116 Middlesex students and staff write about Alfie Meadows

Submitted by martin on 16 December, 2010 - 10:55 Author: Middlesex University students and staff
Alfie

We, current and former students and staff of Middlesex University, wish to make plain our disgust at the behaviour of the Metropolitan police at the demonstration against tuition fee rises in London on 9th December.

A Middlesex student, Alfie Meadows, sustained life-threatening injuries and underwent brain surgery as a result of an attack by the police. Protesters wishing to leave the demonstration had been told by police to exit via Whitehall, where many were then kettled and attacked. At around 6pm, the police launched a series of unprovoked charges, using horses, truncheons and shields on protesters trapped in Whitehall. Hundreds of peaceful protesters were lined up on the south side of Whitehall and witnessed these attacks.

Over the last month, we have been witness numerous times to police attacks on young protesters, many of school age, with nothing to defend themselves but their passion, anger and sense of injustice. The spectacle of brute, armed force marshalled against the young holds up an unflattering mirror to the society that condones it.

We would also like to draw attention to the disparity between the reportage and the images of Thursday’s protest. Television reporters relentlessly described the students as violent, while continually showing footage of police officers beating protesters. Do the broadcast media think that people are not intelligent enough to perceive the contradiction between what is said by reporters and what is shown via recorded images? The widespread and deliberate police provocation of protesters went largely unreported. It is also a mockery of justice to portray damage to a royal vehicle as having more importance than a potentially lethal assault by a police officer on an unarmed student.

Finally, we hope that the Government will now recognise that the problems its absurd approach to the funding of education are now generating are political problems, and cannot be resolved by the use of police force. If a Government seeks to rely on overwhelming force to maintain its position, then it will not take long for its legitimacy to crumble.

