Dear Student,

Welcome to the last black students' campaign update before the end of term. It's been an active, fulfilling and inspiring term and our campaign has continued to grow and move forward with a hugely successful first term conference and lots of important campaigning going on both locally on campus and nationally.

As ever, if you need advice, support or materials for running campaigns on your campus please do not hesitate to contact me. Many of the materials launched this term are available on our website. I have had many requests for the new NUS black students' handbook since conference - if you want some more, please drop me an email.

A number of events are being planned for next term and details of these will be sent out early in the New Year. One thing to watch out for will be the NUS black students campaign regional networks that will take place in early February. This will be an opportunity to build on some of the themes of conference and get even more students from your students' union and your region involved in the campaign. Further details will follow shortly.

Yours in unity,

Ruqayyah Collector
NUS Black Students’ Officer
ruqs@nus.org.uk

07966 627 291
www.officeronline.co.uk/black

In this newsletter:
1. NUS extraordinary conference
2. Motions to black students’ conference
3. Africa-Europe youth summit - have your say
4. Support Sarika campaign - Defend freedom of religious expression
5. London schools and the black child conference
6. No fascist at Oxford - demonstration success
7. Yorkshire Unite Against Fascism conference
8. Let Khaled Study campaign - Lobby your MP to sign the EDM
9. World Against War conference
10. Campaign against climate change - global day of action

For a diverse and representative NUS - defend NUS democracy- extraordinary conference, 4 December, Leicester
On 4 December, the NUS is holding an extraordinary conference to vote on a new NUS constitution that has been drawn up after the governance review. The NUS black students' campaign is concerned about some of the key changes proposed - including replacing the NUS executive committee with an NUS board - with no guaranteed black representation and non-student members; ending compulsory cross-campus ballot; reducing the size of conference; and getting rid of the block of 12. We believe that these changes will lessen the influence that NUS can play as a representative, campaigning organisation and are encouraging all black students to make sure they are elected to attend the extraordinary conference so the interest of black students are defended. For more information about the proposals at extraordinary conference please email me.

Motions to NUS national conference - deadline 1pm, Friday 7 December
NUS annual conference is the sovereign decision making body for the national union, and decides policy to direct the work for the year ahead. This is a key opportunity for black students to make sure that the issues that affect us are heard at a national level. The black students campaign is circulating model motions on ‘stopping the fascist BNP’ and ‘let Khaled study’ to pass at your union.

Please email me or call me on 07966 627 291 for a copy of the motion or if you would like advice on how to submit motions through your union.

Africa-Europe Youth Summit - Get your views heard
The NUS black students' campaign has been selected as one of the organisations to represent the UK at the EU-Africa youth summit in Lisbon. NUS black students' campaign's women's rep, Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy will represent the campaign and engage with other youth representatives from across Africa and Europe. They will discuss important issues such as gender equality; health and HIV/AIDS; education; employment; peace and conflict; globalisation; migration, co-development and human trafficking; inter-cultural dialogue; environment; participation and decision-making and human rights and democratisation. The youth summit will present a final declaration to the EU-Africa heads of state.

If you would like to participate in this consultation and give your perspective on the issues that will be discussed please email Bell Ribeiro-Addy by 5pm, 3 December. Look out for a report back in the next email update.

Support Sarika right to study and wear the kara - defend freedom of religious and cultural expression
The BSC is encouraging all unions to show support for the campaign that has been set up in support of Sarika, a 14-year-old Sikh girl who has been excluded from school for wearing a religious bangle. Prior to being excluded she was put into isolation at school and was being taught separately to every other student, as she refused to remove her kara. While in isolation she was not allowed to talk to any of her friends and was not even allowed to go to the bathroom without a teacher. Her suspension shows a flagrant disregard for her freedom of religious conscience, at the cost of her education. She should not be made to choose between her faith and her schooling. Sarika must be allowed to return her education immediately and wear her kara.

Please sign the petition in support of Sarika and defend the right of religious expression and be allowed to return to school. Visit the Support Sarika website for more information.

Recognising Achievements, Creating Futures - Black Child conference, 8 December, London
London schools and the black child conference is an excellent opportunity for students interested in the continuing inequalities in educational attainment experienced by children of African and Caribbean heritage. Speakers at the conference include Lord Andrew Adonis, Minister for Schools and Learners - Department for Children, Schools and Families, Diane Abbott MP, government speakers and special guests from the worlds of education and the media along with a number of workshops looking at issues such as mentoring and engaging young people.

For more information visit the London Assembly website.

No fascists at Oxford - Demonstration success
Earlier this week, the NUS black students campaign and anti-racism campaign helped mobilise hundreds of students from across the country to attend the demonstration at Oxford - where the leader of the fascist British National Party Nick Griffin and holocaust denier David Irving were invited to debate on freedom of speech by the Oxford Union. Wherever the BNP are active, racist attacks increase - last Friday, a black student was racially abused and threatened when campaigning against fascists coming to Oxford. The so-called ‘debate’ was postponed due to the protest. We would like to thank all the students who came from across the country - Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Coventry, Birmingham, Dudley, London, Cambridge, Wales, Portsmouth, Bristol, Sussex, Essex and others, for making the demonstration a success and stopping the fascists from using a prestigious platform to give legitimacy and credibility to their politics of hatred and bigotry.

If you would like to set up a Unite Against Fascism or student assembly against racism society on your campus or would like advice on running an anti-racist campaign, please email me.

Act now to stop the BNP - Yorkshire and Humber UAF Conference, 8th December, Leeds
Yorkshire Unite Against Fascism have organised a regional conference to discuss strategies on how to defeat the growing threat of the BNP in the region. There will be a range of speakers from local and national organisations, trade unions and faith communities, along with workshops and materials to help in your campaigns.

If you are interested in attending please email info@yhuaf.org.uk or visit www.yhuaf.org.uk for more information.

Let Khaled study - Palestinian student trapped in Gaza - Lobby your MP to sign the EDM 356
We are urging all students to continue to lobby their MP to support the EDM that calls for Bradford University student Khaled Al-Mudallal, currently trapped in Gaza, to be allowed to return to Britain. We are also asking students to write to the Israeli embassy, calling on Israel to lift the restrictions on freedom of movement it has imposed on Khaled and all other students in Gaza, and allow them to leave immediately to continue their courses.

The EDM can be viewed here.

For more information about the campaign visit the Khaled website.

World Against War conference, Saturday 1st December, Westminster Central Hall, London
The black students campaign is supporting the World Against War conference - a unique event with delegates coming to London from all five continents calling for the complete end to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and opposition to any attack against Iran. There will also be discussions on the broader struggle against war around the world and against continuing threats from the US administration. At the final plenary the conference will discuss coordinated international anti-war actions for 2008.

To register for the conference visit www.stopwar.org.uk.

National Climate March - the time is now - 8 December 2007
On 8 December, there will be a global day of action to coincide with the summit UN Climate talks in Bali calling on world leaders to take urgent action on climate change. From Bangladesh to the Caribbean, the lives of black communities are acutely affected by changes in the environment – and world leaders must take the urgent action we need to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate.

For more information about the global day of action please visit www.campaigncc.org.

Ruqayyah Collector
ruqs@nus.org.uk
NUS Black Students' Officer
NUS Anti-Racism/Anti-Fascism Convenor

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