George is loving it, OUSU’s losing it

When George Galloway walked out of his Christ Church debate last night, it was entertaining but hardly surprising.

After all, we can’t be too surprised when a man prepared to get thrown out of Parliament before he’ll back down thinks little about disappointing a hundred or so students.

He really doesn’t care what you think of him. Anybody who gets matey with Saddam, admires Bashar Assad’s ‘reforming zeal’, and wears a cat suit on Celebrity Big Brother clearly doesn’t have much time for good taste or public opinion.

George: Free spirit, GSOH, enjoys pissing people off and dressing up

He certainly won’t mind the headlines. The media storm today (triggered by The Tab’s exclusive last night) might suggest his career will be damaged by his latest antics but if anything, they’ll strengthen it.

He won his Bradford West seat on the back of the Muslim community’s support and makes his money by being controversial. Little harm, you’d imagine, was done to either of these last night.

With Gorgeous George, everyone wins: the journalists get cracking copy; he gets more fame, money and presumably support where he wants it; and the Israeli position grows stronger because no-one wants to be seen agreeing with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2j_2wVepwc

But we should remember Galloway isn’t the only one in Oxford keen on boycotting Israel at the moment.

In theory, we might all be – if we assume by some slightly tenuous theory of collective responsibility that we are all in favour of the actions of our student ‘union’.

As reported in the OxStu, someone deep in the recesses of OUSU has decided it’s a good idea for us to “join the global movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it ends the occupation and complies with international law”.

No, please don’t…

You can sympathise over their shocking sense of timing, but little else. Why do they feel they need to bother with such a divisive issue?

Division isn’t a bad thing in democracy, but let’s save it for its proper place, where decisions are being made and it actually matters. Will OUSU’s support for the motion shatter the Israeli state?  No. Will anyone care? Not really.

So OUSU, if you want anybody to vote in your next elections, or even read your next email, stop grandstanding on the smallest of political stages. It’s quite embarrassing.

It might just be the closest a student union can get to imitating a needy cat at feeding time on live TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1NIuCt72bU

The motion concerning support of BDS will be debated and voted on in the 7th week OUSU meeting.