NUS elects controversial new president
Malia Bouattia is their first female black Muslim leader
At last week’s NUS conference, delegates from member universities around the UK elected Malia Bouattia as their new president.
The 26 year old is the first ever black woman to head up the National Union of Students. She is also a Muslim.
The tabloid news has been quick to demonise Bouattia. Two years ago, she delayed a NUS motion condemning ISIS to change the wording. In a piece for The Guardian, she says the paper’s motion appeared to “condemn all Muslims, not just the terror group”. After changes, the motion passed with her support.
There have been accusations from the mainstream media, students, including Jewish Societies from around the country, accusing her of anti-semitism. A two year old video of her making a reference to the “Zionist-led media”, and an article in which she calls Birmingham university “something of a Zionist outpost” have not helped her campaign. Bouattia has since maintained that her problems with political Zionism should not be confused with anti-semitism.
Members of Imperial College Union’s own Jewish Society signed a letter addressed to Bouattia before her win, asking her to clarify why she saw a large Jewish population “as a problem”.
In attempt to prove the critics wrong, as soon as she was elected she held a meeting with the Union of Jewish students, and has said she will continue to work to show she is not anti-semitic.
ICU has left the NUS a whopping six times
Many have pointed to the media uproar concerning her election as an example of Islamophobia.
Imperial is not currently a member of the NUS, and has a tempestuous history with the nationwide students’ union.
Despite being a founding member when the organisation began in 1922, ICU has left a whopping six times.
The college was a member for a number of years, despite several referendums at to whether we should stay. In 2010, we voted to leave and stop paying the £40,000 a year subscription fee.
Despite receiving some bad press in recent years, the NUS was responsible for much of the lobbying that led to council tax exemption for students and the lowering the voting age to 18 as well as spearheading a Barclays boycott to protest its involvement in apartheid South Africa.
