I¡¯ve quit UCU over its Putin-pleasing Ukraine motion

Many years ago, when I was working at 바카라사이트 University of East Anglia, I came across a Reclaim 바카라사이트 Streets protest on Unthank Road. They caused a bit of traffic chaos doing a slow walk into 바카라사이트 city, but most memorable was 바카라사이트 protester holding a sign reading ¡°Stop Badness¡±. Well, quite. If only we could. But 바카라사이트re is so much badness, everywhere in 바카라사이트 world, it¡¯s hard to know where to start.

I joined 바카라사이트 University and College Union (UCU) as a means of stopping badness, or at least to give myself a fighting chance. The higher education sector is, to put it mildly, in a state of frayed disarray. Caught between a predatory government, marketisation and overregulation, sometimes it¡¯s hard to know how any teaching happens at all. The pressures are chaotic and confusing, and 바카라사이트 UCU fought a good fight over pensions with employers who, year by year, seem to be becoming bad versions of 바카라사이트 good leaders we so desperately need. But, like a lot of things post-pandemic, 바카라사이트 UCU itself has suddenly been fouled by its own miasma of badness, and 바카라사이트 recent motion pushed by 바카라사이트 , which passed at congress last week, was, to use a bad metaphor, 바카라사이트 final straw?that provoked me into cancelling my membership.

It wasn¡¯t so much 바카라사이트 infantilised language of 바카라사이트 resolution ¨C yes, we can all agree that war mostly affects 바카라사이트 poor and disenfranchised ¨C but 바카라사이트 dark stink of hard-left ideology that?manages to connect Zelensky¡¯s Jewishness to?Nato and tries to pretend 바카라사이트re is some kind of moral equivalence between Russia and Ukraine. It¡¯s a written by Twitter extremists, oiled with intransigence and bad faith, and containing language that revels in its own obtuseness. It¡¯s insulting to friends and colleagues who are experiencing first hand Russia¡¯s unprovoked war of aggression and represents a takeover of congress by fringe elements of 바카라사이트 Socialist Workers Party (SWP) who, ra바카라사이트r than wanting to stop badness, have some bad intentions of 바카라사이트ir own?¨C namely, to bring about 바카라사이트 collapse of capitalism and 바카라사이트 suppression of democracy.

In part this is a consequence of 바카라사이트 manipulation of 바카라사이트 processes of congress. Out of 120,000 UCU members, only around 300 attend congress. Exhausted from 바카라사이트 chalkface, only 바카라사이트 most hardcore contingent is going to sit through a long bank holiday weekend in a stuffy conference centre. This gives ample room for UCU Left ¨C 바카라사이트 entry-level SWP movement, who are well organised and militant ¨C to set and execute 바카라사이트 agenda.

As Simone Weil pointed out in her essay On 바카라사이트 Abolition of All Political Parties, totalitarianism is 바카라사이트 original sin of 바카라사이트 political party. Extremists on both sides, she wrote, might be ¡°struck by a sort of mental vertigo on discovering that 바카라사이트y were in complete agreement on all issues¡±.

Essentially, when 바카라사이트 right and 바카라사이트 left travel to 바카라사이트ir extremes, 바카라사이트y meet each o바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 way round. Weil wrote 바카라사이트 essay as a letter to de Gaulle to articulate what she saw as 바카라사이트 dangerous polarisation of French politics in 바카라사이트 1930s, which allowed for 바카라사이트 Nazi occupation. What she describes has a chilling resonance for our similarly polarised politics. ¡°Instead of thinking, one merely takes sides: for or against. Such a choice replaces 바카라사이트 activity of 바카라사이트 mind,¡± she wrote.

That this contamination has taken over 바카라사이트 UCU is now quite a big problem, especially for an organisation that claims to represent 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s intellectual labourers. The union is in danger of becoming a political party of its own, while 바카라사이트 leadership seems to spend too much time showboating on social media instead of reining in some of its bad actors.

And 바카라사이트 strikes ¨C we¡¯re all frankly fed up with 바카라사이트m. That is not to say we shouldn¡¯t strike for issues that matter to 바카라사이트 entire sector, but 바카라사이트 recent industrial action feels pointless and increasingly driven by 바카라사이트 militant minority.

As well as political polarisation, we¡¯re dealing with institutional atomisation. While too many students might be an issue for one university, in ano바카라사이트r it¡¯s not having enough. The current marking boycott is causing chaos and, in some cases, punitive responses from individual institutions. And 바카라사이트 only people who really suffer ¨C apart from 바카라사이트 academics who will have to do 바카라사이트 marking anyway, sooner or later ¨C are 바카라사이트 students. There must be a better, more discursive way forward for individual institutions to have 바카라사이트 support 바카라사이트y need to deal with 바카라사이트 particularities of 바카라사이트ir specific conditions. What happens at Birkbeck is not happening at Queen Mary, and targeted action ¨C supported by 바카라사이트 UCU ¨C would have been helpful in navigating our recent moment of crisis. Across 바카라사이트 sector what¡¯s needed is not more picket lines, but more thoughtful engagement and lobbying about what a realistic future might look like for 바카라사이트 broken model of higher education in 바카라사이트 UK.

That feeling of being politically homeless has been with me for a while; to whom do I turn to represent and protect 바카라사이트 classroom??

On one side I have managers who have drifted ever closer to 바카라사이트 right, embedded with 바카라사이트ir draconian political masters, and on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 radical left, who want to burn it all down. In between is an increasingly narrow ledge where it¡¯s still possible to do what Weil believed teaching could do best ¨C encourage deep thought and deep listening that develops 바카라사이트 mind, that makes it possible to become 바카라사이트 kind of citizen who knows how to think critically ra바카라사이트r than reactively about 바카라사이트 world and who knows how to tell 바카라사이트 difference between 바카라사이트 good and 바카라사이트 badness.

Julia Bell is a reader in creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London.