Pro-Choice Protest 21/10/08

It took a lot of effort to, very last minute, get funding for travel to Westminster to attend the pro-choice protest yesterday. It was however done and 5 Birmingham Students were able to go to the protest, sadly others pulled out last minute.

This protest was mainly to back Northern Ireland's campaign to legalise abortion. As it is currently abortion is illegal in Ireland and if a woman is suspected to be traveling to the UK for an abortion her passport will be taken off of her and she will forced to stay in Ireland and have the baby. For victims of rape or incest this is appalling. The only way a woman can get an abortion in Ireland is to be suicidal. So this protest was to show our support.

It did not help, however, when a very pro-life man came behind the barriers and starting tearing up baby books. I happened to be right next to him when this guy started and I can honestly say this guy was very scary. When one of the protesters tried to stop him tearing up the book he angrily pushed her away. I had never been so happy to see the police. I promised Hannah no one would get arrested so I was very happy when the police made him stand seperate to us.

We had two speeches from MPs saying how happy they were that we were there. Here is what one of the MPs said (from abortionrights.org.uk):

Diane Abbott MP, who tabled New Clause 30 to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland said in the debate:

“I think there is a special case for debating the issues of Northern Ireland today because of course abortion is a criminal justice matter and in time it will be devolved to Northern Ireland. If we do not debate my clause today women in Northern Ireland will lose the right to have abortion - as in Britain - for a generation…The law in Northern Ireland is the same law as in 1861. It seems to me that we have a responsibility as parliament to move women’s rights into the 21st century. . . . . The thousands that travel every year to Britain - and they are the lucky ones - have to pay. How can that be right? You have a situation where poor women at a time of great distress have to find the money to pay to travel and have an abortion. Women cannot have an abortion even if they have been raped, even if they are victims of incest, even if their health at risk. Are we content to have a group of women in Northern Ireland to be second-class citizens?”

If you would like to read the offical news release from AbortionRights please click here.

Pritchatts Park: Successful class

The self defence class at Pritchatts Park was a good start to the halls classes. 12 people took part and I could see they enjoyed it. I had never been to one of these classes before that day and I saw there that it was just learning about how to hit someone, it was how to be aware of your surroundings, because if you are aware of your surroundings you are less likely to get into dangerous situations. The first half of the classes was based around the concept of “commentary walking” and how best to avoid the situations that would mean you would need to defend yourself. The rest of the session compromised of using pads to practise some more physical techniques.

Our instructor Bob Spour (http://www.bobspour.co.uk/) was great to work with and as an added bonus his son, who is a police officer in London came to the class to offer participants the chance to ask about the legal ramifications of defending yourself. Overall it was an enjoyable day, even if it was raining! :(

Stress

I'm stressed. I know how pathetic it sounds saying so early in the term, but I am. I didn't think it would be this hard to do my degree while working in the guild. I thought I had prepared well enough in advance, afterall I worked the whole summer in the guild. I did a lot of the ground work but it seems I have so much more to do. Don't get me wrong im not complaining, when i'm doing it im loving it, its just that after I think "oh god I still need to read 3 more chapters of the Illiad" or something like that. The problem is that if I do something I want to do it great, which kinda takes up a bit of time... and effort.

But just so you know, I am actually doing something.

Reclaim the night! - Bham and London

London:

The London reclaim the night is a national march that takes place every year. This year the event will take place Saturday, November 22nd. If anyone is intersted in going please contact me because wmanus are currently helping us organise a free bus for students. There is also alternative transport that has been organised, however they are asking for a small donation.

Birmingham:

Some of you may be aware, while others not so much, that a group called Birmingham Feminists are organising a Reclaim the night in Birmingham. This event is planned for Saturday, January 17th. Currently the group and myself are organising other details.

For those who don't know, Reclaim the night is a march where women walk a set route as a protest against violence and rape towards women. These marches can also take place as a general protest towards saftey at night, for example with poorly lit areas being a target.

If you would like to know more about Birmingham Reclaim the night, you can visit the website @ http://www.brumreclaim.wordpress.com/

GC Reports = Blogs

We've now been told that we are to write condenced versions of our reports and put the details and generally what we have been up to on our blogs. Apparently (I cant remember) the exec were mandated to do that last year but didn't. So we are doing it this year. I've been good I've already wrote mine, I orignally starting writing the main report ages ago because I didn't want to forget. So when this was mentioned it was a case of copying and pasting bits into a half a page report.

So that basically means if you want to see what we are up to then you need to read these blogs, if you don't and you don't know whats going on then thats basically your own fault. The idea behind these is to let everyone see the same thing, the blogs also make our info more accessible to students.

I have more info to add but for today this will be it.

Fem Lit: you either love it or you hate it.

For all those who are interested in blogs that talk about feminist issues, click here. I am a little biased because I write in it but I do think it is good, and all I've had is good reviews so far. :)

Smexy Posters: Self Defence

Look at this smexy poster! The marketing department are fantastic, they made this beautiful masterpiece for me. As you can probably tell, I'm really really happy! Yes it is very different from what I imagined but love is love! You certainly can't argue with it. I've got to admit I was moderately worried about posters not being done in time, but looking back at it now thats just silly. Not only do I have these lovely A3 posters to give the RAs on Thursday but Marketing said that they would give me one (maybe two) really big ones to put up in the huge boards at the guild and, if I give them some dates of the first classes to be held then they will put it in a news bullentine and on the website!! *doing 'happy dance boogie!* Besides the posters being done, which is fantastic, I have made the sign up sheets for the halls to use when signing their freshers up, which is great. So far i've got two pages per halls but I'm thinking of making it three and sending all the RAs and FOC SOC an electronic copy so if they need it they can print more out. The attack alarms have been tricky. I had originally been told I would be supplied with enough but this isn't the case anymore so we're looking into getting some especially. To check out the facebook group, click here.