International Students' Rep, Willow Wong, speaks about NUS's #1DayWithoutUs campaign that launches today.
Today, Monday 20 February, parliament will be debating Donald Trump’s state visit, following almost two million people signing a petition against him coming to the UK.
As many of Trump’s values and policies threaten the safety and security of migrants both of choice and circumstance, the National Union of Students’ International Students’ Campaign have organised a day of solidarity – using the hashtags #1DayWithoutUs and #Students4Migrants.
The aim of the initiative is to raise awareness of how many people fall into this demographic and how much of a positive impact multiculturalism and diversity has had on both our wider society and our educational environments. While this is generally a hugely important pillar of society, it is also particularly poignant within the student movement, with many of us coming from abroad to study in the UK.
Goldsmith’s SU President Danny Nsar perfectly summarises this sentiment: "It is imperative that we come together under the banner of unity to oppose all attacks on our members."
Royal Holloway was actually founded on the notion of equality. Today, it is home to over 2100 non-EU international students on campus and international students constitute an integral part of the College's diverse student body. We must all stand strong together as a community to actively speak out against any prejudice or negativity directed towards our international members.
Ultimately as your Students’ Union, we aim to bring students together to stand against the danger of divisive views and actions and to promote the comfort, safety and equality of our students. Ultimately, as a political organisation, our officers and our members must empower each other to raise their voices when it comes to crucial and current worldwide events, as well as those that take place on our campus.
This is why we will be joining in with national action today.
Activities during this week include:
- From 2-3pm today in Tommy’s Lounge we are inviting students to come together to write emails to our local MPs demanding that they attend the parliamentary debate.
- RhubarbTV will be helping us film conversations with some of our international students throughout the week.
- Panel discussion on Thursday about how Brexit and Trump influence the experiences of EU and non-EU international students currently studying in the UK.
- Throughout the week, we will also be encouraging students to share their international identities/stories under the hashtag #1DayWithoutUs.
- Finally, London universities are planning to meet outside parliament to demonstrate alongside migrant students and staff and we will be asking Royal Holloway students to take part in this too. This will be at SOAS at 3pm today. For more information on this contact Tasha Barret, the Union's President, Education & Campaigns.
If you have any further questions about the campaign, how to get involved on the day or support for international students in general please get in touch. You can find information from Goldsmiths and a template email for MPs on their website and get more information on the problems faced by migrants here.
Willow Wong - International Students’ Rep
Natasha Barrett - President, Education and Campaigns
Laura Lewis - Co-President, Welfare and Diversity