Zain Ahsan, BA student, Philosophy
Ali Alizadeh, PhD student and Visiting Lecturer, Philosophy
Éric Alliez, former Professor, Philosophy
Nisha Amin, MA student, Marketing
Tunç Aybak, Programme Leader, International Politics
Robin Bale, Phd student, Fine Art
Sarah Baker, Lecturer, Media and Cultural Studies
Julia Bard, Visiting Lecturer, Journalism
Richard Barry, Lecturer, Psychology
Anindya Bhattacharyya, former MA student, Philosophy
Richard Bornat, Emeritus Professor, Computing
Sarah Bradshaw, Principal Lecturer, Development Studies
Matthew Bury, Senior Lecturer, Design and Technology
Maggie Butt, Head of Media
Stephen Caldwell, BA student, Philosophy
Matthew Charles, Lecturer, Philosophy
Uracha Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Lecturer, Business School
Cara Clancy, former MA student, Philosophy
Billy Clark, Senior Lecturer, English Language
John Coles, Programme Leader, Interior Architecture
Noyale Colin, PhD Student, Performing Arts
Katherine Corbett, BA student, Philosophy & MUSU Arts and Education Chair
Delia Cortese, Senior Lecturer, Religious Studies
Elizabeth Cotton, Senior Lecturer, Human Resource Management
Judith Cowan, PhD student, Fine Art
Olga Cretu, PhD student, Business School
Virginia Crisp, Lecturer, Media
Bojana Cvejic, former PhD Student, Philosophy
Anne Daguerre, Lecturer, Human Resource Management
Nadia Dalbani, BA student, Philosophy
Christina Delistathi, Senior Lecturer, Translation
Ferdinand Dennis, Lecturer, Creative and Media Writing
Karl Denson, BA student, Television Production
Mehmet Ali Dikerdem, Principal Learning Development Tutor, Institute for Work
Based Learning
Donna Edwards, BA student, Education and Philosophy
David Etherington, Principal Researcher, Department of Business and Management
Tom Eyers, former PhD student, Philosophy
Kate Fivash, BA student, Graphic Design
Vivienne Francis, Senior Lecturer, Journalism
Rory Gallagher, BA student, Fine Art
Nicola Goodchild, former BA student, Philosophy
Andrew Goffey, Senior Lecturer, Media, Culture and Communication
Raphaelle Gosden, BA student, Photography
John Grahl, Professor, Business School
Peter Hallward, former Professor, Philosophy
John Hammond, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics & Middlesex University UCU
Branch Secretary
Usama Hasan, Senior Lecturer, Business Information Systems
Sarah Hazell, BA student, Fine Art
Yaiza Hernández Velázquez, former PhD student, Philosophy
Dave Hill, Professor, Education
Johann Hoiby, BA student, Philosophy
Sian Howard, BA student, Fine Art
Elizabeth Lebas, Reader, Visual Culture
Aoife Macnamara, Director of Programmes, Fine Art
Manojkumar Iyer, President, Middlesex University Students' Union (MUSU)
Gizem Zeynep İnceoglu, former MSc student, Business School
Irem Inceoglu, Research Assistant, Institute for Work Based Learning
Lucy Irving, Lecturer, Psychology
Ian Jakobi, former MA student, Philosophy
Charles Johnson, BA student, Music
Kieron Johnson, former BA student, Sonic Arts
Peter Kapos, former PhD student, Philosophy
Mark Kelly, Lecturer, Philosophy
Christian Kerslake, Senior Lecturer, Philosophy
Eleonore Kofman, Professor of Gender, Migration and Citizenship
Ben Little, Lecturer, Media and Cultural Studies
Jo Littler, Senior Lecturer, Media and Cultural Studies
Rachel Malik, Senior Lecturer, English Literary Studies
Andrew McGettigan, former PhD student, Philosophy
Farah Mendlesohn, Reader, Media
Whitney Mensah-Parker, BA student, Philosophy
Gregory Meredith, BA student, Philosophy
Kevin Morris, Deputy Director, Professional Development
Claudio Morrison, Senior Research Fellow, Human Resource Management
Kathleen Mullaniff, Senior Lecturer, Fine Art
Ozlem Onaran, Senior Lecturer, Economics and Statistics
Ngozi Onyejeli, Lecturer, Human Resource Management
Peter Osborne, former Professor, Philosophy
Dan Ozarow, PhD student, Business School
Rosa Nogués, former PhD student, Philosophy
Manuel Padovan, Chair of the School of Health and Social Sciences
Carola Palacios, Senior Lecturer, Theatre Arts
Constantina Papoulias, Senior Lecturer in Culture and Communication
Wesley Phillips, former PhD student, Philosophy
Keith Piper, Reader, Fine Art and Digital Media
Sebastiano Piva, BA student, Film, Video & Interactive Arts
Nina Power, former PhD student, Philosophy
Dáša Raimanová, BA student, Fine Art
Gianni Raineri, Senior Lecturer, New Media
Leena Robertson, Principal Lecturer, Education
Ian Roper, Principal Lecturer, Business School
Maria-Louise Rosbech, BA student, Philosophy
Stella Sandford, former Senior Lecturer, Philosophy
Nic Sandiland, Lecturer, Fine Art
Ian Saville, Visiting Lecturer, Theatre Arts
Tracy Sealey, BA student, Philosophy
Sylvia Shaw, Senior Lecturer, English Language
Edgar Schröder, Senior Lecturer, German
Javed Anjum Sheikh, MUSU Postgraduate and Research Students Officer
Kulwant Singh Sandhu, Senior Lecturer, Business Information Systems
Tamara Sivanandan, Head of Dept of Social Sciences
Matt Stern, BA student, Television Production
Vangeesa Sumanasekara, former BA student, Philosophy
Aaron Tan, former MA student, Philosophy
Hannah Tattersall, BA student, Philosophy
Spyros Themelis. Lecturer, Education
John Timberlake, Programme Leader, BA Fine Art
Demi Tofallis, former BA student, Primary Education
Pompilia Tudor, BA student, Journalism and Communication Studies
Jan Udris, Middlesex UCU Branch executive
Martin Upchurch, Professor of International Employment Relations, Business School
Hoi Yen Voong, BA student, Philosophy
Rebecca Walker, BA student, Dance
Josefine Wikström, former MA student, Philosophy
Rebecca Woodford-Smith, PhD student, Performing Arts
Sara Wright, Resources Officer, School of Health and Social Science

(116 signatures)

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