anne Payne
01524 66598. Available immediately.
--------------
WANTED RENTAL ACCOMMODATION: A visiting professor in Management School
seeks a 3-bedroom furnished accommodation in a semi-detached or a
detached house close to the campus on the campus bus routes. Willing to
lease for two years. Budget around 400 pounds per month.
r.mehta@lancaster.ac.uk <mailto:r.mehta@lancaster.ac.uk> phone:
(5)93495
-----------------
ROOM TO LET. Bedroom and study in large detached family house in
Kendal. Nice garden, views over Lake District. Central heating and all
mod cons. stlg. 50 per week, inclusive of all bills. Car share to the
university could be arranged. Tel. 01539 723039
----------
4. GLIENICKER DECLARATION AGAINST THE WAR
-----------------------------------------
The following declaration was agreed by approximately 100 academics
from various parts of Europe, North America and South America at a
conference on 'Rethinking Progress' organised by the Berlin Institute
for Critical Theory on 15 May 1999.
"The signatories call upon the responsible parties of Nato to cease the
bombing of Yugoslavia immediately.
Ethnic expulsion and terror waged by a state against its own
population are criminal. But Nato, claiming to answer these crimes,
commits other crimes: It is wiping out the infrastructure and
industries of Yuglslavia; terrorizing innocent people and destroying
their homes, workplaces and prospects for the future; or killing them
by "collateral damage".
Ethnic conflict in the Balkans cannot be resolved by bombs and
rockets. Indeed Nato has intensifie and acceletateed what it claimed to
prevent: The expulsion and mass suffering of hundreds of thousands of
Kosovars. The peak of the absurdity is reflected in the refusal of most
Nato countries to take in any significant number of refugees.
This model of conflict resolution is a disaster for the world. It
threatens the UN, which is the only instrument through which elements a
peaceful world order can be developed.
Even those who reject the unconditional cessation of bombing, because
they feel it is necessary to effect the safe return of the refugees,
must at least demand the immediate interruption of the bombing in order
to clear the path for negotiations under the auspices of the UN
Security Council.
The signatories issue an urgent appeal to maximise pressure on the
responsible parties of Nato to halt the bombing and begin UN sponsored
negotiations."
(Signatories includes: Paresh Chattopadhyay, Norman Fairclough, Alan
Freeman, Monserrat Galceran Huguet, Olivier Gebuhrer, Frigga Haug, Wolf
Haug, Inez Hedges, Rosemary Hennessy, Frederic Jameson, Boris
Kagerlitsky, Isabel Loureiro, Fanny Michaela Reisin, Silvia
Schlenstedt, Dieter Schlenstedt, Werner Schmidt, Gerhard
Schweppenhauser, Darko Sovin, Pal Tamas, Christof Tuercke, Victor
Wallis, Dietmar Wittich, Erich Wulff)
5. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
An AUT Exec member has suggested that LAUT needs to clarify the
purpose of picketing in the light of the recent INKYFLASH. Let me quote
from the national guidelines:
'On the picket lines Local Associations should hand out leaflets and
ask....other union members (other than AUT) not to undertake work that
day which would normally be carried out by AUT members. The purpose of
the pickets is to persuade (within the law) members of academic and
related staff not to go into work and to persuade visitors to the
university not to cross the picket line.'
LAUT will NOT be picketing students. I hope that helps.
Maurice Kirby
President, LAUT
[NOTE: Well, thank you, but.... If the AUT picket were to be 100
percent successful in its aims, and no other staff undertake the duties
of invigilators or of the administrators who deliver the papers, what
is to become of the students psyched up to take their exam at the
appointed time in the appointed place?
I have tried this question on various active members, all of whom have
dismissed it or declined to answer, saying that is a problem for
management, the point of the action, etc. I find it hard to square this
with the claimed wish not to disadvantage students. Shrugging off
responsibility for the consequences of one's acts is somewhat less than
existentialist heroism. Sounds a bit more like NATO to me. (Ed.)]
------------------------------
Let me make it clear that I am not writing on behalf of LUSU, but
still as a student officer with the interests of students at heart. I
am also the son of an academic, so I hope no-one thinks I am ignorant
of, nor unsympathetic to, the issues.
The timing of this strike during the most stressful period in a
students academic career is very unfortunate. Blame cannot be laid at
the AUT's door for that, but picketing on a day when thirty-eight exams
are due to take place clearly prejudices the chances of those students
sitting on that day.
Even if crossing the picket line is physically possible, there are
many students who wouldn't want to out of principle. To even force this
choice upon people is unacceptable on such a day. If what is stated in
the Inkyflash is to be believed, that "The AUT is understood to
hope/expect others will not undertake the duties not being performed by
striking AUT members", then there has been even less consideration for
the students than I thought.
The fact that the NUS managed to forget or ignore the fact they are a
Union of students, and give unconditional support to the strike is just
ridiculous. To ignore it's members, and to act on what is no doubt seen
to be right politically is a wholly unacceptable move from any Union.
Tom Cheesewright
General Secretary
LUSU
--------------------------
Sniping at the current LAUT exec is unfair and uncalled for. As one of
the exec members who has no DIRECT undergraduate teaching
responsibilities, I can assure you that I nevertheless regard the
welfare of students as central to purpose of the current action.
Besides, the LAUT executive committee room is not where the decisions
are being made. The democratically decided national action is being
coordinated at AUT HQ.
