The emergency student union general meeting held at London's School of Oriental and African Studies on Friday to elect Ken Livingstone as its honorary president (see posts below) seems to have been, as might have been expected, a vicious affair in which hatred for Israel and Jews was on rampant display. This is the account written by Gavin Gross, an official of the Jewish Society (which, incidentally, along with the Israel Society, is excluded altogether from the School’s list of student union societies) :
‘An "emergency" motion was brought to create the post of Honorary President of the SOAS Union and to elect Ken Livingstone to the post. I believe the reason given for the emergency meeting was ludicrous - that the Mayor was due to appear soon at SOAS and the Union wanted to know whether he would be introduced as merely the Mayor or also as Honorary Union President. For such an important symbolic role, a canvas of the students should have taken place beforehand to nominate various candidates, and then a proper period of time for reflection and publicity should have been given before any vote. The Union instead proceeded to quickly force through this meeting to select Ken Livingstone, the only choice listed.
'I then tabled an amendment at the meeting to select Nelson Mandela instead. I limited all my remarks to discussing the merits of Mandela as a unifying candidate, reading excerpts from his speech on release from prison in 1990 (which I remember watching live on TV). I explained why I felt an African and world leader was a better choice for the School of Oriental and African Studies than Ken Livingstone, a divisive candidate. The proposers of the motion and its supporters (including many from the SOAS Islamic and Palestine Societies) spent little time discussing the merits of Ken Livingstone, but instead launched numerous attacks (while pointing towards me) on "apartheid Israel", the "war criminal" Ariel Sharon, the "Jewish lobby", the "Zionist press", the SOAS Jewish Society, and the "Zionist and Mossad conspiracy" to disparage the Mayor.
'This was not a debate on the Middle East. Quite what an assault on the state of Israel, Jews and the Jewish Society had to do with selecting an Honorary President of the Union I don't know, but it demonstrated the bigotry and pathological obsession that some SOAS students have with Israel and Jews. Many Jewish students in the room felt intimidated by being there. It confirmed my initial fears that the meeting, held on an emergency basis to rush through the selection of Ken Livingstone, had little to do with the sudden desire to have an Honorary President. Instead it had everything to do with insulting Jewish students by rewarding the Mayor for attacking a Jewish reporter and Israel, and providing a platform for extremist students to publicly vent their hostility towards Israel and the Jewish Society in the Union. It also shows what real-world impact is being felt by Jewish students in London following the Mayor's series of disgraceful remarks. Near the end of the meeting, I was also personally attacked by the Environment officer of the SOAS Union, who called me a f***ing w***er from the microphone.
'I am told by University of London Union (ULU) officer Rob Park that the meeting and election itself was illegal and unconstitutional on two grounds. First, a Union meeting cannot by itself create a totally new post of Honorary President - it must be ratified by the School's Board of Governors. Second, an election to such a post must take place via a College-wide secret ballot and not by a show of hands at a Union meeting. As an aside, this ULU officer was originally selected to Chair the Union meeting but was removed at the last minute in favour of the shopkeeper at SOAS, the UNISON union delegate. The Union officials who called the meeting should have known the Union had no power to create and hold an election for Honorary President, but they agreed to hold the meeting and proceeded with it anyway. Perhaps it is time for the Union itself to be dismantled.
'I remind you this is the same Union that in February 2005 voted to ban Roey Gilad, political attache of the Israeli Embassy, from speaking on campus, simply because he is an Israeli official. The SOAS administration in that instance intervened to overturn the ban, but on the night of the event a false fire alarm was set off as the talk was due to begin and a glass front door at SOAS was smashed.
'The SOAS administration must intervene again to end once and for all the racial hostility directed at Jewish students at SOAS. If they fail to do this, then the University of London governors must act.
'The day after the meeting, I also received an extremely abusive email from the Academic Affairs officer at the SOAS Union, which I have forwarded to the proper authorities.’
We wait to see whether SOAS will now take action against this venomous prejudice and hatred which make such a mockery of an academic institution, quite apart from being a gross affront to decency.