No-one likes strike action that potentially hurts students. But
inaction hurts students more, in the long term. And no-one on the exec
has proposed any bombing yet.... :)
Steve Benner
[NOTE: I'm sure what you say is true, and no sniping intended. However
one's perspectives vary with the position one occupies, and several
members of the exec have pointed out that the nominal academic
membership is small and the de facto academic attendance at meetings
even smaller. Some have also asked how many of those at yesterday's
general meeting were full-time academic staff. And some still recall
the effects of the proposed exam marking strike of (?)1977. (Ed.)]
----------------------------------------
A quick reaction to Bill Martin's comment in issue 295: "How do the
Media know its the heaviest day yet?"
Absolutely! It was high time that reports about the 'front' were
re-conceptualised as something else but 'news'. In Harold Pinter's BBC
2 take on the war there emerged genuine news (although relatively
'olds') from genuinely informed people (those we don't get to see)
which made a very significant impact upon my own understanding of the
war, how it came about, what it means, etc.
In other words, I personally experience two different feelings when I
listen/read texts about the war: there are the times (few and far
between; getting even less frequent) when I feel intensely curious,
enabled in my own sense-making process by the provider of that text, I
feel like a proper citizen in an open society.
Then there are the times when bombastic, stereotypical, irritating
propaganda items come up - one feels cheated, left out, treated like an
entity unable to reach thoughtful conclusions on its own and which must
therefore be kept 'on message' rather than 'in the know'. How do other
readers feel?
Bogdan Costea
B in O
-------------------------------------------
Nick Bardsley's view that international law is impractical and
illusory is understandable, especially in the current circumstances,
but nevertheless mistaken. The main point about any norms is that they
are a guide to civilised conduct. If your bicycle is stolen you should
not assume it was merely because of the lack of police in the immediate
vicinity at the time.
I tried in my comments on the war to make two basic points: (1) The
plain illegality of the action under existing principles of
international law should have alerted our leaders to the need to
evaluate their strategy much more carefully. Their failure to do so is,
I think, manifest in the increasingly evident disaster we are now
confronting. (2) The attempted justification in terms of humanitarian
intervention, as advanced for example by Christopher Greenwood, should
be evaluated in terms of its acceptability as a generally applicable
norm. In my view, were such a norm to be generally accepted, it would
increase global instability and disorder and set back the cause of
human rights.
For this reason I personally am relieved that it is highly unlikely
that the International Court of Justice will accept jurisdiction in the
case. I am also somewhat ambivalent about the moves that some have made
to request that Louise Arbour, the Chief Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, should
investigate the NATO bombing under the laws of war.
My colleague Peter Rowe's explanation of the requirements of the
various conventions indicates, I think, that a good case could be made
that some of the NATO decisions, notably the targeting of the TV
stations, have been contrary to the requirement that attacks should be
confined to military objectives. However, here too I think the main
demonstration of this is that the attacks have been counter-productive,
by weakening the Serbian opposition to Milosevicz and the support in
the NATO countries for the action.
I may be excessively suspicious, but I wonder whether the NATO
targeting decisions have been entirely uninfluenced by the well-known
opposition in the Pentagon to US adherence to the proposed new
International Criminal Court. The main argument made was that there
could be a danger that US forces engaged in humanitarian actions might
be indicted for tactical decisions, unless reference to the ICC
required a Security Council decision (and thus could be vetoed by the
US). I hope that the NATO action does not result in sinking the ICC
before it has even been floated.
There is a complex relationship between law and politics in
international relations, but I think this case illustrates the failures
of politics as much or more than those of the law.
Sol Picciotto
----------------------------------
I was little bemused to read that LUSU has no position on the issue of
LAUT industrial action. If it is NUS policy to support the AUT then
there is nothing unconstitutional about subscribing to the policy of
the NUS on an affiliate basis. There is no need for a vote...unless the
mood is against supporting the AUT, and therefore for breaking with NUS
policy. In such a case I believe a vote is conventionally held but is
not, again, absolutely necessary. Past 'executives' have had no
difficulty about this...not sure why the present one should.
On another matter, I note with interest the clear indications that the
Pro-chancellor regards himself as a representative of the Council of
University Chairs (CUC). The Pro-chancellor may wish to reflect on
those sections of the Dearing Report where it is stated that members of
university councils must do their utmost to lay aside their personal
constituency's concerns and act for the good of the institution as a
whole. I'm not sure I go along with that as far as Dearing seems to,
but even so, something for the good Sir Michael to meditate upon.
I would also like to express my personal satisfaction with the
prediction, made in this journal, that the only items likely to be
passed are those concerning statutory compliance and academic
restructuring. In such a case, the university would be perfectly
compliant with the recommendations of Dearing, a fact that really
should be drawn to the attention of all concerned.
Nick Bardsley
--------------------------
MSF members have had a consultation meeting regarding their own pay
claim at which the AUT claim was mentioned. By the time of that
meeting, no request for joint action had been received from AUT.
Paul Mullineaux
Chair, MSF
-------------------------
As the other campus unions are not currently in dispute with their
employers, their members cannot legally take part in strike action. Any
doing so will be in breach of contract and may lay themselves open to
action beyond the loss of pay.
Steve Benner
--------------------------------------
Who are these Focus Consultants in Glasgow?
Do we not have a Personnel department any more then?
Craig Graham
[NOTE: They are the consultants who produced a confidential report on
the future of Catering with which Mr McGregor declared himself
satisfied. No one else can be found who has seen enough of it to know
what their recommendations were, but presumably one of them was that
they should be retained as consultants for a further fee. Curiously the
job advert is not on the Personnel web site. (Ed.)]
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